Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has his share of critics.
Danny Ainge is not one of them.
The ex-Celtics president of basketball operations, who is currently the CEO of the Utah Jazz, has been a huge fan of Mazzulla for years.
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Mazzulla received a fair amount of criticism during the Celtics' 2023 playoff run, which ended with a Game 7 loss to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals on Memorial Day. His timeout usage and rotations were among the areas being critiqued.Â
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Despite the criticism, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens confirmed Thursday that Mazzulla will return for his second season as head coach.Â
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The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy recently interviewed Ainge, and the former Celtics exec gave a strong defense of Mazzulla.
âI work for another company now, but Iâm trying to defend my friends,â Ainge said. âI know Joe [Mazzulla]. I hired Joe four or five years ago to work in our G League. I still cheer for my friends. I donât think the team quit on Joe. There was pretty good evidence they did not quit on the coach. I just think they werenât playing well. The teamâs overall confidence struggled after the comeback wins against Philly, which was really the highlight of the season.
"No coach can go through a series and not make mistakes, just like players make mistakes, but we saw some patterns of isolation basketball and going through stretches of not making threes. Thatâs not just with this group; weâve seen this throughout the NBA. Teams go on these long 3-point droughts. Their energy level is higher when they make shots, and the Celtics are not unique in that aspect."
Ainge later added: âYou see Joeâs toughness and stubbornness. Heâs a relentless worker. He has a passion to learn. Joe is a leader, and I think this was a difficult situation with the high expectations the team had coming in. I donât think thereâs anybody there that doesnât believe that Joe is better than Ime [Udoka] as a coach."
Ainge's praise of Mazzulla is not a surprise.
After the Jazz parted ways with longtime head coach Quin Snyder in June of 2022, Ainge interviewed both Will Hardy and Mazzulla, who were Celtics assistant coaches at the time. Ainge ended up hiring Hardy as Utah's next head coach, and he also tried to hire Mazzulla as an assistant but the Celtics blocked it.
With Mazzulla coming back for the 2023-24 season, the expectation is the Celtics will beef up his staff during the offseason, likely with a veteran assistant or two.Â