I understand he thinks the award is dumb and doesn’t want it, but it looks like he’s going to win it, so I hope he accepts it with grace. In receiving the award, he can make it about the players. Maybe he can express how he feels the award should be defined about the players.

For someone with a growth mindset, think about winning it as an opportunity for change that starts with a winner expressing how it’s about the players.

I hope he doesn’t pretend like he doesn’t care, because he can make it about something he does care about

Psycho Joe strikes again. He has no concept of social norms.

Actually this is kind of dumb.

He coaches the team and the award is for the person who did the best job coaching a team.

It’s like saying he shouldn’t win the best director oscar because he didn’t act in the film.

To all the people saying this is weird… it’s calculated. He wants players to focus on the team objective, not individual awards. And he’s no doubt trying to show that example. And remember, this is not him going out of his way to dismiss the award. It’s him responding to a question (no doubt a zillion questions) on a topic he appears to be uninterested in and frankly is quite irrelevant at this point.

I fucking love this man

I love Joe but this is just a bad take of his. Nobody is saying coaches make baskets. But good coaching does matter, why shouldn’t it be recognized

His coaching staff has done an incredible job and deserves it.

…he’s not rejecting the award if he wins it. I’m sure he’ll thank the people he wants to behind the scenes. I love how he acts most of the time, but his attitude with this award is a little weird

I’m getting really bored of this discourse. I frankly don’t care what Joe thinks in this regard. Just give him the trophy and move on

https://preview.redd.it/otq39979jlwg1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=781bbf990c3e46deb1be82f86c824d6e029cfa41

“Our staff hasn’t made a basket. We haven’t gotten a block. We haven’t ran back on defense… We haven’t really done shit.”

How quickly Joe forgot the Coaches Vs Media game where they humiliated the beat reporters!

I get that Joe is the coolest 30 something year old coach but accept the award. He did a tremendous job especially when we were counted out as soon as Tatum got injured. I didn’t think we’d be a top 3 team in the east and pundits called this a down year. We went crazy with JB and the rest of the squad. And the team loves Joe and speaks highly, just accept the award man lol

Awesome article again! I will hold onto this part to reflect/hold onto:

“So, is the praise something Mazzulla hopes his players fight?

“Everybody’s different,” he said. “You just try to treat people the way that they need to be treated. Everyone has a different anchor, has a different approach, handles things differently. I don’t try to make guys believe or do things that they don’t want to do. It’s not who they are.”

What he will preach is the idea that it’s all about the team, all about a storied franchise that has won 18 banners, about the greats that came before this particular group.”

It’s a joint and symbiotic effort. Like Mr. Miyagi and Daniel-san, one doesn’t succeed and grow without the other. Every team has a head and tail, and COTY shows that the Celtics has the best head. Just please accept the award Mazzulla-san.

A reporter needs to clap back and ask him “If you haven’t done shit, are you going to return your salary?”

I like his idea of making it “organization” or “coaching staff” of the year.

Organization would kind of encompass the executive of the year award too, so I think they should either get rid of both EOTY and COTY to make OOTY, or just change it to coaching staff of the year.

Hell they could even present it to the entire coaching staff in front of fans. Joe would hate that, but at least the assistant coaches would probably enjoy getting recognition lol

Clearly he’s just lobbying to get the league to allow him to run back on defense and make blocks again

They should give it to someone who wants it.

Never change Joe

This is him giving all the credit to the players it’s a humble move

Translation: He WOULD accept if he had to personally wrestle/BJJ the other contenders

Maybe he’s advocating for a best coaching team award?

Looks like he’s winning it lmao

He’s going to win lol

His whole schtick is so corny and cringe. This is an insanely stupid take, it’s like saying Bill Belichick had no impact on the actual game being played.

Joe…it’s not a Player Of The Year award

People are mad at this but he’s honestly right, and also, coach of the year is often just given to teams that are filled with underrated players who “overperformed” based on peoples incorrect expectations.

