At the end of the season presser, Brad Stevens made it clear that Joe Mazzulla isn’t going anywhere, and also that the Celtics needed to upgrade their personnel. This has fans dreaming of trades for stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, and others - and rightfully so. But those are big moves that would partly dismantle the roster.
Maybe that’s what the team needs, but there are other ways to improve on the margins, and one thing that Brad should take a close look at is adding some strong veteran assistant coaches to the staff.
Boston has been lucky to have a lot of great voices alongside the head coach for years, but a lot of them have been snagged away by other teams. Just in the last four years, the Celtics have lost the likes of Ime Udoka, Will Hardy, Charles Lee, Damon Stoudamire, and Jeff Van Gundy to other jobs around the basketball world.
Joe has proven to be an outstanding coach, especially in the regular season, but with the recent playoff struggles, it would be nice to get an outside voice into the room with some experience. They already have some great assistant coaches like Sam Cassell, D.J. MacLeay, Tony Dobbins, Matt Reyonds, Amile Jefferson, and others.Â
They have an elite player development staff as well. But something may be lacking in terms of in-game adjustments, rotations, X’s and O’s, and other areas that a veteran could help with.
Plenty of championship coaches available
It’s hard to know exactly who is available and would be willing to join the team, either as an assistant or some kind of advisor (like JVG was), but there are plenty of great basketball minds out there without a current job and with championship experience.Â
Names like Tom Thibodeau (won a title as an assistant for the Celtics in 2008), Mike Budenholzer (won a title as head coach of the Bucks with Giannis (eye emoji)), Frank Vogel (won a title as head coach of the Lakers in 2020), and Terry Stotts (won a title as an assistant with the Mavericks in 2011) immediately come to mind, and there are countless more out there with great experience and a unique perspective.
It may seem like a minor move, but bringing someone like that on board could make a massive difference down the road. It’s not even a knock on Mazzulla or his staff; it’s just a reality. Running an NBA team is an incredibly difficult and complex job, and the margins couldn’t be thinner.
Every possible advantage should be seized upon, and this is a great opportunity for Bill Chisholm to show he’s committed to winning and spending by splurging on a big-name assistant with some real chops in the league who could make Joe’s life easier going forward.
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