Boston Celtics · 8 notes
Payton Pritchard, on a two-year Celtics extension he puts at $22 million a year, says he'd come off the bench if Joe Mazzulla wants: "to me a starter is the amount of minutes you play. Do you finish games? Are you playing 30+ minutes? Then you are a starter"
"I guess I didn't know that, uh, I upset the Celtic fans, so I apologize for that. It's never my intention." Joe Mazzulla, asked about saying on a podcast that his goal is to be forgotten, explained he sees his job as leaving the Celtics a little better than he found them.
Joe Mazzulla sprang a two-big-man lineup on his own Celtics: "The guys didn't know we were going to do it. We hadn't practiced it. The first time they knew was at the beginning of the quarter." He wanted it on film and expects better spacing if Boston uses it again.
Jordan Walsh has started the Celtics' last two games guarding the opponent's best player. Joe Mazzulla said he has done it well, "getting off to a good start defensively." On keeping the same lineup: "we'll just do what we did last time."
Neemias Queta off the dribble: Joe Mazzulla wants more of the Celtics center's playmaking. "That playmaking is an area that we'd like to see Neemias take to a little bit of a different level." On outside shooting, Mazzulla wants to empower him but still get the best shots.
Celtics rookie center Chris Cenac Jr. said Joe Mazzulla told him centers play "a big, big role in our offense." The staff's focus with him: "protecting the rim, block your sides, guarding, running the floor," and reading how defenses play the screens he sets.
Mike Conley, entering his 20th season and yet to play for Joe Mazzulla, on his new Celtics coach: "for some guys, it could be very hard to play for Joe, I'm sure." The reason: how hard Mazzulla gets after players and how much he expects.
Brad Stevens: Joe Mazzulla can pick among centers Mitchell Robinson, Neemias Queta and Luka Garza nightly by "who impacts the most," and with this depth "not everybody will have their expectations met every day." Paul George: "I don't have to be the one option."