The Boston Celtics are going 3-0 to start their 2022-2023 NBA season under the guidance of interim coach Joe Mazzulla. He replaced head coach Ime Udoka, who was suspended for breaking the team’s conduct policy.
In his first experience as an NBA head coach, Mazzulla won three games consecutively against the Philadelphia 76ers in the season opener, the Miami Heat, and the Orlando Magic.
After defeating the Heat, Mazzulla was listed as the first Celtics coach to start a season with 2-0 since Doc Rivers in the 2009-2010 season.
Celtics pushing the pace has been so good for their offense this season.
Makes them so much more dynamic.
— Jack Simone (@JackSimoneNBA) October 21, 2022
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN noted that Mazzulla’s performance could lead him to become the long-term head coach for Boston.
“The outlook for Joe Mazzulla is that he’s got every opportunity, even a likelihood, that he’ll be able to shed the interim tag at the end of the season and be the Celtics’ long-term coach,” Wojnarowski said.
“Brad Stevens certainly believed in him when he put him in the job but the relationships with the players — it’s one thing to be an assistant coach and have a relationship, it’s another to be a head coach [with the players].”
Michael Kaskey-Blomain of CBS Sports said that Mazzulla started his role in an “undesirable way.” According to sources, Mazzulla was named the interim coach less than a week before the NBA training camp. Nevertheless, Mazzulla and his squad have avoided any turmoil this season.
Before being promoted to the head coach position, Mazzulla had been an assistant in Boston since 2019. He is currently the youngest coach in NBA and facing the “tough task” of coaching the Celtics as one of the teams with the most NBA rings, said Kaskey-Blomain.
Players show respect for Mazzulla
Analysts mentioned the Celtics showed impressive play with their current roster, including Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams and Malcolm Brogdon, who joined the team in the off-season.
One big difference from last year is that a Tatum + all-bench lineup now includes Malcolm Brogdon lol
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) October 22, 2022
After securing the season opener against the 76ers, Brown described his coach as “tough as nails.” Browns said he would look forward to building his relationship with Mazzulla as his coach.
“The thing that I like about Joe and admire about him is that he’s very honest that he doesn’t know everything. He wants us to help him out as much as he’s helping us out. It’s like we’re in a relationship, and we’re all on the same page and trying to accomplish the same thing. We’re all in this together,” Brown said.
Tatum admired how Mazzulla handled the team as a coach who was humble and honest.
“He wouldn’t have (taken) any of the credit for tonight, but the thing that I like about Joe and admire about him is that he’s very honest that he doesn’t know everything,” Tatum said.
Beyond the players, the Celtics board members reportedly are big fans of Mazzulla, according to boston.com. In an interview, team owner Wyc Grousbeck said he prevented the Utah Jazz’s executive from recruiting Mazzulla as head coach Will Hardy’s staff over the summer.
“I prevented Danny from stealing [Mazzulla] this summer, because I told Danny I’d fly to Utah and personally strangle him if he did. You can quote that,” Grousbeck said.