Udonis Haslem believes Joe Mazzulla is a top-10 head coach in NBA

Udonis Haslem believes Joe Mazzulla is a top-10 head coach in NBA

It’s not often that former 20-year Miami Heat veteran Udonis Haslem gives the benefit of the doubt to the Boston Celtics. However, in a recent episode of his “The OGs” podcast with Mike Miller , Haslem was very critical of how the media viewed Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who will be entering his third season at the helm.

“It ain’t 10 coaches in the league better than Joe Mazzulla,” Haslem said. “I got my thing with Boston, but I’m real now. I’m real. It ain’t 10 f–king coaches in the league that’s better than Joe Mazzulla. I disagree with that. … I know Joe Mazzulla should be in the top f–king 8 at least.”

Haslem is likely referencing a recent head coaching rankings done by CBS Sports NBA writer Sam Quinn, who ranked all 30 head coaches last week. Here was his excerpt on Mazzulla:

“Joe Mazzulla is another ‘hard to judge’ coach. His roster is flawless, what are we supposed to do with him? Fans wanted him fired after his first season. He’s mostly sanded away the game-management issues that led to that skepticism, and having a properly stocked bench of assistant coaches makes much more of a difference than you see on television. He took over an incredibly difficult position in 2022, struggled through his debut, and then put it all together last season. The Celtics are the NBA’s most prolific shooting team. Mazzulla believes in firing away from deep and he has the players to execute that system. If anything, you could argue Boston is a bit too dogmatic about shot-selection. Every now and then you need to know that the 3s aren’t falling and have a few pivots ready. Only time will tell how this approach will age as the roster regresses to something closer to a traditional contender, but Mazzulla replaced an incredibly popular coach and made the team his own on both ends of the floor. We can’t call him a great coach yet just because of his roster, but he did almost everything right even in that context last season.”

Ranked above Mazzulla was Tom Thibodeau (Knicks), Mike Budenholzer (Suns), Ime Udoka (Rockets), Will Hardy (Jazz), Mark Daigneault (Thunder), Tyronn Lue (Clippers), Steve Kerr (Warriors), Rick Carlisle (Pacers), Nick Nurse (76ers) and Erik Spoelstra (Heat), who Quinn placed in a tier of his own.

The 36-year-old head coach has gone 121-43 in two seasons with Boston, including a 64-18 season last year that he parlayed into their 18th-ever NBA Title, going 16-3 in the postseason. While the Celtics did face injured Heat, Cavaliers and Pacers teams, they steamrolled their competition.

Haslem dislikes Boston with every fiber in his body, but he’s also one of the most “tell it like it is” voices in the NBA. He’s the OG for a reason; he’s going to keep it real to your face, whether you like it or not. I think Mazzulla’s certainly in the conversation to be above Thibodeau and Budenholzer, another championship-winning head coach, among a few others ranked ahead of him.

He was shoved into an impossible situation in 2022-23 and, with a year to compartmentalize, came back with a more experienced staff and compact structure last season. He also came back with a better roster with Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis –which definitely helped, too! Mazzulla’s big test came in the postseason, where he did a good job making adjustments and countering the opposing team’s adjustments–even though his team possessed a clear talent discrepancy on all fronts.

Now it’s time for the King of South Florida to bust Jimmy Butler , Bam Adebayo and Co. up in practice … again!

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