His tenure here so far has been nothing short of controversial. A coach who preaches his analytic system that has cleared way for multiple players last year to have career years. But his heavy reliance on 3 pointers and no timeout calls in key situations has divided the fanbase.
I have a lot of confidence in Mazzula. I believe his system and style of play works with this type of roster. The concerns about his defense are completely overblown in my
opinion and I don’t have a lot of worry that we won’t be elite on that end next year.
What’s your thoughts and biggest concerns on Mazzulla?
36 comments
I think people were too harsh for him on the cards he was dealt last year, and I’m kind of viewing him as a rookie player who got hurt their first year, like Chet, Blake, and Ben Simmons
I want to see him with a full offseason and actual coaches on the bench
I like him a lot, I think he is going to fix the timeout issue as it wasn’t much of an issue by the ECF as compared to the rest of the season
It’s so hard to evaluate coaches I have no idea. He did reasonably well this year. Brad seems to have a ton of belief in him so I think that’s a good thing
I think it’s incredible how much fell on his shoulders so quickly. Realistically Brad probably never envisioned him to be head coach, we had a great in house option in Will Hardy that of course due to shit luck took the Jazz job before Ime’s fiasco. Joe was shoved a ton of responsibility, then loses his right hand Damon Stoudemire halfway into the season. Somehow he rallied and continued to rally us down 0-3 to the Heat and almost pulled the impossible. Now lets see what he’s learned this year and with a full offseason being at the helm.
He wasn’t that bad. He wasn’t even supposed to be a head coach yet, last year was supposed to be his first year as a lead assistant. Maybe not the best situation for a rookie coach to step into, a team that had already been to the finals and was establishing an identity. I think he’ll look a lot more confident this year, and having a tool like Porzingus when he’s healthy will help any coach be more dynamic.
I don’t know if anyone will be anywhere in 2026 lmao
Purely from hearing him talk in interviews and through media I’m not totally sold on him yet. My one thought from a coaching perspective is I like a coach to instill an identity in a team and I feel like if anything we have sort of lost our defensive identity under Joe.
Now that is also on the players and the fact that we have a decimated coaching staff last year. I think even this year it may be tricky to fully judge his ability with the team having a pretty serious shakeup with the smart porzingis deal.
My hope is that this year we’re clearly the best offense in the league and Joe really puts his mark as an offensive minded coach because I’m just not convinced we’re going to be able to get back to being a top 3 defense with smart gone, Al aging and Brogdons injury.
My concern is an outlier – Joe hasn’t really developed anyone, and the prospects in the team (PP Grant) became worse with him
With the way things are going developing cheap picks is absolutely going to be what determines the level of contention
The Heat did very well, and a lot of it goes to Spo. Not sure if Joe does the same
Like him thus far despite mixed opinion’s about him last year. I think this year is the first true year to see if he’s going to be able to coach us to a title, and whether it’s with us or not I think he’ll develop into a good coach
Sounds like a cop out but I honestly think it’s just too early to tell. He needs an off-season and some roster construction with his coaching style in mind
He was called second row Joe for a reason.
You can’t give a fair analysis after he didn’t get a fair year. Give him next season, where he gets a full summer to prepare and his own coaching staff. I understand being emotional over Joe and seeing his flaws and disliking certain things, but he still deserves a fair chance.
I still think his adjustments during the Heat series were fucking amazing and he doesn’t get enough credit for them. Part of the reason that series even went to 7 was because of him, learning on the fly, in his first year as HC, against an elite HC in Spo, with a pretty gutted assistant bench supporting him. Super excited to see what he does with a full offseason, with some really experienced coaches around him.
Bill Simmons said on a recent podcast – if we got swept by Miami, he’s fired for sure
Not going to be around long if ge doesn’t get one in the next 2yrs.
I don’t think he should be the scapegoat but it’s just the nature of the NBA.
This most recent year i beleieve he was in over his head but ultimately the biggest failure belongs to the players imo. Lets see if they can gel this season.
