Today's Edition
Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi)
The NBA basketball teams from this season’s champions, Boston Celtics, and the one previous, Denver Nuggets go into the off-season preparation with two exhibition games in Abu Dhabi in the first week of October at the Etihad Arena.
Yet, as any coach will tell, past glory doesn’t count for anything, especially after the seasonal break and so both teams’ coaches, Joe Mazzulla and Michael Malone respectively, told the local media that things start afresh off the plate ahead of their visit.
A few of the players had been to Abu Dhabi as part of United States national team’s training in July as preparation for the Paris Olympics. Three of Mazzulla’s Celtics side had to bear the extra workload of the Olympics and now the off-season matches after a season which saw them being crowned champions.
Watching the Finals last month – when Celtics beat Dallas Mavericks 4-1 and went into the record books with the most title victories in the NBA’s history, 18, surpassing the Los Angeles Lakers – was a guest named Pep Guardiola, the coach of Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City. He even shared a conversation coach Mazzulla.
When asked by Aletihad, Mazzulla expressed his appreciation for Guardiola while agreeing that he was “looking forward to visit the Academy” [Manchester City Football Schools in Zayed Sports City] as well as the Emirate where he has never been to.
“We have an opportunity to the grow the game, which is great, and it is to a place I have never been to, so I’m excited about the trip. Some players have been there recently but we haven’t got the chance to share notes but we will.
“The people that represent Manchester City are there and it is a world-class organisation with the coach and players what they represent, the amount of success they have had over the years, and looking forward to visiting them.”
On the contents of his conversation with Guardiola, he added: “We talked about similarities between soccer and basketball, things that go into managing a team. I think he [Guardiola] brings a unique perspective in managing, but also navigating success and expectations, the challenges and also talent. I had questions on how he goes through his processes in taking the team forward.”
In media sessions before the seven-match Finals in August, Mazzulla had also praised Guardiola and how he learnt about the importance of “spacing” the players during a game. “I’m very grateful for him and I’d like to think we make each other better. It’s awesome that he was here. It’s awesome that he could share some of his wisdom with me and that I could spend time with him,” he said.
While on the players, the Celtics coach talked about the players’ workload management and if he had any concerns about those who had to be on Olympic duty.
“It is okay to go after certain things in life that is important to them and one needs to have trust in the players’ ability to handle moments of adversity.
“They are humans and they do have been through a lot in the off-season, but at the end of the day, you can talk yourself into being tired or you can also talk yourself into finding another level in your game. [As a coach] you got to be empathetic towards the guys while having a collective approach to what we are trying to accomplish.”
About the targets from the impending Abu Dhabi visit, he said: “Irrespective of your last season’s achievements, it is important to redevelop your identity and training camps in the off-season offers you that opportunity. It is like trying to recommit to things that go into winning.”
Both Celtics and Nuggets are under heavy spotlight over their squads. The Celtics owner is trying to sell the club while transfers and injuries at Nuggets have prompted rebuilding their squad around Nikola Jokic, another player who made the July trip to Abu Dhabi with the US team.
“Nikola is a great player, and for me as a coach, and what I learnt many years ago from my father, who was also a coach, is that great players make everyone around them better, and Nikola has done that year in and year out,” said Malone.
“We know that he’s one of the greatest players to play the game, as proven by his three MVPs, but as we add players around Nikola, it’s always about complementing his skill set, adding guys that can play with Nikola, thrive with Nikola and Jamal Murray, who we feel is one of the best players in the NBA as well at his position.”
Malone also said he was excited to come and visit Abu Dhabi as part of his job, which “has brought me all over the globe and allows us to immerse ourselves in the local culture”.
On trying to regain their title after a year’s gap, he added: “Because once you’ve tasted that success of being a champion, everything motivates you to try to get back to that, to experience it once again. And as we open up the season with the Abu Dhabi Games, that’s something that we hope to try to get back to.”
