Given their offseason offloads and Jayson Tatum’s Achilles injury, the Celtics aren’t particularly prevalent in this year’s edition of the NBA’s annual GM poll, but their coach still earned some recognition.
Joe Mazzulla was a Top 5 finisher in a pair of categories.
In the voting for “the best manager/motivator of people," Mazzulla garnered 14% of the votes from general managers, tying him for third with Steve Kerr. Erik Spoelstra won that category with 28%, while former Celtics coach Ime Udoka finished second (24%).
Then in "best defensive schemes," Mazzulla finished tied for fourth with Tyronn Lue, each getting 10% of the vote. That section went to Mark Daigneault, who was a runaway winner at 37%.
From a team perspective, some executives were surprised by Boston’s offseason, which saw Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis traded. The “Celtics breaking up their core” tied for the third-most surprising storyline of the offseason, though it garnered just 7% of the vote.
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