The guy became head coach days before the season started with zero heads up. Didn’t have a staff and didn’t have an offseason to even consider how he would run an NBA team…. Still led the team to the best record since 08’ and to within a game of the finals. Honestly fuuuuck anyone who wants to criticize the guy.. and this is coming from someone who thinks NBA coaches are irrelevant for the most part
We have a win now roster but we have a rookie coach. This is Brad’s one big blunder. And it is a big one.
Also we had the deepest bench in the league and he had no clue on his to use the personnel. Talent gets you there, but coaching and critical adjustments get you the last win. Joe was out of his league against Spo.
He does front flips which is pretty fucking cool.
He’s lucky he got two of the top assistants in the game. Dude would be exposed next season without Smart running the show on both ends, but especially on defense.
He may become a good coach, but right now he is a very green banana. Not even close to ripe yet.
Dude needs more years as an assistant. Shit, he was second row before the whole Ime thing went down.
If Ime didn’t flame out, would Joe be anywhere near a head coaching job in a couple of years, much less now?
I’m very low on him and have been since January
Honest thoughts? He cost our chance of a championship this year and is bound to cost this current core a championship.
I hope not.
Seems pretty eclectic.
The way he’s handled his media responsibilities is a bit arrogant if you ask me, Pop can get away with being cold and blunt to the media because he has the resume and job security to do so. Joe almost handles it like a disgruntled player does which some fans in Boston might find endearing but I’m not sure I’m one of them.
Also seems stubborn in his rotations and game-plans. Gets criticized for it, and just leans into it even more. Timeouts being a prime example, saying he was doing it all on purpose so the team can get accustomed to late game focus and execution on the fly. Guess what? They still sucked at it come playoffs. I get that he’s current and up to date on the league trends but you have to play to your team’s strengths rather than trying to force your vision.
Would just rather see a more seasoned coach at the helm for this particular group and their current window, rather than a developing coach.
I think Sam Cassel will be head coach by then, BUT it could be that Joe is a bit of an extension of Brad Stevens. Their styles seem different enough (like, Brad DID call timeouts, right?) that I doubt that’s the case, but there was something about the way they deployed the roster that felt like it had to have Brad’s backing or Joe would already be gone. (Why have depth and not use it unless both the GM and coach REALLY don’t believe in your depth?) The place where Brad may not be able to save Joe is if the crowds continue to turn on the home team. There’s only so much booing in Boston that can continue and I expect it will carry over to next season if they struggle to win at home. Chants for Sam will likely take place if that occurs, but I kind of expect that getting KP will help enough so that it won’t happen. They should do pretty well in the regular season. I’m a bit worried about the post season after those Atl, Philly and Miami series.
Not a fan of his “let’s shoot more 3’s” mentality, it’s not real basketball or fun to watch. I’m hoping he can win me over next season cuz I really miss Ime 😒
I hope he goes away
He reminds me a lot of Spoestra when he first got the job. In fact, I think Joe is ahead of where Spo was back then.
He’ll be our coach for a long time
Not a fan.
I think he has the potential to grow into a great coach. He was thrown into an unfair position and still saw strong results. Unfortunately, I do not think his ceiling is anywhere as high as Ime’s was. Will forever be a what-if (unless Mazulla wins a ring) concerning Ime’s pants staying on.
Not a chance. Should of just had Udoka serve the suspension. Worst move ever
We should take a lot of threes, right thing to do.
Coaching is a lot more than just calling timeouts or not.
Mazzulla had no chance to prepare for the season. Everything was on the fly. His staff was thin, maybe didn’t even want to be there.
But he has a lot riding on this season. He better be good and the team better be good, or he’s likely out.
Joe is a good coach. And I don’t think he got a fair shot last year considering when he took the position and what had happened for him to be thrust into it. He led the team to a great record and a conference finals run basically without an assistant coaching staff. That said, if we can’t at least get to the conference finals again this year, he will probably be fired
My opinion is that I trust Brad so much that I blindly believe Joe is gonna emerge since he knows how to hit people hard and I guess Celtics players need this
Mazzula is an absolutely terrible coach. He’s similar to Brad Stevens. No tenacity. No in game accountability adjustments. No timeouts during moments of disaster. Ime knew wtf he was doing. I’m convinced we stand zero chance of hanging another banner with mazzula at the helm.
no