Brad Stevens doesn't talk to the media much since becoming President of Basketball Operations, but he held a surprise media session at the Celtics practice facility after the team's shootaround Friday morning. He touched on Joe Mazzulla losing the interim tag at some point ("The title is the title and we'll have updates at a later date"), the current slump ("I think the easiest thing in the world to do is point to shooting variance. And I just don’t look at the game that way. I think we’ve gotta find a way as a team to improve because as the year goes on"), and potentially adding to this team before the trade deadline ("Yeah, sure. I mean, that’s my job").
Here's everything he had to say, plus a little reaction from me:
JOE MAZZULLA QUESTIONS:
On his status: "We haven't really even like talked about it recently. Our focus has been on how to make this team and staff and give everything we need to make sure we're as good as we can be. He's running the show. The title is the title and we'll have updates at a later date on all that other stuff. But he's doing a good job and he's running it like the head coach runs it."
Evaluating Mazzulla's job so far: "Yeah, it’s been really good. It’s been really good. Every 20 games that you coach in the NBA, you’re just getting better and better and better. Just even like looking at where we started from the start of training camp, the leadership, the organization, the way that everybody embraced him, he embraced everyone else. He’s very open to people. To the different ideas that they have. Maybe too open, right, at sometimes? Cause there’s a million of them coming at him at once. But he’s been great and his staff’s been great. That’s something that probably doesn’t get talked about enough. I think that was a unique thing for everybody and the staff just came in and did their job to adding to winning. That’s what we have to do. Everybody in this building has a role, we all have to play it as well as we can to give ourselves a chance to win."
On his timeout strategy: "Yeah I mean, he’ll learn all that. Listen, you only get so many a game and you’re going to save two for the end of the game or you’re probably down 40, right? Ultimately…the other night, we weren’t gonna win that game, or we weren’t not gonna be down a lot at halftime because of timeouts that were called. It was about we gave up way too many layups, it’s way too easy, all that stuff. And everybody knows that. So, he’s going to learn how he wants to best manage the game, but I think it is important that he trusts his guys and I think it is important that we are able to play through tough times, because that’s inevitable. I think that ultimately, you’re right, it is a lot easier when you’re in the middle of an eight-game win streak to do that than when your backs are against the wall a little bit, but he’ll figure out what’s best for him and what he thinks is best for our team, and I trust that he’ll do that."
Karalis' take: I've said it before but I'll repeat it again: Mazzulla's interim status is directly tied to Ime Udoka's suspension. As long as Udoka is suspended, Mazzulla will be the interim head coach. To remove the tag, the Celtics have to officially fire Udoka, and they don't want to do that and pay him all the money he's owed. That's all this is.
As for the job Mazzulla's doing, it's obvious Stevens believes there are places he can improve. I know Stevens and Mazzulla talk, so there is some level of advice being given. Some Mazzulla will have to find on his own. Stevens isn't going to do anything to give the impression he's trying to coach the team. That's the last thing he wants to do.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS SEASON
On the December roller coaster ride: "Yeah, I mean it's hard. I think that one of the things that you have the benefit of in the seat I'm in now is getting a much more macro view of everything. I just think that, when you're in it, every play sits with you. Every moment of a game sits with you. The losses sit with you in a big way. You rehash all of those singular moments. And to be able to then, OK, look at a film objectively and kind of take the emotion out of it, it's tough. That's why coaching in any league or any level is hard but coaching in NBA with 82 games and inevitable ups and downs is a really challenging job. So I want him to know, I want our staff to know that I get it. I've lived it. When you have a three-game blip like we have right now where we haven't played very well or a two-week deal where we haven't played very well, I've seen a lot of good to great teams do that. And so the key is how do you respond to that? And how do you, as a staff, maintain the right approach as you're trying to make small tweaks and fix it."
On why they're having problems right now: "Listen, I think the easiest thing in the world to do is point to shooting variance. And I just don’t look at the game that way. I think we’ve gotta find a way as a team to improve because as the year goes on, if you stop trying to improve, that’s the day you stop being good. And if you don’t continuously get better it’s so easy to get caught. So we have to improve on both ends. We’ve done a better job defensively. I think we’ve added quite a bit of options from a coverage standpoint which I think has been a real positive and may come with some growing pains in the near term but is really, really important as you get later on in the year. And then, offensively, I just think we’ve gotta do our best to generate easier shots, right? And I’m not saying – like, the wide open catch-and-shoot 3s, we’ll take those all day long. But there are ways to, without making it more difficult on ourselves, to get another layup a half. And really that’s usually what it boils down to. This isn’t rocket science. But I think that from my perspective, the last few weeks we’ve looked a little bit more – we just look like we’re in a little bit of a rut. So we just need to play ourselves out of that and make sure we don’t have halves like we had the other night. That first half, that was a rough one."
