Joe Mazzulla is facing a great deal of heat given how the first-year coach has guided the Boston Celtics from the helm in the playoffs, especially in the Eastern Conference finals.
Plenty of criticism has been thrown at Mazzulla for holding onto timeouts too long, trotting out bizarre rotations or not making the adjustments necessary for his team to thrive in the postseason. Some have even called for Mazzulla to lose his job after the Celtics failed to respond in an embarrassing Game 3 loss to the Miami Heat.
But while there is a case to be made that Mazzulla should be shown the door for the Celtics utterly failing in the conference finals, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix poured cold water on that idea. Mannix believes the Celtics and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens will look to give Mazzulla a better coaching support system around him instead of waving goodbye.
“Before you assume Boston will scapegoat Joe Mazzulla: Mazzulla is the closest thing Brad Stevens has to a protégé,” Mannix tweeted Monday. “He hired him, kept him on Ime (Udoka’s) staff, kept him away from Utah and elevated him from the back bench. There’s a level of loyalty there.
“Remember: As good as Udoka was, he needed (assistant) Will Hardy. Mazzulla doesn’t have a Hardy. Certainly possible Stevens works to strengthen the front-of-bench staff next season rather than ice a bright young coach.”
The Celtics didn’t do a good enough job of fortifying the coaching staff once it lost Will Hardy to the Utah Jazz, suspended Udoka and elevated Mazzulla just prior to the star of training camp. Boston’s staff got even weaker when assistant Damon Stoudamire, who filled in for Mazzulla during a late December contest against the Los Angeles Clippers, left the team in March to take over at Georgia Tech.
Mannix didn’t reveal any possible candidates for that top assistant role, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Stevens looks at someone who has previous head coaching experience in the league. Stephen Silas would fit that bill as he spent the last three seasons coaching the Rockets before Houston parted ways with the 49-year-old at the end of this season.
In fact, Silas was spotted chatting with members of the Celtics staff prior to Game 5 of Boston’s first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks and is the son of Paul Silas, who played four seasons with Boston and won an NBA title as a member of the Celtics.
Those connections could help Stephen Silas become a much-needed part on the Celtics coaching staff next season.
