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NBA Agent Showers Celtics' Joe Mazzulla With Ultimate Praise originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
After losing Jayson Tatum to an Achilles injury last May and losing much of their veteran core over the summer, the Boston Celtics could have packed it in this year.
They could have taken a year off to lose a bunch games, get a high draft pick, save some money and reset. Nobody would have blamed them.
That's what the Indiana Pacers did, going from Eastern Conference champs to last place in the East after also losing Tyrese Haliburton to an Achilles injury.
The Celtics took another path, however, mostly because Joe Mazzulla doesn't do tanking.
Mazzulla has quietly established himself as one of the league's top coaches over the last few years. He's been easy to overlook, however, given Boston's loaded rosters over the past few seasons.
That's no longer the case this year, however. Despite losing so much talent, the Celtics still have almost the same record as they did at this point last year. Much of that credit belongs to Mazzulla.
In fact. NBA agent Bernie Lee recently wrote for "Hoops Hype" that Mazzulla might be the most impressive NBA head coach he's ever met.
"I have done this for over 20 years, and I have participated in countless free-agent meetings for players of all levels, and I can honestly tell you I have never in my entire career been more impressed with a coach than I was with Joe Mazzulla."https://t.co/Xwvd1YAtCk
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) February 26, 2026
"I have participated in countless free-agent meetings for players of all levels, and I can honestly tell you I have never in my entire career been more impressed with a coach than I was with Joe Mazzulla," Lee writes.
Not surprisingly, Mazzulla is considered a top contender for NBA Coach of the Year.
"For 20 minutes, I was lucky enough, along with my client, to listen to Joe speak, and I quickly realized that he was a human being who creates his own reality," Lee continued."If I or anyone else thought for a second that he was a person who didn't look at what the Celtics were facing this year as an opportunity versus an impossibility, then it probably explained why I watch for a living and he's the man in the arena."
Instead of tanking, the Celtics have the second-best record in the East and may be getting Jayson Tatum back soon, potentially setting them up for another deep playoff run.
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