Excellent interview with coach Joe

[DefenseWinsChamps]

How do you know anything about Tatum's leadership? Have you been led by either? Or do you just get a really good sense of it through 2 hours of footage every few days?

Has he led us to a title? No.  He has lead us through adversity to come back?   Not quite.  Did he differ a lot in pressure situations to other players?   Yes.  Does he demand his team mates play better.    He  does cheerleads and tries to get the the crowd into the game by telling them to be louder.

By your logic, and it is not logic, your post was pure emotion, nothing more than another desperate attempt by you to look snarky and clever at someone else's expense,  how does he know about KG's leadership?  I know Roy asked this to you as well.   You don't know who he was around or the like either.  This is an alleged certainty fallacy on your part.  You also directed your argument at me, not my statement with your typical ad hominem attacks.     I know because of this:

You can actually observe true leadership in action.   I've been around it.   It visible, noticeable and instills confidence in those around them.  You can't fake it, and it has tangible results.   They hold themselves and their team mates accountable.  There are good  leaders outside of these areas, but you see it more in these two areas.   Both team sports and the military are team related activities.   There is action component of this leading by example but this is way more complex too with issues like communication, accountability, decision making, determination, resilience, courage and mutual respect.  One does not get to see civilians do the courage aspect that much.   

Have you ever been any team sport at a high level nor have you served in the military.?

KG demanded excellence of his team mates, he held them accountable, his leadership was clear and visible.   Go back and watch some of that and compare it to Tatum.     I look forward to all your examples you're going to present on how Tatum got us through a tough spots time and time again.    This year come from behind?   A good leader would not have let us get in all those holes to begin with.

Hindsight is 20/20. Where was KG's leadership in the first 12 years of his career, when he repeatedly lost in the playoffs?

Probably not worth arguing about.

[gouki88]

How do you know anything about Tatum's leadership? Have you been led by either? Or do you just get a really good sense of it through 2 hours of footage every few days?

Has he led us to a title? No.  He has lead us through adversity to come back?   Not quite.  Did he differ a lot in pressure situations to other players?   Yes.  Does he demand his team mates play better.    He  does cheerleads and tries to get the the crowd into the game by telling them to be louder.

By your logic, and it is not logic, your post was pure emotion, nothing more than another desperate attempt by you to look snarky and clever at someone else's expense,  how does he know about KG's leadership?  I know Roy asked this to you as well.   You don't know who he was around or the like either.  This is an alleged certainty fallacy on your part.  You also directed your argument at me, not my statement with your typical ad hominem attacks.     I know because of this:

You can actually observe true leadership in action.   I've been around it.   It visible, noticeable and instills confidence in those around them.  You can't fake it, and it has tangible results.   They hold themselves and their team mates accountable.  There are good  leaders outside of these areas, but you see it more in these two areas.   Both team sports and the military are team related activities.   There is action component of this leading by example but this is way more complex too with issues like communication, accountability, decision making, determination, resilience, courage and mutual respect.  One does not get to see civilians do the courage aspect that much.   

Have you ever been any team sport at a high level nor have you served in the military.?

KG demanded excellence of his team mates, he held them accountable, his leadership was clear and visible.   Go back and watch some of that and compare it to Tatum.     I look forward to all your examples you're going to present on how Tatum got us through a tough spots time and time again.    This year come from behind?   A good leader would not have let us get in all those holes to begin with.

This is just nonsense! I love it - was KG not a leader in Minnesota? To use your terminology, 'by your logic' he was not, as he did not lead them to a title nor did he lead them through adversity to come back (Joe Smith).

There is a wealth of literature out there on leadership. To think there is only one style is beyond naive.

[Roy H.]

I don't trust Joe, but I do trust some of the players, so this is nice to hear:

Given the rare circumstances surrounding the start of Mazzulla’s tenure, Horford believes it is only natural the coach waited until his second season to tweak certain details. Horford said the new ideas became evident when the Celtics started to funnel back into the team’s practice facility in late August and early September. Mazzulla modified parts of the players’ day-to-day schedule, including their regimens on the court and in the weight room. The adjustments helped produce what Horford called the best pre-training camp atmosphere he has ever experienced with the Celtics.

