Stunning NBA Firing Reminder To Joe Mazzulla Of Harsh Reality

While Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla prepares for the upcoming NBA playoffs, he’s watched as the Memphis Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets both parted ways with their head coaches — within the past two weeks.

Taylor Jenkins, formerly of the Grizzlies, and Mike Malone, formerly of the Nuggets, were among the league’s most well-respected and brightest clipboard chiefs. Jenkins coached a young Memphis team into a Western Conference threat while Malone won a franchise-record 471 games with Denver, plus helped the Nuggets capture their first-ever title two seasons ago. It’s unfathomable to watch Jenkins and Malone both get canned for more reasons than the total 3-pointers the Celtics attempted this season.

Still, in Mazzulla’s eyes, it’s just a reminder of the harsh reality that comes with the gig.

“There you go. Coaching. It’s just coaching,” Mazzulla told reporters Tuesday, per CLNS Media. “I mean, I think that we sign up knowing that. Again, (Malone) was 10 years in. That’s a lot. So you hope for stuff like that. You hope for a situation, stability to be somewhere for as long as you have and when it’s your time, it’s your time. I think you focus more on the fact that he was able to be there for 10 years. Not many coaches get to do that.”

Malone and the Nuggets (the No. 4 seed), and Jenkins and the Grizzlies (the No. 8 seed) were both set to embark on playoff hunts in the Western Conference. Instead, Denver and Memphis will defer to interim head coaches David Adelman and Tuomas Iisalo, respectively. Adelman and Iisalo were both assistants before their promotions, with no experience leading an NBA coaching staff, much less a championship chase.

The opportunity is valuable. The pressure is immediate, and even though Adelman and Iisalo are secured with solid positions for now, they, too, could be the next to join Malone and Jenkins in the NBA unemployment line.

That’s why Mazzulla tries each day to maintain a level-headed perspective, even fresh off coaching the Celtics to their record-18th title last season.

“To me, I wake up every day and I say, ‘I find a balance of its part of what motivates me,'” Mazzulla said. “But I wake up every day saying, ‘This could be my last day,’ and you just have to have that type of perspective because it gives you gratitude. It also keeps you hungry, so it’s just you have to have a healthy balance of you want this for as long as you can. At the same time, you’re very much replaceable because that’s just how it works. So every day I remind myself of my own mortality, and I think that’s what keeps me in a perspective and a gratitude of the opportunity of what you have.”

Mazzulla benefited from an equally surprising development three seasons ago when then-head coach Ime Udoka was suspended, and eventually dismissed, for an inappropriate relationship with a Celtics staffer. With a roster already having NBA Finals experience, a well-established rapport and expectations to deliver immediately, Mazzulla successfully kept Boston on track and sealed the deal.

Of course, there’s an inherent recency bias that haunts every head coach and Mazzulla is no exception to that.

The Celtics will be expected to deliver again. That goes without saying. Mazzulla is expected to get the 2024-25 team — with a nearly identical cast — back to the promised land, otherwise, notions of a failed campaign will follow Mazzulla and the organization into the offseason until they do it all again. That’s head coaching, and it’s reality.