John Flowers and Kevin Gray knew Joe Mazzulla way back when.
Flowers played four years with Mazzulla at West Virginia University, including a Final Four appearance.
Gray played two years as a shooting guard under Mazzulla at Glenville State University, his first voyage into coaching after graduating from WVU.
Both have similar reactions to what has transpired the last three years with the Boston Celtics.
“Joe is the same Joe I played with,” said Flowers. “Blunt, to the point, and driven. We always knew he’d be a good coach. Even as a player, he understood the game better than everybody.”
Gray was a sophomore when Mazzulla joined the staff at GSU.
“He took over our weight-lifting program and from the get-go he was nuts, real intense,” said Gray. “He was passionate about everything. He wanted to show us what a winning culture was all about.”
As a player, Mazzulla was not a big-time points producer, averaging only 4.4 points and 2.6 assists over his four-plus years, starting in only 25 of 145 games.
But he sold the 1-3-1 defense on then-new coach Bob Huggins, as a sophomore, after playing sparingly as a freshman under coach John Beilein.
“Getting Huggs to change anything is a big deal,” said Flowers. “But Joe explained everything to him, why it works and Huggs bought it.”
Mazzulla’s persuasive ways showed at Glenville State, too, according to Gray.
Gray remembered Mazzulla’s early fascination with watching film.
“I was never a big film guy before Joe got to Glenville, but we’d sit there and go over everything, not only what other teams were doing and what I was doing, but what NBA greats were doing,” recalled Gray.
“We were working on my shot and he puts on film for Ray Allen and J.J. Redick. He obsessed over Ray Allen’s footwork and how prepared he was before he got the ball. And then how quick J.J. Redick got his shot off. That kind of stuff hit me, like, and really inspired me, showing those dudes.”
Ironically, Mazzulla told Gray that if he ever wanted to be a pro basketball player, he needed to get to 40 percent from 3-point range.
“Joe had left after my junior year for Fairmont State (for three years),” said Gray. “I improved my shooting my two years with Joe and then got 39.9 percent, which rounds up to 40 percent. And I signed a pro contract in Ireland and later Lithuania. Joe was right.”
Flowers got some coaching from Mazzulla as well, returning from Japan after his first year, while working out at West Virginia.
“Huggs was great, allowing all of the West Virginia guys to come back and work out,” said Flowers. “He was teaching these euro steps, sort how LeBron dribbles and uses gather steps, which looks like traveling. I had never seen it before. It was like he was ahead of the game, seeing things before everyone else does.”
Flowers, now a financial planner with Edward Jones in Morgantown, has a life-long bond with Mazzulla. The Celtics coach is godfather to his daughter, Violet.
“I got down to Boston for Game 2 of the NBA Finals, which was an incredible experience, seeing that place rock,” said Flowers. “Would I have predicted he would be at this point in his career, this quickly? I mean, this is the Boston Celtics,” said Flowers. “No, but (Celtics president) Brad Stevens saw something, something we’ve all seen in Joe from the start. I love it. I am a big Celtics fan.”
After his pro career, Gray started a sports metric service for player development, called 1Up Stats. He believes Mazzulla’s devotion to fundamentals and unwavering passion has rubbed off on him.
“I owe Joe a lot,” said Gray. “To see what he’s done with the Celtics, the respect the players have for him, especially the stars, and the other guys that have improved, I’m not surprised. I was always a LeBron guy, as a fan, but right now the Celtics are my team.”