Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla Reveals Unique Tactic For Addressing Criticism

Despite winning an NBA championship last season, Boston Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown continue to receive criticism for not being on 100 percent of the time.

The latest came when Tatum was called “soft” by ex-NBA guard Brandon Jennings, prompting the Celtics star and Boston coach Joe Mazzulla to respond.

Criticism comes with the territory when you’re a professional athlete, and there are positive takes and negative takes. Mazzulla believes both can be dangerous if taken the wrong way.

“I don’t want them to believe all the positive stuff or all the negative stuff,” Mazzulla said, per Sports Illustrated’s Bobby Krivitsky. “Because both of them can be detrimental, and neither one of them is that important. What they think of themselves, what I think of them, what the team thinks, what the people closest to them think (is).”

Mazzulla added: “But if somebody came out and said that he was the toughest of all time, that could be just as detrimental if you decide to believe that and don’t use it to your advantage. So, just don’t put too much weight in the praise or the criticism because, at the end of the day, it’s fleeting. You’ve got to have perspective.”

The Celtics coach took it one step further, adding a unique strategy to help his players overcome the outside noise. He used an unnamed NBA great to demonstrate how criticism can change over time.

“I give them a timeline of like, here’s what was being said about him in the beginning,” Mazzulla said. “Here’s what was being said about him in the middle, and here’s what was being said about him in the end, and it was comical how people keep bouncing back and forth in their opinions.

“But you just kind of share perspective because every player has gone through something. If you want to be great, you’re going to go through that. So, it’ll help to maintain a little perspective on that. But it’s hysterical to watch what people said at different timelines in his career. And if they could be held accountable for those that would be great.”