"I think that's the truest answer to what's different. We've had time to talk about how we want to go about doing things."
By Khari Thompson
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The Celtics knew heading into last offseason that they would not be returning with the same team that lost to Miami in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals.
They swung a trade for Kristaps Porzingis, and they pounced when Jrue Holiday became available as well. Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams III, and Grant Williams were among those who departed. The Celtics were able to keep much of their core intact while simultaneously giving the roster a new look and feel.
Those are the obvious differences between this year and last year. On Friday, Joe Mazzulla touched on some of the more subtle ones.
He was asked about his experience convincing the team to buy into the attitude of humility and staying present in the moment, something that he preaches.
“I think that’s the real answer to what everybody asked all year about like, oh, what’s the difference between this year and last year,” Mazzulla said. “What’s the difference between you, what’s this, whats that? The difference is we’ve had time and we’ve had experiences to pull from, and we’ve had time to talk about those.”
“We’ve had time to talk about how we want to go about what our daily process is. We’ve had time to talk about how we want to handle situations. We’ve had time to talk about how we’ve handled past situations. So, I think that’s it right there.”
Last offseason was Mazzulla’s first as an NBA head coach. He took over on an interim basis after Ime Udoka was suspended right before the beginning of last season, and eventually had his interim tag removed.
Winning and building relationships can take time, which was a luxury he didn’t have when he first took on the job.
“Throughout the offseason and this season we’ve had time to build a relationship together,” Mazzulla said. “To have open and honest communication about how we want to go about doing things and how we should handle different situations and experiences. I think the words that we use are no more than the words we talk about every day.”
“The words you use end up reflecting the type of group that you have, and so we’re the type of group that you want to emulate. I think that’s the truest answer to what’s different. We’ve had time to talk about how we want to go about doing things and how we want to go about approaching situations and experiences and how we handle successes and failures together.”
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Mazzulla said the Celtics have done a good job of accepting that being able to win in a variety of ways is necessary.
“You can only be as good as your players are willing to be and willing to accept, and so the guys, I mean, always have been,” Mazzulla said. “I think it’s just the experiences they are going through. They’ve always been open-minded. They’ve always wanted to be coached. They’ve always understood what it takes to win, it just takes time to go through different processes.”
Mazzulla said the team enjoys studying the league together, which has helped build awareness.
“So many times I think, especially when you’re in the NBA, you just get so caught up like a horse with blinders worried about your own team,” Mazzulla said. “And your own game that you don’t realize like ‘hey, there’s a lot of stuff going on around the league that we can really learn from,’ and the guys have been really coachable and they’ve learned and that has allowed us to pull from different situations.”
Mazzulla said learning to let go of expectations has been important for the group.
“I think the value comes from not having an expectation,” Mazzulla said. “I really think that’s the key to really anything. If you go into something thinking that it’s supposed to go a certain way, then your mind and your body is clouded by what is necessary to do in that moment.”
“So, the one thing this team has done a good job of this season is not playing with any expectations. If you’re winning by a lot, losing by a lot, it doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, it takes what it takes and you’ve got to be present. So the team has done a good job fighting for that. I think it’s important, managing our own expectations.”
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