Joe Mazzulla to remain Celtics head coach / News - Basketnews.com

Joe Mazzulla will remain Celtics head coach for the 2023-24 season, Celtics President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, confirmed.

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The Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, confirmed that Joe Mazzulla will remain the team's head coach for the upcoming season.

Boston Celtics / Schedule

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"He's a terrific leader," Stevens said during the end-of-season press conference Thursday. "He'll only get better at anything that he can learn from this year because he's constantly trying to learn. And he's accountable."

Despite being elevated into the interim head-coaching position less than a week before the start of training camp and despite having a depleted staff from the previous year, Mazzulla still managed to guide the team to 57 regular-season wins (the second-most by a rookie Celtics coach after Bill Russell's 60 in 1966-67) and 11 more in the playoffs.

Midway through the season, he deservedly had the interim tag removed and went on to be one of three finalists for Coach of the Year while being the youngest head coach in the league.

"When you consider the position he was thrust into and the overall accomplishments of the group, I thought he did a really good job," said Stevens. "When you look at it in the big picture and having a team that was second in offense, second in defense, won 57 games, and (had) a chance to go to the NBA Finals on your home court, there's a lot of direction and organization that goes into that."

Stevens marvels at the fact that Mazzulla was able to organize so quickly, a feat that Stevens says he could've never done during his days as a head coach.

"I always needed a whole summer of planning," he said. "A whole summer of thinking and organizing thoughts and being able to catch yourself ready to emphasize what you want to emphasize on a daily basis."

3-pointers this season

37%15,6Points made:15,6Accuracy:37,4%Place in standings:2Record max:27Record min:7Most made 3FGs:Jayson TatumTeamNBAStatisticsSchedule

And now that Mazzulla will have a full summer to prepare for next season, "There's no question that will be a huge benefit," said Stevens. "To do what they did in five days and get ready for the season and to start the season the way we did was a little bit more remarkable than people outside the building would have thought."

Another benefit that Mazzulla will have this summer is the opportunity to add more voices around him on the sideline, which Stevens says will be one of the primary objectives of the offseason.

Boston's coaching staff was left depleted after the pre-season losses of head coach Ime Udoka and lead assistant Will Hardy, as well as the midseason departure of Damon Stoudamire. Yet, under the circumstances, the group of remaining assistants did a stellar job.

"I think that's one thing that kind of gets lost in the shuffle," Stevens said of having a smaller staff. "But the staff we had was good. And we did try (to add coaches). Losing Damon in March, we again tried. But those timings are tough for people to up and move or up and join a new team that they don't know anything about or don't know. But that was just to be supplemental because we believed in the people that were here."

Stevens said the team plans to make at least one coaching addition this summer.

"Somebody that has a lot of NBA experience, for sure," Stevens concluded.

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