Joe Mazzulla, whose Celtics have the NBA’s best record entering the All-Star break, was officially named the team’s head coach and was given an extension.
Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said the decision to remove the interim tag from coach Joe Mazzulla and give him the job on a permanent basis was to remove any potential “cloud of uncertainty” from hanging over him for the rest of the regular season and playoffs.
“I think one of the things that’s pretty obvious and evident about Joe is he’s a really good coach, and he’s also just an outstanding leader,” Stevens said in a conference call late Thursday afternoon. “I think he’s done a great job, right from the get-go of, again, kind of like I said, galvanizing a locker room around a mission.
“As far as the timing of it, from the standpoint of this is, the one thing, they’ve obviously done a great job, they’ve obviously put themselves in position to compete for the things we want to ultimately compete for thus far, and I want to give them the opportunity to finish the regular season strong, hopefully the postseason strong and not be in a cloud of uncertainty. I think that they certainly have earned that, and, Joe specifically, has just done a great job.”
Joe Mazzulla is officially the 19th Head Coach in franchise history 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/LMcTLS1u0m
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 16, 2023
The Celtics announced Joe Mazzulla as the team's head coach and have agreed on a contract extension. pic.twitter.com/BnGu4wzp4V
— ESPN (@espn) February 16, 2023