Mazzulla has more ideas about rule changes regarding the NBA Cup, the ‘loan’ of players originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
If Adam Silver were to ever let Joe Mazzulla take over as NBA commissioner, let’s just say the league would be a very different place.
Mazzulla made headlines two weeks ago during his weekly radio interview on The Sports Hub’s 98.5 Zolak and Bertrand by proposing that the NBA institute power plays and “bring back the fight.”
But the Boston Celtics head coach has many more ideas to change the game, especially when it comes to the NBA Cup. Mazzulla was active again Zolak and Bertrand on Thursday and called for expansion of the league’s seasonal tournament, now in its second season.
“I’m sure every sport wants a version of another sport, but I think it’s really cool in football and even basketball abroad, where you play in three leagues at the same time,” Mazzulla said. “For example, Tuesday is a cup match, but Saturday could be a national league match. That shift in psychology and balancing all that is a lot of fun.”
Mazzulla is a big fan of European football. He admits he studied Manchester City extensively after they won four consecutive English Premier League titles and met the club’s legendary manager Pep Guardiola on several occasions.
Clubs from Europe’s top leagues compete in various domestic and international tournaments during their regular season. For example, Premier League clubs participate in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup (both domestically), but can also qualify for the UEFA Champions League and Europa League (where they compete against clubs from across Europe), while compete in traditional competition.
Mazzulla says he would be on board with a similar model in the NBA.
“It’s always cool to study the games,” Mazzulla said. “You’ll see sometimes (with the) FA Cup or Carabao Cup, it’s like you still want to win it. Sometimes the superstars rest, and for me it validates your team, your bench, your squad, it validates that even more .”
“I think it’s a great idea,” Mazzulla added of potentially having multiple tournaments in the season. “It’s fascinating. Imagine if you have three NBA Cups? Like, do you play 35 national league games and like three other Cup games?”
Mazzulla said Tuesday ahead of Boston’s NBA Cup opener against the Atlanta Hawks that he prefers the NBA Cup games not count towards the regular season and form their own separate tournament. He reiterated that position on Thursday, admitting that he would also like to see the tournaments go international.
“What if you played 72 (regular season games) and 10 (NBA Cup games), so you have to fill a 10-game tournament?” said Mazzulla. “… That would be cool if there was some kind of Champions League in the NBA, where you played against EuroLeague teams or against teams from different countries. That would be cool too.”
However, Mazzulla saved his boldest attempt for last, suggesting that the NBA look at the ‘loan system’ that European clubs have, where players can go ‘on loan’ to other clubs for a limited time before returning to their original squad.
“It’s a good system,” Mazzulla added. “I mean, you get a player out on loan because it avoids situations where you have to put a guy in a trade that you still believe in, but you have to do it. You could borrow him.”
It’s hard to imagine the NBA will ever agree to that system. Imagine having to watch Payton Pritchard play for a rival like the Philadelphia 76ers before returning to Boston? – but as always, Mazzulla earns points for creativity.
