Joe Mazzulla is not a rookie coach anymore.
Last year, he was named interim head coach of the Celtics two days before training camp after Ime Udoka was suspended. He didn’t have an offseason to prepare or time to assemble his own staff. His only previous head coaching experience was at the Division II college level.
And still, the Celtics ended up one win short of reaching the NBA finals.
“I’ve been through some pretty interesting things in one year,” Mazzulla said. “You’re able to use those experiences to try to make better decisions and have a little bit better of a coaching identity on what I want to be as a coach.