Fire Joe! ... or critique Joe ... or defend Joe... or worry about Joe's coaching

[green_bballers13]

Joe got out coached by Spo in his first year. That is a very reasonable result. People freaked out, and Joe became a target as a rookie coach. People called him dumb. The criticism was unfounded.

[Roy H.]

Joe got out coached by Spo in his first year. That is a very reasonable result. People freaked out, and Joe became a target as a rookie coach. People called him dumb. The criticism was unfounded.

He also you out-coached against the Hawks and Sixers.  Multiple players complained about the lack of commitment to defense.  The team dropped games to Philly without Embiid and to Atlanta without Murray.  In each series we blew multiple 10+ point leads.  It got so bad that Wyc was caught screaming at Joe in the Miami series.

Last year he was much more in control and prepared, and coached well with the exception of our second playoff game.  He was good last year, he wasn't in 2023.

[green_bballers13]

Joe got out coached by Spo in his first year. That is a very reasonable result. People freaked out, and Joe became a target as a rookie coach. People called him dumb. The criticism was unfounded.

He also you out-coached against the Hawks and Sixers.  Multiple players complained about the lack of commitment to defense.  The team dropped games to Philly without Embiid and to Atlanta without Murray.  In each series we blew multiple 10+ point leads.  It got so bad that Wyc was caught screaming at Joe in the Miami series.

Last year he was much more in control and prepared, and coached well with the exception of our second playoff game.  He was good last year, he wasn't in 2023.

The overreaction was extreme. He was a rookie coach with unreasonable expectations. It got personal for fans. They called him dumb when he knew 100x more than them. The irony

[mobilija]

Joe got out coached by Spo in his first year. That is a very reasonable result. People freaked out, and Joe became a target as a rookie coach. People called him dumb. The criticism was unfounded.

He also you out-coached against the Hawks and Sixers.  Multiple players complained about the lack of commitment to defense.  The team dropped games to Philly without Embiid and to Atlanta without Murray.  In each series we blew multiple 10+ point leads.  It got so bad that Wyc was caught screaming at Joe in the Miami series.

Last year he was much more in control and prepared, and coached well with the exception of our second playoff game.  He was good last year, he wasn't in 2023.

I don?t disagree with you but think it?s important to point out that (and correct me if I?m misremembering) the two chief complainers, Brogdon and Smart, got shipped for other players. I think there is some player blame here, granted it?s the coach?s job to get buy in, but there was player mutiny (warranted or not, hard to know not being directly involved). The locker room was a lot more cohesive with those two gone.

[mobilija]

Joe got out coached by Spo in his first year. That is a very reasonable result. People freaked out, and Joe became a target as a rookie coach. People called him dumb. The criticism was unfounded.

He also you out-coached against the Hawks and Sixers.  Multiple players complained about the lack of commitment to defense.  The team dropped games to Philly without Embiid and to Atlanta without Murray.  In each series we blew multiple 10+ point leads.  It got so bad that Wyc was caught screaming at Joe in the Miami series.

Last year he was much more in control and prepared, and coached well with the exception of our second playoff game.  He was good last year, he wasn't in 2023.

The overreaction was extreme. He was a rookie coach with unreasonable expectations. It got personal for fans. They called him dumb when he knew 100x more than them. The irony

Yeah, Joe had obvious flaws his first year but the fans, being typical fans, resorted to better than thou name calling. It was gross at times from some.

Joe put in the work. Had a great second year.

[Roy H.]

Joe got out coached by Spo in his first year. That is a very reasonable result. People freaked out, and Joe became a target as a rookie coach. People called him dumb. The criticism was unfounded.

He also you out-coached against the Hawks and Sixers.  Multiple players complained about the lack of commitment to defense.  The team dropped games to Philly without Embiid and to Atlanta without Murray.  In each series we blew multiple 10+ point leads.  It got so bad that Wyc was caught screaming at Joe in the Miami series.

Last year he was much more in control and prepared, and coached well with the exception of our second playoff game.  He was good last year, he wasn't in 2023.

I don?t disagree with you but think it?s important to point out that (and correct me if I?m misremembering) the two chief complainers, Brogdon and Smart, got shipped for other players. I think there is some player blame here, granted it?s the coach?s job to get buy in, but there was player mutiny (warranted or not, hard to know not being directly involved). The locker room was a lot more cohesive with those two gone.

Yes, I agree.  I get pushback whenever I say this, but I think that in some ways Marcus' departure on its own was helpful to the team.  We got everything good about Marcus in Jrue Holiday, while jettisoning the bad aspects of his game / personality.

Brogdon's complaining in the playoffs was surprising to me, if only because he's generally been perceived as a pretty classy player and he willingly filled his role all year.  He was closing games over Derrick White, so it's not like he had any legit beef about role or playing time.  Then, the failed trade happened, and the relationship was unsalvageable.

The third guy who complained -- not to the media, but internally -- was Grant Williams, and his loss was addition by subtraction as well.

