Celtics Practice Notebook: A WWE appearance, Jayson Tatum thoughts, and accepting the noise

BRIGHTON — The Boston Celtics don’t have much time to practice once the season gets underway, but Tuesday afternoon provided one of those rare opportunities. These were some of the main stories to come out of the Auerbach Center:

1. Joe Mazzulla and Derrick White take WWE

Everyone saw the clip. It was everywhere. Monday Night Raw came to TD Garden on Monday night, and Derrick White was in attendance. He was shown on the Jumbotron, but right alongside him? Joe Mazzulla.

When the camera panned to Mazzulla, there was a huge grin on his face. He immediately stood up and began “punching” White, mimicking the likes of Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes.

“It's all part of the storyline,” White said at practice. “WrestleMania is coming up soon, so that's when our big fight will be.”

In that situation, White was the good guy. The baby face, as they say in the wrestling injury. And Mazzulla was the heel. At least, that’s how White sees it.

“I think I was the baby face in that situation. Just waving. Doing what I was supposed to do,” he said. “So, I think he's the heel, technically. I'll stay baby face, though. It's cool.”

White took the miniature sparring session like a champ, though he was sure to stay away from Mazzulla when there was an actual chance that the two could step inside a ring.

Or an octagon.

“I tried to stay away,” White said when jokingly asked if Mazzulla had beaten him up when he first got to Boston. “He was doing all that MMA stuff. The one yesterday was much more my speed than the MMA one.”

Monday was an important opportunity for Mazzulla.

For the same reason that the Celtics don’t have much time to practice once the season starts, they don’t have much time to do anything.

So, when the opportunity arose to join White and his family at a WWE event, Mazzulla jumped at it. Especially since it was at TD Garden.

“Just wanted to have a nice night with the family,” Mazzulla said. “Nice night with D-White and his family. And a chance to learn. And any chance I can go to the Garden and watch other people do stuff, it’s important. So, I had a good time.”

And his underlying long-time WWE fandom didn’t hurt, either.

“Grew up as a kid watching,” Mazzulla said. “Was able to have a family night, take the kids there. Hang out with D-White. It was a good time.”

2. Coach and player bonding

Attending Raw was merely a product of a bigger goal for Mazzulla. An organizational philosophy that has defined his tenure as head coach in Boston.

Hardwood Houdini’s Sam LaFrance began to ask him a question along the lines of, ‘You don’t see many bosses go out and hang out with their employees, what makes that a possibility in this situation, and why is it important?’

But Mazzulla never let him finish.

“I don’t consider myself a boss, and I don’t consider Derrick an employee, with all due respect. It’s not how we operate,” Mazzulla said. “I think it’s more about just relationships and the people that you have. Not to cut you off, but I just don’t look at it that way, and I don’t consider myself in that situation. 

“It’s more, we’re in this together. We’re an organization. And my family is a part of that organization, other assistant coaches are a part of that family, and anytime we can do stuff together, I think it’s important to try to do that. It was more about that, but I didn’t mean to cut you off on that.”

At the beginning of the year, before the regular season even started, Anfernee Simons said that one of the first things he noticed about Mazzulla was that he didn’t want to be called ‘coach.’ Just ‘Joe.’

By breaking down the wall between coach and player, the Celtics have been able to build a culture that breeds togetherness.

Because their jobs are anything but normal. It’s not like an everyday 9-to-5. It’s not even college basketball, where the coach is often 20 or more years older than the players.

Mazzulla is 37 years old. White is 31. Mazzulla is younger than Al Horford, whom he coached for three seasons.

“I mean, we're all adults here,” White said. “I feel like [in] college is, I guess you're kind of adult, but you're still figuring things out. And so, I think that's a big difference for college. And then, [we] spend so much time together. You're basically seeing them every day. And so, there's going to be ups and downs, and you just kind of have to have that bond on and off the court that allows him to coach you hard, allows you to listen, to learn, to grow. 

“And so, I think Joe does a good job of finding that balance. Obviously, it's not very easy, or there'd be a lot more coaches.”

From the very moment he started, Mazzulla has made an effort to connect with everyone in the organization, players included.

“I think for the most part. I think every year, the longer you're with them, the bigger your bond grows,” White said. “And so, I don't know if we did anything the first year he was coaching, but I think just every year, we always do some stuff like that, and I was happy to be on national television [on Raw].”

And though it may not seem like much, it’s this type of philosophy that distinguishes the Celtics from a lot of other organizations around the league.

3. Jayson Tatum thoughts

Jayson Tatum hasn’t been perfect since returning from his Achilles injury. He would be the first person to tell you that. And the frustration has seeped in at times. But that’s just a part of the journey.

“I think it's frustrating,” White said. “You want to come back and instantly get back to yourself, but that's not how the game works. So, I just think he's just doing a good job of just, every day, being consistent. I think it was the same thing with his rehab and his recovery. So, there's good days and bad days in this game, and [you] just got to continue to try to figure out different ways to figure it out.”

“I mean, even if he was 100% healthy, you'd still be frustrated if you weren't your best self,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, that happens even if you have a bad game when you are the best version of yourself. 

“And so, I think, at the end of the day, when we're between those lines, there's no grace. These are the things that you have to do. When you step out of those lines, here's the stuff that you're doing well, here's the stuff that we have to get better [at], here's the stuff that's going to come with time. And you just keep it to that. And I think he does a really good job of processing that, and we just have to go from there.”

However, the Celtics are