Celtics Off-Season News

[SHAQATTACK]

The problem with giving him a chance is, We are a Championship team RIGHT NOW....we don't have time for him to learn how to coach.

You ll just have to patient, wait like the rest of us for Joe to be fired. Oh , he ll win a good many games , not because of him . He an’t good enough to coach playoff basketball , that’s when the real coaches rise to the top when a great coach can push your team ….but he ain’t , we gotta wait and cycle though all this first.

[86MaxwellSmart]

The problem with giving him a chance is, We are a Championship team RIGHT NOW....we don't have time for him to learn how to coach.

How many games did they win last year?

Doesn't matter because we were the Favorites and we under achieved because he didn't use his bench properly and wore out our starters, also awful in game coaching--timeouts, etc. Spoelstra threw a zone at us and we disappeared, even Doc could have seen this coming. Should have been ready for anything in the playoffs.

[Kernewek]

Blame management for not replacing the coaches we lost during the season.

[Celtics2021]

Blame management for not replacing the coaches we lost during the season.

They made a few offers, but if you’re an assistant coach without a job in October, and then March, when the C’s were looking, there’s probably a reason.

[tenn_smoothie]

All of these questions about who the C's can add to their bench really don't matter, when we have an IDIOT Coach who won't use the bench properly or at all.

I'm willing to give Joe a chance. He was a rookie head coach with no preseason prep time and a coaching staff that was not his own. With the new roster of assistant coaches plus the whole offseason an preseason to prepare, I expect he will be better.

Yes and you're right in that the coaching overall should be better. But good enough to win the title ?
Mazzulla's decision to abandon the defense-first priority for a jack-3's and try to outscore everybody approach is what really bothered me.
He tried to turn a strong defensive team (which would have only gotten stronger) into the Steph & Klay Golden State Warriors.
Not only did it force the team to be dependent on an unreliable skill to win, it was just plain stupid given our personnel.
Which leads me to question the guy's most basic understanding of the game.
That is not a coach that I want leading my championship-ready Celtics while the contending years tick by.

[trickybilly]

All of these questions about who the C's can add to their bench really don't matter, when we have an IDIOT Coach who won't use the bench properly or at all.

I'm willing to give Joe a chance. He was a rookie head coach with no preseason prep time and a coaching staff that was not his own. With the new roster of assistant coaches plus the whole offseason an preseason to prepare, I expect he will be better.

Yes and you're right in that the coaching overall should be better. But good enough to win the title ?
Mazzulla's decision to abandon the defense-first priority for a jack-3's and try to outscore everybody approach is what really bothered me.
He tried to turn a strong defensive team (which would have only gotten stronger) into the Steph & Klay Golden State Warriors.
Not only did it force the team to be dependent on an unreliable skill to win, it was just plain stupid given our personnel.
Which leads me to question the guy's most basic understanding of the game.
That is not a coach that I want leading my championship-ready Celtics while the contending years tick by.

Would you be willing to fire him mid-season?

[Neurotic Guy]

All of these questions about who the C's can add to their bench really don't matter, when we have an IDIOT Coach who won't use the bench properly or at all.

I'm willing to give Joe a chance. He was a rookie head coach with no preseason prep time and a coaching staff that was not his own. With the new roster of assistant coaches plus the whole offseason an preseason to prepare, I expect he will be better.

Yes and you're right in that the coaching overall should be better. But good enough to win the title ?
Mazzulla's decision to abandon the defense-first priority for a jack-3's and try to outscore everybody approach is what really bothered me.
He tried to turn a strong defensive team (which would have only gotten stronger) into the Steph & Klay Golden State Warriors.
Not only did it force the team to be dependent on an unreliable skill to win, it was just plain stupid given our personnel.
Which leads me to question the guy's most basic understanding of the game.
That is not a coach that I want leading my championship-ready Celtics while the contending years tick by.

I wanted them to fire Joe but I have enough trust in Brad to push my opinion aside and believe he’s endorsing a coaching staff that he thinks can win. 

Totally agree with your analysis - hard to fathom really that Joe would take the reins from Ime at the last minute and try to move away from a defensive focus that was working.  To me it showed either a lack of capacity for coaching flexibility or a mistake by management to not hire a coach who could sustain a working culture. That said, after a year of watching Mazzulla coach, Brad, Wye and whoever else may be advising at that level believe he’s the right guy for the job.  That’s a long interview - and it should produce an intelligent choice.  They also bolstered the staff in the off-season and I’m hoping that Joe learned a ton from his experience that he’ll apply in his second go-round.  We’ll see.

