NEW STORY: Ron Harper Jr. arrived at Celtics training camp with no promise of an NBA contract. Six months later, he put together a career night, outplaying Kevin Durant in an improbable Celtics win. “I feel like it’s working out pretty good so far.”
NEW STORY: Ron Harper Jr. arrived at Celtics training camp with no promise of an NBA contract. Six months later, he put together a career night, outplaying Kevin Durant in an improbable Celtics win. “I feel like it’s working out pretty good so far.”
7 comments
Love how Joe and his coaching staff have turned the “diamonds in the rough” that Brad has signed into serviceable players who know their role and contribute to winning.
Noa’s articles are excellent as always
Just wanna let you know Noa, that you’re awesome as hell. One of my fave beat writers for the Celtics in recent years
what a great read!
Some may question Joe and his lineup variation. Like, why are there times Hugo, Luka, Walsh, Baylor or Minott get wide swings in playing time game-to-game? Then we got meaningful minutes from Williams and now Harper.
Joe built trust in that locker room. It’s counterintuitive in a way. People like familiarity and consistency. He’s created comfort with uncertainty and proved to the young guys that they will get meaningful minutes. And they all cheer for each other. I’m seriously impressed.
Okay, I’m an ND fan along with C’s fan, Irish Catholic family go figure, and the similarities in coaching is surreal. I think Joe and Marcus are both great at making the guys understand being ready, taking advantage of opportunities and the satisfaction of delayed gratification. It’s so bizarre to watching interviews with the players for both teams, it’s like the use the exact same descriptors in talking about the HC. It freaks me out sometimes.
Mazzulla is incredible. Fucking incredible. Harper, Queta, Gonzalez, Scheierman, Walsh, Williams, Simons. And you can even credit him, at least in part, for White, Hauser, and Pritchard.
Joe definitely has his issues. His behavior in social settings makes me think he’s on the spectrum, but he’s one hell of a basketball coach. The ability to develop young talent over and over again is absolutely CRITICAL to an NBA team, especially with this CBA and the dichotomy it creates of very expensive and very cheap contracts.