While it might seem odd to some that Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla is not a fan of individual awards for himself in his role as coach, the pushback we see from the Rhode Island native is based in a philosophy that helps power his success in that role.

We are of course talking about his reticence to talk about his likely win of the NBA's Coach of the Year award for the 2025-26 regular season, a topic which he shed some new light in after a recent Celtics practice. "I think being a Division I basketball player, you grow up with this sense of entitlement as if the whole world revolves around you," said Mazzulla. "And I had to inherently, if I wanted to be a better husband and a better father, a better coach, I had to get rid of that type of entitlement."

"But I would say going through life as a student athlete, you think it's all about you, and in reality it's not," he added. "I had to surrender to that and to something way bigger than me and sports, the world, and life. So, it's important."

"At the end of the day, we all battle with pride in some capacity and learning how to navigate that, it's not something that you just get better at," said the Celtics coach.

"And I think it's something that we all battle in our own way, pride in some capacity, and you're always looking to just be better."

This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Why Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla doesn't like personal awards