Brad Stevens explains why Celtics signed Joe Mazzulla to contract
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Stevens explains why Celtics signed Mazzulla to contract extension originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Brad Stevens is a strong believer in Joe Mazzulla leading the Boston Celtics going forward.
The Celtics announced Thursday they removed Mazzulla’s interim tag, officially making him the 19th head coach in franchise history. He was originally named Boston’s interim coach in September to take over for the suspended Ime Udoka.
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Stevens explained why the team was comfortable promoting Mazzulla now, rather than waiting until the end of the season.
“Well, I think one of the things that’s pretty obvious and evident about Joe is he’s a really good coach and he also is just an outstanding leader,” the Celtics president of basketball operations told reporters. “I think he’s done a great job right from the get-go of galvanizing a locker room around a mission. And I give him a lot of credit, I give our players a lot of credit and I give the staff a lot of credit.
“As far as the timing of it from the standpoint of this is the one thing that they’ve obviously done a great job. They’ve obviously put themselves in position to compete for the things we want to ultimately compete for thus far. And I want to give them the opportunity to finish the regular season strong, hopefully the postseason strong, and not be in a cloud of uncertainty.
“I think that they certainly have earned that and Joe specifically has just done a great job. I mean, he really has. He’s always prepared. He’s really driven. He does all of the work necessary, but he also has a pulse on when the work needs to be put aside for the people. And so we were not only really comfortable with it, we’re also really excited about him leading us now and into the future.”
Mazzulla, who has led the C’s to a league-best 42-17 record heading into the All-Star break, called the promotion a “dream come true.”
“I appreciate that from Brad and from the…
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