How good is Coach Maz? (Update: Interim Removed)

[Roy H.]

What's your opinion?

[jambr380]

I'm not going to totally trash him and put him in the last category, but he is probably in the bottom 1/3 of the league. I mean, he was our 3rd choice going into the season (Ime, Hardy) and 4th if Brad was an option.

This team was coming off a Finals appearance and was poised to be excellent this year with the addition of Brogdon. For him to be successful, he had to just not suck. And I think he has mostly accomplished this. But I don't think he particularly brings out the best in the team.

[angryguy77]

We need a coach that will do his job for 48 minutes and not decide to take the last 2 minutes off to teach the children a lesson.

I've yet to see this guy draw up a play or do more than chew gum. Losing to lesser teams is a 50/50 thing now.

The end of the Toronto game should concern everyone. Good coaches don't allow those situations to develop the way he did.

[Celtics4ever]

He is middle of the pack really, still learning and the classical only good as his players at the moment.    I expect him to improve.   It is a big step to move up from assistant coach to head coach.   

[Vermont Green]

It is a tough one to call.  He came into a tough situation with Udoka getting suspended but he inherited a really good team.  I think for the most part, the team has played well, played hard, bought in.  The coach gets a lot of credit for that.  I guess I will say it could have been a lot worse under the circumstances.  Not sure any coach gets us much more than our current 35 wins.

[Goldstar88]

Well, he has a much better record with the team than Ime did this time last year. Seems like people forget that.

[Roy H.]

Well, he has a much better record with the team than Ime did this time last year. Seems like people forget that.

The counterargument to that is that Ime had to take over an underachieving team with bad habits, and he rebuilt it into a defensive monster with an elite point differential.  Mazzulla took over a team that was coming off a Finals run, without as much change being necessary.

It's interesting to compare Ime's squad to Joe's, even with last year's team getting off to a significantly worse start:

2022 Celts:  Off Rtg: 114.4 (7th of 30) Def Rtg: 106.9 (2nd of 30) Net Rtg: +7.5 (2nd of 30)

2023 Celts:  Off Rtg: 117.6 (3rd of 30) Def Rtg: 112.0 (8th of 30) Net Rtg: +5.7 (1st of 30)

[jambr380]

Well, he has a much better record with the team than Ime did this time last year. Seems like people forget that.

So you seriously think that Joe inherited a team similar to what Ime did the season before? The Celtics were the best team in the league last year after starting 18-21 and they carried it all of the way to the Finals. Comparing Ime's start to Joe's start is incredibly disingenuous. Bugs Bunny would have this team at 30+ wins.

I don't blame Joe, it's not his fault Ime was a complete moron. If Hardy was here, he would have had the job over Joe. It's not that he was never going to be a coach, but he was thrown into a situation that he probably wasn't ready for. He gets to coach the NBA Title favorites while Hardy went to a tanking situation. And somehow, someway Hardy has his team at .500 and in contention for the playoffs. They were supposed to contend for Wemby.

Edit: Roy beat me to the punch

[Donoghus]

We're really not going to know until the playoffs.

Until then, I have him as top 10.  Justified or not, this team has the best record in the NBA at the moment and has emerged from the Ime debacle without much detriment.   People can certainly nitpick his schemes and the decisions but, at the end of the day right now, this team has the best record in the NBA nearly 50 games in.

[Redz]

The no timeout when they're faltering thing has always bugged me.  I hear that he's trying to get them to work through adversity, but sometime you gotta stop the bleeding and talk about what's going wrong.  I think he's a decent enough motivator....

20/20 hindsight, but definitely would have liked to have seen them call a timeout and set up a play last night.

[angryguy77]

think we need to stop pointing at record. Yes it matters, but it's not entirely reflective.

Spol is a better coach, but his team has a worse record.

What matters more is how they are coaching their respective team. Key moments give us a inside look into how competent a coach is. I'm being serious when I ask is there more games that we see where we come away thinking Mazz really helped them pull that out vs Mass might have cost the game with bad decision making?

[86MaxwellSmart]

Well, if The C's don't get to The Finals or even The ECF, We might see Ime back again, haha

[angryguy77]

The no timeout when they're faltering thing has always bugged me.  I hear that he's trying to get them to work through adversity, but sometime you gotta stop the bleeding and talk about what's going wrong.  I think he's a decent enough motivator....

20/20 hindsight, but definitely would have liked to have seen them call a timeout and set up a play last night.

I was having a talk with my son between games last weekend. I was telling him some things I know he knows, but he needed to hear them. I could see he was thinking "yeah dad, I know this" until I reminded him that even the pros have coaches for a reason. They know a lot, but at times they need to be pulled aside and reminded of the little things. His expression changed immediately.

Mazz doesn't seem to get it that you have to correct them even if thye "know."

[slamtheking]

put him in bottom third.  I don't think it's a stretch that at least 20 more-experienced coaches in the league could be doing better than Joe or at least certainly know how to manage personnel better and definitely have more X's/O's experience and far better TO management.  I do think there's a number of assistants in the league that could be doing as well if not better too --> mostly former coaches. 

I will give Joe credit for not letting the Ime situation intrude on the team's season but on the flip side, he was here last year so should have been able to piggyback of what Ime established and he hasn't really done that as well as I think he should have.  The defense in particular is not nearly as good as last year.

[jpotter33]

I'm not going to totally trash him and put him in the last category, but he is probably in the bottom 1/3 of the league. I mean, he was our 3rd choice going into the season (Ime, Hardy) and 4th if Brad was an option.

This team was coming off a Finals appearance and was poised to be excellent this year with the addition of Brogdon. For him to be successful, he had to just not suck. And I think he has mostly accomplished this. But I don't think he particularly brings out the best in the team.

Pretty much this.

I think a different but more interesting question that would be illuminating is “How much do you trust Joe right now to make appropriate in-game adjustments?” I have to imagine that the answers to that would be pretty low.