NBA fans will have certainly heard of Joe Mazulla, the new head coach for the Boston Celtics this season. After the Celtics’ previous coach Ime Udoka was removed from his position, Mazulla soon took his place and things have been going quite well for Boston this season.
With that being said, fans must be interested in knowing more about Joe Mazulla and what he brings to the table by coaching this team. Several NBA coaches used to be former players. Let us look at whether this is the same case with Mazulla and what his accomplishments so far have been.
Joe Mazulla joined the Boston Celtics as an assistant coach in 2019
Coaching players in a professional league is no simple matter. After all, when things go badly for a team, the coach is almost always the first one to be blamed and hung out to dry, We saw this happen with Frank Vogel and the Los Angles Lakers last season.
Coming back to Mazulla, he was born in 1988. That only makes him 34 years old and around the same age as some veterans in the league. Joe played college basketball at West Virginia and even managed to carry the team all the way to the final stages of the NCAA tournament.
Unfortunately, his career never really took off due to injuries. His shoulder, which wasn’t attaching to the growth plate properly, kept him out of action for an entire college season. Fans can imagine how a crippling injury can devastate an athlete and make them reconsider playing the sport.
While Mazulla never really stopped playing, it soon became clear that his playing days were behind him. As a result, he decided to focus on coaching after graduating from college. He did so for institutions such as Glenville State University and Fairmont State University. Mazulla even served as an NBA G League coach for a brief period of time.
Since he managed to carry all the teams he coached to stellar records, the Celtics grew interested in him. They hired him as an assistant coach back in 2019. When Ime Udoka was suspended for violating workplace policy, Mazulla stepped in to replace him for the 2022-2023 NBA season.
The Celtics’ record right now speaks to his capabilities along with that of the players. Boston currently holds a record of 42 wins and 17 losses. This is the best record in the entire NBA at the moment. Not only did he permanently get the Head coach job, but Mazulla will also be the coach for Team Giannis in the 2023 NBA All-Star game.