November 26, 2024 • 27 mins
Joe Mazzulla joins us for the first episode of the View from the Rafters season to break down his unique approach to coaching in the NBA, and to life in general. That includes his use of psychology and methodology with everyone around him, including his players. Most importantly, we ask him to give context to his best quotes, and he also talks about his inspiration from Red Auerbach and Pep Guardiola, and why he thanked every member of the Boston Celtics staff via a personal letter following last season’s championship.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to season five of You from the rafters. Behind
the scenes with the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Why does that matter so much?
Speaker 1 (00:06):
One of the best storytellers.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Wait a minute, which one sticks out to you?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Who do we craft or we just want a championship?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Little motivation?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yeah, that probably happens a lot. We do this every year. Right.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I was impressed by his creativity.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I never thought of it that way.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I've got a long let's done, a sheet of paper
next to me.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
What is there to be gleaned?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
No one really cares. Noah, I thought it was cool.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Be a part of that winning atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
All right, we're in the hourback studio just downstairs across
the hall from where Joe Miszula's office is here at
the practice facility. Joe, first, thank you for coming on.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Secondly, the most important thing I want to talk to
you about is your T shirt game And do you
have an actual T shirt guy who makes all these
different shirts with messages that you wear throughout the season
to the postgame press conferences to practices, because I feel
like they all have a meaning.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Uh yeah, I mean I kind of used uh, you know,
my hoodies or T shirts as like another small way
for some you know, subliminal messain.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I think for the organization.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
I think anytime you can convey a message or convey
a mindset, and then I think that's another way to
kind of express yourself. So I kind of enjoy uh that,
you know, that small process of doing that, and I
spent some spend a good amount of time on it.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
As a teacher.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Guy ever said, wait a minute, can you explain what?
How do I spell that? What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Why? Which one sticks out to you?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Well, there's a lot of them. I've got a long
list on a sheet of paper next to me. But
we saw but first let me thank god, we saw that.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
It's important. I mean I didn't make that one. I
bought it, but that's important.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
We saw the Bill Russell and Red Hour back.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
I mean that was a trip that was Uh someone
sent me that during the season and I was like,
I'm not honored or I don't deserve to wear this
unless but that day we did. But I mean I
still didn't feel.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, it was like a cigar that you tucked away
for the championship.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Yeah, you So it was kind of just paying homage
I think when you take a look at the you know,
I keep saying it, but like, for however long we're here,
we're responsible to carry the organization forward because what those
guys did.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
You know, we wouldn't be here without them.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
So it was a you know, just kind of paying
my respects to the people that came before you.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
You know, why does that matter so much? You could
be coaching anywhere. You could be coaching an expansion team,
a team that had just started, a team that doesn't
have a history. Why is it important for twenty three
year olds who are in the NBA and haven't necessarily heard.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Why is an important one they put this uniform.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
On to know about Bill Russell and right hour back
and the history of the organization.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
I mean, I would say because of the success, but
not just on the court. I would say, you know,
if you're going to play here, if you're going to
work here, every organization is always looking for people to
be a part of something bigger than themselves. And the
only way to understand that is to understand the history.
And you know, because of the way the organization has
been run for years and years and years. There's a
(02:49):
reason why things are the way they are now, and
it's because of you know, the past, whether it's successes,
whether it's failures, but mostly it's the people that come
across here. And I thought that was also important after
we won, I wanted to make sure that all the
people that worked here between the spaces of eighteen and
twenty four get the same amount of credit that we
got because they were planting a ton of seeds that
(03:09):
were probably you know, more important at that time that
just took a little bit of time to come to fruition,
you know. And so when you work for this team,
there's a burden, there's an expectation, there's a responsibility, but
it's because of you know, how it's been run for
such a long time and the success that players and
coaches and people around the organization I've had on and
(03:30):
off the court, and you know, that's what you want
want to be a part of it.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
And speaking on that not maybe I don't know if
this is public and I'm going to make a public
in a private way, but you in a way, you
think every single person in the organization after the season ended,
for all the hard work this But I've never experienced
that from a player or a coach who's ever come
through these doors in the sixteen years that I've been here.
So thank you for that. But what made me boss?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
You never thanked you for anything?
Speaker 1 (03:55):
No, nor will it ever.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Yeah, I mean you're so and want to be thanked
for anything. You should just do it because you're supposed
to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
But I thought it was important because, uh, when you
have everybody on the on the in the right seat
on the bus heading in the right direction, great things
can happen. And I also see it's easy for parts
of the organization to feel less than or not as
valued as others. And at the end of the day,
if everybody's not trying to be the head coach in
their role, we can't achieve like, you know, high high
(04:28):
level of a of a successful organization and not counting wins.
