Tag: Sam Cassell

Mazzulla on why assistant coach Sam Cassell’s experience is a ‘gift’

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla outlines why assistant Sam Cassell is such a “gift” for Boston.

The Boston Celtics are currently one of the most potent teams in the NBA, and bona fide contenders to win a title this spring. Much of this is thanks to a re-vamped roster full of current and former All-Stars, but for second year head coach Joe Mazzulla, the cohort of assistant coaches on his bench deserves similar credit for Boston’s early success this season.  This includes former Celtic and NBA champion Sam Cassell.

Cassell is a former All-Star himself, and won three titles as a player, including in 2008 with Boston. Since retiring in 2009, Cassell has served as an assistant with several teams before joining Mazzulla’s staff this offseason.

Cassell headlined a busy summer of changes to Boston’s coaching staff, as the 35-year-old Mazzulla looked to add experience and wisdom to the Celtics sidelines.

On this day: Len Bias, Garfield Smith, Sam Cassell born; Bob Cousy traded

On this day, Celtics Len Bias, Garfield Smith, and Sam Cassell — while Boston icon Bob Cousy had his rights traded to the Cincinnati Royals.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, small forward Len Bias was born in Landover, Maryland in 1963. Bias would attend his hometown University of Maryland after graduating high school, where he would rise to national attention with the Terrapins.

He would be taken by the Celtics with the second overall pick of the 1986 NBA draft, only to have tragedy follow soon after. To celebrate his good fortune of landing with the storied franchise, the former Terrapin returned to the University of Maryland campus to celebrate his ascent to a contending team in the NBA with several of his friends.

Bias would have a seizure and collapse after using cocaine, a cardiac arrhythmia triggered by the use of the drug that eventually killed him. His unexpected passing is one of the great tragedies of Celtics and NBA history — rest in peace.

Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Can Boston Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell help Jayson Tatum win the NBA’s 2024 MVP?

Tatum can benefit from Cassell’s expertise in mid-post play and playmaking, as well as his considerable leadership experience accrued over his years in the league.

Can new Boston Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell help All-NBA Boston forward Jayson Tatum win the NBA’s 2024 Most Valuable Player award? Cassell’s addition to the Celtics coaching staff has sparked discussions about how he can benefit the St. Louis native’s game, and rightfully so given Cassell’s considerable pedigree as both an assistant and as a player, having won multiple titles in the latter capacity including one with Boston in 2008.

Tatum can benefit from Cassell’s expertise in mid-post play and playmaking, as well as his considerable leadership experience accrued over his years in the league on both sides of the clipboard, and from the swagger he carried himself with as a player just as the Duke alum is poised to be a top MVP candidate on his own.

The hosts of the “True Hoop TV” podcast Jarod Hector and David Thorpe recently sat down to discuss the potential impact Cassell could have on Tatum’s MVP odds on a recent episode.

Check out the clip embedded above to hear what they had to say.

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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Paul Pierce, Sam Cassell, and Eddie House hold impromptu 3-point shooting contest

The trio of 2008 titlists put on a show for today’s Celtics at camp.

Three legendary Boston Celtics players, Paul Pierce, Sam Cassell, and Eddie House, recently took fans down memory lane with a 3-point shooting contest joined by a few other Boston assistants during a Celtics practice session at their 2023 training camp on Thursday.

Pierce, also known as “The Truth,” is a Celtics icon who spent 15 seasons with the team. Cassell, another former Celtics star, was known for his clutch performances during his time with the team. House, a sharpshooter in his own right, played a vital role off the bench during the Celtics’ championship run in 2008. His ability to knock down 3-pointers with consistency made him a fan favorite during his time in Boston.

The shooting contest quickly caught the attention of all in the building, with even current Celtics stars pausing to watch the spectacle.

To see it for yourself, check out the clip embedded above.

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 assistant Sam Cassell works with Boston’s Jayson Tatum at training camp

Training camp is officially underway with the ball club’s many new arrivals getting in reps with the new coaching staff.

The Boston Celtics‘ 2023 offseason is over with their Media Day proceedings for the looming 2023-24 NBA season behind them and training camp is officially underway with the ball club’s many new arrivals getting in reps with the new coaching staff.

Integrating the likes of Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Dalano Banton, Oshae Brissett, Svi Mykhailiuk, Lamar Stevens, Jordan Walsh, and others spending time under the tutelage of new assistants Charles Lee and Sam Cassell is underway. Catching up with the media to get them apprised of what has been going on, and seeing if players like Wenyen Gabriel and Neemias Queta can give the team the bench big play it needs are also at the top of the docket.

To see the results of some of that action for yourself, check out the clip embedded below to see Cassell working with Jayson Tatum.

