Tag: celtics coaching

Report: Celtics adding Sam Cassell to Joe Mazzulla’s coaching staff

The Boston Celtics are reportedly hiring a familiar face to join the team’s coaching staff for next season.

The Boston Celtics are adding a familiar name to the team’s coaching staff for next season. According to the Athletic’s Shams Charania, Sam Cassell is joining the team as an assistant. As such, head coach Joe Mazzulla is adding a veteran voice to Boston’s sidelines.

Cassell won three titles in the NBA, twice as a member of the Houston Rockets and once with the 2008 Celtics. As a hard-nosed defender and crafty passer, Cassell was a model point guard in a career that lasted nearly two decades. Since retiring, Cassell has served as an assistant, mostly recently on Doc Rivers’ staff with the Philadelphia 76ers. He has been a popular name to watch for Boston and has been a head coach candidate the past few years.

Some turnover on the Celtics bench was expected this summer given Joe Mazzulla has his first real offseason to build a staff. Many of the assistants for the team this season were hired by Ime Udoka or Brad Stevens. Now Mazzulla has a chance to re-imagine his coaching staff, and Sam Cassell appears to be the first of what could be several additions.

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Who are the greatest NBA head coaches of all time?

And how many coached the Celtics?

While he might be a very good head coach of the NBA’s most storied franchise, Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has a very long way to go to make the list of the best coaches to ever tote a clipboard in front of Boston’s bench, never mind across the other 29 teams of the Association.

Even the best head coaches of today’s game — with a single notable exception — would not make the cut of the greatest head coaches in NBA history according to Los Angeles Lakers legend Michael Cooper.

No, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is not the exception Cooper was talking about.

Coop and the founder of the CLNS Media network, Nick Gelso, hashed out who those legendary head coaches are on the NBA G.O.A.T. list.

Two Celtics coaches and a former player who coached elsewhere make the list, but you will have to watch the clip embedded above to hear who else made Coop’s cut.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Celtics president Brad Stevens makes honorable mention for Bleacher Report all-time best coach list of the modern NBA

Though he doesn’t coach anymore, his time at the helm of the Celtics earned him much respect in that role.

While you will not find Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens behind a clipboard on the sidelines anymore, his time as a head coach for the team he is now the president of forged a reputation for the Indiana native as one of the better NBA coaches of the modern era.

So much so that Stevens made the honorable mention section of a list of the greatest head coaches in the league’s modern history by Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley.

“Before Stevens jumped from the Boston Celtics’ sideline into their front office, he wowed with his on-court schematics and player development,” writes the Bleacher Report analyst.

“While he couldn’t quite help the Shamrocks break through and win the big one, he did take them to three Eastern Conference finals in four years.”

For what it’s worth, as good as he was calling ATO plays from the sidelines, he has been even better for the Celtics calling the shots in the front office.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

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Can you name all six Hall of Fame coaches of the Boston Celtics?

Better yet, can you do it in order?

The Boston Celtics have plenty of former players in Springfield, Massachusetts Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, and plenty more who may yet one day help people its ranks. But the storied franchise has had plenty of stellar leadership on the other side of the clipboard as well, with six former coaches having earned immortalization in basketball’s Mount Olympus.

Celtics fans may not be very crazy about at least one of the five among the franchise’s least popular alumni, but he still counts, and puts Boston among the league’s most decorated teams when it comes to historically recognized coaches on its payroll.

Let’s take a look at those Hall of Fame Celtics coaches, from the evil emperor himself to the greatest head coach in the history of the NBA.

Report: Celtics hire D.J. MacLeay as new player enhancement coach

Boston continues to shore up new head coach Ime Udoka’s staff.

New Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka’s staff is close to if not complete with reports of the hiring of DJ MacLeay as a new player enhancement coach for the team, per The Athletic’s Clevis Murray.

MacLeay had most recently been employed by the Celtics’ Atlantic Division rival Philadelphia 76ers for the last four seasons, one of which overlapped with both Udoka’s and recently-returned Boston big man Al Horford’s tenures with that club, Udoka as a defensive specialist assistant coach. The new Celtics assistant had reportedly worked as a video coordinator over the course of the last three seasons with the Sixers.

MacLeay had played basketball collegiately for the Bucknell Bisons as a forward from 2013 to 2017, where he averaged 3.5 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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WATCH: Get to know Damon Stoudamire, new Boston Celtics assistant coach

While older fans may remember Mighty Mouse from his playing days, Stoudamire may be a bit of a mystery for younger Celtics fans.