“And it has carried on,” Horford said after a recent practice. “Here is just completely different: how it feels, how it looks. Obviously, it was good before, but it’s very clear that he has put his imprint on how he wanted things to be. … We had a good culture, but I think that (he is) really setting the tone on the details and the things that he expects and that he wants in every facet of what we do.

“Weight room, on the court, preparation — there’s a lot of layers that go into it. And with him getting the job a couple of days before training camp last year, it’s kind of hard to establish all that. So that’s what I’m seeing right now.”

In Mazzulla’s second season, Sam Hauser said the days are “more scheduled” now. He said aspects of the team’s daily routine were optional for certain players last season, but now it’s “more mandatory for guys to be in here getting work in.” He also said Mazzulla has put a heightened focus on both offensive and defensive “reads,” drills that simulate game-like situations and force players to react on the fly.

Also, this is an interesting quote:

“Initially, it was like, when I was an assistant, I did a good job of being aware of like (players) 8 through 15,” Mazzulla said. “Like, that was my job. I was on the court with those guys every day and kinda had that sweat equity. Because of my mindset last year, I probably lost touch with 8 through 15 and kind of missed and didn’t manage some of those relationships as well as I could have, as well as I did as an assistant.

https://theathletic.com/4951398/2023/10/11/joe-mazzulla-celtics-coach-al-horford/

[BitterJim]

I don't trust Joe, but I do trust some of the players, so this is nice to hear:

Given the rare circumstances surrounding the start of Mazzulla’s tenure, Horford believes it is only natural the coach waited until his second season to tweak certain details. Horford said the new ideas became evident when the Celtics started to funnel back into the team’s practice facility in late August and early September. Mazzulla modified parts of the players’ day-to-day schedule, including their regimens on the court and in the weight room. The adjustments helped produce what Horford called the best pre-training camp atmosphere he has ever experienced with the Celtics.

“And it has carried on,” Horford said after a recent practice. “Here is just completely different: how it feels, how it looks. Obviously, it was good before, but it’s very clear that he has put his imprint on how he wanted things to be. … We had a good culture, but I think that (he is) really setting the tone on the details and the things that he expects and that he wants in every facet of what we do.

“Weight room, on the court, preparation — there’s a lot of layers that go into it. And with him getting the job a couple of days before training camp last year, it’s kind of hard to establish all that. So that’s what I’m seeing right now.”

In Mazzulla’s second season, Sam Hauser said the days are “more scheduled” now. He said aspects of the team’s daily routine were optional for certain players last season, but now it’s “more mandatory for guys to be in here getting work in.” He also said Mazzulla has put a heightened focus on both offensive and defensive “reads,” drills that simulate game-like situations and force players to react on the fly.

Also, this is an interesting quote:

“Initially, it was like, when I was an assistant, I did a good job of being aware of like (players) 8 through 15,” Mazzulla said. “Like, that was my job. I was on the court with those guys every day and kinda had that sweat equity. Because of my mindset last year, I probably lost touch with 8 through 15 and kind of missed and didn’t manage some of those relationships as well as I could have, as well as I did as an assistant.

https://theathletic.com/4951398/2023/10/11/joe-mazzulla-celtics-coach-al-horford/

Yeah, those quotes are really encouraging. It remains to see what will and won't translate to games, but so far things seem improved.

[Roy H.]

Joe Mazzulla no longer wants the Celtics to live or die by the 3-pointer, but that doesn’t mean he wants the team to start passing up long balls.

As Mazzulla sees it, the Celtics just didn’t have enough ways to win last season when their 3-pointers went missing. He wants them to give themselves more outs by finding other ways to shift the overall shot margin in their favor.

“What we saw last year a lot was we didn’t (attempt more overall field goals than) our opponents, but we still won,” Mazzulla said. “We have to eliminate the luck of the percentage at times with our shooting, and we have to create easy baskets, whether it’s with offensive rebounding or forcing turnovers and deflections.”

