Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has his team in a familiar position: leading 1-0 in the NBA Finals, just as they did in 2022 under then-head coach Ime Udoka. Unfortunately for the Celtics, the 2022 NBA Finals did not result in an 18th banner being raised, but this time under Mazzulla, the Celtics are clear favorites to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy. At the time, however, Mazzulla was an assistant on Udoka's staff and not expected to handle any of the demands of being the man in charge, but before the start of the 2022-23 season, Mazzulla was thrust into the head coaching job.

Now it's on Joe Mazzulla to answer all of the questions that don't have to do with the NBA Finals while also keeping an eye on the task at hand. One of those questions is related to Jeff Van Gundy, who the Celtics hired before the season to serve as a senior adviser in basketball operations. Van Gundy, who was a former head coach for both the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets and a long-time ESPN color commentator, was surprisingly let go by the Worldwide Leader over the summer, shortly after he had finished work on his 17th NBA finals as a broadcaster.

Earlier this week, during his weekly interview with 98.5 FM in Boston, Joe Mazzulla fielded a question about a Marc Stein report that Jeff Van Gundy could be making his return to an NBA bench next year as a member of the Celtics staff. Mazzulla wasn't prepared to offer a definitive answer just yet.

“We don’t really know yet,” Mazzulla said during his radio appearance, writes Marc Stein in his weekly NBA newsletter. “We always said we are going to hire from within and kind of talk more about that after the season.”

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla talks during a timeout in the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks during game one of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden.
© David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Changes expected for the Boston Celtics coaching staff

While the Boston Celtics now find themselves just three wins shy of an NBA Championship, keeping the coaching staff together next season will prove to be a difficult task. Assistant coach Charles Lee will be on his way out after the Finals in order to begin his new job as the Charlotte Hornets' head coach. There's also the very distinct possibility that Sam Cassell, who is in just his first season with the team he won a title with in 2008, could be on his way out and heading to Milwaukee to join former coach and colleague Doc Rivers.

With both Lee and Cassell gone, Mazzulla and the Celtics will need to add to their staff, and Jeff Van Gundy would be a suitable addition. Not only does JVG 748 games of experience as an NBA head coach, he also spent seven years as an assistant under Hall of Famer Pat Riley on the New York Knicks bench.