[Vermont Green]

I wonder about this idea of defensive focus.  I find it hard to believe that any coach wouldn't focus on defense.  I could see Mazzulla feeling that the defense was established and so didn't require further focus.  That he was trying to build on that and get the offense to the same level.  That he focused on offense because that is where he felt there was more need, not necessarily more importance.

In terms of defense though, most people accept DEFRTG as a good measure of team defense.  In 2021-22 (under Udoka), we were first in the lead at 106.2 (GSW were second).  In 2022-23 (under Mazzulla) we were second in the league at 110.6 (CLE was first).  Our Pace increased from 97.3 to 99.2  Pace increased in the overall league.  There really was not that much drop off in team defense.  I think the scheme was still there but the effort was not always there.

As to offensive scheme, I agree that it was strange to have such a singular focus on shooting 3s.  We attempted 5 more per game and went from 9th to 2nd in the league (GSW were first in 2022-23).  Having an offensive scheme that works to generate good 3-point looks makes sense, but I feel you need more than that.

In the end though, the "problem" seemed to be that the team lost too many winnable games through the season.  Seemed to take nights off, play like it didn't really matter.  To get in a funk.  I see that as players not buying in to the coach to some extent but players need to look at themselves too.  I don't think Kevin Garnett needed a coach to tell him to play hard.

[Kernewek]

I wonder about this idea of defensive focus.  I find it hard to believe that any coach wouldn't focus on defense.  I could see Mazzulla feeling that the defense was established and so didn't require further focus.  That he was trying to build on that and get the offense to the same level.  That he focused on offense because that is where he felt there was more need, not necessarily more importance.

This is one half of it. It's very clear Stevens et al came away from our Finals appearance against Golden State with a commitment to improving our offensive schemes. The roster moves they made in that offseason (as well as this one, specifically Smart for Kristaps) speak to this.

The other half is that Timelord wasn't healthy, and Al regressed (which should be expected). For a large part of the season, our offense was good enough that it didn't really matter, but when things started to get tough, it was harder for the team to dial in defensively.

In the end though, the "problem" seemed to be that the team lost too many winnable games through the season.  Seemed to take nights off, play like it didn't really matter.  To get in a funk.  I see that as players not buying in to the coach to some extent but players need to look at themselves too.  I don't think Kevin Garnett needed a coach to tell him to play hard.

This has been the case for three coaches, now. If the shots aren't falling, the guys don't go for it on defense. And this is fine for a couple of games, but it felt like this would go on for significant stretches season after season.

However, the problem with this season specifically, compared to last, is that the wheels came off once D. Stoudimire left for the NCAA. Curve fitting is always dangerous, of course, but we were absolutely humming into the All-Star break (with Mazza as an interim coach) and we sputtered out more or less right after the top assistant left. It's not hard to see a significant correlation there.

[Vermont Green]

I wonder about this idea of defensive focus.  I find it hard to believe that any coach wouldn't focus on defense.  I could see Mazzulla feeling that the defense was established and so didn't require further focus.  That he was trying to build on that and get the offense to the same level.  That he focused on offense because that is where he felt there was more need, not necessarily more importance.

This is one half of it. It's very clear Stevens et al came away from our Finals appearance against Golden State with a commitment to improving our offensive schemes. The roster moves they made in that offseason (as well as this one, specifically Smart for Kristaps) speak to this.

The other half is that Timelord wasn't healthy, and Al regressed (which should be expected). For a large part of the season, our offense was good enough that it didn't really matter, but when things started to get tough, it was harder for the team to dial in defensively.

In the end though, the "problem" seemed to be that the team lost too many winnable games through the season.  Seemed to take nights off, play like it didn't really matter.  To get in a funk.  I see that as players not buying in to the coach to some extent but players need to look at themselves too.  I don't think Kevin Garnett needed a coach to tell him to play hard.

This has been the case for three coaches, now. If the shots aren't falling, the guys don't go for it on defense. And this is fine for a couple of games, but it felt like this would go on for significant stretches season after season.

However, the problem with this season specifically, compared to last, is that the wheels came off once D. Stoudimire left for the NCAA. Curve fitting is always dangerous, of course, but we were absolutely humming into the All-Star break (with Mazza as an interim coach) and we sputtered out more or less right after the top assistant left. It's not hard to see a significant correlation there.

It is a fair point.  I think there were lingering issues with the Udoka thing in a broad sense all season, with the assistant coaches certainly a sizable part of it.  Another milestone was when Udoka took the job in HOU.  If I remember correctly, that happened during the playoffs, around when we lost the 3 in a row to MIA.  Then there was Wyc going into the locker room and some other stuff right around that time.

