Forsberg: Why Joe Mazzulla deserves the benefit of time originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
If you’re a fan of the Boston Celtics, you’ve probably spent at least some portion of the past 10 days screaming at your television set for a timeout that didn’t come quick enough for your liking.
Most of you don’t need this reminder but, given the events of this week, it feels mildly important to reaffirm: Joe Mazzulla deserves the benefit of time.
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Every first-year coach is thrust under a harsh microscope and we overanalyze everything from their after-timeout plays to their timeout cadence to, in the case of Mazzulla, his vigorous gum chewing.
Celtics brass and players have expressed the ultimate confidence in Mazzulla, whose head is probably still spinning in the aftermath of his surprise elevation to interim head coach just six weeks ago.
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Now, with Ime Udoka likely taking over as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, that spotlight will get a little brighter. We don’t suspect Mazzulla would allow any overreaction from armchair head coaches to faze him, and he acknowledged early his tenure that he’d be ready for the bumps in the road.
What’s simply prudent to remember is that even Udoka stumbled out of the blocks last season. The Celtics were holding team meetings just days into last year’s campaign, Udoka’s rotations were questionable, and his penchant for calling players out in postgame press conferences left many observers concerned he might lose the locker room.
Udoka, of course, scoffed at the outside input, trusted his ways, and was rewarded. Mazzulla should do the same.
It took time for both Udoka -- and his Celtics players -- to find their way. It’s ironic that, as we assess how Mazzulla can get the Celtics to avoid some of their more maddening habits, we wonder if he will be able to push them in the same firm way that Udoka did.
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Mazzulla simply has to find his voice. Much of his demeanor and coaching style seems culled from Brad Stevens, the man who brought him aboard as an assistant in 2019. Mazzulla isn’t going to be Brad. He isn’t going to be Ime. He has to figure out what works best for him, what allows him to get the best out of this group.
It might just take time to figure that out. And he might never call that timeout that most of us are screaming for.
It’s on the players to be a little bit more locked in to help Mazzulla in the early part of his head coaching voyage. There’s only so much a coach can do when the intensity and focus of his players fluctuates. It’s not Mazzulla missing open shots in key spots.
We do think these Celtics sometimes need a shorter leash and that timeouts can be helpful to reel them back in when those lapses occur. But 75 years of NBA basketball suggests that there’s no firm rule for timeout usage.
Mazzulla is trying to Band-Aid a defense without Robert Williams, the straw that stirred that top-ranked defensive drink last season. Health can go a long way towards making a coach look good. Players have gushed about Mazzulla’s defensive acumen. The Celtics getting on track on that side of the ball should probably be the least of our concerns, even if their struggles have lingered to start the year.
Aside from some painful droughts, the Celtics offense has been ahead of schedule. The team’s shot profile, heavy on 3s and layups, has been an analytics dream, even if Boston players have to be reminded to attack the basket a bit more when the 3 goes cold.
If Mazzulla’s brilliant final-play-of-regulation ATO sees Tatum get a whistle on his thunderous game-tying jam, then maybe we don’t even need to put these words to paper. Mazzulla is a hero for his late-game draw-up. Coaching is a fickle business (so, too, is fandom and sports journalism).
The Udoka news simply puts coaching at the forefront regardless of the team’s performance. In letting Udoka seek another opportunity, the Celtics might be allowing Mazzulla to settle in a bit more on the Boston bench.
Mazzulla said all the right things Wednesday night while suggesting he wants to be there for his players as they process the emotions.
Now it’s on the players to make things easier for Mazzulla.
