One special coach: Joe Mazzulla gets the nod for the All-Star Game

At the beginning of training camp as soon as the Ime Udoka news dropped, the championship hopes of the Boston Celtics were in question. Udoka’s sensational work in his first season with the organization, leading the Cs to the best defense in the regular season was difficult to ignore. Without much hesitation, President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens named former assistant Joe Mazzulla as the interim head coach.

From that moment on, the rest is history. Mazzulla took the bull by the horns from the first day at the Auerbach Center. He created an almost seamless transition as the franchise endured a highly unprecedented situation that affected everyone in the organization, especially the players. The players deserve a lot of credit for how they responded and the respect they gave the new head coach, but for someone to step into a job in a pressure-filled environment like this and put up the results he has is simply remarkable.

Boston is currently the only team in the NBA with a top-five offense and defense, leading the league in net rating by a considerable amount over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The former West Virginia guard is just the third first-year head coach to be selected for All-Star weekend in the last 24 years, joining Steve Kerr in 2015, and Tyron Lue in 2016. In both of these cases, these coaches led their teams to the pinnacle of the NBA at the end of the season.

Joe Mazzulla is also the third Celtics coach since 1992 to be named as one of the head coaches of the All-Star game, joining Brad Stevens, and 2008 championship-winning coach, Doc Rivers. Out of all the first-year head coaches, and the past seven Boston All-Star coaches, Mazzulla being named to the game seems much more significant. It is les than five months into the season, and Mazzulla has been named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month twice. Some say the All-Star game is meaningless, and in reality the competition is, but being selected to participate is something everyone should recognize as significant.

His coaching seat for next season is still not even guaranteed given the situation that the franchise is still trying to figure out with Udoka behind the scenes, but despite that, he continues to work as if he knew he was going to be named the head coach from the start. Fans can complain about the lack of timeouts he calls, or his willingness to keep his best players in maybe a little to long, but his ability to bring a group together and communicate effectively has been something to marvel at. Mazzulla said publicly that he understands the Udoka situation, and the emotions that it brings out among his players.

Mazzulla giving his thoughts on what he looks forward to the most on the sideline on February 19 in Utah:

The former Fairmount State head coach both listened and respected his players’ opinions on the matter, creating an open environment where the group can both share their feelings while keeping their eyes on the task that is ahead of them. The assistant coaches on the team could have felt some sort of way when Mazzulla was given the position, and why they were not, but due to his ability to confront situations up front, this has not been an issue in the slightest.

The news on Udoka did not just drop in one large Woj bomb, there was a number of announcements that came out as people learned more about it across several months. Mazzulla not only has to deal with what came with his sudden placement as the head coach, but when Udoka was thrown around for the Nets job opening, potential conflict had an opportunity to interfere with the ultimate goal.

“Everyone’s going to handle it differently,” Mazzulla said after it happened. “I just have to be open with the fact that whoever wants to talk about it can.”

Those are the words of a person that is understanding and open while knowing what kind of a franchise he is the leader of.

Joe Mazzulla’s coaching job during 2022-23 season has been highly underrated

When Joe Mazzulla is sitting on the sideline coaching Team Giannis, the NBA world should take a minute to recognize the kind of job this man has done in just a few months in charge. First-year head coaches do not commonly enter their new position following a scandal from the predecessor. Few people could have encountered this situation, and continued the same culture that was present during the end of the season stretch last campaign.

He deserves to be named the full-time head coach of one of the most storied franchises in the history of sports, but the Udoka issue in the background is the only thing that is preventing it from happening. It was not like he was thrown into the fire to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder, Mazzulla took over the helm of the 17-time NBA champions just a few days before training camp.

Whatever happens the rest of the way, the 34-year-old Rhode Island native should be applauded for the quality of work that has been done to earn him a spot in Salt Lake City.

Joe Mazzulla now has the chance to lead some of the best basketball players the world has to offer, and nobody can take that away from him.