All that said, Joe couldn't make it work.  And, some of that was his own doing.  He got less than he should have from Williams, Hauser and Pritchard, and didn't hold the guys accountable enough for lack of effort and blowing leads.

And then, the trades happened, Joe had a summer to prepare, he was given elite assistants, and the team came out with a chip on its shoulder.  Joe got the team to buy in completely, the new guys assimilated perfectly, and we had maybe the most impressive playoff run in team history.

[Big333223]

I still say the biggest issue with 2023 was that Joe had a staff that didn't want to work for him. It was mostly Ime's guys (who all bolted as soon as they could) who Joe vaulted over for the job. Whether or not the players bought it, I don't think the staff bought in and that was a huge problem.

[SparzWizard]

Playing .500 ball since December, offense revolving only on 3's, defense is nonexistent all year long, Jaylen Brown going MIA, White and Jrue suddenly lost their skills in basketball, Jayson doing his best Marcus Smart impression, going into OT against a garbage Clippers lineup and getting blown out by the nemesis Lakers and old man LeBron.

This head coach definitely won in spite of the team last year, and also had a very favorable playoff path. He really was outcoached by JJ here. It was only a matter of time before the fraudulent Joe Mazzulla is back to this seat again, and in my eyes, it's time he hit the road. Fire Joe. Bring in Mike Brown.

[86MaxwellSmart]

They've sucked since starting KP. Always trying to feed him in the post to start the game and not getting anyone else involved.
Bring him off the Bench and start Horford.

[Adelaide Celt]

Playing .500 ball since December, offense revolving only on 3's, defense is nonexistent all year long, Jaylen Brown going MIA, White and Jrue suddenly lost their skills in basketball, Jayson doing his best Marcus Smart impression, going into OT against a garbage Clippers lineup and getting blown out by the nemesis Lakers and old man LeBron.

This head coach definitely won in spite of the team last year, and also had a very favorable playoff path. He really was outcoached by JJ here. It was only a matter of time before the fraudulent Joe Mazzulla is back to this seat again, and in my eyes, it's time he hit the road. Fire Joe. Bring in Mike Brown.

This implies you think the coach is good but the team is not. Sharp as a bowling ball you are, kid.

[Vermont Green]

When comparing 2022-23 to 2023-24 coaching, don't forget that it was late in they preseason that the fired Udoka, Joe was thrown into it.  He inherited assistant coaches that in many cases didn't want to be here after Udoka was fired.  And the players were completely blindsided.  They lost a coach they liked overnight.  That first season was a very difficult coaching situation for any coach, much less a young rookie coach.

For 2023-24, all the emotions over Udoka being fired had finally settled down (I believe there was still tension with the players right up to the previous playoffs), Mazzulla had his assistants, and we had better players with Holiday and Porzingis over Smart and Williams.  The team was bought in to each other and the coach.  Mazzulla was 4th in coach of the year voting.  I see season 2 as far more representative of reality than season 1 for Mazzulla.

So this season, Brown, Holiday, White, Horford, and Hauser are all playing below last season.  Tatum is about the same, Pritchard is better but cooling off.  And Porzingis missed most of the season and is proving difficult to reintegrate into the rotations.  I never bought the "will never win a title with Mazzulla as coach" sentiment.  We are 3-1 on a tough road trip and people want to fire Joe, blow up the roster.  I say soldier on with the roster and the coach.  Just keep grinding.  This is still a good team and isn't it settled that Joe is a good enough coach to win a title? 

It was always unlikely that BOS would repeat, the odds and history are against it.  I get how it feels when you watch the team play poorly, well below what is expected.  But I am not going to overreact to this.  I have faith in the team and the coach.  Last season, maybe the players and coaches played over their weight class, so to speak.  This year they are collectively regressing some.  I think the (healthy) median is still good enough to have a really good shot at a title.  Run this out and regroup in the off season as needed.  Likely new owners and so on.

[Goldstar88]

And we are back! This team will never win with Joe as HC! 

[green_bballers13]

And we are back! This team will never win with Joe as HC! 

Get him out of here!

also

The regular season doesn't matter. He will only be judged by the playoffs!

[Roy H.]

And we are back! This team will never win with Joe as HC! 

Get him out of here!

also

The regular season doesn't matter. He will only be judged by the playoffs!

That's true.  And it's how it should be.  I don't care if we finish .500 this year, Joe will be celebrated if we win a title.  And, if we bounce back and win 65 games this season but lose early in the playoffs, Joe's seat will become hotter.

[Donoghus]

And we are back! This team will never win with Joe as HC! 

Get him out of here!

also

The regular season doesn't matter. He will only be judged by the playoffs!

That's true.  And it's how it should be.  I don't care if we finish .500 this year, Joe will be celebrated if we win a title.  And, if we bounce back and win 65 games this season but lose early in the playoffs, Joe's seat will become hotter.

Bingo.