Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens has confirmed the team's plan to keep Joe Mazzulla as the team’s head coach.
Mazzulla has just finished his first season in charge of the Celtics, after replacing Ime Udoka during last summer’s off-season. After leading the Celtics to the top of the Eastern Conference, Mazzulla soon came under immense pressure for his job.
Playoff wins over the Atlanta Hawks and the Philadelphia 76ers earned the Celtics a place in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. But after losing the first three games of that series, that led to strong speculation that Mazzulla could depart as head coach during the off-season.
However, the Celtics managed to recover in the series to win three games in a row to set up a deciding Game Seven at the TD Garden in Boston. Even though the Celtics lost to the Heat to exit the NBA Playoffs, Mazzulla’s place as head coach seemed much more secure than it did after Game Three.
And now Celtics president of basketball operations Stevens has opened up on Mazzulla’s future as head coach. Stevens, who served as the team’s coach for 2013-21, says that Mazzulla is still expected to remain in charge for the foreseeable future.
“Yeah, I think he is,” Stevens told NBC Sports, when asked if Mazzulla is the right person to lead the team. “I thought he did a really good job with this group. Everybody’s going to overreact to the best players and coaches after every game. That’s always the way it is. We know that going in, so we have to be able to judge things on the whole.
“He’s a terrific leader, 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. Those leadership qualities are hard to find.
“I know they’re easy to talk about, but when you can show all those through the expectations and the microscope that he was under, that’s hard to do. Our players, our staff, everybody around him believe(s) in him, and we’ve got to do our best to support him going forward.”
Stevens also got onto the subject of Jaylen Brown’s future with the Celtics. The number three overall pick from the 2016 draft is eligible for a contract extension this summer, and Stevens confirmed the intention for the franchise to keep him at the TD Garden before the off-season.
“I’ve had nothing but great conversations with Jaylen, but we can’t talk about all that stuff,” said Stevens. “I’m not allowed to talk about the contract details, let alone the extension because it’s not of that time yet right now. His window is between July 1 and October or whatever it is.
“But I can say without a doubt that we want Jaylen to be here. He’s a big part of us. We believe in him. I’m thankful for him. I’m really thankful for when those guys (Jayson Tatum and Brown) have success, they come back to work. And when they get beat, they own it and come back to work. I know that’s what they’re about, and that’s hard to find.
“Kinda like what I talked about with leadership earlier. Those qualities aren’t for everyone. Jaylen had a great year, All-NBA year and he’s a big part of us moving forward in our eyes.”
