Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was busy working while a few of his players participated in NBA All-Star events in Indianapolis and the others took advantage of the week-long break that the league offers for All-Star festivities. In the NBA, however, eight days between games is an eternity, so Mazzulla was able to take his work overseas and spend some time studying under a man who is not only a personal inspiration to him but also easily qualifies as the greatest professional sports coach of all time. Manager of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola.
In 903 matches as the manager of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, Guardiola has racked up a .728 winning percentage and won 11 league titles across La Liga, The Bundesliga, and the English Premier League. It’s no wonder that Joe Mazzulla opted to use his All-Star Break to learn from one of the best.
“I look at Man City a lot. I spend a lot of time studying Pep. He’s the best coach, in my opinion, in any sport, at any level. According to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, Mazzulla stated during his meeting with Guardiola in Manchester that “it’s had a huge influence.” “You get a taste of what greatness is all about, and after what they’ve accomplished in Barcelona and over the last nine years, I’d say they’re fairly near to greatness. Simply said, it’s beneficial to be around, learn from, and study that.
The way Mazzulla sees it, there are an endless number of lessons he and the Celtics could be taught by Pep, but that education goes far beyond the lessons that can be learned about empowering players and building a winning culture. Sure, these are things that Guardiola has clearly mastered over a decade-plus long managerial career, and they’re just as important to finding success in basketball as they are in any other sport. But beyond that, Mazzulla sees a number of similarities between the two sports from a tactical standpoint.
