The Celtics had two head coaches present at Saturday morning’s practice at the Auerbach Center.
One, of course, was Joe Mazzulla. The other: Mazzulla’s new Patriots counterpart, Mike Vrabel.
Vrabel, who was hired as New England’s head coach last month, watched practice before slipping away as the Celtics opened the court to reporters.
“It was great,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, he obviously brings a championship perspective. But any time you can just get together with guys that are in the same arena as we are and support each other, I think that’s important.”
Mazzulla attended several Patriots practices during Bill Belichick’s and Jerod Mayo’s coaching tenures and viewed them as valuable learning experiences. Boston’s third-year bench boss believes it’s important for the city’s head coaches to support one another, hence why he invited Vrabel to the Celtics’ Brighton practice facility.
“The four people that have these jobs, for however long they have it, there’s got to be a brotherhood there,” Mazzulla said. “There’s got to be a communication and understanding of we’re all carrying a responsibility to compete at a high level and to bring championships to the city, so you’ve got to learn from each other and have their perspective.”
Vrabel did not address the Celtics as a team but did have brief interactions with several players, including center Luke Kornet, a Vanderbilt product who had strong memories of Vrabel’s time in Nashville as the Tennessee Titans’ head coach.
“I said hello, like walking by,” Kornet said. “I didn’t get to talk to him. It’s pretty cool. I went to Vanderbilt and lived in Nashville when he was with the Titans, and so I followed him quite a bit there. I’m pretty pumped that he’s back in New England and looking forward to their season starting.”
The Patriots are hoping Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls as a New England linebacker, can return the franchise to the championship heights Mazzulla’s Celtics reached last season. They’re coming off back-to-back 4-13 seasons and have not won a playoff game since Super Bowl LIII in February 2019.
The Celtics held a “green carpet” premiere Friday night for “Celtics City,” HBO’s new Bill Simmons-produced docuseries chronicling the history of the franchise. Among the attendees were Mazzulla, most of his coaching staff and more than a half-dozen Celtics players, including Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“I think it gives perspective into the responsibility that we have towards moving the organization forward,” Mazzulla said. “But also, we said it a lot, if the people before us didn’t do what they did and achieve what they did, then this job isn’t what it is. Just gives great perspective into the opportunity that we have. Also, the ups and downs that go into greatness. Everybody always remembers when things go well. I think the episode that we watched and from what I hear, it also shows the difficult parts. I think that’s important to know that you have to take the good with the bad, you have to take the journey. It gives great perspective on that.”
The episode chosen for the event was the fifth in the series, titled “F–k the Celtics.” It focused on the Larry Bird-led mid-1980s teams and featured an especially memorable interview with the late Bill Walton, who was the difference-making sixth man on the 1986 championship squad that’s considered one of the best in NBA history.
“I mean, you know a little bit (about those teams),” said Derrick White, who, like most current Celtics, wasn’t alive in ’86. “But it definitely dives into a deeper element about the team. You learn a little more about the team, a little more about the city and everything that goes on around that time. Obviously, I wasn’t born in the ’80s, and I haven’t seen the earlier years, so I’m looking forward to learning more about Celtics history. I’ve heard a lot and just (want to) get a deeper look on the Celtics history and how it affected Boston and kind of shaped the NBA, as well.”
Episode 1 premieres on HBO and Max on March 3.
Brown also hosted another unveiling the same night, introducing the new colorway of his 741 Rover shoe — a wintery, white-and-blue offering called “White Noise” — in an event at the Museum of Science that featured his childhood educational idol, Bill Nye. Brown wore his new kicks at practice Saturday.
The Celtics have their earliest tipoff of the season to date on Sunday, hosting the New York Knicks at 1 p.m. ET at TD Garden.
“I always feel like the Sunday games, when they’re kind of earlier, and obviously the 1 o’clock start, I think it’s probably the first one of the year,” Kornet said. “I don’t know if MLK Day or something we might have had an early one, but I always do like it. I feel like we’re all looking forward to it, especially on a Sunday, getting out, having a lot of family, I feel like there’s a different energy to the Garden on games like that. So I’m looking forward to seeing everybody there.”
Boston only has one other matinee left on its schedule: at home against the Denver Nuggets next Sunday (1 p.m.). The rest of its remaining matchups start at 6 p.m. ET or later, including a series of late-night tips against the Utah Jazz, Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns late next month.
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