A fact Boston Celtics fans would like to forget: Joe Mazzulla is the NBA's reigning Coach of the Year. That doesn't count for much after what transpired back in April, but it might be Boston's rationale for their moves this year: they believe in Joe Mazzulla.
That's why they constructed a team that appeals to his strengths, even if it came at the cost of stripping away their talent. It's still difficult for everyone to wrap their heads around the fact that the Celtics actually traded Jaylen Brown after his best season and with him about to enter his prime, but Boston made one thing clear from it: they believe Mazzulla ball is more integral to their success than Brown.
That goes against the grain, as typically when a team has bowed out of the playoffs in embarrassing fashion two years in a row, the coach is the scapegoat. That's not to say Brown is a scapegoat. Boston traded him because they didn't want to pay him the contract he was eligible for.
But the overarching point is that Boston doubled down on Mazzulla in the wake of what's happened over their past two postseasons. They did so by contructing a roster more suited for him.
Boston is banking on better shooting and more offensive rebounding
Mazzulla showed how good he can be in the regular season when he more or less helped Boston survive three fourths of the last season playing without Jayson Tatum. He also had the difficult task of doing so while a good chunk of their title team was stripped.
He did this by re-inventing the wheel. After having two of the NBA's best stretch bigs in his arsenal, Mazzulla emphasized offensive rebounding, and that didn't just stem from the bigs. Neemias Queta and Luka Garza were dominant on the offensive glass, but Boston got pretty big contributions from Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, and Jordan Walsh on that front too.
And now, he just added Mitchell Robinson, one of the best rebounders in NBA history. Better yet, his impact is on both sides of the floor. He wants to "possession-max" as people call it, and Robinson will inevitably play a part in that.
Plus, he's being added to a rotation with a bunch of high-energy players. This should make for quite an electric offense where Boston plenty of chances to score.
Making the strategy more likely to work is the addition of Paul George. Talent-wise, George is not what he used to be, and he compares unfavorably to Brown. However, for what he isn't anymore, he is still a better floor-spacer than Brown is and isn't prone to the same mistakes.
Brown is a good shooter, while George is an elite one, which is very serviceable for his size. The Celtics also will not depend on George to be prime PG-13, but rather on him to be the 3&D player he was that basically killed them in their first-round matchup. Because he's still in his athletic prime, Brown is a better 1-on-1 defender than George, but the latter is a smarter defender all-around.
With George's shooting, Robinson's rebounding, and their defensive abilities, Boston is banking on Mazzulla ball to compensate for losing Brown.
Mind you, it's not a perfect plan
For everything George and Robinson should provide when they are on the floor, being on the floor is their biggest problem. Neither of them is an iron man and has a sturdy reputation for being fragile despite their talent.
Boston is more than aware of this, which is why they will likely rely on the likes of Gonzalez and Garza, among others, to compensate when those two are inevitably either injured or being rested during the regular season.
But that's why this chaotic roster could be more so internally for the Celtics than the rest of the NBA, and we should withhold any judgment until we see what Mazzulla ball in full force should look like. What the Celtics roster lacks in talent compared to when they started their run for Banner 18, their fits in Mazzulla ball could absolutely make up for that.
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