Thursday, June 20, 2024

Basketball Post 3999: Mazzulla - Born to Coach?

Joe Mazzulla, fascinating, not yet anointed. Look under the hood. What formed a guy, tempered him, damaged and resurrected him.

First an overview article.

Formative years. Mazzulla used his time on the bench wisely. 

Mazzulla took hard coaching. He embraced criticism.  

Joe Mazzulla doesn't like the high school self. He sees him as short-tempered and reacting before thinking. He called that "Growing Pains."  

Philosophy. Prepare for copycats. "He incessantly emphasized pace, space, ball movement, and taking the right shot offensively, regardless of what happened in a given game. Defensively, he got the most out of Boston's absurd personnel by removing the inexplicable lapses that cost the Celtics in past seasons." 

“The healthiest relationship to have with success is to understand that you can still get better, and so I think that’s the space that we have to live in.”

Porzingis said, "“As coach said yesterday in the first meeting, we have to live that lifestyle. We have to live that life day-to-day. We have to put in the work, and then, in the end, if we put in the work, we will achieve the results. But it has to be like a daily focus. Not always keeping only that big goal in our minds. We’re keeping that in mind.”

Coaching clinics. "If you're late for class, then you're going to be late to a rotation." LQO - learning, questioning, ownership. 

Where am I?

Where do I want to get to 

How will I get there?

What will get in the way? 


Video. Above all the brain is the organ that predicts and craves predictability. Our brain constantly predicts which allows unpredictability to disrupt us. 

The great author Maya Angelou says, "when someone shows you who they are, believe them."  

Quotes. Get caught saying the truth. 

Lagniappe. The things that win are still the things that win. 

This certainly couldn’t age poorly, right?