Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has officially responded to Quizletgate.
Mazzulla fell victim this week to an online mishap of biblical proportions. Twitter user @groovyk8 said Thursday that they had accidentally stumbled on Mazzulla’s account on Quizlet. As a result, a comprehensive collection of Mazzulla’s old scouting reports on opposing players was leaked.
“Was trying to memorize all the Phoenix Suns players so I could talk shop with my bf and accidentally found Joe Mazzulla’s quizlet account,” the user tweeted. “Is this the secret to the Celtics’ success?”
Was trying to memorize all the Phoenix Suns players so I could talk shop with my bf and accidentally found Joe Mazzulla’s quizlet account. Is this the secret to the Celtics’ success? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/L0jisGr0Na
— Qtkt (@groovyk8) December 16, 2022
The listed example was a scouting report on Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul of whom Mazzulla wrote, “EARLY MID PNR’S IN TRANSITION. ALERT TO 3 FOR 2 AND 2 FOR 1 SITUATIONS. MUST KEEP HIM DIRECTED. WILL SNAKE ON PNR. MAKE SURE WE CHASE AND CHALLENGE ON EAST WEST SNAKES. WILL MOUSE IT MAKE SURE WE INCH OUT.”
But the Quizlet account (with username “Joseph_Mazzulla”) contained scouting reports on at least ten players for all 29 opposing NBA teams. It also had key statistical insights plus detailed notes on how to defend each individual team’s offensive plays. Based on the players who were listed on respective rosters, it appears the notes were from the 2020-21 NBA season.
The account has since been deleted. However, Reddit user “luke_workin” managed to archive the entire collection of Mazzulla’s scouting reports before it was removed. You can view the archive link here.
On Friday, Mazzulla was asked about his scouting reports getting leaked.
“Quizlet is a great resource for retaining information,” he coyly responded, per Jay King of The Athletic.
Mazzulla, 34, is the second-youngest head coach in the NBA (behind Will Hardy of the Utah Jazz). He has led Boston to an NBA-best 22-7 record this season after taking over for the suspended Ime Udoka in September. But before all that, Mazzulla was just a little-known assistant coach who was apparently using Quizlet, an online flashcard tool popular with students around the world, to aggregate and absorb scouting information.
Granted, Mazzulla’s scouting reports are probably a bit obsolete by now with all the player movement and leaguewide strategy shifts over the last couple of seasons. But there is still plenty of helpful information in there, and the fact that the account was deleted all but confirmed it belonged to Mazzulla. All in all, Mazzulla’s folly may be the most embarrassing NBA strategy leak since this one from elsewhere in the Eastern Conference.
H/T NBA Reddit
