Celtics coach Mazzulla uses Guardiola´s career as a blueprint for success

Pep Guardiola and Joe Mazzulla may operate in different sports, but the Boston Celtics coach has used the Manchester City boss’ career as a “roadmap”.

Mazzulla led the Celtics to their 18th NBA championship last year, with Boston triumphing for the first time since 2008.

Guardiola, meanwhile, has enjoyed huge success wherever he has managed, and has guided Manchester City to six Premier League titles across the past seven seasons.

Mazzulla met Guardiola on multiple occasions in 2024, including after Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

And he explained how he has looked at Guardiola’s career as a path to follow.

“Obviously, [I’m] nowhere near the manager that Pep is but we share a similar beginning,” Mazzulla said in an interview with Men in Blazers.

“He was coaching Barcelona’s B team, I was in Maine’s G League team, and they could have easily gone for a bigger name, but they go to this guy sitting on the back bench with no experience.

“It became a roadmap to how I wanted to go about building a culture, a team, and you know, taking over greatness.

“You take a look at his tactical ability, his ability to manage the best players, which I think is what separates coaches in any sport – that’s something that I thought I could really learn from.”

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Guardiola has won 652 of his 907 club matches across his spells with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, giving him a win percentage of 71.89%.

Asked what he has discussed with Guardiola, Mazzulla explained: “The biggest thing I wanted to take from him was: What’s it like before you win?

“What are the challenges that come with winning the first one? And what are you like now that you’ve won?

“He has seen all those steps, and it just gives you great perspective as to: Okay, if you’re going to do this for a long time, here’s what to expect, here’s how to adapt and here’s how to look at it.

“I just thought it was someone who could really help me and so I appreciate his humility and it has been a fun journey, kind of building a relationship with him.”