Celtics Practice Notebook: A WWE appearance, Jayson Tatum thoughts, and accepting the noise

BRIGHTON — The Boston Celtics don’t have much time to practice once the season gets underway, but Tuesday afternoon provided one of those rare opportunities. These were some of the main stories to come out of the Auerbach Center:

1. Joe Mazzulla and Derrick White take WWE

Everyone saw the clip. It was everywhere. Monday Night Raw came to TD Garden on Monday night, and Derrick White was in attendance. He was shown on the Jumbotron, but right alongside him? Joe Mazzulla.

When the camera panned to Mazzulla, there was a huge grin on his face. He immediately stood up and began “punching” White, mimicking the likes of Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes.

“It's all part of the storyline,” White said at practice. “WrestleMania is coming up soon, so that's when our big fight will be.”

Joe Mazzulla and Derrick White at WWE Monday Night Raw. 🔥🤣 (h/t @FadeAwayMedia) pic.twitter.com/O5WqDC6Scb— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) March 24, 2026

In that situation, White was the good guy. The baby face, as they say in the wrestling injury. And Mazzulla was the heel. At least, that’s how White sees it.

“I think I was the baby face in that situation. Just waving. Doing what I was supposed to do,” he said. “So, I think he's the heel, technically. I'll stay baby face, though. It's cool.”

White took the miniature sparring session like a champ, though he was sure to stay away from Mazzulla when there was an actual chance that the two could step inside a ring.

Or an octagon.

“I tried to stay away,” White said when jokingly asked if Mazzulla had beaten him up when he first got to Boston. “He was doing all that MMA stuff. The one yesterday was much more my speed than the MMA one.”

Monday was an important opportunity for Mazzulla.

For the same reason that the Celtics don’t have much time to practice once the season starts, they don’t have much time to do anything.

So, when the opportunity arose to join White and his family at a WWE event, Mazzulla jumped at it. Especially since it was at TD Garden.

“Just wanted to have a nice night with the family,” Mazzulla said. “Nice night with D-White and his family. And a chance to learn. And any chance I can go to the Garden and watch other people do stuff, it’s important. So, I had a good time.”

And his underlying long-time WWE fandom didn’t hurt, either.

“Grew up as a kid watching,” Mazzulla said. “Was able to have a family night, take the kids there. Hang out with D-White. It was a good time.”

2. Coach and player bonding

Attending Raw was merely a product of a bigger goal for Mazzulla. An organizational philosophy that has defined his tenure as head coach in Boston.

Hardwood Houdini’s Sam LaFrancebegan to ask him a question along the lines of, ‘You don’t see many bosses go out and hang out with their employees, what makes that a possibility in this situation, and why is it important?’

But Mazzulla never let him finish.

“I don’t consider myself a boss, and I don’t consider Derrick an employee, with all due respect. It’s not how we operate,” Mazzulla said. “I think it’s more about just relationships and the people that you have. Not to cut you off, but I just don’t look at it that way, and I don’t consider myself in that situation.

“It’s more, we’re in this together. We’re an organization. And my family is a part of that organization, other assistant coaches are a part of that family, and anytime we can do stuff together, I think it’s important to try to do that. It was more about that, but I didn’t mean to cut you off on that.”

At the beginning of the year, before the regular season even started, Anfernee Simonssaid that one of the first things he noticed about Mazzulla was that he didn’t want to be called ‘coach.’ Just ‘Joe.’

By breaking down the wall between coach and player, the Celtics have been able to build a culture that breeds togetherness.

Because their jobs are anything but normal. It’s not like an everyday 9-to-5. It’s not even college basketball, where the coach is often 20 or more years older than the players.

Mazzulla is 37 years old. White is 31. Mazzulla is younger than Al Horford, whom he coached for three seasons.

“I mean, we're all adults here,” White said. “I feel like [in] college is, I guess you're kind of adult, but you're still figuring things out. And so, I think that's a big difference for college. And then, [we] spend so much time together. You're basically seeing them every day. And so, there's going to be ups and downs, and you just kind of have to have that bond on and off the court that allows him to coach you hard, allows you to listen, to learn, to grow.

“And so, I think Joe does a good job of finding that balance. Obviously, it's not very easy, or there'd be a lot more coaches.”

From the very moment he started, Mazzulla has made an effort to connect with everyone in the organization, players included.

“I think for the most part. I think every year, the longer you're with them, the bigger your bond grows,” White said. “And so, I don't know if we did anything the first year he was coaching, but I think just every year, we always do some stuff like that, and I was happy to be on national television [on Raw].”

And though it may not seem like much, it’s this type of philosophy that distinguishes the Celtics from a lot of other organizations around the league.

3. Jayson Tatum thoughts

Jayson Tatumhasn’t been perfect since returning from his Achilles injury. He would be the first person to tell you that. And the frustration has seeped in at times. But that’s just a part of the journey.

“I think it's frustrating,” White said. “You want to come back and instantly get back to yourself, but that's not how the game works. So, I just think he's just doing a good job of just, every day, being consistent. I think it was the same thing with his rehab and his recovery. So, there's good days and bad days in this game, and [you] just got to continue to try to figure out different ways to figure it out.”

“I mean, even if he was 100% healthy, you'd still be frustrated if you weren't your best self,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, that happens even if you have a bad game when you are the best version of yourself.

“And so, I think, at the end of the day, when we're between those lines, there's no grace. These are the things that you have to do. When you step out of those lines, here's the stuff that you're doing well, here's the stuff that we have to get better [at], here's the stuff that's going to come with time. And you just keep it to that. And I think he does a really good job of processing that, and we just have to go from there.”

