Former NBA Champion Reveals Michael Jordan's Advice To Joe Mazzulla: 'I Acted Like I Never Won'
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Brian Scalabrine, the former NBA champion, recently appeared on ‘The Starting Lineup’, a morning talk show on ‘SiriusXM NBA Radio’, where he revealed that the Celtics’ head coach, Joe Mazzulla, spent time with Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson this summer to learn about continued success and driving your hunger.
The former NBA champion said Michael Jordan apparently advised Joe Mazzulla on how he kept winning and kept himself hungry to win more.
“People were excited to hear about the stuff he was saying,” Scalabrine said about Mazzulla’s summer. “He told them at the partners’ summit that he actually hung out with Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson this summer… And Jordan told Joe that ‘the reason why I kept winning was I acted like I never won.'”
“If you act as if you’ve never done anything, then you are hungry to continue to get it. And he goes, Jordan was like that. That was his message to Joe.”
Joe Mazzulla arguably lost his best player this summer when the Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to the 76ers. So Mazzulla faces the challenge of not only filling that gap, but also keeping up with a revamped Eastern Conference this summer.
The Celtics finished the 2025-26 season as the second seed in the East with a 56-26 record. Now Mazzulla needs to figure out how to stay as successful as they were after losing his best player from 2025-26 and having Jayson Tatum replace him, who is recovering from a potentially career-altering Achilles injury that kept him on the sidelines most of last season.
And here’s where the Michael Jordan mentality can help Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics, especially Jayson Tatum. Jordan took almost two years off from all basketball activities in 1994 and 1995 before returning to action near the end of the 1995 season.
Yet, despite so much time away from the court, Jordan returned to his winning ways when he came back in full swing in 1996. The Celtics need to view Tatum’s return to action the same way if they want to continue their success in 2026-27.
But this also puts tremendous pressure on Jayson Tatum, since he doesn’t have a supporting cast of Scottie Pippen- and Dennis Rodman-caliber players to do what Michael Jordan did. Boston fans think that if Mazzulla can use a similar philosophy, he can drive Jayson Tatum and the new-look Celtics to a deep playoff run.
We don’t know much about the details of his discussions with Phil Jackson, but they certainly must have revolved around getting a player who has been away from the court for so long back into his best form.
It will be fascinating to see whether Jayson Tatum can deliver the MVP-caliber performance the Celtics need to continue their success in 2026-27.