Joe Mazzulla receives NBA championship ring and says ‘I’ll never wear it’

It’s the start of a new basketball season, and so the Boston Celtics celebrated their championship ceremony last night before kicking off the new season against the New York Knicks.

The team unveiled the latest championship banner and also distributed rings. Former West Virginia guard and Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, as you might have guessed, isn’t a big fan of the bling.

When asked about receiving the ring and what that moment was like for him, he gave a nice Bob Huggins-style answer.

“When I got the ring… I don’t know, the thing is too big. I don’t know why it’s so big. I’ll never wear it, but it’s cool to have. The banners fascinated me more because I come here every afternoon and look at them and they represent so much. The banner was the highlight for me because it represents a lot of things that are contained within it and the rafters in this building have a life of their own. That moment was the coolest.”

During the pregame ceremony, Mazzulla kissed the hardwood at TD Garden, recognizing all of the legendary players and coaches who helped make the Celtics a premier NBA franchise.

“I just thought it was a moment and a way to express myself. The floor is…that’s the blood, sweat and tears of the greats. I can’t go out and dive for loose balls like I’d like to or do any of that, so this was just a way to express the passion and gratitude I have for our team and the people who did this Come forward and experience what it means to be a Celtic. There’s no better place than this city and this team, and just being in the arena with the people, that was important.”

After the team’s opening night win, he told reporters that while he doesn’t want his team to forget last year’s special run, they can’t live in the past.

“I don’t want to discredit the past, but it’s not a conclusion because the things we’ve emulated… we’re trying to recreate the process of winning. It’s not about the past in terms of the outcome. But what we want to constantly focus on is the process of winning. By playing on both ends of the floor for a long, extended period of over a hundred games, we were able to reach the highest peak. That’s what we’re trying to do now.

“It’s not about forgetting it. You just can’t hold on to the result. But we should constantly remind ourselves of what we were able to repeat over the course of a nine-month season with our consistency and our toughness. “And the mindset that we have is what we want to build on. We simply cannot limit ourselves to the result.”

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