I am hoping that this air has been cleared.  Mazzulla is the coach, all the assistants are here because they want to be here (not just left over when they thought they would be "assisting" Udoka), the players now should be over this.  New season, we have our big guy (Porzingis), it is time for the players (starting with Tatum) to really dig down and play like champions, with sustained focus, buy all the way in on this.

[tenn_smoothie]

I think it is you, Vermont, who comments regularly about the lack of off-ball movement in our offense, which is so true.
And the misery of it is that was the one area of immense improvement from the finals team, who lost because of a stagnant offense.

But as the season wore on, the more the team got away from that quality offense and fell back into iso-ball.
Did Mazzula ever address this deterioration of off-ball activity ? Was he ever asked about it ? It was a stark difference to me.
We went from a more creative, movement oriented offense to isolations and jacking fall-back 3's over a period of about a month.

If we could combine the intense defense with the improved offensive schemes with our talent, they would win titles.
But all that requires a knowledgeable, seasoned and respected coach ..... and Mazzulla ain't that.

[tenn_smoothie]

All of these questions about who the C's can add to their bench really don't matter, when we have an IDIOT Coach who won't use the bench properly or at all.

I'm willing to give Joe a chance. He was a rookie head coach with no preseason prep time and a coaching staff that was not his own. With the new roster of assistant coaches plus the whole offseason an preseason to prepare, I expect he will be better.

Yes and you're right in that the coaching overall should be better. But good enough to win the title ?
Mazzulla's decision to abandon the defense-first priority for a jack-3's and try to outscore everybody approach is what really bothered me.
He tried to turn a strong defensive team (which would have only gotten stronger) into the Steph & Klay Golden State Warriors.
Not only did it force the team to be dependent on an unreliable skill to win, it was just plain stupid given our personnel.
Which leads me to question the guy's most basic understanding of the game.
That is not a coach that I want leading my championship-ready Celtics while the contending years tick by.

Would you be willing to fire him mid-season?

Are you kidding ?
I would be willing to fire him right now.

[Goldstar88]

speaking on WEEI’s “Jones and Mego” show as part of the NESN/WEEI Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, Stevens stressed that the Celtics aren’t worried about Porzingis’ status entering his first year with Boston.

“I’m not concerned about that,” Stevens said of Porzingis’ foot issue. “He’s at the FIBA Tournament with the team so he’s doing his rehab there. We were with him in the 10 days, our training staff was with him [before the tournament] as he was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. He went through all the progressions and he really tried to ramp up and play. He just determined he didn’t want to deal with lingering effects down the road.

“This is something that we should be able to navigate and manage in the next few weeks and be ready for training camp. We’re planning on having him for Day 1 of training camp. He really wanted to try the ramp-up because it really mattered to be there [at the World Cup].”

Stevens acknowledged that the Celtics were not aware of Porzingis’ plantar fasciitis at the time of their blockbuster trade with the Wizards that also saw Marcus Smart dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies.

However, Stevens added that the team doesn’t believe Porzingis’ current injury is something that could severely impact his career, especially when weighed against other far more concerning ailments such as a broken bone or recurring ankle plan.

“You never know how it all ends up,” Stevens said. “From a sports science perspective and physical therapists, they are as good as I’ve been around about navigating. and managing that if we do this now, we’ll be in good shape.

“If you manage it, if you treat it correctly and you ramp back up at the right rate, it has a lot less chance of being a lingering issue. This isn’t what I would call a significant injury that you are concerned about big picture.”

Speaking in a recent interview with Sporta Studija, Porzingis acknowledged that he hopes to be ready for the upcoming 2023-24 season, with training camp expected to start for the Celtics on Oct. 3.

“The foot hurts after exercise, I feel almost nothing when walking, a really funny injury,” Porzingis explained, via translation. “I have an idea what the origin of the injury might be, but it’s something that builds up over the course of a career and pops out at one point. It got worse during the training process – it started to hurt, then I couldn’t get rid of the inflammation.”

[Surferdad]

Doesn't sound good. 

[Celtics2021]

Doesn't sound good. 

Doesn’t sound terrible either.  Often it hurts just to walk, so Porzingis probably was in a very early stage of the injury if it only hurt while going through workouts.  I personally expect him to be fine for the majority of the season.  This is very treatable with rest/PT/insoles, and he was shut down two months before training camp.

For sure I’d rather he didn’t have it, but I’d still bet he plays more games that Time Lord this year, for instance.