Joe Mazzulla took Celtics coaches on duck boat tour before season

Rather than opt for a spot outside of the city, Mazulla harped on the need for his coaches to learn more about the city that the Celtics were trying to win a title for.

And considering the championship aspirations that the 2023-24 Celtics entered the year with, Mazzulla was well-aware that a preseason duck boat trek could be a prophetic move if Boston won Banner 18.  

“We kind of spoke it into existence,” Mazzulla said. “I was like, ‘We’re gonna start the season with the duck boat tour.’ The staff took one — on most coaching retreats guys go away, go to Cape Cod, go to different places, we had our coaches retreat in downtown Boston. We had new staff members and we were creating this identity of building a connection to the city and I said, ‘We’re doing our staff retreat in Boston. 

“We’re going to dinner in Boston, we’re going to Boston hotel and we’re gonna do the duck boat tour so we can understand the city and the history. We need to know what this is really all about.’ We did one at the beginning of the year. We’re gonna end with one.”

Fair to say, Mazzulla expects a bit more fanfare for him, his coaching staff, and the rest of the Celtics when they hop on the duck boats once again on Friday morning. 

“I’m really excited to see how the people support the players; that’s going to be awesome,” Mazzulla said. “The coolest thing about coaching is watching a group of guys sacrifice everything, which I think our guys did.

“I thought it went under-appreciated — the mindset, the humility, the sacrifice that the guys did throughout the season. And it’s going to be really fun to watch them enjoy that.”