Joe Mazzulla, coach of the Boston Celtics, has made several proposals to revolutionize the NBA. One of which was particularly noted: authorizing fights on the floors.
Reigning NBA champion with the Celtics, Boston coach Joe Mazzulla is a unique character in the league. Because he is young (36 years old), because he has innovative methods to prepare and condition his players, and also because he does not have his tongue in his pocket.
Interviewed this week on a local radio station, the technician made several proposals to modernize the NBA and its regulations. Among them: an authorization for fights between players on the floors, like in the good old days.
“I would like us to be able to reinstate the fights”
“The biggest thing we’re depriving people of, from an entertainment standpoint, is that you can’t fight anymore,” lamented Joe Mazzulla. “I wish we could reintroduce the fights… What’s more entertaining than a little scuffle?” The coach compared his sport to ice hockey – which governs clashes between players in the NHL – and baseball. “They have bats, sticks and pucks, we just have a ball. (…) And yet we don’t have the right to fight a little…”
Beyond the fight itself, Mazzulla would like to create conditions where a team would find itself in numerical superiority on the floor, at least for a few seconds.
“Basketball is one of the only sports where there is no power play,” he said. “We should have a power play… If you get a technical foul but you don’t put the basket behind, you don’t get a reward. (…) So there should be some kind of power play where , in the event of a hand fault or technical fault, we could play five against four for five seconds or three passes.”
