Former champion Boston Celtics player and current assistant coach Sam Cassell shed light on how his new gig came to be — and how his style of coaching is being received by his new roster in an interview with Heavy’s Steve Bulpett.
“(Celtics coach) Joe (Mazzulla) made this happen,” Cassell said. “He’s watched me work a couple of guys out before and wanted to understand my personality and how I link to players. We have some mutual friends that he contacted, and we just made it work.”
As for his bedside manner, the man who created a scoring celebration graphic enough to get banned by the league is as straightforward as you might guess, by his own admission.
“I’m just very truthful with players, man,” said the 2008 champion. “Sometimes they don’t like it, but I speak the truth.”
“I speak to the game plan of the head coach, and I tell them what the head coach expects,” he added. “Sometimes players try to be reluctant to take that, but I think I have a way that I can be 100% honest with a player without them taking it personally. And that’s a trait that I know I have.”
As Boston preps the players it hopes to make history with next season for the task at hand, there’s a new book out on the history of the Red Sox out and another on the Celtics on the way. https://t.co/79oVxfhoY8
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) July 11, 2023
“I’m a great listener to players; I’m a former player, so I understand what they’re going through. Like I tell them all the time, I’ve been each player on a team, from the top guy to the 15th player. I’ve been all those guys. I understand what those guys are going through mentally.”
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