In another world, Boston Celtics second round draft pick Dillon Mitchell could have ended up spending the 2026-27 season honing his craft by returning to college. But the former St. John's standout elected to remain with the ball club that took him No. 40 overall in the 2026 NBA Draft, and has been putting in work with the Celtics in their training camp for the campaign soon to arrive.
And while it can be hard for rookie players to earn the trust of the coaching staff in their first season in the NBA, Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla shared (viaCLNS Media) that Mitchell "put his head down" and kept his mouth shut while he works on his game and does "what needs to be done."
"It's very simple," said Mazzulla. "He's done a great job of that. It works
every single day. He's been here all summer, does whatever is asked of him, wants to learn, wants to grow, wants to be coached, wants to be challenged."
"Him and Chris (Cenac Jr.) have both done a great job of that, and it's important to continue to do so," said the Celtics coach. (…) Those two guys are very well coached in college. I think coming into certain NBA environments, that goes a long way."
"And they've been obviously taught the game and coached at a high level … and I think you see the beginning of that when they're in here. And they've just got to continue to do that. They've done a great job so far."
Listen to "Havlicek Stole the Pod" on:
Blue Wire: https://tiny.ee/CdKp
iTunes: https://tiny.ee/RK47
YouTube: https://tiny.ee/cOW3
This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Head down, mouth shut: Joe Mazzulla on Dillon Mitchell at Boston Celtics training camp