Doc Rivers won coach of the year in 2000 because they thought he coached a team of scrubs to the playoffs, but it just so happens that one of the “scrubs” was actually a young Ben Wallace, and all their winning that season was correllated to how much Ben Wallace played, and if Doc Rivers truly understood how good he was then they would have actually won a lot more than they did

He’s kind of ridiculous. I wish they’d recognize someone with more grace

I appreciate the sentiment behind Joe’s selfless comments, but the award is “coach of the year” because the buck stops with him. If things went as poorly as they have gone well, he’d get the blame. And make no mistake, with very few exceptions like Pop, that day comes for everyone. Instead he gets the recognition. As others have said here, he can use the opportunity to express his gratitude to the players and his staff. WHEN he wins, I really hope he says something considered and meaningful. So he makes everyone think. Not just scratch their heads.

I recall when LeBron was in the Eastern Conference, there was a similar sentiment about his coaches. People believed that his coach didn’t do anything but sit there, while LeBron and Kyrie were the ones leading and making plays. I suppose Joe’s statement was sarcastic for those fans who think coaches just sit around and don’t do anything.

Illegal shift.

He is taking this too far. Like right you haven’t passed the ball but you called the plays and stuff.

Like it’s just silly I know he’s trying to be humble but at some point he just needs to accept that people can recognize for professional achievements all the time. I’m not saying he has to take the award but he can certainly stop trashing it.

I love this guy but it does surprise me he doesn’t take this time to acknowledge his staff for what they actually do. But I’m sure he does it all behind the scenes.

COTY is the stupidest award in every sport because it is just “The Team That Exceeded Preseason Expectations” award

It’s fine that Joe doesn’t want the recognition, more so that he sees himself as a part of group all working together towards something bigger. For the record, if he wins I think he will be gracious in acceptance.

What I like even more, is while he shies away from taking credit for the teams success, he will be the first to take accountability for any of the team’s failures.

I honestly can’t believe this is something for any Celtics fans to get upset over.

How spoiled are we that we won a championship his 2nd year? This season, after a rough start, we finished the regular season as the 2nd seed, having added Tatum weeks before the playoffs. I think we’re now favorites to come out of the east?

Cast offs from other teams, Neemias Queta & Luka Garza, have turned into a legit starter and rotational players. Scheierman and Walsh have both made jumps and meaningful contributions this year. Everyone on the team is on board with Mazulla and they’re winning. What are we even doing here, complaining about him not wanting an award?

Here’s a few meaningful quotes from the article, since it seems like there’s a fair number in here that were already typing out their “thoughts” in the middle of only reading the post title:

• “The players play. It’s about them. Staff work their ass off. I’m grateful to have them.”

• “This could all change 24 hours from now, to where we’re having different conversations,” Mazzulla said Monday, with the Celtics holding a 1-0 series lead over the Philadelphia 76ers. “So it’s part of just the perspective of being rooted in something, regardless of the environment around you on a 24-hour cycle.”

• “Praise is just as dangerous as criticism,” he said. “You just have to remind yourself that neither one lasts too long.

• So, is the praise something Mazzulla hopes his players fight? “Everybody’s different,” he said. “You just try to treat people the way that they need to be treated. Everyone has a different anchor, has a different approach, handles things differently. I don’t try to make guys believe or do things that they don’t want to do. It’s not who they are.”

• “And we can’t – I can’t be good if I don’t have people around me that are good. And, we need each other. So it’s really just having an understanding of that. We need to have great people around you. It’s as simple as that. And, we’re very fortunate enough to have that. We’ll see where it takes us.”

• “I would like for it to be changed to Staff or Organization of the year,” Mazzulla said. “If it were Staff of the Year, it’s different, if it were Organization of the Year…”

Joe…it’s not a Player Of The Year award

Then why is he coaching? Is it just for the money? This is quite disingenuous.

I mean if were operating off joes logic Udonis Haslem should have like 6-7 CoTY awards

Joe is such an ass coach he doesnt know how to change shit up he cant coach defense or offense all he knows is shoot threes and it kills us every game thats not how you win and if a guy is playing like ass take him out of the game 

If he wins, just take the fucking award, thank the team, the staff, and the organization, and move on. You’re not winning cool points for being obstinate, you’re just giving these media hacks incentive to create a frenzy around you.