The Boston Celtics opened their doors to a familiar face who helped thwart their title chances earlier this year.
Tom Thibodeau attended Monday’s practice, two days before the Celtics begin their regular season against the Philadelphia 76ers. The former Celtics associate head coach led the New York Knicks to an Eastern Conference semifinal playoff win over Boston before getting fired in the offseason.
Joe Mazzulla discussed the benefits of welcoming the recent rival to Boston’s practice, per WEEI’s Justin Turpin.
“He’s been, obviously, one of the best coaches around for a long time,” Mazulla said. “[He] worked here, won a championship here. Just having him around makes me better, makes our organization better. So it’s a lot of respect for him.”
Jaylen Brown thought it was “awesome” to have Thibodeau in the building. Celtics fans may not want to remember their playoff matchup with the Knicks, but Brown was eager to review the series from the opposing coach’s perspective.
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“They eliminated us last year, so him being able to kind of give us some of the thoughts that he saw in that series and some of the stuff that they broke down in our personnel, or even our team, helps us grow and learn from that,” Brown said. “… To have Thibs here at our practice explaining some of the things that he saw that helped them beat us only helps me get better, only helps us get better. So I value that.”
The Celtics could apply some of those insights later this week. They play the second game of their season against the Knicks, who hired Mike Brown to replace Thibodeau.
Thibodeau won a championship in Boston and holds a career 578-420 record as a head coach. Yet the 67-year-old could spend his first season in decades away from an NBA bench as the 2025-26 tipoff approaches.
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