Postgame Conversation Precedes Big Celtics Change for ‘Weird’ Joe Mazzulla

Getty Joe Mazzulla (right), Celtics coach

Joe Mazzulla had finished his press conference following Wednesday night’s Celtics win over Detroit, and I was speaking to him in the hallway about, interestingly enough, one of the attributes that helped him shed an adjective.

He is no longer the “interim” head coach of the Celtics, having received a slimmer title and a contract extension. The announcement came Thursday, but something was apparently up when vice president of basketball operations and team counsel Mike Zarren was hovering near the aforementioned conversation and took Mazzulla away as soon as the brief talk concluded.

The coach said Thursday night he was told the move was in the works a couple of days prior when the team was in Milwaukee. He confirmed that Zarren let him know it was done after the aforementioned hall chat.

“It is pretty wild. A lot going on,” Mazzulla said in a teleconference with reporters arranged by the team. “But I’m just grateful. Not many people get an opportunity to experience this, especially in the manner I am with the players I’m able to coach, the people I’m able to work for. And it’s for the Celtics, so it is a dream come true, for sure.”

So closed an open question from the time the club suspended Ime Udoka for violations of team policy related to an improper relationship with a female staffer.

Celtics Had Hoped Ime Udoka Would Be Hired Elsewhere

It was written here a month ago that the Celtics were on track to giving Mazzulla the job long term, but they were hoping the part of the equation involving Udoka’s contract could be solved by him taking a job elsewhere. At some point, the club decided not to wait any longer. The “team counsel” part of Zarren’s job came into play.

Supporting what’s been offered here nearly from the start of this process, a source close to the situation told Heavy Sports last week, “Joe will be the long-time head coach of the Celtics, and you won’t see Ime back with the team. I don’t know when or how it’s going to happen, but I think the only reason why it probably hasn’t happened yet is the legal issues.”

Noting the severing of ties with Udoka, another league executive told Heavy on Thursday, “I’m sure that all had to get settled before they did this. I think that was the only thing keeping them from doing it three months ago or four months ago.”

Mazzulla Setting Quick Pace for Celtics

Four months into the job, the Celtics have the best record in the league. At least part of the reason is that Mazzulla has them pushing the ball up the floor more often than in the past. The overall official pace numbers may not bear it out because of the close situations in which the Celts have found themselves, but coached and scouts around the league have remarked on how they’re advancing the ball with the pass more frequently.

“I define pace a little differently,” Mazzulla said to Heavy on Wednesday. “It’s not necessarily playing fast as much as it’s recognizing the advantage fast, then attacking. So it’s not just how fast we can play, it’s how fast we can create an advantage to then do what we need to do.”

Said Marcus Smart, “Yeah, he wants us to push it. But he wants us to do it with a purpose. You can still be under control if you’re pushing the ball. He’s been preaching that. It maybe got us into some turnovers early in the year, but we’re getting better at it.

“That’s Joe letting us go and letting us learn. He’s making us better by giving us trust and allowing us to learn under pressure. That’s how you get better. People misconstrue when they hear ‘push the ball.’ They think it’s just about being fast. No, it’s about pushing the ball and knowing what you want to do with it. That’s what Joe wants. And when we do that, it’s hard for us to be guarded.

“What we want to do now is kick it ahead when it’s there. A pass moves faster than any human being, and when we move the ball — especially after makes — it’s demoralizing to the other team. It plays right to our strength.”

And that emphasis isn’t always followed through by a coach.

“Every coach says they want to run more,” said one source in a quote that feels like it’s been heard here before. “But when it gets down to it, they want control. They say they want to run, but they’re always up calling plays.”

Said Mazzulla, “I don’t want control.”

So how is a first-year NBA coach secure enough to be that way?

“My confidence comes from the players that I have,” he said. “I trust them. They’re experienced, they’re talented, they’re coachable and they want to win. So my confidence comes from them.”

The short remainder of the conversation was less than serious:

You’re not just weird or something like that?

“I am weird also,” Mazzulla replied with his deadpan sense of humor. “I’m very weird.”

Doesn’t make you a bad person.

“No,” he said. “I hope not.”

With that, the weird guy laughed and entered the Celtics’ inner sanctum at the Garden to learn he would officially be even more secure.