NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic is getting the impression that the Boston Celtics will bring head coach Joe Mazzulla back next season.
The Celtics could look to elevate Mazzulla’s bench with more assistant coaches.
“The Celtics fell short of completing the first-ever comeback from an 0-3 deficit in NBA history. But, in battling back to tie the series, there definitely seems to have been a lot of momentum built by first-year head coach Joe Mazzulla,” Charania wrote. “The impression I’m getting is that the Celtics and Mazzulla will be looking to elevate his bench with more assistant coaching help in the offseason.
“As a result of the whirlwind fashion in which he got the main job just prior to the season following the Ime Udoka situation, Mazzulla never really got a chance to align his own coaching staff and should get a chance to do so this summer. According to league sources, Mazzulla has $14 million guaranteed on his deal, which spans over the next three years.”
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Joe Mazzulla & Boston Celtics Updates
The Celtics won 57 games during the regular season and were the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Boston beat the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the postseason and the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round before falling to the Miami Heat in the conference finals.
After the Celtics lost Game 7 to the Heat, Mazzulla was asked to assess the season.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Joe Mazzulla & Boston Celtics Updates
“It’s one of the best locker rooms I’ve been a part of,” Mazzulla said. “Guys cared. They gave it everything they had. That’s the most important thing to take from this. Obviously, we didn’t achieve our goal. We didn’t win, which was our goal. So we failed in that regard.
“But it’s not because the guys didn’t have a sense of togetherness, character and just who they are as people. … Like I said, just I love them, and they need to know — when we were down 3-0, the thing was how do we want to be defined? I thought they showed a lot of character by even getting to this point.”
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