And so it was just important that everybody knew, uh,
you know, everything they do is the most important thing
for the team, for the organization. And the second piece
of that is there's so many interactions that because of
the like these organizations are getting so much bigger. Uh,
there's so many interactions that the players have before they
(04:49):
even get to the court. You know, and if you
don't value those interactions, like I was saying, like the
like Nate Eckley is the first person he sees everyone
come in the door, and so the way he carries
himself going, yeah, like, the way he carries.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Himself is super important. Uh.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
The kitchen staff or usually see the guys first because
they go right there before. And so the way they cook,
how they greet the like, that's going to make an
impact on how the guys perform. And then like you know,
if you walk through a player's perspective of our building,
they usually see Nate first, and then they see the
kitchen staff, and then they see they may see like
(05:28):
you know, some of the front office sitting in that
little pool area, and then they see the uh, the
sports science and like we're the last people that they see,
and so every interaction that has had is super important
to them.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Getting on the floor, Uh, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Ready to feel valued, but also ready to like, you know,
we've got to be at our best.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
This idea of what you just said, I guarantee you
there are people that heard it that never looked at
it that way, that never looked at going to work
that way. It's not unusual.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
I would imagine for people to hear you say things
they have never heard before, that probably happens a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I would agree with that.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
It's just a different perspective.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
But so where did it come from? Why do you
know that? Where did you learn that? All the different
things that you say that make people go home? I
never thought of it that way. They must have come
into your brain somehow, someway.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
I mean, I think, I mean there's again, I don't
think any what anyone's doing is new. I just think
it's fresh in people's minds. There's people that have come
before you that do it and then they go away,
and then a group of people do it and then
they go away, and so like it's no different than
what people are doing or saying or have been going
on for years.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
It's just this is in the space now. So you
just try to.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Learn from the you know, the past as much as
you can, and how can you replicate the past? Learn
from the successes and failures.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
When I got the opportunity to come here, I wanted
to I wanted to tie the entire organization together, Like,
how can we be a world class organization, not just
a basketball team, and I enjoy that challenge more than
I do the basketball is like the holistic leadership approach
towards it's just the people. But I tell you what
really hit me is when I first met Pep, I
(07:05):
was studying, you know, we're having our conversations, and when
I went over there, I not interviewed, but like any
person I asked, I was like, tell me one thing
good and one thing bad about him, like anyone the
equipment manager, the person at the front, Like I was
just asking random people, and they told me a story
about they were they were going for their like I
(07:27):
can't remember what championship they were going for, but he
had a meeting with the entire organization and he essentially said,
like I'm the last person the players see.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
They see all of you, and so if you don't
value your job or value your.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
You know, interaction with the player, then it's going to
cost us a championship because they may feel tired and
if you don't uplift them, then they're not going to
be able to play at their best. And he, like
I learned from him, is like how to be this
three sixty leader of like the entire team, Like he
still brings his own loop down to the equipment manager
when he's done with like a workout, and so just
(08:05):
like you just learn from different people, and like, you know,
he has had a major impact on me, even more
than the soccer stuff, is like the humility that he
brings to success.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
You know, over and over again, this is.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
A new generational idea of crossing over sports. You're talking
about Pep Guardiola. You've been with Alex Core, You've been
with Jerrod Mayo, You've been everywhere, and that is a
perfect example of something what is there to be gleaned
from the way that other sports and it could be
outside of sports, be how other organizations. It seems like
(08:40):
there's an endless supply of ideas to draw from and
that well it seems like, wow, Joe Mazuo is going
here and he's going there. It almost seems like there
aren't enough days to do as much as you would
want to do.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Oh man, I think if you look at the everybody
tries to look at us as a basketball team, and
I look at that like tenth on the list, Like,
to me, it's about people first, right, Like the one
common denominator of successful organizations, regardless of its arena, are
the people that are involved and how do you grow?
How do you get those people to become better? We
(09:12):
had an interesting one the other day. We had Disney
here and it was really cool going through this facility
as if it was a theme park because they're like
their psychological messaging within a theme park is like, second.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
That's what my brother does for a living, even down.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
To like the smells of the certain area in the
park can get you down there. So we had a
fun time going through and comparing it to like theme
park and like, how can we make this facility? Because
that's really what it comes down to, like can you
can you cultivate uh, you know, the environment around you
to breed greatness and success?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
And like can you do that?
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Obviously you have to do that with the people, but
you could do it psychologically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, Like
there's just a bunch of avenues to go in. So
if you keep the common denominator as people and figure
out how to grow, get better, connect the other stuff
is kind of really easy. And like I said this,
we're the best people here, Like we have the best
players talent wise, but also character wise, they you know,
(10:09):
you couldn't have asked for a better opportunity as a
coaching staff. And then we have just the best people
in the organization that take pride in their job. And
that goes back to our first question of like we
take pride in it because of the people that came
before us.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So are you going to turn this place into a
theme park?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I mean you'd be.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Trust me.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
I want to say, there's a lot of limitations because
we're in the middle of a city on the floor,
But if I had my chance, this place would look.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
That I love it. I would change it every other day.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Listen, you just talked about the people that came before you,
and I know you've got a connection, Like literally you've
touched him. Read hourback Sean has I. I did not
have that ability. He passed away before I started here.
But take us through that relationship of you meeting him
back in the day you went to a few of
his camps.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah, and then.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
You've literally tried to pull some of the way he
coached and his philosophy's organizationally not only just with the team,
but organizationally, and pull them into what you do on
a daily basis.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Yeah, I mean, I mean at the time, like I
probably shook his hand once, like yeah, once summer.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
That's once more than a lot of people did.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
But but he would always come to the camps and
he would I think it was Brandeis University. If you
walk in and you go up the steps, there's three
courts on the top floor, and he would sit on
court one underneath the basket and he would watch all
the games in the afternoon. And uh, you know, he
spoke to the people from time to time.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
But if you ever.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Listen to him, you know, it just comes down to
how do you manage talent, how do you manage success?
How do you build a competitive process oriented mindset towards greatness? Right,
And I think that's kind of what we're all after,
you know, and him and the players, and you know,
even in the eighties, like every like I said, every
team has embodied Celtic basketball, you know. And that was
(11:50):
another huge thing, was connecting. I don't want to say reconnecting,
because I don't ever think there was a disconnect, but
just like doubling down on the identity to the city.
I think mentioned that in one of his interviews about
like we kind of play like the city, Like that's
the goal. Like you got to be a can we
swear on this we're on YouTube. You's got to be
(12:11):
a motherfucker. Like you just got like that's just the
easiest way. In fact, j S wore last year.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So you're good.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, all right, good, So like you just got to
like we embody what the city represents of togetherness chip
on your shoulder. It's just Celtic basketball. It's just bigger
than than the sport itself. It's a you know, it's
a mindset towards a community.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
You wanted to do that, Like going into last season,
you made it very clear to the staff, to the
team why like why was that so important and how
did it help?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Because I think that's that's the recipe for success.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Is I kind of learned it. I learned it studying
the championship teams here over the years, but I felt
it the year my college team went to the Final four,
Like we didn't become a great team until we started
playing something bigger than ourselves and until we built a
connection to the state of West Virginia and kind of
took on that personality Like when we when we started
(13:00):
to embody that we took it to a different level
and kind of I kind of saw it on a
smaller scale. And here I just think the fans deserve that.
