The other day, I went over the Boston Celtics' greatest player success stories since Joe Mazzulla took over as head coach in 2022. However, not everyone thrived under Mazzulla Ball. To be fair, most of the ones that didn't turned out to be inconsequential.
In fact, it's fair to say that it's not like the Celtics banked on every single player on their roster to fit like a tee. There were bound to be some duds along the way. Even if they didn't hurt much in the long run, they still hurt nonetheless.
That being said, it would have been nice if the following four players had proven themselves to be fixtures in Mazzulla Ball.
4. Chris Boucher
Yeah, as you can probably tell, we're really reaching on this when mentioning someone who barely played in their time with Boston somehow made this list. So what gives Boucher the edge over the likes of others who also didn't do too great in Mazzulla Ball, like Oshae Brissett, Noah Vonleh, and Mike Muscala?
Well, on paper, he should have been a perfect fit. A former NBA Champion, a stretch big who can protect the rim, and a chiseled veteran gave off the vibe that Boucher could replace what was lost in Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. In short, he didn't.
Because Boucher never quite fit right in Boston, it didn't take Mazzulla long to remove him from the rotation. Even when Luka Garza struggled to fit in at first with Boston, Mazzulla opted to have Josh Minott play backup minutes at the five, signaling that the coach lost faith in Boucher both quickly and early and never looked back.
3. Jaden Springer
This is an interesting one because Springer failing in Mazzulla Ball, like Boucher, wasn't really that big of a deal. However, he came to Boston with already established defensive acumen to go with raw offensive abilities. One would think learning under the tutelage of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White would have unlocked Springer, but it didn't and never came close.
Springer had his moments in Boston for sure - more than Boucher for that matter - but they were few and far between and weren't enough to keep him around, as they salary dumped him to Houston, and he's never had another chance since.
It's a tad frustrating because it felt like Springer could have been a project that paid off in the end, but he never quite figured it out. He got a title out of it, so there's that, but what makes it more frustrating is that Lonnie Walker IV looked like he could have fit better with what Boston was doing, but couldn't get the chance because of penny pinching.
2. Nikola Vucevic
Now we're getting into the real impactful players. Or at least, the ones that should have been. Boston acquired Vucevic to save money, shore up their frontcourt depth, and prepare themselves for Jayson Tatum's imminent return. Two of those three things happened, at least.
Vucevic never quite figured himself out in Boston. In all fairness, that finger injury really threw a wrench into everything. It wasn't all bad from him, as he was still an offensive presence, but his three-ball was never consistent, he lacked badly needed continuity, and he provided little resistance against Joel Embiid when it mattered.
Yeah, he didn't give the Celtics the results they wanted, and making it harder is that Anfernee Simons for all his warts proved he fit with the team, but Vucevic at least helped the Celtics with their cap issues. That being said, let's just say everyone's pretty happy to have Mitchell Robinson instead.
1. Grant Williams
Williams is definitely among the most divisive players to play for the Celtics this decade. His time with Mazzulla doesn't speak for his entire tenure in Boston as a whole, but Williams was very much a roller coaster in his last season as a Celtic.
His traditional numbers won't tell the whole story, as he put up some of his best percentages during the 2022-23 season, but his persona on the court proved to be a problem. While playing with unease understandably because of a contract year, Williams started the year off playing the best basketball of his career, but because he got into the nasty habit of overthinking, he became incredibly frustrating to watch.
Between dumb ejections, jinxing himself at the free throw line, and taking dumb clutch shots that he had no business shooting, Williams did not make a good case for Boston to keep him. It got bad enough that Mazzulla benched him by the end of the regular season, and he only got his rotation spot back because the Jays vouched for him.
It still didn't pay off much for him or the Celtics in the end. When the Celtics had the chance, they got him out of town. Boston hasn't lost any sleep over trading Williams three years since then, and they never will.
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