Joe Mazzulla likes to look outside the world of basketball for ways to improve his coaching methods.
Among his cross-sport resources: Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay.
“(McVay) said, ‘We’re both younger coaches, so we were really drawn to one another,’” FOX sideline reporter Megan Olivi relayed the broadcast of Sunday’s Saints-Rams game. “They’re able to lean on each other about navigating consistency and challenges and different frames of mind and how they can relate to their teams but be effective leaders. He said, ‘We are both really tough head coaches,’ but they have a lot of similarities with how they coach the game. And Joe Mazzulla, an avid jiu-jitsu practitioner, he is trying to get Sean McVay in there, so we’ll see if he enters the gym anytime soon.”
Among those similarities: Both became championship-winning head coaches far earlier than their peers.
McVay, 39, became the youngest head coach in NFL history when the Rams hired him at age 30, then the youngest to win a Super Bowl when he did so at 36. The Celtics’ NBA Finals triumph over the Mavericks in 2024 made Mazzulla the youngest NBA head coach to win it all since Bill Russell in 1969; at 37, he’s still the league’s youngest active head coach.
Mazzulla spoke highly of McVay before Monday’s Celtics-Jazz matchup at TD Garden.
“I think he’s one of the best minds in coaching,” he said. “He’s young. He’s had success early in his career and has handled it with faith and humility. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s another guy that gives you a sense of wisdom, sense of perspective and humility, and I just like learning from those guys. So he’s great. Good dude.”
Ainge ‘amazing’ for Utah
The Jazz visit TD Garden just once per season, but their decision-makers are very familiar with Causeway Street. Utah’s head coach (Will Hardy), CEO (Danny Ainge) and first-year president of basketball operations (Austin Ainge) all previously worked for the Celtics.
The younger Ainge is the latest addition, leaving his prior position as Boston’s assistant general manager in June to run Utah’s front office. Hardy said Austin Ainge has been “amazing” for a young Jazz team that’s in the midst of a rebuild.
“It’s crazy to think it wasn’t that long ago, our offices were next to each other (at the Celtics facility) and we were both in very different roles,” said Hardy, a C’s assistant under Ime Udoka in 2021-22. “Now our offices are next to each other, and we’re having very different conversations than we used to have. But he’s incredibly smart. He does the work. He’s a basketball junkie, a great talent evaluator. He’s also a great person. He’s very even-keeled, doesn’t get very emotional. And I mean that in a good way. … So far, it’s been an awesome partnership.”
Austin Ainge spent 17 seasons with the Celtics in various scouting and personnel roles, including the last six as assistant GM. He also coached Boston’s G League affiliate from 2009-11.
“He’s been great,” Mazzulla said. “The whole Ainge family, for me personally, the reason why I’m here is because of them, and I think Austin has had great perspective. He coached in the G League, and then going into the GM role, having multiple hats (of) experience was good. He was a guy that you in the morning, he was there, and you’d have a conversation just about whether our game, or a game in the league, he brought really good perspective and wisdom to it.
“I think he’s really smart, and the Ainge family, they pride themselves on giving back to the game and giving back to people. They did that for me, and they’ve done that for the Celtics, and I think the Jazz have a great guy in both Danny and (Austin). I think he’s going to do a hell of a job.”
Garza embracing role
Backup big man Luka Garza chatted with reporters after Monday’s morning shootaround. But first, assistant coach DJ MacLeay ran him through a tailored drill meant to simulate the rhythms of his in-game role.
After some standard shooting and conditioning, Garza and MacLeay headed to the sideline, sat on a bench, reviewed film and then resumed the post-practice workout.
“One of the drills he likes to do, especially at the end of workouts, is kind of simulate coming off the bench, being open on the first shot and knocking it down,” Garza explained. “It was just kind of a simulation.”
Drawn to Boston by the prospect of increased playing time, Garza now is out to prove he can thrive as an NBA rotation player. He logged at least 15 minutes in four of his first six appearances with the Celtics — something he did just twice over his final two seasons in Minnesota — and posted encouraging numbers in each of Boston’s first three victories.
In last Friday’s one-point road win over Philadelphia, Garza tallied nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, five rebounds and one assist in 15 minutes.
“I think it’s important because that’s what I want to be,” Garza said. “I want to be able to come off that bench and be kind of just jumping right on a 100-mph treadmill and be able to withstand it and keep going and make an impact right away. I think that’s what Joe expects from everyone coming off the bench, and I know I can be that and live up to it. So it’s good to kind of rep that and simulate that as much as you can in workouts.”
Though he acknowledged that he, like most of the Celtics’ roster, did not have his best game in Saturday’s blowout loss to Houston, Garza believes he’s played with the type of attitude Mazzulla wants to see from his bench players.
“I think I’ve shown what’s been consistent through my career is when I’m out there, I’m going to play as hard as I can,” Garza said. “I’ve been happy with the level of effort and energy that I’ve brought every time I step on the floor. … It’s obviously the first time in my career that I’ve gotten this much opportunity this consistently, obviously, to start a season. So it’s all new for me, but it’s been so much fun, and I’m looking forward to continuing to go out there and give them everything I have every single opportunity I get.”
Off the rim
Reporters caught a glimpse of Jayson Tatum’s rehab process Monday afternoon. After shootaround at the Auerbach Center, Tatum was on the court with trainer Nick Sang, working through a series of exercises that included resistance band shuffles and one-footed stops. The Celtics star is nearly six months removed from Achilles surgery and has not ruled out potentially returning this season. … Hardy called Derrick White, whom he coached during his lone season in Boston, “one of the best two-way players in the NBA, in my opinion.” … Jaylen Brown was nominated for Eastern Conference Player of the Week but lost out to 76ers point guard Tyrese Maxey. … The list of celebrities in attendance at Celtics-Jazz included Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and his rookie left tackle, Will Campbell.
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