Why Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla wants to be ‘forgotten’ after coaching career

The Boston Celtics are less than two months away from kicking off the 2026-27 NBA season with a very different roster than the one that choked a 3-1 lead last year to the Philadelphia 76ers. Jaylen Brown is now a member of those 76ers, with Paul George coming back to Boston, putting the pressure on head coach Joe Mazzulla to make things work with new faces in town.

Recently, Mazzulla spoke on what he hopes his legacy will be in the Boston sports world.

“If the people around you didn’t do what they do… I wouldn’t do anything. The thing I reflect on the most is… I think you have to be willing to be forgotten. I think that’s kind of my main goal.

“I want to be forgotten about. Because that means after you… It was better. I think that’s what it means to be a Celtic. However long you play, coach, work for the Celtics…” said Mazzulla, per Josh Chambers of Maryland Men’s Basketball on X, formerly Twitter.

Mazzulla earned the NBA Coach of the Year award for his performance in leading the Celtics to the second seed in the Eastern Conference last year in what many expected to be a gap season. However, for the second straight year, Mazzulla’s philosophy of having the Celtics launch threes at all costs, with little semblance of a backup plan, crashed and burned in the playoffs when Boston went cold at the wrong time, losing three straight games to the 76ers to go home in the first round for the first time in five years.

Now, Mazzulla will look to double down and prove that he is still one of the NBA’s elite, even if he doesn’t want anyone to remember it.

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