Next season, the Celtics bench will be shaken up with the departure of Charles Lee to the Hornets. The right arm of Joe Mazzulla rose to prominence with a position as head coach and Sam Cassell could take his place as first assistant.
But this is not the only change in the staff of the reigning champions. God Shammgod, the Mavericks assistant, announced that his son would join the Celtics next season as an assistant in charge of player development.
God Shammgod Jr. indeed knows Joe Mazzulla well. It turns out that the current Celtics coach managed it when he was at Fairmont State between 2013 and 2016.
“When I came to Fairmont, Joe (Mazzulla) was an assistant,” remembers the new assistant of the C's. “Joe was the guy who would watch video footage with me, every morning at 7:30, for 30 minutes. Right after the video, we would go out on the field and practice for 30 minutes.”
A mentor story
God Shammgod Jr. even reveals that it was the relationship he had with Joe Mazzulla that encouraged him to become a coach.
“Seeing the way he coached me, the way he cared about me, not just as a player, but as a person, always making sure everything was okay at home, that my family was okay , that my studies were going well…” he explains. “He took me under his wing to become a better person more than a better player. And it was seeing this that I got into coaching. »
Additionally, God Shammgod Jr. didn't just play under Joe Mazzulla. He was already his assistant at Fairmont between 2017 and 2019.
Most recently, he was on the staff of the Sixers' G-League affiliate team. He was even a champion with the Delaware Blue Coats in 2022/23, losing this year in the conference semi-finals against the… Maine Celtics.
