Joe Mazzulla Had The Perfect Response When Asked About Facing The New Bucks Superteam

Maddie Malhotra. Getty Images.

There are a lot of people associated with the Boston Celtics that enter the 2023-24 season with a shit ton of pressure. Brad Stevens basically put his legacy on the line with the moves he made this summer in an effort to finally win Banner 18. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have immense pressure to grow as the franchise building blocks and finally come through in the biggest moments. Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis have pressure to not only get familiar quickly but to actually prove to be the missing pieces.

And then there's Joe Mazzulla. 

Year 2 is a pretty massive season for Joe as well. This time last year things were a complete clusterfuck when it came to being the Celtics head coach. While he wasn't perfect by any means, I think some out there sort of gloss over the job Joe did given the circumstances. But for the Celts to win the title, he (much like everyone else) needs to be better. That's something I think we can all agree on.

Now entering his second season, it's hard to find too many excuses for Joe. His staff is built out with legit NBA assistants who have been around a long time. That should help address any sort of in game management issues Joe had last year, in addition to his own internal development. The talent on the roster is certainly there, so the pressure is certainly on Joe to show that he too is ready to make his own leap.

Just hearing about how he's talking about the Celts approach this year should have you excited

and it seems like he's ready to adjust his system based on the players that now make up his roster. Now inserting a legitimately dominant post player in Porzingis should obviously mean diversifying up your offense into some different sets. Make your team hard as hell to guard. While we have to see it on the floor, it sure sounds like Joe is ready to do just that.

I can't lie, I love this more animated and open Joe. We'll see if it holds up the first time the Celts have any sort of skid and the media does their usual "gotcha" moment thing, but for now, the vibes are great. I also couldn't help but notice this clip on my timeline and if it doesn't have you ready to run through a brick wall for Joe than I don't know what does

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This was filmed before the Holiday trade, but the point is still the same. Joe basically said

"Oh the Bucks are going to be a nightmare? Cool. So are we." - Joe

That's about as great of an answer as you could possibly have in my opinion. I love that he put everything on himself first when it comes to handling this new Bucks superteam, because he's right. From the approach to the strategy to the in game adjustments, Joe is going to be an extremely important piece of that puzzle. He can no longer rely on guys like Smart, Rob, and Grant who had a ton of minutes against Giannis/Bucks and may have had an idea of how to play them. 

Based on how both sides loaded up this summer, every time they play is going to be must watch stuff. Not just a potential playoff series either. November 22nd, January 11th, March 20th, and April 9th (maybe, depending on rest/seeding) are all going to be massive statement games for each side. As of late, it's been the Celts who have completely owned this matchup. They put up 140 and 139 in their two wins last year and put up 125 in their OT loss with every Celtic starter resting outside of Derrick White.

Of course, both teams look drastically different this time around so in some ways you have to take the previous results with a grain of salt, but after Media Day yesterday and then these Joe clips today, I think we can all agree the season needs to start immediately.