Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has a unique personality among NBA coaches. He has a swagger in his step and a different aura around his coaching strategies that use creative ways to bring out the best in players.
To be the youngest championship-winning head coach in modern NBA history, you have to take uncharted routes. But when you can back your methods with results, people tend to label your madness as genius.
And recently, Derrick White revealed that he’s employed a special method of bringing out aggression from players and helping them be calm in really distracting situations.
During a practice session with Payton Pritchard, White was caught off guard when suddenly Mazzulla asked the staff to turn the music on. What happened next wasn’t something White would’ve expected in his wildest dreams. He narrated the story on his podcast, ‘White Noise with Derrick White.’
“So it was me and Payton, we were going, and then Joe’s like, ‘Play the music!’ And next thing you know, it’s just machine guns just going off. (Imitates machine gun sounds) So, I’m like, what’s going on?”
“So the entire time we did this drill, like, the machine guns were just going off non-stop, and that kind of helped us start practice. Zig zags, defense, picking up a full, and stuff like that, so he’s like, ‘Play the music’ and next thing you know you’re in a war zone.”
This season, the Boston Celtics stand at 4-5 after nine games and sit in 10th position in a wide-open Eastern Conference.
NBA head coaches have always found different ways of upping the stakes during practice. A lot of lore has been based around how superstars train, and the head coaches have brought unique things to the table many times in the league’s history.
But probably none more so than Joe Mazzulla. The 37-year-old head coach has time and again revealed the quirky manner in which he prepares for his job, and sometimes even his life.
He’s reportedly told his former assistant coach that once someone leaves his staff, they’re his enemy. He doesn’t want to have a very friendly relationship with other head coaches because he feels he’ll give away psychological tells that will hamper his chances during matchups.
In a game against the Washington Wizards last season, Mazzulla purposefully took a technical foul in the third quarter because he thought that would “change the energy in the arena” and put a fire under the Celtics, who were trailing 66-63 till that point.
Whether he was successful in changing the energy or not is unverifiable, but the Celtics did end up winning that game 108-96. His approach has also been unique because of the off-court influences he’s had.
The 37-year-old head coach is a student of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He aims to translate his learnings from the mat into his leadership. Humility, discomfort, and being challenged are principles he follows and wants his players to follow as well.
He gave up chewing gum during the game because his jiu-jitsu trainer told him that it affects his breathing and heart rate variability. Mazzulla apparently even avoids sitting with his back to the door in a restaurant, scopes out exits as he enters a coffee shop, and also refrains from using revolving doors due to a fear of something going wrong.
There are also reports of weird behavioral tests, like him and a younger coach just staring at each other for 40 minutes straight as part of a mental strength test. Even his star player, Jayson Tatum, revealed that Mazzulla asked him if he could get four more technicals so he could be suspended as part of a convoluted plan to get him some rest.
From these quirky antics and unique mindset, Mazzulla has slowly become a successful head coach in the league, with an overall record of 219-86, including both regular season and the playoffs. He’s also credited with not just coaching the team but building a culture in Boston.
Something that the storied franchise has been missing since the days of the Big Three. With a championship, a solid core, and a very flattering win-loss record, Mazzulla is a quirky head coach the league’s willing to accept with both arms wide open.