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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Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 28

Today’s installment focuses on the 14 players who wore No. 28 over the years as of August 2023.

The Boston Celtics have more retired jerseys than any other team in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean the rest of their jerseys have little history of interest tied to them.

In fact, with 17 titles to their name and decades of competitive basketball played in them, their unretired jersey numbers pack in some of the most history not hanging from the rafters of any team in the league. To that end, we have launched our accounting of that history, with every player in every jersey worn by more than one Celtics player in the storied franchise’s history accounted for.

Today’s installment focuses on the 14 players who wore No. 28 over the years as of August 2023.

New Boston Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell visits Derrick White for workouts

Cassell was there to get a jump start on preparing to mentor the Celtics point guard ahead of the team’s 2023 training camp.

New Boston Celtics assistant coach (and part of the 2008 Celtics title team) Sam Cassell visited freshly-minted Celtics starting point guard Derrick White this offseason in White’s native Colorado to spend some time with the Boston floor general for his offseason workouts.

Cassell was there to get a jump start on preparing to mentor the Celtics point guard ahead of the team’s 2023 training camp, set to kick off in just a few weeks. The plan was, according to White’s trainer, to introduce the ball club’s offense for their 2023-24 campaign and figure out what kind of coaching style White prefers as a player.

That trainer, Marcus Mason, recently sat down to talk about the workouts Cassell and the University of Colorado alum had during his interview with CLNS Media reporter Bobby Manning on an episode of the “Garden Report” podcast.

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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Rapper Jadakiss revisits rap lyric referencing Boston Celtics assistant Sam Cassell

When rapper Jadakiss referenced Sam Cassell in a line back in 2001, he paid homage to the connection between the NBA and hip hop.

New Boston Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell has quite the resume. He won three NBA championships in his time as a pro, including one with the Celts back in 2008. He was an All-Star, an accomplished Florida State Seminole, and earned All-NBA Second Team honors in 2004. As such, Cassell brings experience, toughness, and wisdom to Boston’s bench.

A less relevant but equally compelling part of Cassell’s history may be his place in the world of hip-hop.

Rapper Jadakiss referenced Cassell in the 2001 song “Put Ya Hands Up,” cementing the point guard’s place in the culture. At the time, Cassell was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, and Jadakiss apparently took notice. On the third single from his album Kiss the Game Goodbye, Jadakiss delivers the now iconic line, “imma get Bucks like Milwaukee, cuz like Sam I Cassell,”

What is the potential impact of Sam Cassell joining the Boston Celtics coaching staff?

Cassell is known for his straightforward, honest approach with players as an assistant, which some believe the ball club needs in the campaign to come.

What is the potential impact of Sam Cassell joining the Boston Celtics coaching staff? Cassell is known for his straightforward, honest approach with players as an assistant, which some believe the ball club needs in the campaign to come.

The former Celtics champion guard can add guidance from a place of experience with credibility given his career as a player that took him through the gamut of expectations and as a walking reminder of the responsibility of the team’s star players to step up. The role of Cassell as a consigliere to head coach Joe Mazzulla as the second-year head coach learns the full scope of his job as the jefe of a contending team will also be a boost.

To hear more about what sort of role and effects we should see from bringing on Cassell to the coaching staff, check out the clip from WEEI’s “Gresh and Fauria” show embedded below.

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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Sam Cassell on what he brings to Boston, and how he can help the Celtics

“I’m here to just help him just let him enjoy that we have a great team,” said Cassell.

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Sam Cassell, a three-time NBA champion (including one with the Boston Celtics in 2008) and a former assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers, joined the Celtics coaching staff under second-year head coach Joe Mazzulla, and recently described how it came about, and how he hoped to support his new boss on a very familiar bench via MassLive’s Brian Robb.

“Right after the playoffs were over, we got together, (had a) couple phone conversations,” said Cassell on how the process began. “(He) asked me, first of all, if I was interested in coming here, (to) join his staff, the Celtics”

“I just told him it’d be an honor,” he continued. “I hadn’t heard from anybody else. … I think Joe’s an amazing coach. I’m here to just help him just let him enjoy that we have a great team. I won’t change his mentality, that’s who he is. But I’m going to help him enjoy it a little bit more.”

“I’ve been every player from the best player to the 15th man on the team,” he noted, hinting at his championship pedigree. “I know how each player feels so I can relate to each and every one of them. The guy who gets the ball all the time, the guy who doesn’t get the ball.”

“I won a championship in Boston and I was maybe the eighth or ninth man. Some nights I played, some nights I didn’t play, but I was always in the game plan and that’s my message to them. You got to be in the game plan, you got to be in the moment to seize the moment.”

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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