They're they're smart, they've seen high level basketball for a
long long time, so they know what good basketball looks like.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So you're not going to trick them.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
And as you said, they'll let you know when they don't.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And they should. I mean that they should.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
They they're They're one of the higher IQ audiences you
know that I've experienced, and so that and you know,
being from here, I know how to carry that chip
on your shoulder to have that that mentality, And so
I thought it was like that, this is who we
have to be, like, we got to embody this.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
We talked a lot last year about this, you studying
teams that have won championships.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
And studying teams that have lost. Right for this this point.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
Because and you you said over and over again, I
don't remember anymore. We talked so much on and off
the R I forget which ends up on it, which
ends up off about the margin being so raised or
crazy thin between winning and not winning.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Now that you were on the other side of winning,
is that exactly how you feel.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
I believe it more.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yeah, believe it more.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
And you hate to say, like, you know, so much
has to go your way to win that you're out
of that's out of your control. You have to do
so many things that are within your control, but there's
so many other things that happen in a game, in
a series, uh, in a playoff that is out of
your control.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
And so yeah, like I even more.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
People an example maybe the way Indiana managed some of
those end of games.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
I mean exactly, like you know, in game one, if
they call a time out to advance it, we don't
knock the ball out of bounds underneath our basket with
a chance to go. And then now you're you're you're
down three, you have to file, and now you're down
either four or five. And it's a completely different situation
to where you're downh one uh in the Eastern Conference
Finals instead of being up oh one. You know, like
if Aaron Nesmith three goes in at the end of
(14:47):
game three, because they run a tremendous play and we
just not that we didn't try to guard, it's just
that we hadn't seen that. If that goes in, now
it's two to one and you have to beat them
on their home court to tie the shit, Like there's
just it's one shot.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
And I saw that again.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
And uh and and Man City's run at the fourth
Championship last year, the game, the second to last game,
Tottenham's on a breakaway and if they get that, they
don't win the championship and it just nicked the goalkeeper.
And it was like that was the difference between winning
and losing, and so the and and that was another
thing I wanted to make sure is like, you know,
people start to treat you differently when you win, and
(15:22):
it doesn't make you any better or worse when you win.
Everyone's about the same, you know. It's just when you're
you're around an environment where the fruits of the labor
have kind of sprouted. And but like at the end
of the day, a person that won and hasn't won
shouldn't be treated any differently because they're all, you know,
the same type of coaches.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Like they're all great coaches, you know, because.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
They're Anie Smith shot went in or didn't go in. Yeah,
and every game you can do that almost every night. Mark,
I don't know if you were there, I was at
Fenway the night Red Sox with that. Okay, in that game, which.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Was in late June. This is just a play by playbrain,
but I remember the Red Sox had.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
You remember the time and the day.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
That's the sickness. I can't sing.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
It was the bottom of the eighth.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
It was the bottom of the eighth, the first of all.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
Derek White, Derek's on the jumbo tromp with the trophy,
and that's when the comeback started.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
That's what started.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
But we watched that.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Well, this is what I don't. Don't be a spoiler.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
You can swear all you want, but you can't spoil
the stories, which is that that game turned on a
pop fly, that the Blue Jays dropped, that they it
started a Red Sox rally.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Woage is gone. But my sources.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Say that you clipped that game and in part of
the what people fire under the Joe Missoula insanity, you
clipped that game.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
To the right after the game.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
So I'm sitting watched this that really happened. Yeah, you
clipped it right after the game, right after the game.
It's like we're showing that on day one, because that
is the that's the difference between winning and losing is
everyone gets blinded by, you know, all these tactics and
all these adjustments and all this other bull craft that
may or may not work. An adjustment is just a
word if the adjustment is only good if it works.
(16:58):
Like if it doesn't work, then there wasn't adjustment.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
You know, you just can't coach. But like, you lose
a game.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
I feel like I've heard that before.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
You lose a game on a routine fly ball, which
is the most simplest of a fundamental of communication, which
they probably don't drop those in a training in a
what do they call that spring training drill? And it's like,
can you execute the simplest of details and fundamentals and
are much higher drest. And so I'm sitting there, me
(17:25):
and Matt Reynolds are just watching it.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
This is it right here? Like this is it? Like
this is how you lose.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
And it's easy to focus on winning, but I think
you have to focus more on how not.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
To lose than you do on how to win.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
So day one, because how not to lose is more
controllable than how to win, in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
So just to recap day one, when this team came together,
that's what you showed them. First baseball, first two clips baseball, Well.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Not just baseball, I thok.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
The Olympics presented a lot of cool moments to see
why people win, why people lose, and the difference exactly
like they probably I don't know how much they get
to practice, but you probably don't drop it in practice.
You know, you may not mess up the timing, but like,
you only get one shot at it right, And so
if you get blinded by the details for whatever reason,
(18:13):
which happens to us we talk about all the time,
doesn't mean we do it, you know. I just think
when you're trying to win championships, you can't focus on
winning championships. You have to focus on what goes into
the process of winning. But also how can you prevent
losing by doing the things that are simplest to do
under high dress?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
So that's I want to drill down on that. Because
the team won a championship right in June, and everyone
was living in that moment for sure, even you, we
saw you at the parade. Everyone was loving it. But
it felt like a couple of days later, like within
forty eight hours, the page was turned. Yeah, the page
was turned, and you were preparing for this season, and
then now you have to get everyone else's minds to
(18:55):
buy into that of forget what happened. We're only looking
at what looking at moving forward. So what's your process?
Speaker 4 (19:02):
You don't forget, just don't stay attached because you don't
want to forget because there's a lot of things that
we did well that we have to replicate. We have
to replicate the hunger and the desire to win, which
I think is a choice. So you don't want to
forget it, you just can't stay attached to it. And
I think that's the difference of a success or a failure.
If you stay to attached, you know, to a win
or a loss or a result in general, then it
(19:24):
blinds the future. And so don't forget it, but don't
stay attached to it, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So how to how have you, like, what's your process
been of getting everyone to buy into that and understand
it and kind of wrap their arms around that during
camping before the season, we're recording this before the season starts, just.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
So for the coaches it was like, we're not wearing
any gear from last year, Like it's just it's the simplest.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Just don't want to see it.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Burn it, yeah, like keep it at home, just don't
bring it into the facility Like that doesn't help. That's
a psychologically messaging that can keep you attached to the past,
Like if you put on that shirt from last year,
you're automatically attached to pass for the rest of the day.
Like psychologically, there's nothing you can do to change it.