Most Boston Celtics fans know that new head coach Ime Udoka hired fellow Portland native Damon Stoudamire because of his past as a player in addition to his coaching chops, but beyond that many may not know that much more about the former NBAer and current Celtics assistant.

The former University of the Pacific head coach sat down with Rasheed Wallace and Bonzi Wells, fellow former players and the hosts of the Ball is Life podcast “Let’s Get Technical” to talk about his new job with Boston. They discuss everything from the draft, working with the Celtics’ star wings Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and coaching under Udoka to coping with Boston’s weather and the NBA Finals.

Be sure to check out the pod in the video embedded below to get up to speed on Stoudamire the assistant coach, and get a feel for the NBA legend and his approach to the game if you don’t already know it — or just need a refresher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5C1ZomZe8

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Report: Celtics to hire Spurs staffer Garrett Jackson to Ime Udoka’s coaching staff

Boston continues to fill out their coaching staff with hires who have experience playing the game.

New Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka’s staff is coming further into focus with reports of San Antonio Spurs staffer Garrett Jackson being hired by Udoka to add yet another former player to his coaching staff. Jackson was playing overseas as recently as 2018, and per The Athletic’s Jared Weiss, recently finished an internship under recent Celtics hire Will Hardy on the Spurs.

Added to former Pacific head coach Damon Stoudamire and Hardy along with Aaron Miles, and it seems likely the new Boston head coach’s staff is close to or complete, with assistant Joe Mazzulla and video assistant Evan Bradds to stay on with the Celtics under Udoka.

With these hires in place, Udoka and his staff can begin to turn their focus on preparing for the season ahead, and establishing relationships with the players on the roster as well as consulting with the front office regarding potential draft targets and free agent signings.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Report: Celtics assistants Jay Larrañaga, Jamie Young not returning to team in 2021-22

The two longtime Boston coaches will move on to new opportunities next season.

Two familiar faces will no longer be on the Boston Celtics sidelines at the start of next season according to the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach. Assistant coaches Jay Larrañaga and Jamie Young will depart to new opportunities to make way for the staff of recently-hired new head coach Ime Udoka.

Larrañaga has been with the team dating back to the Doc Rivers era, and Young predates even that, spanning back to the Jim O’Brien era when he was brought on as a video coordinator for the team on the recommendation of now-Los Angeles Lakers head coach and former roommate Frank Vogel.

With the confirmation that San Antonio Spurs assistant Will Hardy will be joining the coaching ranks in Boston and others rumored to be in the running as well, this was expected if an end of a considerably long era.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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WATCH: Celtics great Cedric Maxwell talks Ime Udoka head coach hire

The former Finals MVP has played under many a new Celtics coach, and offers his insight.

If there’s anyone who knows the dynamics of what happens when a new head coach takes over for the Boston Celtics, it’s franchise icon Cedric Maxwell (check his appearance on Celtics Lab for more). The former Finals MVP has played under quite a few, from Tommy Heinsohn to Bill Fitch and K.C. Jones, to name a handful.

The Boston champion had plenty to say on the former Brooklyn Nets assistant’s hire to become the franchise’s 18th head coach, which he shared with co-host Josue Pávon on the latest episode of the CLNS Media “Cedric Maxwell” podcast. The pair also talk on the Jay Williams tweet regarding race and Celtics head coaching history, turbulence on the Portland Trail Blazers after their coaching hire and more.

Watch the video embedded below to get Maxwell’s take on all things coaching carousel in the NBA right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5xEPXhr3e8

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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New Celtics head coach Ime Udoka addresses the media for the first time in that role

The former Nets assistant had plenty to say on his plans for the team and his vision for its young stars.

The Boston Celtics officially introduced new head coach Ime Udoka to the media in that role Monday morning, allowing the new Celtics coach to field an array of questions on his hire.

The 18th head coach in franchise history, Udoka had previously had a 12-year career as a pro player (including seven years in the NBA) and previously served as an assistant coach with USA Basketball, the San Antonio Spurs, Philadelphia 76ers, and most recently with the Brooklyn Nets, where he was in charge of developing the team’s defensive capabilities. Noting it was a “distinct pleasure” to welcome Udoka and his family into the wider Celtics family, lead governor Wyc Grousbeck led the statements from the team on the hire.

Relating Udoka will do “everything he can” to help bring Banner 18 to the franchise, Grousbeck spoke glowingly of the new coach’s background and qualifications.