Joe Mazzulla

Uh, and, you know, I think that's the part where how many games is he gonna play? And then you look through the rest of the East, there's a lot of questions, right? Like, how healthy is Jayson Tatum gonna be for the Celtics? How healthy is Tyrese Haliburton gonna be for the Pacers? Uh, obviously with the Sixers, Embiid and LeBron and, you know, it ...

And going back to the Celtics, like PG, that's a health question too, right? Um, might be a chemistry question already with the way that press conference went with Joe Mazzulla.

[laughs]

Yeah, wasn't he shading a-

[laughs]

Did he shade Joe Mazzulla at the, at the presser?

He, kinda.

He's like, "I beat you guys in the playoffs." [laughs]

He was doing it alongside 37-year-old Mike Conley.

Joe Mazzulla is there, Brad Stevens is there, the Boston media mafia is there-

Yeah

... lobbing their softball questions to Paul George.

Where's the rah-rah speech?

Yeah.

Joe Mazzulla's doing his Mazzulla thing up there.

I don't know if you saw him, but he's just sort of, like, just looking like a Mazzulla up there, you know? He's not...

Honestly.

But you know, I remember saying that last year was gonna be like the year of expectations in regards to let me see what Joe Mazzulla's on.

No, no, no, it's low-key this year in regards to, look, you, you've got your star boy back, Tatum's back now, you know, and you, you've-- People are saying that Paul George is a better fit in regards to at least he's gonna come in with a lower ego because he's older.

He had a-

Uh, we'll see if that is the case.

But, um, I'm not ready to say that he's probably overrated.

And I was thinking about it just because, you know, the system, the situations, and that, but there's people that genuinely believe, I speak to some of them, that Joe Mazzulla ain't that guy.

Not ready to say that yet personally, but you know.

They're not as bad as people wanna think.

I know Paul George at this stage of his career may not be the player that Jaylen Brown is, but I think he's gonna fit into what Brad Stevens, Joe Mazzulla, and the Boston Celtics, what they wanna do.

He can shoot the ball, he can create off the dribble, and he's still pretty competent as a defender, especially for today's NBA.

I think Paul George will fit in just fine, but he must stay healthy in order for this to work.

From Brad getting there, just from listening to this press conference.

By the end of this, is he just going to be like Joe Mazzulla's right-hand man on the bench in a way that Drew Holiday, I feel like, was on the court?

I guess so.

Like another veteran presence, just like a coaching presence.

And so that's the, you kind of get both sides of the coin here now in that third guard role with assuming that, you know, Carter makes this team as a two way.

We see, we will see, we'll see what happens in that bitter, bitter guard competition down in Charleston, South Carolina.

I do want to finish on the, Just one – I don't know if it's a moment of condolence, but just for the beat reporters out there, for the teams who are going to have to – or the guys like you and Jay are going to have to talk to Joe Mazzulla all year.

He is in – already mid-season form of being able to say absolutely nothing in response to a question.

Um, but what I do know from covering the 2024 team is that there was this kind of, like, galvanizing feeling around the fact that Al Horford was in the twilight years of his career and he had went to win- yet to win a championship.

Um, it's something that Joe Mazzulla talked about in 2022 and in 2023, like, that they felt like they let him down, uh, when they were not able to get over the hump.

Um, and it's ironic because Al Horford's still in the league.

He's still playing for the Warriors.

And he, he, as he said, you know, he wanted to go somewhere where he could, you know, he would know for sure that the goal was to win, and obviously Boston's track record over the last years, uh, kinda speaks for itself.

So we heard from Brad Stevens as well.

We heard from Joe Mazzulla, uh, and neither said a whole lot.

I mean, we, we also heard from Joe at Summer League, and I had a one-on-one with him at Summer League you can check out, uh, that whole story on Celtics Blog still.

But overall, just learning to play alongside with new teammates, being able to fit into this whole new system.

I think that that was another key point where Missoula and Brad both stressed this is a new team.

We're learning about them.

They're learning about us.

I can't wait to see the season.

I'm also interested in the whole Missoula factor here because we haven't talked about him at all, and I thought he had a brutal series against the Sixers.

Mm-hmm.

I know he and Tatum are buds, and we'll see how that all works out, but he feels like if things don't work out this year, to be the fall guy.

I can't wait to see the season.

I'm also interested in the whole Missoula factor here because we haven't talked about him at all.

And I thought he had a brutal series against the Sixers.

And...