That that's so harmful.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I couldn't tell the players to do it, but I
definitely told the staff. You probably could have, but what
they I wouldn't. I mean, that wouldn't go well for me.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
And then other than that, you just chip away at it,
you know, just continue to again focus on the details
under high high duress and replicate an environment where that's
the most important thing.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
You know, humility, right, and how do you in talking
about people and characters in organization? Humility doesn't seem like
something you can teach, but it seems like somebody you
could learn.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
I mean, you're never I mean yeah, I mean it's
and it's something that you're striving for that you're never
going to get because I think we're just you know, human,
we're prideful by nature, right, So I think that's just kind.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Of how we are.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
So it's something that I think you'll never attain, but
you have to. It's the pursuit of humility that you're
going after. I think the moment you, you know, say
you know, I'm humble, you're kind of like you're no
longer anymore, right, So I think it's like having an
understanding of speaking, knowing that yeah, like you know, I
say this with all humility.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yeah, So you know.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
I think it's the pursuit that you're trying to go after,
knowing that you have a you know, there's an enterprise
there that you have to battle every day, and you're
just trying to go after humility.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Real quick before we wrap, And I've got a little
game that we're going to play before we let you go.
But one last question. I asked you a few weeks
ago about a new season being a new entity and
like how how you wrap your mind around that, And
basically you said, circumstances change, right, Like, it's the same
team for the most part that's coming back here with
the Celtics, but the circumstances that surround the team are
(21:39):
totally different from last year. So can you explain that
a little bit to the fan base of like how
you see that.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
I mean, they'll change tactically, you know. Uh So you
envisioned the league taking on different trends.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Tactically, so you have to adjust to that.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
There's always two or three trends that like developed throughout
the course of the league that you try to stay
a half a step ahead. But how quickly can you
get up to that trend, whether it's on offensive defense
and then just like the ball bouncing your way. I mean,
there's a difference between starting out five and oh and
starting out two and two.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
You know, it's just it's a difference.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
Like, uh So, as the season goes, it'll it'll determine
how we have to respond to our environment. The key
is staying open minded to knowing that our environment is
ever changing and you know, we have to change.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
We have to change with it.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And teams have changed, like.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Literally personnel has changed. So like it's going to be
a different approach, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
All right, We're gonna play a quick one here, and
this is called no context quotes. So I'm gonna read
off some of your quotes and you just give us
some of the context around them.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
This should be funny.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
We'll start off with the easy one. Nobody cares, no one, right,
I mean, isn't that perfect?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Is what you want this year to be?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
And nobody?
Speaker 4 (22:51):
So my favorite book in the Bible is Ecclesiastes, right,
and it talks a lot about duality, right, Like, it
talks a lot about like what you do is the
most important thing and it doesn't matter at all. That
to me is what what we do, like what we
wake up every day. We have to do it because
it's the most important thing. But no one really cares
like it's it Like there's our context. Like you ever
(23:12):
go to a funeral, people can't stop telling to some
people can't stop.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Telling jokes, you know what I mean, like like you're there,
the guy's dead, but like you know, like a week later,
like you.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Just can't do anything about it, you say, nobody cares,
Like like I'll remember that. That's why I look at
in that casket. All right, it's short eulogy when they
it one day, all right, next one. I'm always up
to get knocked out. Yeah, support, what's the context?
Speaker 4 (23:38):
I think in order to go after success, you have
to understand the other side of failure, all.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Right, love it.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I'm a big spike guy.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Oh, that's a huge weakness of mine. Why, I just
I don't know. I gotta work on that. That's how
I know I'm not humble.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Because some might say it's a strength.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
All right.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Could I think you said this one to us on
media Day? Actually, I think sometimes not having a message
is a message.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Yeah, just show that you you don't have a predetermined
perspective on how you're going to go about a situation.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I happened to be around when you said this one
as well. This is about running a marathon, I would
just go until I die. Yeah, that's important, just go
die me.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
It's it's the idea of like it's easy to put
limitations on yourself. I think we spend more time putting
limitations on ourselves physiologically, psychologically than they're actually.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
There, particularly when you were the one who crossed the
finished line first.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, all right, a couple more. We're all villains in
someone's eyes. Where did that one come from?
Speaker 4 (24:33):
That one is very important because, especially in social media area,
we have a tendency to say someone is good or bad,
and we're all really about the same. Like if you
I learned this the other I learned this About a
month ago, I was driving to school. I was driving
to work, taking from taking my kids to school, and
there was two crosswalks. I wasn't paying attention driving, so
I missed the first crosswalk for pretexting. Probably I missed
(24:55):
the first crosswalk. The guy on the side of the
crosswalk kind of like gave me a dirty look, like
you know, what the hell You're not gonna stop. So
I learned my lesson. Two lights later, I stopped at
the crosswalk and someone else didn't, and that person deemed
me a good person and they were like, oh see,
like gave me.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
A look of it was a matter of like two minutes.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah, like, oh you.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Stopped, and like you're a better person than that guy
that didn't stop. And I was sitting there and I
was like, two minutes ago, that guy wanted to kill me.
I could have like hurt someone physically. And now I'm
getting deemed so like we're all really about the same.
We just like we're all just you know, I think
some people.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
This is the difference between Joe Missoula and someone like me,
where like you're always learning lessons. I feel like you're
gonna leave hearing some crossway better. I don't know how
we're gonna make you better, but something tells me you're
gonna leave here.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
But I was a villain in that guy's eyes. Yeah,
and I was like the greatest person in the world.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Ye.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
No acting coaches teach actors about playing quote unquote bad
guys in movies.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
They always remember this, The villain is the hero of
his own story.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yes, all right, last one before we let you go.
There's no fouls in a war. You either win or
you die.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Yeah, that's pretty simple.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Where did it come from?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Though?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I was just that was a playoff, So why did
you deliver that to your basketball team who was not
in a literal war, but in a physical war. I
guess you could say it's a.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Good thing they want.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah, Jalen gave that one.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Then, Yeah, the Celtics would be in trouble if they didn't.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
I think we were at halftime and like we were
complaining about a call, and I was just like I
just kind of lost it for a second. I was
just like, dude, you can't get follled, Like we just
can't get followed right now. We just don't have time
to get folbed. Just like just can't do it all right.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Now we've got some context around no context quotes from
Joe Miszula. We appreciate the time, thank you for coming
on man, good luck this season. As we said, we're
recording this a little bit before the opening night, So
enjoy the rings, enjoy the banners going up. I know
you're not going to enjoy it, but congratulations and I
will that that will probably will.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
That's what it will hit me, okay, you know because
you walking down arena every game day and you see
all those things staring at you like, so I think
that'll hit different than than most things.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
At least you guys practiced already here right. Yeah, it's important,
that's all psychological. I can't wait to come back here
and see in park Field. So thank you again, sing
good luck, thanks guy all
Speaker 5 (27:02):
Ed mm hmmm mm hmm
Welcome to season five of You from the rafters. Behind
the scenes with the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Why does that matter so much?
