The Celtics have been trying so as to add an assistant coach with NBA expertise to their workers this summer season. Just days into the offseason, they discovered one.
Sam Cassell – who was a member of the Celtics’ championship group in 2008 – will be part of Boston’s teaching workers as an assistant beneath Joe Mazzulla, based on a report Sunday from The Athletic.
Cassell, who performed 15 years within the NBA as a degree guard and was a three-time champion, has been an assistant coach for the final 14 years, together with the final 9 beneath Doc Rivers in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Rivers was fired by the 76ers final month after the Celtics eradicated them within the second spherical, and Cassell was reportedly within the combine to exchange him earlier than Nick Nurse was employed.
Cassell may be very extremely regarded in basketball teaching circles and it appears possible he’ll be the Celtics’ prime assistant beneath Mazzulla, whose teaching workers is being replenished after he labored shorthanded in his first season as a head coach.
The Celtics misplaced prime assistant Damon Stoudamire in March, and he was by no means changed regardless of makes an attempt in doing so. On Friday, Ime Udoka revealed he intends to rent away a number of Celtics assistants – who had initially adopted him to Boston in 2021 – to work beneath him with the Rockets. Ben Sullivan, who was Boston’s prime assistant after Stoudamire departed, Mike Moser and Garrett Jackson are reportedly leaving to hitch Udoka’s workers in Houston, and Celtics assistant Aaron Miles can be reportedly drawing curiosity for a brand new job.
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens mentioned Thursday at his end-of-season press convention that the group was going so as to add a minimum of one assistant with NBA expertise and the 53-year-old Cassell matches the invoice. Paul Pierce, who was a teammate of Cassell on the 2008 title group, endorsed him throughout a Showtime podcast final week.
“These cats went to the Finals,” Pierce mentioned in a latest episode of the “Truth and Ticket” podcast. “They have been one sport away from the Finals. You’ve simply bought to take a deep breath and say, ‘Where do we get better at?’ It begins on the prime. …
“You can’t keep bringing in new voices. I’m going to add to what I got right now. I’ve got to add to it. It’s already good. I’ve got to add to it. It’s already there. So, I’m bringing Mazzulla back but maybe I’m bringing in a veteran coach, like Sam Cassell. Some influence on the bench. Respect. A champion. Been a coach. Understands what it takes.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com