Joe Mazzulla on impact of players, coaching, chaos on Boston Celtics success

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What are some of the things that tip a very good NBA team into being a contender? For Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, it all starts with the players who are on the roster. Mazzulla gave a wide-ranging and thoughtful reply into this line of inquiry in a recent interview with the "No Show Dogs" podcast, and, as one of the league's preeminent "player's coach," it should come as little surprise that the Rhode Island native begins with the talent on the court.

"Players – that's number one," replied the Celtics coach. "You have to have great players, amazing players, players who are great people, players who are innately competitive. But I think even the years that we haven't won, we still have had that. That's number one."

"Again, you have to set up the environment to go after it, knowing that you might not get it," he continued. "So I think the best thing we do here is every year, ownership, front office, players, staff, employees, we come in with an understanding of, 'Okay, we're going to come together'. For the process of winning, but nothing is guaranteed."

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"How do we go about that together? I think that's the most important thing," said Mazzulla. "I think the mindset of your players takes you over the top. The competitive character, the intensity, they're the ones that have to take it to another level every round."

"And it just gets harder and harder. And if you don't have guys that can do that, then you're not going to win. And we're very fortunate to have that here with us. The thing that exposed to me is, – and this may not be popular, but you have less control over winning than you think you do. And you have to know that you can't sit there and be like, 'Man, we won that; I'm talking about coaching, not playing. Sure, okay, it's like we won that. It's like no, things happened ... You may have had a good time out here or there. Maybe you drew up a good play. Maybe you didn't (and it was) your staff. But things also happen. And I think that can't go underestimated. It goes back to identity ... if you sit around thinking, 'Yeah, you know, we, we did that,' you're going to miss it. And so as much as we did a great job as a staff, the ball bounces your way sometimes. And I think you have to have of a surrender to that."

"Because the years you don't win, you can't sit there and be like, 'We blew it, I'm a loser. This sucked, blah, blah, blah.' And it's like, can you always be better?" said the Celtics coach. "But you have to know that there's something bigger than you out there. And that's going to happen from time to time."

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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Joe Mazzulla on impact of players, coaching, chaos on Boston Celtics success

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