Speaker 1 (00:06):
One of the best storytellers.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Wait a minute, which one sticks out to you?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Who do we craft or we just want a championship?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Little motivation?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yeah, that probably happens a lot. We do this every year. Right.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I was impressed by his creativity.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I never thought of it that way.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I've got a long let's done, a sheet of paper
next to me.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
What is there to be gleaned?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
No one really cares. Noah, I thought it was cool.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Be a part of that winning atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
All right, we're in the hourback studio just downstairs across
the hall from where Joe Miszula's office is here at
the practice facility. Joe, first, thank you for coming on.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Secondly, the most important thing I want to talk to
you about is your T shirt game And do you
have an actual T shirt guy who makes all these
different shirts with messages that you wear throughout the season
to the postgame press conferences to practices, because I feel
like they all have a meaning.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Uh yeah, I mean I kind of used uh, you know,
my hoodies or T shirts as like another small way
for some you know, subliminal messain.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I think for the organization.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
I think anytime you can convey a message or convey
a mindset, and then I think that's another way to
kind of express yourself. So I kind of enjoy uh that,
you know, that small process of doing that, and I
spent some spend a good amount of time on it.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
As a teacher.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Guy ever said, wait a minute, can you explain what?
How do I spell that? What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Why? Which one sticks out to you?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Well, there's a lot of them. I've got a long
list on a sheet of paper next to me. But
we saw but first let me thank god, we saw that.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
It's important. I mean I didn't make that one. I
bought it, but that's important.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
We saw the Bill Russell and Red Hour back.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
I mean that was a trip that was Uh someone
sent me that during the season and I was like,
I'm not honored or I don't deserve to wear this
unless but that day we did. But I mean I
still didn't feel.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, it was like a cigar that you tucked away
for the championship.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Yeah, you So it was kind of just paying homage
I think when you take a look at the you know,
I keep saying it, but like, for however long we're here,
we're responsible to carry the organization forward because what those
guys did.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
You know, we wouldn't be here without them.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
So it was a you know, just kind of paying
my respects to the people that came before you.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
You know, why does that matter so much? You could
be coaching anywhere. You could be coaching an expansion team,
a team that had just started, a team that doesn't
have a history. Why is it important for twenty three
year olds who are in the NBA and haven't necessarily heard.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Why is an important one they put this uniform.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
On to know about Bill Russell and right hour back
and the history of the organization.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
I mean, I would say because of the success, but
not just on the court. I would say, you know,
if you're going to play here, if you're going to
work here, every organization is always looking for people to
be a part of something bigger than themselves. And the
only way to understand that is to understand the history.
And you know, because of the way the organization has
been run for years and years and years. There's a
(02:49):
reason why things are the way they are now, and
it's because of you know, the past, whether it's successes,
whether it's failures, but mostly it's the people that come
across here. And I thought that was also important after
we won, I wanted to make sure that all the
people that worked here between the spaces of eighteen and
twenty four get the same amount of credit that we
got because they were planting a ton of seeds that
(03:09):
were probably you know, more important at that time that
just took a little bit of time to come to fruition,
you know. And so when you work for this team,
there's a burden, there's an expectation, there's a responsibility, but
it's because of you know, how it's been run for
such a long time and the success that players and
coaches and people around the organization I've had on and
(03:30):
off the court, and you know, that's what you want
want to be a part of it.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
And speaking on that not maybe I don't know if
this is public and I'm going to make a public
in a private way, but you in a way, you
think every single person in the organization after the season ended,
for all the hard work this But I've never experienced
that from a player or a coach who's ever come
through these doors in the sixteen years that I've been here.
So thank you for that. But what made me boss?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
You never thanked you for anything?
Speaker 1 (03:55):
No, nor will it ever.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Yeah, I mean you're so and want to be thanked
for anything. You should just do it because you're supposed
to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
But I thought it was important because, uh, when you
have everybody on the on the in the right seat
on the bus heading in the right direction, great things
can happen. And I also see it's easy for parts
of the organization to feel less than or not as
valued as others. And at the end of the day,
if everybody's not trying to be the head coach in
their role, we can't achieve like, you know, high high
(04:28):
level of a of a successful organization and not counting wins.
