CANTON, Mass. — If Joe Mazzulla is nervous as he’s thrown into a difficult situation, he didn’t show it.
In his first press conference since being named the Celtics’ interim head coach in the wake of Ime Udoka’s season-long suspension, the 34-year-old Mazzulla looked and sounded ready on Monday. The moment didn’t look too big for him. It seemed like he has a plan in place. And with emotions still raw after the events of the last week, he even landed a joke.
Asked why Brad Stevens was so adamant last Friday that he’s the right man for the job, Mazzulla didn’t hesitate.
“He had a concussion that day, I think,” Mazzulla quipped.
That may seem to be the case from the outside, but on the inside, the Celtics trust Mazzulla to lead them despite unideal circumstances. That was clear from Stevens last Friday, and on Monday, it was reiterated by the players, who all voiced their vote of confidence.
“I don’t think anyone in this organization doesn’t respect Joe,” said Grant Williams.
This certainly wasn’t how Mazzulla expected to get his first NBA head coaching job. But even facing an almost impossible situation – tasked with guiding a championship-ready team in the wake of a scandal – Mazzulla has a steady approach. First comes some patience.
“The message is to first, give people space and time,” Mazzulla said. “Not just for the players, but for everybody. It’s an unfortunate situation for everyone involved, but you have to give people the time and space to feel and the time and space to heal. And that’s key. You can’t rush anything. And the great thing about this organization, the players that we have, and the season last year is we have a formula for what we need to do in order to get better every single day and get back to where we want to get to.”
How does Mazzulla prepare for a situation like this? He’s not overthinking it. Though he may suddenly be in a new role after being an assistant, Mazzulla feels comfortable because he’s following a plan for this season that was in place well before Udoka was suspended.
“I’m in a fortunate situation because I’ve been here for three years, and we’ve had the offseason to kind of prepare for what we wanted to do heading into the season,” Mazzulla said. “So there’s not much to change at all. I think it’s just about learning from last season and how to get better.”
As he ventures into uncharted territory, Mazzulla isn’t putting any added pressure on himself. He doesn’t feel a need to establish himself at the top of the coaching staff, and he’s not interested in changing the formula from last season’s NBA Finals run. He just wants to carry the identity and culture that’s already been built.
“I think it’s more of a collaboration. I think we have to do this together,” Mazzulla said. “I don’t think we need to speed up authority or speed up decisions or speed up identity. We have to be patient. We have to really rely on the foundations that we built as far as relationships and the foundations and habits that we’ve built on the basketball court because they’re successful. And so I think that’s the most important thing is focus on all the things we’re great at as a team and then how can we evolve and make those things even better to get to where we want to go.”
