Why Celtics Fans Should Have Open Mind About Joe Mazzulla Before Season

The roster of the Boston Celtics looks a lot different entering the 2023-24 NBA season.

The head coach of the organization sounds a bit different, too.

Joe Mazzulla enters his second season at the helm of the Celtics. It already has started much different than his debut campaign.

Mazzulla was thrown into the deep end with his phone and keys still in his pocket. Initially deemed the interim coach after Ime Udoka was suspended days before training camp, Mazzulla did a good enough job to get the interim title stripped off midway through the campaign. He went on to help the Celtics to the Eastern Conference finals, though the team fell well short of its ultimate goal.

Mazzulla’s approach and gameplan were among the reasons why.

Green Teamers, however, should keep an open mind about Mazzulla entering the 2023-24 campaign.

Mazzulla’s initial media availabilities and public appearances have portrayed a different individual — an individual more confident in himself. Perhaps it’s because he was able to use the ladder to get into the pool this offseason.

“I feel like he’s a little more comfortable,” Celtics star Jayson Tatum said at the team’s media day. “This time last year was new for all of us, and I think Joe did a hell of a job managing all of that and managing expectations, managing being in a new role so quick.

“I’m not saying he wasn’t comfortable, he’s just a lot more comfortable and confident heading into this year.”

The reasons behind said comfortability are plentiful.

First, Mazzulla expressed how his previous inexperience caused it to come as a culture shock when he was tasked with Boston’s head job. Mazzulla told NBA analyst JJ Reddick on “The Old Man & the Three” podcast earlier this month that it took him time just to understand why people cared about what he said or how he acted.

That’s different now. Mazzulla better understands the responsibilities that come when you’re the head coach of one of the NBA’s most recognizable franchises.

Additionally, the roster wasn’t the only offseason overhaul for the Celtics. Mazzulla now enters the season with his own staff. The group of assistants who worked under Mazzulla last season didn’t sign up for that position. They came to Boston expecting to answer to Udoka. And while they did an fine job in a bizarre situation, it’s not the same.

Mazzulla made the most of the opportunity to organize his own group, too. Boston’s coaching staff might turn out to be the best in the league with ex-76ers assistant Sam Cassell and ex-Bucks assistant Charles Lee, among others, coming to the Celtics. Those are two assistants who have been and will be in the mix for head coaching jobs in the near future. It shows that Mazzulla and the Celtics didn’t just bring in any No. 2 and No. 3 to serve as his yes men. They’re legitimate.

Boston’s recent addition of senior consultant Jeff Van Gundy also figures to aid president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and Mazzulla. The second-year NBA head coach has a lot of basketball knowledge and experience around him this time.

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Mazzulla also seems to be bringing a new line of thinking. He expressed how he he wants to create more of a “tribal” staff in hopes of building the level of communication. It feels like a positive step from a leadership standpoint, proving an understanding he has to change his way of doing things from last year.

“What you can see in a lot of staffs sometimes is a head coach might build a relationship with one coach because of the way he thinks and it could be a like-minded thought,” Mazzulla said at Celtics media day. “And then you sometimes neglect someone else who’s working by themselves or you’ll have two or three people working together and they’re coming up with an idea but then if it doesn’t go their way, they’re kind of affected by it.

“And so, we really wanted to like — how can we build a shared vision, how can we build communication and how can we build ownership?”

Mazzulla referred to the upcoming season a chance to reinvent himself and express himself differently after gaining valuable experience.

“I always say that I’d rather be in a city like this that has high expectations instead of going somewhere where there are no expectations,” Mazzulla said.

With a star-studded roster in place, perhaps the previously-criticized Mazzulla will become a reason for the high expectations himself.