The start of Mitchell Robinson's tenure with the Boston Celtics has been newsworthy for all the wrong reasons. Since joining Boston, the Louisiana native has been struggling to adapt to the Celtics style of play on both ends while looking a bit out of shape after a short offseason thanks to helping the New York Knicks win the 2026 NBA title.
That has not been lost on Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla, who opened up a bit about the challenges of integrating Robinson into the team on Wednesday (Nov. 4) night. "I think a little bit of it is it's a process versus a result thing," said Mazzulla. "I think … you have to be able to leverage and appreciate (that) he's very hard on himself. The standard is really high for him, and so you enjoy that."
"At the
same time, nothing's ever as good as it seems, and it's never as bad as it seems," he added. "The other night, he had one of the highest crash rates on our entire team that we've had. He just wasn't able to come up with a few of those. At the same time, there's a level of patience there – he's playing a different role."
"He's playing a role that positively impacts the other players around him, and playing a role that gives him the ability to do a little bit more," said Mazzulla. "And you've seen some of that with the two-man pick and roll actions. We've missed a couple of our lobs, but his ability to do that, he's done a good job punishing switching for us."
"So I think it's a little bit of everything. But at the end of the day, it starts with the standard that he has for himself, the new role that he wants and we want him to be able to play, and then you go from there. And so you keep chipping away at it."
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Joe Mazzulla on the plan to integrate Mitchell Robinson into the Boston Celtics
