Joe Mazzulla doesn’t intend to change much in the aftermath of this season’s trade deadline.
Even after four trades that resulted in four departures, the Boston Celtics head coach is standing by the approach that has helped them climb as high as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference this season. Nothing will compromise that plan, which Mazzulla has adamantly preached since Opening Night.
He doubled down on that stance following Sunday evening’s 118–89 loss to the New York Knicks while addressing the team’s rotations moving forward.
“The same as we’ve done all year,” Mazzulla told reporters, per CLNS Media.
For the third straight game, Mazzulla stuck with a double-big lineup, giving Neemias Queta and Luka Garza the starting nod against New York. That configuration worked tremendously against the Houston Rockets, after which Mazzulla said it was a scheme the Celtics could turn to at any point for the remainder of the season. Now, with Nikola Vučević added via Boston’s Anfernee Simons trade with the Chicago Bulls, comes the challenge of integrating him while keeping the system intact.
With limited time — less than 48 hours — to work with Vučević at the team’s practice facility in Brighton, the Celtics did what they could to get the 15-year veteran up to speed before his debut Friday night against the Miami Heat. That game marked Vučević’s first opportunity to familiarize himself with Boston’s system and showcase what the Celtics will be getting from the two-time All-Star — an opportunity Mazzulla believes everyone on the roster will earn and will continue to get.
“I think we’re up to 15 or 17 different ones, so nothing’s changed,” Mazzulla told reporters. “Everybody on our roster has a chance to impact winning. We have a chance to develop and do different things there. So whether it’s before or after the trade deadline, nothing changes in our approach. How do we have flexibility? How do we know everyone on the roster has a chance to impact winning? We just keep developing identities and whatnot.”
So far, it’s been a work in progress acclimating Vučević.
Mazzulla has used him off the bench twice to start his Celtics stint, with both games producing unusual team performances at home. The Celtics battled back from a 22-point deficit against Miami but then fell victim to their 3-point struggles, shooting just 17% on 41 attempts and ultimately losing their No. 2 seed to Jalen Brunson and the Knicks.
Welcoming Vučević aboard will be more about integrating him than adapting to his presence. It’s a two-way street: he’ll need to study the Celtics, their schemes, and their habits, and the roster will need to help him learn the playbook and put him in positions to succeed. Two seasons ago, the Celtics faced a similar situation — though under very different circumstances — when Kristaps Porziņģis first joined the team. Like Vučević, Porziņģis arrived as a stretch big capable of shooting the 3-pointer, and shooting it well.
“We gotta figure out the chemistry a little bit, the flow a little bit,” Jaylen Brown admitted to reporters, per CLNS Media. “We want Vooch to be more aggressive. We’re looking for him to get going and make him feel confident in taking those shots and where he can catch the ball. We’re still learning, but we need him to be more aggressive, so we’ll make some adjustments. We’ll communicate. We’ll watch film, and we’ll be better for it.”
This season, more than any other, has been a complete showcase for the Celtics. It’s been a revolving door of opportunity, where unproven players like Queta, Garza, Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, Hugo González, and others have gotten chances they might not have had before. It’s forced Mazzulla to get creative, demonstrate patience, and, all the while, strike the balance between giving players opportunities and knowing when to pull the plug and look elsewhere for the production the team needs to flourish.
The trade deadline was an opportunity to improve — but to improve in ways that fit their system.
Boston’s two-game sample size isn’t like them. They’ve been one of the most well-oiled machines in the NBA, powered by a retooled offense tailored to a new-look roster without star Jayson Tatum. That’s been the plan from the start. It has completely shifted the perception of the Celtics from a potential tank candidate to a contender, and that approach is expected to remain in place for the rest of the season.