And so it was just important that everybody knew, uh,
you know, everything they do is the most important thing
for the team, for the organization. And the second piece
of that is there's so many interactions that because of
the like these organizations are getting so much bigger. Uh,
there's so many interactions that the players have before they
(04:49):
even get to the court. You know, and if you
don't value those interactions, like I was saying, like the
like Nate Eckley is the first person he sees everyone
come in the door, and so the way he carries
himself going, yeah, like, the way he carries.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Himself is super important. Uh.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
The kitchen staff or usually see the guys first because
they go right there before. And so the way they cook,
how they greet the like, that's going to make an
impact on how the guys perform. And then like you know,
if you walk through a player's perspective of our building,
they usually see Nate first, and then they see the
kitchen staff, and then they see they may see like
(05:28):
you know, some of the front office sitting in that
little pool area, and then they see the uh, the
sports science and like we're the last people that they see,
and so every interaction that has had is super important
to them.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Getting on the floor, Uh, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Ready to feel valued, but also ready to like, you know,
we've got to be at our best.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
This idea of what you just said, I guarantee you
there are people that heard it that never looked at
it that way, that never looked at going to work
that way. It's not unusual.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
I would imagine for people to hear you say things
they have never heard before, that probably happens a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I would agree with that.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
It's just a different perspective.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
But so where did it come from? Why do you
know that? Where did you learn that? All the different
things that you say that make people go home? I
never thought of it that way. They must have come
into your brain somehow, someway.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
I mean, I think, I mean there's again, I don't
think any what anyone's doing is new. I just think
it's fresh in people's minds. There's people that have come
before you that do it and then they go away,
and then a group of people do it and then
they go away, and so like it's no different than
what people are doing or saying or have been going
on for years.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
It's just this is in the space now. So you
just try to.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Learn from the you know, the past as much as
you can, and how can you replicate the past? Learn
from the successes and failures.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
When I got the opportunity to come here, I wanted
to I wanted to tie the entire organization together, Like,
how can we be a world class organization, not just
a basketball team, and I enjoy that challenge more than
I do the basketball is like the holistic leadership approach
towards it's just the people. But I tell you what
really hit me is when I first met Pep, I
(07:05):
was studying, you know, we're having our conversations, and when
I went over there, I not interviewed, but like any
person I asked, I was like, tell me one thing
good and one thing bad about him, like anyone the
equipment manager, the person at the front, Like I was
just asking random people, and they told me a story
about they were they were going for their like I
(07:27):
can't remember what championship they were going for, but he
had a meeting with the entire organization and he essentially said,
like I'm the last person the players see.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
They see all of you, and so if you don't
value your job or value your.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
You know, interaction with the player, then it's going to
cost us a championship because they may feel tired and
if you don't uplift them, then they're not going to
be able to play at their best. And he, like
I learned from him, is like how to be this
three sixty leader of like the entire team, Like he
still brings his own loop down to the equipment manager
when he's done with like a workout, and so just
(08:05):
like you just learn from different people, and like, you know,
he has had a major impact on me, even more
than the soccer stuff, is like the humility that he
brings to success.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
You know, over and over again, this is.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
A new generational idea of crossing over sports. You're talking
about Pep Guardiola. You've been with Alex Core, You've been
with Jerrod Mayo, You've been everywhere, and that is a
perfect example of something what is there to be gleaned
from the way that other sports and it could be
outside of sports, be how other organizations. It seems like
(08:40):
there's an endless supply of ideas to draw from and
that well it seems like, wow, Joe Mazuo is going
here and he's going there. It almost seems like there
aren't enough days to do as much as you would
want to do.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Oh man, I think if you look at the everybody
tries to look at us as a basketball team, and
I look at that like tenth on the list, Like,
to me, it's about people first, right, Like the one
common denominator of successful organizations, regardless of its arena, are
the people that are involved and how do you grow?
How do you get those people to become better? We
(09:12):
had an interesting one the other day. We had Disney
here and it was really cool going through this facility
as if it was a theme park because they're like
their psychological messaging within a theme park is like, second.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
That's what my brother does for a living, even down.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
To like the smells of the certain area in the
park can get you down there. So we had a
fun time going through and comparing it to like theme
park and like, how can we make this facility? Because
that's really what it comes down to, like can you
can you cultivate uh, you know, the environment around you
to breed greatness and success?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
And like can you do that?
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Obviously you have to do that with the people, but
you could do it psychologically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, Like
there's just a bunch of avenues to go in. So
if you keep the common denominator as people and figure
out how to grow, get better, connect the other stuff
is kind of really easy. And like I said this,
we're the best people here, Like we have the best
players talent wise, but also character wise, they you know,
(10:09):
you couldn't have asked for a better opportunity as a
coaching staff. And then we have just the best people
in the organization that take pride in their job. And
that goes back to our first question of like we
take pride in it because of the people that came
before us.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So are you going to turn this place into a
theme park?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I mean you'd be.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Trust me.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
I want to say, there's a lot of limitations because
we're in the middle of a city on the floor,
But if I had my chance, this place would look.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
That I love it. I would change it every other day.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Listen, you just talked about the people that came before you,
and I know you've got a connection, Like literally you've
touched him. Read hourback Sean has I. I did not
have that ability. He passed away before I started here.
But take us through that relationship of you meeting him
back in the day you went to a few of
his camps.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah, and then.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
You've literally tried to pull some of the way he
coached and his philosophy's organizationally not only just with the team,
but organizationally, and pull them into what you do on
a daily basis.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Yeah, I mean, I mean at the time, like I
probably shook his hand once, like yeah, once summer.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
That's once more than a lot of people did.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
But but he would always come to the camps and
he would I think it was Brandeis University. If you
walk in and you go up the steps, there's three
courts on the top floor, and he would sit on
court one underneath the basket and he would watch all
the games in the afternoon. And uh, you know, he
spoke to the people from time to time.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
But if you ever.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Listen to him, you know, it just comes down to
how do you manage talent, how do you manage success?
How do you build a competitive process oriented mindset towards greatness? Right,
And I think that's kind of what we're all after,
you know, and him and the players, and you know,
even in the eighties, like every like I said, every
team has embodied Celtic basketball, you know. And that was
(11:50):
another huge thing, was connecting. I don't want to say reconnecting,
because I don't ever think there was a disconnect, but
just like doubling down on the identity to the city.
I think mentioned that in one of his interviews about
like we kind of play like the city, Like that's
the goal. Like you got to be a can we
swear on this we're on YouTube. You's got to be
(12:11):
a motherfucker. Like you just got like that's just the
easiest way. In fact, j S wore last year.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So you're good.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, all right, good, So like you just got to
like we embody what the city represents of togetherness chip
on your shoulder. It's just Celtic basketball. It's just bigger
than than the sport itself. It's a you know, it's
a mindset towards a community.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
You wanted to do that, Like going into last season,
you made it very clear to the staff, to the
team why like why was that so important and how
did it help?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Because I think that's that's the recipe for success.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Is I kind of learned it. I learned it studying
the championship teams here over the years, but I felt
it the year my college team went to the Final four,
Like we didn't become a great team until we started
playing something bigger than ourselves and until we built a
connection to the state of West Virginia and kind of
took on that personality Like when we when we started
(13:00):
to embody that we took it to a different level
and kind of I kind of saw it on a
smaller scale. And here I just think the fans deserve that.
