Joe Mazzulla to remain Celtics head coach

Joe Mazzulla to remain Celtics head coach

Well, Brad Stevens has done it once again. The Boston Celtics president has decided to stay with Joe Mazzulla as their head coach. Stevens says that Mazzulla is the best guy going forward for the Celtics, for now.

“He’s a terrific leader,” Stevens said in his end-of-season press conference. “He’ll only get better at anything that he can learn from this year, because he’s constantly trying to learn. And he’s accountable.”

Questions arose about Mazzulla’s job stability over the past few weeks in the playoffs. Going to two Game 7’s against two lower-seeded teams, the Celtics should’ve easily beaten the caused concern, especially after falling in seven games to the No. 8-seeded Miami Heat. But Stevens has Mazzulla’s back at this point in time. Mazzulla’s success in his rookie year as a coach even impressed Stevens.

“When you consider the position he was thrust into and the overall accomplishments of the group, I thought he did a really good job,” he said. “When you look at it in the big picture and having a team that was second in offense, second in defense, won 57 games and (had) a chance to go to the NBA Finals on your home court, there’s a lot of direction and organization that goes into that.

“I always needed a whole summer of planning,” Stevens said. “A whole summer of thinking and organizing thoughts and being able to catch yourself ready to emphasize what you want to emphasize on a daily basis.”

(All quotes via Celtics Press Release.)

Now that Mazzulla has a full summer to prepare for the following season, Stevens sees it as a huge benefit.  

“There’s no question that will be a huge benefit,” said Stevens. “To do what they did in five days and get ready for the season and to start the season the way we did was a little bit more remarkable than people outside the building would have thought.”

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