The Celtics’ inability to win ugly emerged as a problem last season. Though every team is more likely to win when hot from downtown, they took that truth to extremes, going 31-1 during the regular season when shooting at least 40 percent on 3-pointers, but only 26-24 when held below that mark. And the issue only worsened throughout the playoffs. Mazzulla’s team showed hardly any ability to overcome a poor shooting night during the postseason, going just 2-8 when shooting less than 39 percent on 3-point attempts. The Celtics only won one playoff game while shooting worse than 35 percent from deep — and they needed a Derrick White putback miracle to get that victory.

“We didn’t force turnovers, and we didn’t get offensive rebounds,” Mazzulla said, “so I recognized it the entire year. If you saw 80 percent of our box scores, we won the 3-point margin (by attempting more 3-pointers than the opponent), but we lost the shot margin. And we were able to make up for that because we were kind of a really skilled offensive team, and we usually won the free-throw margin because we didn’t foul on the defensive end. But that’s not a recipe for long term in the playoffs and on nights when it’s not going well.”

https://theathletic.com/4987513/2023/10/23/celtics-joe-mazzulla-shots/

It will be interesting to see what strategies Joe employs to force turnovers and to get offensive rebounds.  It's strange to me that Brad didn't land a big man if Joe wants to go heavy on the glass.  It seems a bit incongruent with primarily small-ball lineups.

It's also interesting to me that, when talking about getting easier shots, he didn't talk about going inside more and decreasing our own turnovers.  Maybe those are just obvious points.  I do know Tatum has worked a lot on posting up this season, and KP likes the ball around the FT line. 

[BitterJim]

Joe Mazzulla no longer wants the Celtics to live or die by the 3-pointer, but that doesn’t mean he wants the team to start passing up long balls.

As Mazzulla sees it, the Celtics just didn’t have enough ways to win last season when their 3-pointers went missing. He wants them to give themselves more outs by finding other ways to shift the overall shot margin in their favor.

“What we saw last year a lot was we didn’t (attempt more overall field goals than) our opponents, but we still won,” Mazzulla said. “We have to eliminate the luck of the percentage at times with our shooting, and we have to create easy baskets, whether it’s with offensive rebounding or forcing turnovers and deflections.”

The Celtics’ inability to win ugly emerged as a problem last season. Though every team is more likely to win when hot from downtown, they took that truth to extremes, going 31-1 during the regular season when shooting at least 40 percent on 3-pointers, but only 26-24 when held below that mark. And the issue only worsened throughout the playoffs. Mazzulla’s team showed hardly any ability to overcome a poor shooting night during the postseason, going just 2-8 when shooting less than 39 percent on 3-point attempts. The Celtics only won one playoff game while shooting worse than 35 percent from deep — and they needed a Derrick White putback miracle to get that victory.

“We didn’t force turnovers, and we didn’t get offensive rebounds,” Mazzulla said, “so I recognized it the entire year. If you saw 80 percent of our box scores, we won the 3-point margin (by attempting more 3-pointers than the opponent), but we lost the shot margin. And we were able to make up for that because we were kind of a really skilled offensive team, and we usually won the free-throw margin because we didn’t foul on the defensive end. But that’s not a recipe for long term in the playoffs and on nights when it’s not going well.”

https://theathletic.com/4987513/2023/10/23/celtics-joe-mazzulla-shots/

It will be interesting to see what strategies Joe employs to force turnovers and to get offensive rebounds.  It's strange to me that Brad didn't land a big man if Joe wants to go heavy on the glass.  It seems a bit incongruent with primarily small-ball lineups.

It's also interesting to me that, when talking about getting easier shots, he didn't talk about going inside more and decreasing our own turnovers.  Maybe those are just obvious points.  I do know Tatum has worked a lot on posting up this season, and KP likes the ball around the FT line.

That's definitely nice to hear from Joe. My one issue is that focussing more on offensive boards tends to leave you a bit exposed for fast breaks. If we had a big rebounding lineup and just needed to keep a couple of big guys inside for the rebounds that would be one thing, but gang rebounding on the offensive glass just sounds like a recipe for getting killed in transition. We'll see how we end up implementing it, though