They're they're smart, they've seen high level basketball for a
long long time, so they know what good basketball looks like.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So you're not going to trick them.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
And as you said, they'll let you know when they don't.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And they should. I mean that they should.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
They they're They're one of the higher IQ audiences you
know that I've experienced, and so that and you know,
being from here, I know how to carry that chip
on your shoulder to have that that mentality, And so
I thought it was like that, this is who we
have to be, like, we got to embody this.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
We talked a lot last year about this, you studying
teams that have won championships.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
And studying teams that have lost. Right for this this point.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
Because and you you said over and over again, I
don't remember anymore. We talked so much on and off
the R I forget which ends up on it, which
ends up off about the margin being so raised or
crazy thin between winning and not winning.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Now that you were on the other side of winning,
is that exactly how you feel.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
I believe it more.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yeah, believe it more.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
And you hate to say, like, you know, so much
has to go your way to win that you're out
of that's out of your control. You have to do
so many things that are within your control, but there's
so many other things that happen in a game, in
a series, uh, in a playoff that is out of
your control.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
And so yeah, like I even more.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
People an example maybe the way Indiana managed some of
those end of games.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
I mean exactly, like you know, in game one, if
they call a time out to advance it, we don't
knock the ball out of bounds underneath our basket with
a chance to go. And then now you're you're you're
down three, you have to file, and now you're down
either four or five. And it's a completely different situation
to where you're downh one uh in the Eastern Conference
Finals instead of being up oh one. You know, like
if Aaron Nesmith three goes in at the end of
(14:47):
game three, because they run a tremendous play and we
just not that we didn't try to guard, it's just
that we hadn't seen that. If that goes in, now
it's two to one and you have to beat them
on their home court to tie the shit, Like there's
just it's one shot.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
And I saw that again.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
And uh and and Man City's run at the fourth
Championship last year, the game, the second to last game,
Tottenham's on a breakaway and if they get that, they
don't win the championship and it just nicked the goalkeeper.
And it was like that was the difference between winning
and losing, and so the and and that was another
thing I wanted to make sure is like, you know,
people start to treat you differently when you win, and
(15:22):
it doesn't make you any better or worse when you win.
Everyone's about the same, you know. It's just when you're
you're around an environment where the fruits of the labor
have kind of sprouted. And but like at the end
of the day, a person that won and hasn't won
shouldn't be treated any differently because they're all, you know,
the same type of coaches.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Like they're all great coaches, you know, because.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
They're Anie Smith shot went in or didn't go in. Yeah,
and every game you can do that almost every night. Mark,
I don't know if you were there, I was at
Fenway the night Red Sox with that. Okay, in that game, which.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Was in late June. This is just a play by playbrain,
but I remember the Red Sox had.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
You remember the time and the day.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
That's the sickness. I can't sing.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
It was the bottom of the eighth.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
It was the bottom of the eighth, the first of all.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
Derek White, Derek's on the jumbo tromp with the trophy,
and that's when the comeback started.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
That's what started.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
But we watched that.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Well, this is what I don't. Don't be a spoiler.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
You can swear all you want, but you can't spoil
the stories, which is that that game turned on a
pop fly, that the Blue Jays dropped, that they it
started a Red Sox rally.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Woage is gone. But my sources.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Say that you clipped that game and in part of
the what people fire under the Joe Missoula insanity, you
clipped that game.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
To the right after the game.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
So I'm sitting watched this that really happened. Yeah, you
clipped it right after the game, right after the game.
It's like we're showing that on day one, because that
is the that's the difference between winning and losing is
everyone gets blinded by, you know, all these tactics and
all these adjustments and all this other bull craft that
may or may not work. An adjustment is just a
word if the adjustment is only good if it works.
(16:58):
Like if it doesn't work, then there wasn't adjustment.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
You know, you just can't coach. But like, you lose
a game.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
I feel like I've heard that before.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
You lose a game on a routine fly ball, which
is the most simplest of a fundamental of communication, which
they probably don't drop those in a training in a
what do they call that spring training drill? And it's like,
can you execute the simplest of details and fundamentals and
are much higher drest. And so I'm sitting there, me
(17:25):
and Matt Reynolds are just watching it.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
This is it right here? Like this is it? Like
this is how you lose.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
And it's easy to focus on winning, but I think
you have to focus more on how not.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
To lose than you do on how to win.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
So day one, because how not to lose is more
controllable than how to win, in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
So just to recap day one, when this team came together,
that's what you showed them. First baseball, first two clips baseball, Well.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Not just baseball, I thok.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
The Olympics presented a lot of cool moments to see
why people win, why people lose, and the difference exactly
like they probably I don't know how much they get
to practice, but you probably don't drop it in practice.
You know, you may not mess up the timing, but like,
you only get one shot at it right, And so
if you get blinded by the details for whatever reason,
(18:13):
which happens to us we talk about all the time,
doesn't mean we do it, you know. I just think
when you're trying to win championships, you can't focus on
winning championships. You have to focus on what goes into
the process of winning. But also how can you prevent
losing by doing the things that are simplest to do
under high dress?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
So that's I want to drill down on that. Because
the team won a championship right in June, and everyone
was living in that moment for sure, even you, we
saw you at the parade. Everyone was loving it. But
it felt like a couple of days later, like within
forty eight hours, the page was turned. Yeah, the page
was turned, and you were preparing for this season, and
then now you have to get everyone else's minds to
(18:55):
buy into that of forget what happened. We're only looking
at what looking at moving forward. So what's your process?
Speaker 4 (19:02):
You don't forget, just don't stay attached because you don't
want to forget because there's a lot of things that
we did well that we have to replicate. We have
to replicate the hunger and the desire to win, which
I think is a choice. So you don't want to
forget it, you just can't stay attached to it. And
I think that's the difference of a success or a failure.
If you stay to attached, you know, to a win
or a loss or a result in general, then it
(19:24):
blinds the future. And so don't forget it, but don't
stay attached to it, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So how to how have you, like, what's your process
been of getting everyone to buy into that and understand
it and kind of wrap their arms around that during
camping before the season, we're recording this before the season starts, just.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
So for the coaches it was like, we're not wearing
any gear from last year, Like it's just it's the simplest.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Just don't want to see it.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Burn it, yeah, like keep it at home, just don't
bring it into the facility Like that doesn't help. That's
a psychologically messaging that can keep you attached to the past,
Like if you put on that shirt from last year,
you're automatically attached to pass for the rest of the day.
Like psychologically, there's nothing you can do to change it.
That that's so harmful.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I couldn't tell the players to do it, but I
definitely told the staff. You probably could have, but what
they I wouldn't. I mean, that wouldn't go well for me.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
And then other than that, you just chip away at it,
you know, just continue to again focus on the details
under high high duress and replicate an environment where that's
the most important thing.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
You know, humility, right, and how do you in talking
about people and characters in organization? Humility doesn't seem like
something you can teach, but it seems like somebody you
could learn.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
I mean, you're never I mean yeah, I mean it's
and it's something that you're striving for that you're never
going to get because I think we're just you know, human,
we're prideful by nature, right, So I think that's just kind.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Of how we are.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
So it's something that I think you'll never attain, but
you have to. It's the pursuit of humility that you're
going after. I think the moment you, you know, say
you know, I'm humble, you're kind of like you're no
longer anymore, right, So I think it's like having an
understanding of speaking, knowing that yeah, like you know, I
say this with all humility.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yeah, So you know.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
I think it's the pursuit that you're trying to go after,
knowing that you have a you know, there's an enterprise
there that you have to battle every day, and you're
just trying to go after humility.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Real quick before we wrap, And I've got a little
game that we're going to play before we let you go.
