Joe Mazzulla Goes On Offensive For Jayson Tatum After ‘Soft’ Comments

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla stood in defense of Jayson Tatum — in the most Mazzulla way possible.

Tatum was subject to scrutiny after ex-NBA guard Brandon Jennings labeled the 26-year-old the “softest Celtics superstar ever” on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast. Jennings doubled down, managed to pry a response from Tatum and his trainer Drew Hanlen, and even woke up Mazzulla’s inner Denzel Washington from “The Equalizer.”

“First thought was, that’s when you use one of your coins,” Mazzulla said Thursday on 98.5 the Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand” show. “That’s a coin.”

Mazzulla referred to his philosophy in which we all walk around with five coins, and the freedom to cash in a coin at any point to settle differences with someone in “combat.” Tatum, standing at 6-foot-8 and 209 pounds, has the physical advantage necessary to take down the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Jennings.

Tatum also has Mazzulla, a longtime jiu-jitsu expert, standing in the five-time All-Star’s corner of the ring.

“What if we all walked around with five coins, right?” Mazzulla proposed to “Zolak & Bertrand” in October. “And at any point in time, you can just hand a coin out, and you just challenged a guy to like combat. … These are the type of things I think about. I think the world would be a better place if everyone walked down the street and knew that everyone had five coins, and they could be used at any time.”

Jennings lasted nine seasons in the league, best known for finishing third in the 2010 Rookie of the Year race after scoring 55 points in his seventh game logged. That was it. Jennings averaged 14.1 points throughout his career and was sent to retirement by a rookie Tatum and the Celtics in the first round of the 2018 playoffs.

The 35-year-old highlighted Jaylen Brown’s NBA Finals MVP capture as the primary source of evidence to justify calling Tatum “soft,” claiming no Celtics great would ever allow their “running-mate” to do so.

Tatum led the Celtics in points (22.2), rebounds (7.8) and assists (7.2) against the Dallas Mavericks, becoming the only NBA player ever to not win Finals MVP after leading a team in all three of those categories — Larry Bird (1984), Hakeem Olajuwon (1994), Tim Duncan (2003), LeBron James (2012, ’13, ’16) and Nikola Jokic (2023) are the others.

“It’s unfortunate that him in particular, but the players in general have to fight for that constant affirmation,” Mazzulla continued Thursday, per “Zolak & Bertrand.” “So the thing that I try to do the most is like, we don’t have to be affirmed by other people’s opinions. Jayson is an unbelievable player, he’s been a great player, one of the best Celtics of all time and the facts speak for themselves.”

Tatum is only eight years deep into his career with a championship, three All-NBA First Team selections, and ranks second all-time in 3-pointers made (1,425), 10th in steals (608) and 11th in points scored (12,809) in Celtics history.

Boston’s recipient of the NBA’s largest-signed contract ($315 million) is also poised for a convincing re-run with the reigning champs in the coming months.