CANTON — If Joe Mazzulla is nervous as he’s thrown right into a troublesome scenario, he didn’t present it.
In his first press convention since being named the Celtics’ interim head coach within the wake of Ime Udoka’s season-long suspension, the 34-year-old Mazzulla regarded and sounded prepared on Monday. The second didn’t look too large for him. It appeared like he has a plan in place. And with feelings nonetheless uncooked after the occasions of the final week, he even landed a joke.
Asked why Brad Stevens was so adamant final Friday that he’s the precise man for the job, Mazzulla didn’t hesitate.
“He had a concussion that day, I think,” Mazzulla quipped.
That might appear to be the case from the surface, however on the within, the Celtics belief Mazzulla to steer them regardless of unideal circumstances. That was clear from Stevens final Friday, and on Monday, it was reiterated by the gamers, who all voiced their vote of confidence.
“I don’t think anyone in this organization doesn’t respect Joe,” mentioned Grant Williams.
This actually wasn’t how Mazzulla anticipated to get his first NBA head teaching job. But even dealing with an nearly unimaginable scenario – tasked with guiding a championship-ready crew within the wake of a scandal – Mazzulla has a gentle method. First comes some persistence.
“The message is to first, give people space and time,” Mazzulla mentioned. “Not just for the players, but for everybody. It’s an unfortunate situation for everyone involved, but you have to give people the time and space to feel and the time and space to heal. And that’s key. You can’t rush anything. And the great thing about this organization, the players that we have, and the season last year is we have a formula for what we need to do in order to get better every single day and get back to where we want to get to.”
How does Mazzulla put together for a scenario like this? He’s not overthinking it. Though he might abruptly be in a brand new function after being an assistant, Mazzulla feels snug as a result of he’s following a plan for this season that was in place nicely earlier than Udoka was suspended.
“I’m in a fortunate situation because I’ve been here for three years, and we’ve had the offseason to kind of prepare for what we wanted to do heading into the season,” Mazzulla mentioned. “So there’s not much to change at all. I think it’s just about learning from last season and how to get better.”
As he ventures into uncharted territory, Mazzulla isn’t placing any added stress on himself. He doesn’t really feel a necessity to determine himself on the high of the teaching employees, and he’s not occupied with altering the formulation from final season’s NBA Finals run. He simply needs to hold the id and tradition that’s already been constructed.
“I think it’s more of a collaboration. I think we have to do this together,” Mazzulla mentioned. “I don’t think we need to speed up authority or speed up decisions or speed up identity. We have to be patient. We have to really rely on the foundations that we built as far as relationships and the foundations and habits that we’ve built on the basketball court because they’re successful. And so I think that’s the most important thing is focus on all the things we’re great at as a team and then how can we evolve and make those things even better to get to where we want to go.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com