Joe Mazzulla Explains How He Uses AI to Help Coach Celtics — Transcript

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1. 0:01Joe, on a game-to-ame basis, how much do
2. 0:03your expectations for a player change
3. 0:05based on the opponent? Uh, can you be
4. 0:08more specific? I mean, like obviously
5. 0:10you have like a baseline set like I want
6. 0:11I want hustle, I want this from defense,
7. 0:13I want this on offense, but like if
8. 0:15you're playing, you know, Kade, it's
9. 0:16different from if you're playing Brunson
10. 0:17or Joic versus Towns, like obviously
11. 0:19there's matchup dependent things. Do
12. 0:21your expectations for, you know, what
13. 0:24parts of your expectations change based
14. 0:25on the personnel?
15. 0:27>> Uh, none. I mean really just we have uh
16. 0:30you know the system the process that we
17. 0:32want to play to and it's really more
18. 0:33just you know matching that um you know
19. 0:36have an understanding of the information
20. 0:38that the game showing you and kind of
21. 0:40playing there. So not you know it does
22. 0:41not really you want to make it the same
23. 0:43regardless of who you're playing. Um you
24. 0:45know you mentioned the two best you
25. 0:46mentioned the best player on another
26. 0:47team but tonight the best players are
27. 0:48just you know they're just as dangerous.
28. 0:49They're the best players are the engines
29. 0:51of the team. you know, we have to bring
30. 0:52the same mentality uh of defending the
31. 0:54best player at the highest level and
32. 0:56understanding what their team does
33. 0:57really well. Uh so it doesn't change
34. 0:59from game to game, per se. Um you know,
35. 1:02the game plan obviously changes. The
36. 1:03details that you focus on obviously
37. 1:05changes, but uh the mentality and the
38. 1:06psychology of the game shouldn't change.
39. 1:08>> Why are you talking at
40. 1:10uh cuz I'm not going to be able to talk
41. 1:12to the game.
42. 1:13>> Uh Joe, you you made mention on the
43. 1:15radio yesterday that you use AI or
44. 1:16Claude for some of your coaches. So
45. 1:18could you elaborate a little bit more on
46. 1:19how you balance that and then your own
47. 1:21obviously your own personal I think
48. 1:22people hear that and they're like oh
49. 1:23like AI basketball like could you just
50. 1:25share a little bit more about how that
51. 1:26>> uh no I mean I think it's more just
52. 1:28helping organize helping become more
53. 1:30efficient uh helping understanding uh I
54. 1:33think there's a lot of really use it for
55. 1:34just conversation and riffs on like okay
56. 1:37you know here's what I'm wrestling with
57. 1:38what does this look like from a
58. 1:39psychological perspective what is the
59. 1:40you know research and the data you
60. 1:42quickly get just so much research and
61. 1:43data on on things uh are you verbalizing
62. 1:46things can they be verbalized in a much
63. 1:48more efficient way. Uh like you like
64. 1:49like I talked about practice planning is
65. 1:51that looked at um you know it really
66. 1:53helps you kind of test your processes
67. 1:54that you think are efficient like our
68. 1:56halftime process is that really the most
69. 1:58efficient way to watch film uh getting
70. 2:00ready for the second half. Is our
71. 2:02pregame process the most efficient way
72. 2:04to make sure uh our guys have retention
73. 2:07of the game plan and what we're needing
74. 2:08to do and they're in the right space
75. 2:10mentally and psychologically. So I think
76. 2:12you know for me it's like okay you as a
77. 2:14coach you've developed these processes
78. 2:15and you develop these rituals and these
79. 2:17things that you think give you the best
80. 2:19chance to win and I think uh a platform
81. 2:21like that tests your efficiency on like
82. 2:23is this really the best like like how we
83. 2:25watch film on a practice day is the way
84. 2:26we watch film is the template of each
85. 2:30clip does that represent the best
86. 2:32opportunity to build retention and build
87. 2:34understanding you know what does it look
88. 2:36like uh to have the most efficient film
89. 2:38session that you can what type of
90. 2:39questions are you asking when you're
91. 2:40going through film, you know, do I ask
92. 2:42the right questions to check for
93. 2:43understanding to build retention? So, I
94. 2:45think it just really tests your
95. 2:47processes and you know, you may think
96. 2:48that you're doing something the right
97. 2:50way, but there's definitely a more
98. 2:51scientific or more efficient way of
99. 2:53going about how to do things and I think
100. 2:54that gives us a platform that allows you
101. 2:56to do it.
