Sam Cassell was the perfect choice to fill the role of lead assistant to Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Cassell held the same position on Doc Rivers’ staff with the Sixers and was universally liked throughout the organization, Weiss adds.
After losing Damon Stoudamire to Georgia Tech in March, Boston needed an ex-player on its bench who could relate to the team’s stars as well as those who rarely play, Weiss notes. He states that Cassell was responsible for keeping James Harden focused in Philadelphia and helped to develop Tyrese Maxey.
The Celtics have a lot of open spots to fill on the coaching staff, especially if Ben Sullivan, Mike Moser, Garrett Jackson and possibly Aaron Miles are joining Ime Udoka in Houston, as rumored. Weiss suggests that Boston might consider other Sixers coaches such as Dave Joerger, Dan Burke and Jamie Young, who spent several years with the Celtics as an assistant to Rivers and Brad Stevens, along with Jerome Allen, who coached under Dwane Casey with the Pistons.
There’s more from Boston:
- Charles Lee, who was one of the finalists for Detroit’s head coaching job, is under consideration to join the Celtics as an assistant, tweets Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. However, Lee “remains involved in several situations,” Fischer adds.
- Former Celtics boss and current Jazz CEO Danny Ainge is a strong supporter of Mazzulla after watching his first year as a head coach, per Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe. Ainge says the players never quit on Mazzulla, despite accusations after Game 3 of the conference finals, and he adapted and learned as he made his way through the playoffs. “You see Joe’s toughness and stubbornness,” Ainge said. “He’s a relentless worker. He has a passion to learn. Joe is a leader, and I think this was a difficult situation with the high expectations the team had coming in. I don’t think there’s anybody there that doesn’t believe that Joe is better than Ime (Udoka) as a coach.”
- Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com talks to several rival executives and coaches who believe the Celtics should keep Jaylen Brown and re-sign Grant Williams. “I hear fans up there are debating whether to give Brown the super-max, but at some point the numbers don’t really matter,” one general manager said. “First of all, the guy is one of the better players in the league. Start there. I know people are all upset about his last game, and sure he was bad, but that was a team-wide collapse. Just take a step back and look at where he is and what he can do. The guy can play.”
I kind of forgot they lost Stoudamire. I’m sure that made things a little more difficult for Mazzula.
This nonsense about Brown only being about one game is just wrong. Hes second in turnovers in the past 2 playoffs, that last game wasn’t some outlier at all instead it was more of the same thing thats been his entire career thus far.
Still young Browns game is still developing. Defense and correcting mental errors are a work in progress. Brown isn’t going anywhere. He and Tatum are celtics foundation.
7 years isn’t long enough to correct mental errors and to improve his ball handling? Defense is a work in progress? I don’t see much progress. He came into the league advertised as a defensive player. I think we have seen what Jaylin Brown is over the past two years, and it is not a player who has improved on the things you point out. He also is a terrible passer, and doesn’t appear to me to have the periferal vision to find teammates.
You don’t see much progress? You can dislike Brown’s game and still be honest about it.
Dude is WAY better than when he came into the league.
Exactly.
Exactly. He’s not a winner. He doesn’t play winning basketball. Dude dribbles like a 4th grader.
It’s going to be hilarious laughing at whoever gives him a super Max because they are going to be screwed
Sam Cassell was a great hire for Joe Mazzulla staff. He needs to continue to strengthen his bench.
We all know Jaylen Brown makes turnovers. He tries driving thru 3 opponents a lot. That’s how he averages 26 points a game along w starting out hot in lots of games too. But to say he hasn’t improved is nuts. He’s improved greatly each year and we expect, if he is now coached to allow the game to come to him, he’ll get even better. All Celtics fans love Jaylen Brown, except for those who are now frustrated in Celts not going on the way this year. Happily we have Brad Stevens who sees the Big Picture and is in our camp. Go Celtics!
Udoka’s family thinks he’s a better coach than Mazzulla, I would think
Sure.
How to improve the Celtics and lower payroll:
Trade Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard to the Houston Rockets for C Alperen Sengun and the #4 overall pick. Brown and Pritchard get to play for Idoka, Houston has cap space to sign him to a max deal, and Celtics get a sizable and younger return with way more cap space. It’s win-win for both teams.
Sengun is only 20. Rebounds well. Shoots free throws 70%+ and passes extremely well.
Then use #4 overall pick to draft C Dereck Lively II, who is a monster defender to supplement. Lively is a Duke kid and should be an awesome sidekick for Tatum for the foreseeable future.
Then trade Kornet and the second round pick (#35) for SG Isaiah Joe with OKC. You gain another young three-ball threat AND free up more salary cap space. The Celtics had three of the top percentage three-ball shooters already (Horford, Brogden, and Hauser). They need to take high percentage shots, not just chuck up threes.
Extend Grant Williams with the freed up cap space because he’s a solid defender who can also shoot threes. Let Brogden take his time to rehab and heal.
Then give former UConn Captain Jeff Adrien a veteran minimum deal to create more buzz about the team (because everyone deserves a good redemption story and he is still tough and has developed an outside shot).
You are willing to give up a 2nd Team All NBA for guy who would not be in the Celtics rotation, probably would not play much and the #4, a nobody pick?
I stopped reading there…
It’s a bad trade idea, but to say Sengun wouldnt’ be in their rotation is ridiculous.
Should be “How to make a perennial contender mediocre and piss their franchise player off.”
Tatum would be asking for a trade the minute the Brown trade dropped and even if he stayed the Celtics would be a 6th seed at best.
As everyone said before. Brad will run it back again. That is what he does. Brad is all about familiarity. He takes no chances.
That was Danny Ainge.
Stevens traded for Brogdon, White and Muscala. He has made trades. He will make another one this offseason, too. A guard for a Big. I think JD will also step up this year too. Hauser will learn to drive like Duncan too.
Boston Celtics unused guard Payton Pritchard has to play next year. He stayed in college for the whole 4 years and is now 25 years old. He’s shown he’s capable and after that triple double in the last game of the year when he finally played — 30 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists, 9 threes — he will generate lots of trade interest. President Stevens will trade him to a team which will play him or make some move to allow him to play w the Celtics. Go Celtics!
A lot of “rival executives” gave supermax deals to their own overrated players and quickly regretted it. I don’t pretend to have the correct answer on Jaylen Brown, but I’m certain that other NBA front offices is not where I want to get that answer from.
These are the same “rivals” that committed huge money to 33 year old Harden, Irving, Simmons, Westbrook, Jordan Poole, D Russell, etc… For the love of god do not copy them.
Jaylen Brown is 26 years old and deserves a max contract for what he’s doing now. It’s so much better and smarter to pay NBA players for what they are doing for you now, than paying max contracts to guys over 30 who you’re paying for what they’ve already done.
Okay but there is a third option where you do neither, trade him, and keep the line moving.