However, the Celtics are happy with where he’s gotten to so far.

“He looks good,” White said. “I feel the first few games are just kind of like, you're just so excited and [you're] playing with a lot of adrenaline, and now, it's kind of calmed down a little bit. But I think he's doing a lot of good things. Obviously, [he wants] to make a couple more shots, but [he] just understands [that] it's gonna be a process. And he looks good out there, getting the looks that he wants, and just gotta continue to trust that. Just gotta stay with him.”

And Mazzulla stated that he’s been happy with the shots Tatum has been taking, though he did admit there’s always room for improvement, and some shots are better than others.

“Yeah, absolutely. I like the shots that he’s getting, I like the shots that he’s taking,” Mazzulla said. “I like the way that he’s driving the basketball with physicality. And again, you can always find your players better shots. I can always find our players easier, better shots, but the ones that he’s getting are good, and we’ll continue to work on that.”

Since returning, Tatum has averaged 19.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting 38.8% from the field and 29.3% from deep on 9.4 three-point attempts per contest.

Needless to say, he hasn’t been his normal self.

But expecting him to be the same old Tatum right away is outlandish.

Obviously, there’s a standard that needs to be upheld. If the Celtics want to achieve their ultimate goal of winning a championship, Tatum’s play has to improve. But again, Tatum would be the first to admit that. And he, Mazzulla, the coaching staff, and the rest of the team are working tirelessly to get to that point.

“I mean, there was no expectations other than continuing to get better, continuing to execute, continuing to grow as a player, and be in a position to help us win, and be the best version of himself, and continue to stay and further get healthy,” Mazzulla said.

“Those were the expectations, and I think he’s exceeded those, and I think he’s continuing to get better. And that’s the most important thing. As we continue to just adjust, and learn, and grow, he’ll continue to get better there. But love the mindset that he’s approached with on the games. I love the physicality that he’s playing with. I like the attention to detail. And he’s helping us impact winning, and we got to keep that up.”

4. Learning from WWE

For Mazzulla, sitting ringside was about more than just taking in the action. He wasn’t just a spectator — he was learning. Mazzulla is always learning.

“I just like learning,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, just anytime you can step into someone else’s arena and learn from them, you can always take something.”

On the surface, the NBA and WWE may not seem too similar.

One is a sport, the other an entertainment company. But both are chock-full of athletes who are constantly placed in the spotlight. Guys who are dealing with high expectations and the outcry that comes if said expectations aren’t reached.

And that’s certainly something Mazzulla can learn from Triple Hand the WWE.

“Definitely keeping an eye on them,” Mazzulla said. “And I think, at the end of day, to John's question about all the stuff that's, how the world of sports has drastically changed, the top people, the top stars, the top talent of what you have in your organization are in a different arena, and you have to know how to navigate that on and off the court. And I think multiple arenas do a good job of that, and I think you have to be able to learn from that.

“But John asked a great question. Last night’s an example of people who are at the best of what they do in their arena. How can you learn from that? How can you get better from that?”

Just because stars play different sports doesn’t mean they don’t deal with some of the same problems. And the problems that are different from one another? Those are just more opportunities to learn.

“I think a lot of it comes down to personal experience,” Mazzulla said. “But before we made the thing about what it's like to be a Brazilian soccer starversus what it's like to be an NBA superstar. And I think it's like, everybody, you're trying to find correlations and other people who are going after greatness, other people who are going after trying to be the best at what they do. You find the things that correlate, you find the things that you can learn from, and you take on the differences. And sometimes you can learn from the differences just as much as you can the similarities.”

5. Nikola Vucevic update

It was small, but Mazzulla did comment on how Nikola Vucevic has been progressing as he recovers from surgery to repair a fracture in his right thumb.

“I mean, he's continuing, getting better,” Mazzulla said. “He's doing his on-court work, even with his left hand, but he's getting better and better. I don't have an exact timeline, but I know he's making progress in his recovery.”

According to the NBC Sports Boston broadcast of Friday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Vucevic was expectedto have had an X-ray on his finger. The aim is for him to return at some point during the final few games of the season.

6. Accepting the noise

This was perhaps the best answer of the day.

Mazzulla was presented with the concept of blocking out the noise, since the Celtics have been playing in a bunch of National TV games lately. But rather than explaining how the Celtics avoid it, tune it out, or ignore it, Mazzulla took a different stance.

“It's funny you say that. I think I've mentioned this before, there's no such thing as 'ignore the noise.' I mean, I think in the world we live in today, and the biggest thing I've learned in my time, is just, there's no such thing as ignoring the noise,” Mazzulla said. “And something good can be just as distracting as something bad.

“Your family can be distracting. If you take them on the road for a playoff series and they keep you up at night because you want them to be in your room, but now they're costing you sleep. I don't look at the world as if, ignore this, pay more attention to that. I don't think that's how the brain works. I don't think that's how the world is. I think it's just, there's a balance and an understanding of what impacts winning, what doesn't impact winning. Put your focus on the things that impact winning, and anything and everything can be a distraction, whether it's good or bad, and that's how you have to do it.

“So, I think it's like that more and more than it ever has been, because of access, because of the stuff that you're talking about. And so, there's no such thing as noise. It's all noise. And it's a matter of where you balance your focus and your attention at certain times. For our team in our locker room, how do we impact winning? It's the most important thing. I think our guys are really good at that. I think they're competitive character at that, and that's really what it comes down to.”