Matt Vautour: Celtics' trades will test Joe Mazzulla's coaching ability
How good a coach is Joe Mazzulla actually? He's about to be tested.
Mazzulla does deserve credit for his role in leading the Celtics to the NBA title in 2024. He didn't just roll the ball out. There is a definite skill to being able to get superstar players to jell, play defense and sacrifice for the greater good.
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Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach usually had the most talent and they're celebrated for making it work. Mazzulla deserves more credit because he did it on the fly.
When Ime Udoka's off-the-court misdeeds led to his firing right before the 2022-23 season, the Celtics were forced to hire Mazzulla, who'd been their No. 2 assistant the year before.
But he made it work. With all his quirky bluntness and love of blood sports, he guided them to Banner 18 in Year No. 2.
Whether or not Mazzulla deserves the blame for the Celtics' unravelling against the Knicks doesn't even matter now.
After the Celtics traded Jrue Holiday just before midnight on Monday and Kristaps Porzingis just before dinner on Tuesday, Mazzulla has a new and very different assignment.
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Brad Stevens' trades have been expected for months. He made moves to get under the second apron by unloading players, who won't be at their peak when Jayson Tatum is healthy again. And he managed to Jedi-mind-trick his way into getting a younger player and two draft picks for Holiday, who was older and more expensive.
But while all of that was necessary for the long-term future of the franchise, it makes Mazzulla's short-term job much harder.
No longer will he take the floor with the best roster almost every night. A team with Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser can win games and probably make the playoffs. That's (unsafely) assuming that there aren't more trades still coming.
But depending on how the rest of the offseason goes, there will be a handful of Eastern Conference teams with a clear talent edge, as well as several in the West.
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Mazzulla, who has former chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin on speed dial, is going to have to employ some gambits in Year 3 on the Celtics bench.
He's going to have to game plan and prepare better than he's ever needed to before.
Mazzulla shouldn't be expected to keep the Celtics in contention for a championship. This is going to be a flawed roster. A playoff berth with a middle seed is a successful year in the standings.
Without Porzingis and the statuses of Al Horford and Luke Kornet up in the air, the Celtics still need to sort out the makeup for their frontcourt. That might involve developing younger players or piecing it together.
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The challenge will be making the 2025-26 season a valuable bridge to 2026-27 and beyond. Ideally, there will be players who make key improvements that will make them more ready to contribute when Boston has a presumably healthy Jayson Tatum and a better roster.
Can Mazzulla coax more than offense out of Anfernee Simons? The former Blazer, who averaged a team-high 19.3 points per game, will likely fill some of the scoring void left by Tatum, Porzingis and Holiday, who averaged a combined 57.4.
But Simons has been a lousy defender in Portland, despite a frame and wingspan that suggests he should be better.
Payton Pritchard got better under Mazzulla. Sam Hauser, too. So, how much more does Baylor Scheierman have to give? Can Neemias Queta do more with more minutes?
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How much is in there and can Mazzulla extract it?
The answer will define the success of the Celtics next year and the perception of Mazzulla for much longer than that.
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