Joe Mazzulla is the best coach in Boston professional sports right now.
This thought developed over the past week, spawning from two different news stories: one, being the absolute odyssey Bill Belichick’s career has turned into down south, and two, watching Joe Sacco hold what’s likely to be his final press conference as interim Bruins head coach.
Mazzulla’s start wasn’t so different from that of Sacco, three years ago. Basketball Joe was thrust into the role of Celtics head coach just days before the season began, while Ime Udoka was suspended for off-court conduct. Both Joes were hired on an interim basis for teams who had come up short, despite talent, and promising past regular seasons.
Brad Stevens and Celtics ownership obviously gave Mazzulla more support in terms of roster construction, (adding Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in 2023 drastically changed the path to the championship the following season), but he was also arguably put in a tougher position when he took over. His group had immediate championship expectations. And unlike the Bruins dressing room, at least from an outsider’s perspective, the Celtics stars loved their old coach. Udoka wasn’t even let go until midway through the season.
While Udoka got the Celtics over the hump of the Eastern Conference Finals, Mazzulla coached them to their championship.
Winning the NBA Finals last summer puts him at least on par with Red Sox manager Alex Cora. Cora took one of the most talented Red Sox rosters (with a payroll that rivaled the 2024 Celtics in their respective eras) all the way in 2018. Since then, it’s been a rocky road. The MLB publicly shamed him and he was suspended in 2020, and in his last five seasons as skipper, he’s only taken a team to the postseason once. Again, the argument can be made that ownership and the front office have failed the Sox, not Cora. But missing the playoffs four out of five years is unacceptable for any Boston team.
This whole argument goes kaput if, say, the Celtics lose to the Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs. Even a second-round exit against the New York Knicks or Detroit Pistons would knock Mazzulla down a peg.
But realistically, the Celtics look poised for a healthy run at the title.
Admittedly, it was a little surprising to hear both Adam Jones and Rich Keefe, on the illustrious ‘Jones and Keefe’ show on WEEI, say they believe the Celtics underachieved in the 2024-25 regular season. Boston finished the year with 61 wins, just three games shy of the nearly historic season they had prior. Both the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers came up short of 60 wins in the second year they won back-to-back titles. And, Boston managed their record with Porzingis playing 15 games fewer than last year, Holiday playing seven games fewer, and Jaylen Brown playing seven games fewer. While Tatum had a statistically near-best year, bench guys Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet greatly improved their roles on a stacked championship roster. Kornet’s stats are up across the board through ten more games than he played last year. Pritchard is the favorite to win Sixth Man of the Year.
It’s been a successful regular season.
That brings the argument to the new boss, same as the old-old boss, Mike Vrabel. Vrabel had great early success with his Tennessee Titans teams. He made the playoffs for three-straight seasons, including an appearance in the conference championship. The bottom never fell out to the extent it has in New England over the past two seasons. Once again there’s the question of, how much was that failure roster building versus coaching? The teams were bad, but find me someone who would defend the coaching performances from 2023 to 2024. So far, all Vrabel has been able to show is great command at public speaking. That’s a step forward from this time last year, but he has a lot to prove in New England before leapfrogging to the Boston spot held for two decades by Chapel Bill, (trademark pending).
Belichick was far-and-away the best coach, not just in Boston sports, but in the NFL, for so long, he’s in the echelon of Red Auerbach. A coach like that isn’t generational – they’re centennial.
So, Mazzulla gets knocked a lot for some of his more curious soundbites, and some of his decision-making in his rookie season. This writer was not easy on him in 2023. But credit where credit is due: he’s earned much more respect than he’s gotten. Like Tatum, he misses out on individual accolades in part because he’s seen as part of a great machine. The rest of the book on his career is still unwritten. But today, he should be the toast of the town.