102. 2:57>> At what point did you realize that you
103. 2:58that was a useful tool? Like was there a
104. 3:00point in your coaching journey where
105. 3:01you're like, this is something that I
106. 3:02can add? Um, I mean it really it was
107. 3:04over the last year or so just kind of
108. 3:05like again, you know, every offseason,
109. 3:07really this offseason of like, okay,
110. 3:08let's test all of our processes, like,
111. 3:10you know, is our pregame film process
112. 3:12the right way? Is our halftime film
113. 3:13process the right way? Is our film room
114. 3:15set up for learning the right way? Like
115. 3:17how should our film room look? Uh, you
116. 3:19know, and all those things you're just,
117. 3:21you know, constantly testing. You always
118. 3:22ask like, where are we getting better? I
119. 3:24think the best way for coaches to get
120. 3:25better is in the processes of how they
121. 3:27go about doing stuff. Are they the most
122. 3:28efficient way? Um, and then I think it
123. 3:30also helped, you know, of of combining
124. 3:32sports. You know, obviously I've always
125. 3:34talked about soccer being um, you know,
126. 3:36a passion of mine to watch and, uh, got
127. 3:38into a little bit of handball this year.
128. 3:40And so I was able to just say, "Okay,
129. 3:41tell me the the similarities between
130. 3:43soccer, handball, and basketball, what
131. 3:44that looks like, where are the the
132. 3:45elements of of what elements of play are
133. 3:48involved in all three of those things,
134. 3:49and how can that work under a five on
135. 3:51five setting?" So, uh, to me it just it
136. 3:53it tests your your process. It tests
137. 3:55your efficiency. It tests, uh, what you
138. 3:57think you may know and how you can do it
139. 3:59better.
140. 4:00>> Sort of the same question that Jack
141. 4:02asked. You have some you have a good
142. 4:05roster with a lot of talent. If you
143. 4:07allocate minutes, uh, looking at the
144. 4:10schedule ahead of second part, you know,
145. 4:13Paul has had injury and better all.
146. 4:18>> Yeah, I mean, that's where we just trust
147. 4:19our sport science team. I mean, you
148. 4:20trust one, you trust the work that the
149. 4:22individual puts in over the course of
150. 4:24the whole offseason.
151. 4:25>> Uh, you know, getting uh, you know, load
152. 4:28management or or protecting guys doesn't
153. 4:30just start when the season starts. It
154. 4:31starts in in May, June, July, and
155. 4:33August. And so, doing a great job of
156. 4:36one, the guys work hard. You know, they
157. 4:38have a system that they work through in
158. 4:40the offseason. Our sports science team
159. 4:42works, you know, 12 months a year. So,
160. 4:44they're checking in on those guys during
161. 4:45them and there's a there's a plan that
162. 4:46they have then. So, that gets you ready
163. 4:48for these types of moments. So, if you
164. 4:50don't skip steps and move your eye and
165. 4:51honest, by the time you get to here, you
166. 4:53have a better chance uh of being in the
167. 4:55best shape you can. You mentioned Paul.
168. 4:57I think Paul did an unbelievable job
169. 4:58taking care of his body and sticking to
170. 4:59the plan that we had in place for him
171. 5:01once we acquired him. Uh you know, and
172. 5:03then you obviously you trust the team
173. 5:05and uh the players as they get into the
174. 5:07season. So, I think it's a it's not just
175. 5:09a okay, the season starts, are we ready
176. 5:11to go? It's a 12 month process uh that
177. 5:13the players have to commit to on their
178. 5:15own and that you trust your sport
179. 5:16science team to help build that. And I
180. 5:18think you are guys doing a great job.
181. 5:20>> The negative joke.