Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla is not your fall guy
By Oliver Fox
The Boston Celtics season is over, but Joe Mazzulla is not your fall guy.
Yes, the season is definitely over, and not in the fun way where we all get to order expensive prints of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy and display them prominently next to our children and family pets above the fireplace.
Instead, it ended on the precipice of immortal greatness and another NBA Finals berth, which is a hard thing to stomach.
So it is human nature to want to do something. The prospect of taking a slap across the face and then exercising patience and restraint is not exactly an enticing prospect. But even less appealing is if the something the Boston Celtics do turns out to be disastrous.
Firing Mazzulla would have been that kind of reaction, which I imagine is why Brad Stevens announced last week that the team would be bringing back Mazzulla for his second season as head coach.
This decision came with mixed reactions, which made me want to dig into if Mazzulla is truly the man for the gig. Obviously, his job is non-negotiable for at least the next few months, and—barring a colossal meltdown early in the season—likely until next offseason. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask if that’s actually a good idea, so put on your psychoanalyzing-judgmental party hats.
Joe Mazzulla is an ideal fit with this Boston Celtics team
If you just want the verdict: I think Mazzulla is the perfect coach for this Boston Celtics team.
If you stuck around and want the fun part, I’ve been hearing three general reasons why replacing Mazzulla would have been a good idea, and I’ll go through them one by one to explain why all of them are wrong. But arguing-by-telling-people-they-are-wrong also happens to be the lowest form of conversation, so I’ll be sure to bake into my retorts more positive reasons as to why Mazzulla is actually the right guy for the job.
Guaranteed 100% water-tight argument incoming.