Joe Mazzulla praises European basketball: “It is an inspiration to me”

Joe Mazzulla, coach of the Boston Celtics, made a surprise appearance during one of the last EuroLeague Head Coaches Board Academy lectures, an opportunity he used to praise European basketball. These are his statements.

Joe Mazzulla’s words.

“EuroLeague has been a source of inspiration for me as a coach since I started coaching. I’ve taken European basketball from a conceptual standpoint, whether it’s in terms of cutting away from the ball, the kind of sets you run versus certain defensive markings, the way you call plays, defensive systems… Everything we do here in the NBA starts in Europe, because there is less media coverage in America. If you see a European coach doing it, you get a little jealous. Kristaps (Porzingis ed.) and I talk a lot about European basketball. We’re in America, we’re a little bit behind. The conceptual approach to a lot of the things you do is a big influence for me. I pay a lot of attention to European basketball, and I think the concepts of that basketball have inspired me.”