Mazzulla: Celtics ‘can’t rush trust’

CANTON, Mass. — The Celtics were supposed to enter the preseason as one of the favorites to emerge from the Eastern Conference on the heels of their surprise run to the NBA Finals under rookie head coach Ime Udoka.

That was before Udoka was suspended for the upcoming season following a monthslong investigation by an external law firm that found multiple violations of team policies for what sources told The Associated Press involve an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the organization.

The task of holding together the team and capitalizing on Boston’s championship window has falls to interim coach Joe Mazzulla, a 34-year-old rising assistant who was a candidate to land the Utah Jazz’s coaching job.

He’s had barely 72 hours to balance both learning of Udoka’s suspension and being handed a dream opportunity, but Mazzulla said he will take his time giving people time to “feel and heal” as the team prepares to open training camp on Tuesday.

“You can’t rush trust. You can’t rush healing. You can’t rush any of that,” he said to a packed room at Celtics media day on Monday. “Regardless of what has happened, we have a great roster and we have a great opportunity. That’s what I have to focus on.”

Mazzulla has been a Celtics assistant for two seasons. As a college player, he led West Virginia to a victory in the 2007 NIT and an upset over ninth-ranked Duke in the next year’s NCAA tournament. His only head coaching experience was a two-year stint from 2017-19 at Division II Fairmont State in West Virginia.

He will take charge of a Celtics roster that features only one player, 36-year-old Al Horford, his senior. Free agent acquisition Danillo Gallinari is the next closest in age — five weeks younger than Mazzulla.

But what Mazzulla lacks in time on the bench, he makes up for in endorsements from a roster full of players who beckoned Brad Stevens to keep his former assistant around following Stevens’ promotion to president of basketball operations.

Those same players remain adamant that Mazzulla can not only lead this team through difficult circumstances but also guide it back to the NBA Finals and another shot at a championship.