Right here’s what Charles Barkley needed to say concerning the Kristaps Porzingis commerce and Joe Mazzulla’s new assistants

The Boston Celtics made one of many largest strikes of this offseason, buying and selling away fan favourite level guard Marcus Good to accumulate gifted massive man Kristaps Porzingis. This commerce has drawn blended reception over the previous few months, as many Boston followers initially struggled to let go of Good and let the oft-injured Porzingis headline this new-look Celtics roster.

However loads of others imagine that the Porzingis commerce was an excellent deal for the Celtics. NBA analyst and Corridor of Fame member Charles Barkley went on “The Invoice Simmons Podcast” and gave his reward to the Celtics’ entrance workplace for buying the Latvian All-Star.

“I believe it’s definitely worth the gamble,” Barkley mentioned. “He doesn’t need to be your second-best participant.”

Barkley is correct. Many of the Celtics’ scoring and management duties will go to their All-Star duo Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. In Boston’s system, Porzingis will probably function an off-ball scorer, a dependable shooter and the Celtics’ premier roll man defender in drop protection, which Porzingis has excelled at all through his profession.

Nobody really is aware of what function Porzingis can have apart from head coach Joe Mazzulla, though his hand-picked assistants might have some enter. This was the primary 12 months Mazzulla was in a position to choose his employees, a choice that Barkley additionally lauded on Simmons’s podcast.

“I gotta give coach Mazzulla numerous credit score for upgrading his teaching employees, as a result of I assumed his inexperience confirmed at completely different instances,” mentioned Barkley.

Mazzulla will sit on the Celtics’ bench surrounded by skilled assistant Charles Lee, former Celtics Phil Pressey and Sam Cassell, and even Amile Jefferson, Tatum’s teammate at Duke College. Barkley mentioned that the boldness and powerful presence of those 4 males will make a large distinction for the Celtics subsequent season.

“[Mazzulla] didn’t have any sturdy assistants,” Barkley mentioned. He ought to’ve gotten someone, even in the course of the season. The very best he had was Damon Stoudamire, and he left mid-season. You want sturdy personalities on the bench, as a result of all these guys acquired egos.”

Barkley’s reward signifies that the Celtics are trending in the correct path, and that they might be even higher this season than they have been over the previous few years.