The Boston Celtics’ 2025-26 season-opener vs. the Philadelphia 76ers is one day away. With a quartet of teams tipping off the NBA season on Tuesday night, however, the Yahoo Sports crew made their picks for all the major awards in an article posted on Monday night. Senior NBA writer Ben Rohrbach chose Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics to capture the Coach of the Year honor. “The Celtics lost Jayson Tatum to an Achilles injury, and then lost Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Luke Kornet to the second apron,” Rohrbach said. “I think they’re going to surprise some people and still compete for a guaranteed playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, thanks to a manic brand of basketball that is a reflection of their coach.” No coach was picked twice among the eight voters, though contributor Steve Jones notably went with former Boston coach Ime Udoka, who now leads the Houston Rockets. Story continues below advertisement Udoka coached the Celtics for the 2021-22 campaign before Mazzulla took over three years ago. The latter was recently ranked as the seventh-best head coach in the NBA by Sam Quinn of CBS Sports, behind Udoka and five others. Mazzulla has compiled a 182-64 regular season record and a 33-17 mark in the playoffs during his tenure in Beantown. Story continues below advertisement