BOSTON — Despite what Joe Mazzulla thinks of the Coach of the Year award, it now belongs to him.
Mazzulla, who has called the award “stupid,” won it Tuesday after leading the Boston Celtics to a 56-26 season and the Eastern Conference’s second seed. The NBA announced that Mazzulla beat out the other finalists for the award, Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff and San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson. Boston fell to the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs in a disappointing end to an otherwise successful season.
“Thank you to the Lord for the platform he has given me, and to my wife and family who support me on this journey,” Mazzulla said in a statement. “Thank you to our players who compete and give it everything they have each night. I am grateful for every member of the Celtics organization whose dedication impacts winning every day. This award belongs to our staff, who are there for the guys every day. Their relentless work ethic improves our team daily. This award should be named Staff of the Year.”
The Celtics earned the No. 2 seed in the East despite playing most of the season without injured star Jayson Tatum and losing nearly half their rotation during a cost-cutting summer. They still finished second in offensive efficiency, fourth in defensive efficiency and fourth in net rating while winning at least 50 games for the fifth straight season. Mazzulla has served as the head coach during four of those campaigns.
NBA Coach of the Year Voting – 2025-26
|
1st-Place Votes
|
Total Points
|
|
|---|---|---|
|
Joe Mazzulla, Celtics |
62 |
392 |
|
J.B. Bickerstaff, Pistons |
29 |
312 |
|
Mitch Johnson, Spurs |
9 |
133 |
|
Charles Lee, Hornets |
0 |
31 |
|
Jordan Ott, Suns |
0 |
11 |
Mazzulla’s job this season changed in some ways. The Celtics needed to find several new contributors to replace the departed Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Luke Kornet. Much of their supporting cast had never played a regular role in the NBA. The team dropped its first three games, but quickly righted itself to re-establish its place near the top of the Eastern Conference.
“This is well-deserved recognition and a testament to both Joe and his staff,” Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens said in a statement. “With all of our unknowns entering the season, Joe did a fantastic job building and growing a team. He pours everything he has into competing at a high level while helping players find the best versions of themselves within the framework of a team. On top of all of that, Joe leads with an authentic care for the Celtics and everyone he works with — players, coaches, and staff.”
Several players, including Jaylen Brown, cited the importance of the coaching staff’s focus on teaching the game. After losing so many key veterans, Mazzulla recognized the need to speed up the learning process for his younger players. Otherwise, he understood, the loss of collective basketball IQ would have been too great for the Celtics to overcome.
“I think that was the number one point of emphasis this offseason,” Mazzulla said in December. “After losing all that experience that we had, all that continuity that we had, just creating a better learning environment throughout the building, creating a better learning environment in the film room, on the road.
“Just different ways to make sure that our language and system philosophies are getting across. At the same time, guys are able to retain information at a fast level so that we can get to the best version of ourselves as fast as we can to get better.”
Trying to give his team an edge, Mazzulla was hard on the Celtics from the start. During the preseason, he spent time yanking any player who gave up an offensive rebound. Throughout the regular season, he altered his rotation depending on who was producing more at the time. Luka Garza, one of the players whose role fluctuated the most, said Mazzulla’s approach to playing time helped the entire roster stay ready at all times.
“Knowing the opportunity’s coming, I think gives you a little bit more confidence versus a situation where you might lose hope or don’t think you’re going to play,” Garza said. “But by seeing how he coaches and how he’s gone to different guys in different situations, you know it’s coming.”
The Celtics were faced with another major adjustment when Tatum returned in early March. They handled it almost seamlessly, finishing the regular season 13-3 with Tatum in the lineup, before failing to close out a 3-1 lead in the first round of the playoffs. Tatum missed Boston’s 109-100 Game 7 loss with left knee stiffness after suffering the setback during Game 6.
The Celtics actually won fewer games than they did in any of Mazzulla’s first three seasons. Still, given the degree of difficulty, Mazzulla received widespread praise for keeping his team so competitive during the regular season. He typically tried to deflect such praise, but his players believe he deserved it.
“He doesn’t like the attention on him and making it about himself,” Derrick White said on April 20. “But obviously, he’s done an amazing job this year, and when he wins, it would definitely be well deserved.”
