CLEVELAND -- It's been more than five months since the Boston Celtics last played basketball. Obviously, as they get set to lace up on Thursday night, the stakes will be much lower.
Instead of playing for their season in a Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers, they'll take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first game of the preseason. A new team ready to begin a new season. But one person will be missing. At least, missing on the sideline.
Joe Mazzulla will not be the head coach of Boston's first preseason game. He'll be handing the reins to assistants Tony Dobbins and DJ MacLeay, both of whom will coach one half of the game.
"Tonight, D-Mac and Tony will be coaching the game," Mazzulla said at shootaround in Cleveland on Thursday morning. "I want to give them the opportunity to be able to just build themselves as coaches. Both those guys had [head] coaching interviews this past summer, and I want them to be able to build on that. And also, I think it's good to watch the game from a different perspective. So, those guys will be out there, they'll be running the show, and [I'm] excited for them and want them to continue to grow."
As Dobbins and MacLeay roam the sideline, Mazzulla won't even be on the bench with the rest of the coaches. He'll be in the back with the video coordinators, studying a new perspective.
"No, I'll stay quiet. It's always interesting. You go back to kind of looking at coordinators and kind of seeing the game from a different perspective," Mazzulla said. "So, I'll watch it in the back with some of the guys that won't play and the video guys and build the halftime edits and just really see what I don't see when I'm out there. So, it's just as much for me as it is them. But I think it's just seeing the game from a different perspective and also giving those guys an opportunity."
It's been a long road to this point for Dobbins and MacLeay, both of whom have been in Boston for years. Dobbins has seen two head-coaching swaps since joining the organization.
He began as a video guy under Brad Stevens but remained on the staff throughout all the changes. He was promoted to an assistant role in 2020 and is now one of the top bench guys on Mazzulla's staff.
"Tone's been around for damn near forever," Mazzulla said. "But just his patience. I think sometimes a lot of assistants will rush trying to be a head coach, and just his patience through the journey. And we've changed his roles a ton of times, trying to give him as much reps as we can in different things, and he's just as open-minded as can be."
Though he never made it to the NBA, Dobbins was one of Europe's most dominant defensive players before making the jump to coaching. He won three Pro A Best Defensive Player -- the Defensive Player of the Year in France's top league -- for three different clubs (2009, 2013, and 2014).
As for MacLeay, he went straight from college ball (Bucknell, where Charles Lee coached him as an assistant) to the coaching circuit. After over four years with the Philadelphia 76ers (three as a video coordinator), he was hired in Boston under Ime Udoka. He stayed in town after Udoka's departure and worked his way up.
"I think DJ's really grown just as a leader," Mazzulla said. "I think the jump from assistant to head coach is, it goes from, as an assistant, it's all about what you know, and as a head coach, it's all about other people and what you get them to know. And I think DJ's done a great job leading our defense team and helping some of the younger coaches develop and bringing people along with him."
During his time in Boston, Dobbins has worked closely with some of its top stars. He spent a long time with Jaylen Brown, and last year, he helped coach Jayson Tatum through his Achilles recovery.
MacCleay has been integral in developing the Celtics' big men. He coached Kristaps Porzingis during his time in Boston, even traveling to Latvia to help him prepare for the season. Now, Luka Garza is one of his top guys.
"The details and the different things that we go through, I know it's just been tremendously helpful for me," Garza said of MacLeay. "He just has a knack to finding these opportunities. Different, like I said, details that help give you advantages within the game, especially defensively. And then offensively, I think we're just kind of like-minded, and he pushes me in a lot of ways, and so I think he brings a ton to the game."
Both Dobbins and MacLeay were in the running for head coaching positions this summer. That, in part, was when Mazzulla decided to give them this opportunity.
"We've had three guys go through head coaching interviews this summer extensively," Mazzulla said. "And to me, that's a huge testament to them and the work that they do. And so, you're just always looking for opportunities to give them more experience. And sometimes the only experience is being out there on the sideline. So, want to give that to them. They deserve it, they earn it, they're great at what they do. I think we have one of the best staffs. So, anyway, I can try to help them in that, I do."
Dobbins was reportedly