Karalis' take: The "another layup a half" comment is very telling. In Brad-speak, that's basically yelling at the team to attack more and stop just settling for 3-pointers. It's nothing that you haven't seen a million times on these pages, but it's good to hear it from an authority figure over there.
They need to get into the mindset of layups first, then free throws, THEN 3-pointers. Bombing away is easy, and there's always a built-in excuse of "hey it was open" but chances are there are other options. Good things happen when the ball hits the paint.
QUESTIONS ABOUT ADDING TO THE ROSTER
On his willingness to add to the roster: “Yeah, sure. I mean, that’s my job. When I was coaching I always told the guys, ‘Let the game tell you what to do.’ Well, let the game tell us what to do over the next couple of months. Like any other thing, I’ve gotta be able to take a step back, I’ve gotta be able to sift through what’s a blip and what’s real. But listen, we want to win. There’s no question about it. We have a really good team and hopefully we are playing great over the next couple of months but we’ll evaluate that and we’ll make the decisions that, right or wrong, we think may give us the best chance of winning.”
On what's a blip vs. what's real: "I guess that’s the benefit of being a coach. Whenever you have a hot start, you’re like, ‘Ugh, God.’ This is just like being up 20 in the first quarter, right? It’s just part of it. There are ups and downs throughout the year. We’ve shown ourselves to be a capable team. I think we’re at our very best when the ball is flying around, which is not a surprise, and when we’re really locked in and active into the ball on defense. You can see that and you saw that the other day in the second half. And rightfully so, we needed to play with a sense of urgency because we put ourselves in such a bind. But I think that ultimately, we can look and we can be really good and the key is as you go through the down times, not to get down on yourself, not to lose confidence, and just recenter that this is how we’re good, this is what makes us good, and go from there. If we can’t do that, then maybe look for tweaks that hopefully give our roster a better chance to maximize itself."
Karalis' take: There's nothing Stevens hates more than a 20-point, first-quarter lead because it invariably leads to a letdown. The blip vs. real question is at the heart of Stevens' decisions over the next couple of months. Are some of these early good performances the reality or the blip?
The team has options, but also a full roster so the first sign of anything happening will be any kind of move that opens a roster spot. Justin Jackson, cash, and a heavily protected second-round pick to OKC, for example, will tell you something is afoot. The Celtics will do that before they flat-out cut someone.
OTHER QUESTIONS
On Malcolm Brogdon: “Malcolm’s been great. I have appreciated from day one his willingness to come off the bench. And not only his willingness, but embracing that and coming in and doing what he does. Even in some of our losses, I’ve left really encouraged because of what he was able to provide for us when we were really struggling. And it just adds another dimension to us, I think. I think he’s learning our defensive system which is a little bit unique to maybe what he’s played the majority of his career. But he’s really smart and that is something that you know will be easy for him. And then his ability to get into the paint, we need it. I just talked about easy baskets. We haven’t been the best offensive rebounding team in the world. We haven’t been great at turning people over yet this year. So we’re not getting run-outs. And we have to get some shots at the rim and some drives to get to the free throw line. And he’s one of our better guys at doing that. So I’d say all-in-all it’s been really good but he’s really embraced being here and embraced what it means to be a Celtic and play for a good team. And he’s excited about it.”
On team chemistry: “We haven’t hung one of those banners, but we’ve had a lot of close teams and a lot of good teams. This one has as much camaraderie and togetherness as any I’ve been around, certainly at the professional level. I think they really like each other, I think it’s a really good character group. I see a lot of when guys have a tough game, guys have a tough day, there’s just a lot of support within this building for them, and I like that. We’re all going through a little bit of a blip, some of us individually have had our struggles recently on the court, but there’s nothing but belief in each other. I think that our best players do a really good job of making sure everybody feels that way, and feels appreciated, and that’s a good thing.”