Joe Mazzulla officially named Celtics head coach: How he earned the job

Joe Mazzulla was originally the interim head coach for the 2022-23 NBA season due to Ime Udoka being suspended for this season for violations of team policies, due to an affair with a female Boston Celtics staff member.

But things changed on Thursday when Mazzulla was officially named the Head coach for the Celtics, which means that Udoka’s time here in Boston has come to an end.

Here’s a few reasons why I think he’s earned his position as Head Coach.

Joe Mazzulla has exceeded expectations as Boston Celtics interim coach

Mazzulla came into the head coaching job with not a lot of coaching experience and was an unknown. He was once an assistant coach for the Maine Red Claws (now Celtics) from 2016-17, and from there he was a head coach for Fairmont State. Fairmont State is a NCAA Division II school out of West Virginia and in his 2nd season he took the Fighting Falcons to the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Tournament.

His Boston Celtics experience started in 2019 when he was hired as an assistant coach under former Head Coach Brad Stevens. Stevens went into the General Manager position and Udoka was hired as head coach and Mazzulla was under the wings of Udoka, where they made the NBA Finals to lose against the Golden State Warriors.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting the Celtics to do as well as they’re doing right now, because I didn’t know how Mazzulla would coach an NBA team, due to his lack of experience.

Well, I was wrong because the Celtics are currently the No.1 team in the Eastern Conference after winning against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. Mazzulla could very well bring the Celtics another NBA Finals Championship, which would be their first since 2008 against the Los Angeles Lakers, which would be a good morale booster for Mazzulla and the Celtics.

Joe Mazzulla uses the Boston Celtics roster depth very well

During this season, the Celtics have had various injuries that have affected the team. During the Summer, the Celtics picked up veteran Danilo Gallinari for a 2-year contract worth $13.3 million. However, Gallinari tore his ACL when he was playing Eurobasket with the Italian team this Summer. Gallinari has been out for the entire season, but could return in time for the Playoffs.

During the first month of the season, Robert Williams III had surgery in his left knee and was out until the December 16th loss against the Orlando Magic. He has shown his presence as one of the bigs down low for the Green, but has been out a few games recently with a sore knee and was on the bench for the overtime loss against the Milwaukee Bucks.

There also has been games where Al Horford has been out too, like the game against the Bucks. Mazzulla has used Blake Griffin, Grant Williams, and the newest addition Mike Muscala to fill in the role if needed and they have excelled in different ways.

Marcus Smart was out for 11 straight games with a bone bruise in his ankle, and just returned against the Pistons. Jaylen Brown has been out with a facial injury and is unclear his status for the All-Star game. Derrick White has filled in for both players, and has been on fire doing so, and if needed Sam Hauser has filled in and has provided double-figure scoring in his starts.

It is safe to say that Mazzulla has used the Celtics depth to the team’s advantage and despite their gaps they’ve still been able to go up top in the Eastern Conference.

Mazzulla will be coaching Team Giannis in the NBA All-Star Game and will coach his first game as official head coach on February 23rd against the Indiana Pacers.