But one last question. I asked you a few weeks
ago about a new season being a new entity and
like how how you wrap your mind around that, And
basically you said, circumstances change, right, Like, it's the same
team for the most part that's coming back here with
the Celtics, but the circumstances that surround the team are
(21:39):
totally different from last year. So can you explain that
a little bit to the fan base of like how
you see that.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
I mean, they'll change tactically, you know. Uh So you
envisioned the league taking on different trends.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Tactically, so you have to adjust to that.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
There's always two or three trends that like developed throughout
the course of the league that you try to stay
a half a step ahead. But how quickly can you
get up to that trend, whether it's on offensive defense
and then just like the ball bouncing your way. I mean,
there's a difference between starting out five and oh and
starting out two and two.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
You know, it's just it's a difference.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
Like, uh So, as the season goes, it'll it'll determine
how we have to respond to our environment. The key
is staying open minded to knowing that our environment is
ever changing and you know, we have to change.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
We have to change with it.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And teams have changed, like.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Literally personnel has changed. So like it's going to be
a different approach, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
All right, We're gonna play a quick one here, and
this is called no context quotes. So I'm gonna read
off some of your quotes and you just give us
some of the context around them.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
This should be funny.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
We'll start off with the easy one. Nobody cares, no one, right,
I mean, isn't that perfect?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Is what you want this year to be?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
And nobody?
Speaker 4 (22:51):
So my favorite book in the Bible is Ecclesiastes, right,
and it talks a lot about duality, right, Like, it
talks a lot about like what you do is the
most important thing and it doesn't matter at all. That
to me is what what we do, like what we
wake up every day. We have to do it because
it's the most important thing. But no one really cares
like it's it Like there's our context. Like you ever
(23:12):
go to a funeral, people can't stop telling to some
people can't stop.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Telling jokes, you know what I mean, like like you're there,
the guy's dead, but like you know, like a week later,
like you.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Just can't do anything about it, you say, nobody cares,
Like like I'll remember that. That's why I look at
in that casket. All right, it's short eulogy when they
it one day, all right, next one. I'm always up
to get knocked out. Yeah, support, what's the context?
Speaker 4 (23:38):
I think in order to go after success, you have
to understand the other side of failure, all.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Right, love it.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I'm a big spike guy.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Oh, that's a huge weakness of mine. Why, I just
I don't know. I gotta work on that. That's how
I know I'm not humble.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Because some might say it's a strength.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
All right.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Could I think you said this one to us on
media Day? Actually, I think sometimes not having a message
is a message.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Yeah, just show that you you don't have a predetermined
perspective on how you're going to go about a situation.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I happened to be around when you said this one
as well. This is about running a marathon, I would
just go until I die. Yeah, that's important, just go
die me.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
It's it's the idea of like it's easy to put
limitations on yourself. I think we spend more time putting
limitations on ourselves physiologically, psychologically than they're actually.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
There, particularly when you were the one who crossed the
finished line first.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, all right, a couple more. We're all villains in
someone's eyes. Where did that one come from?
Speaker 4 (24:33):
That one is very important because, especially in social media area,
we have a tendency to say someone is good or bad,
and we're all really about the same. Like if you
I learned this the other I learned this About a
month ago, I was driving to school. I was driving
to work, taking from taking my kids to school, and
there was two crosswalks. I wasn't paying attention driving, so
I missed the first crosswalk for pretexting. Probably I missed
(24:55):
the first crosswalk. The guy on the side of the
crosswalk kind of like gave me a dirty look, like
you know, what the hell You're not gonna stop. So
I learned my lesson. Two lights later, I stopped at
the crosswalk and someone else didn't, and that person deemed
me a good person and they were like, oh see,
like gave me.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
A look of it was a matter of like two minutes.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah, like, oh you.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Stopped, and like you're a better person than that guy
that didn't stop. And I was sitting there and I
was like, two minutes ago, that guy wanted to kill me.
I could have like hurt someone physically. And now I'm
getting deemed so like we're all really about the same.
We just like we're all just you know, I think
some people.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
This is the difference between Joe Missoula and someone like me,
where like you're always learning lessons. I feel like you're
gonna leave hearing some crossway better. I don't know how
we're gonna make you better, but something tells me you're
gonna leave here.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
But I was a villain in that guy's eyes. Yeah,
and I was like the greatest person in the world.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Ye.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
No acting coaches teach actors about playing quote unquote bad
guys in movies.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
They always remember this, The villain is the hero of
his own story.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yes, all right, last one before we let you go.
There's no fouls in a war. You either win or
you die.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Yeah, that's pretty simple.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Where did it come from?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Though?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I was just that was a playoff, So why did
you deliver that to your basketball team who was not
in a literal war, but in a physical war. I
guess you could say it's a.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Good thing they want.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah, Jalen gave that one.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Then, Yeah, the Celtics would be in trouble if they didn't.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
I think we were at halftime and like we were
complaining about a call, and I was just like I
just kind of lost it for a second. I was
just like, dude, you can't get follled, Like we just
can't get followed right now. We just don't have time
to get folbed. Just like just can't do it all right.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Now we've got some context around no context quotes from
Joe Miszula. We appreciate the time, thank you for coming
on man, good luck this season. As we said, we're
recording this a little bit before the opening night, So
enjoy the rings, enjoy the banners going up. I know
you're not going to enjoy it, but congratulations and I
will that that will probably will.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
That's what it will hit me, okay, you know because
you walking down arena every game day and you see
all those things staring at you like, so I think
that'll hit different than than most things.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
At least you guys practiced already here right. Yeah, it's important,
that's all psychological. I can't wait to come back here
and see in park Field. So thank you again, sing
good luck, thanks guy all
Speaker 5 (27:02):
Ed mm hmmm mm hmm
Host
Marc D'Amico
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