Beyond his pedigree as a championship-winning coach, Joe Mazzulla has already developed a reputation in the NBA as one of the most quotable coaches in the league.
Be it his obsession with “The Town,” shunning the bright lights found during the NBA Finals, stone-faced emphasis on self-improvement and subtle digs at Kendrick Perkins, Boston’s head coach might be the most unintentional viral star in sports.
And when asked on Wednesday’s Locked On Celtics podcast about the Celtics being targeted by the rest of the league as reigning NBA champions, Mazzulla again dropped a new classic quote about Boston’s mindset entering a new season.
“People are gonna say the target is on our back, but I hope it’s right on our forehead in between our eyes. I hope I can see the red dot,” Mazzulla told Locked On Celtics host John Karalis.
The Celtics, who are looking to be the first NBA team to repeat as champions since the Golden State Warriors (2017-18), should be viewed as the favorites once again in 2024-25.
After losing just three games during their playoff run this spring, the Celtics are set to return 15 of the 17 players from last season.
Not only do the Celtics bring back plenty of elite talent, but their two top stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown should have plenty of motivation on their mind after eventful summers.
Brown was snubbed by Team USA for the 2024 Summer Olympics, prompting him to take multiple shots via social media and music at Nike — one of the primary sponsors for the U.S. National Team.
Tatum did make Team USA for the second straight Olympic Games, but was more of an afterthought in coach Steve Kerr’s rotations in Paris. Tatum was benched twice in Team USA’s games against Serbia, and only played 11 minutes in the gold-medal game against France.
Mazzulla was asked by Karalis about how stars like Tatum and Brown can draw on those slights for motivation just a few months removed from seemingly reaching the NBA summit as champions.
“They’re two competitors and they are who they are,” Mazzulla said. They’re two great, great players. So I’m not going to try to figure out how they’re going to go about it. If they want to take revenge on that particular game, that’s great for them. Like I said, my number one job is to; I gotta grow as a coach, I gotta get better so that I can get them better and help them get better, and be a catalyst for growth.
“Revenge is healthy and it’s not at the same time. I think — just like anything else — you can have a little bit of it, but I think it’s a short-term thing, and when that runs out what are you gonna rely on?”
Mazzulla is no stranger to finding unique ways to motivate his team and get his message across. Sam Hauser noted in July that his coach made the Celtics watch clips of killer whale hunting seals at one point last season.
Mazzulla was asked by Karalis about why the animal kingdom stands as a reliable analogy to turn to when trying to instill principles into his team.
“The animal kingdom is the most pure form of hierarchy and role definition that there is. Everybody plays their role. If you step outside of it, you get killed,” Mazzulla said. “If you try to do something with a sense of pride or arrogance, you’d probably get killed.
“If you stay within the lines, you survive for as long as you can until you don’t anymore. I just think that’s the closest thing to hierarchy, role definition, competition, commitment, and all those things that go into success and survival.
And yes, Mazzulla is a massive fan of killer whales.
“To me, the killer whale [is] obviously the most forceful animal in nature,” Mazzulla said. “But they have the humility. They very rarely attack their prey by themselves. And so you have this concept of ‘I know I could kill you by myself, but I’m not going to do it unless I have my pod with me.’ They only attack in three and four so, like, there’s a huge humility aspect to that.”
FOR MORE RECENT NEWS, CLICK HERE
Be the first to comment