Report: Celtics hiring Amile Jefferson as assistant coach

Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla aren’t done rebuilding their coaching staff. According to a report by Travis Branham of 247 Sports, the Boston Celtics are finalizing a deal to add Amile Jefferson to their ranks.

Jefferson has been an assistant coach at Duke University since 2021 and was a former four-year player for the Blue Devils. You may remember that Jefferson was briefly with the Celtics in 2020, signing an Exhibit-10 contract but failing to earn himself a roster spot.

After being released by the Celtics, Jefferson spent two seasons with the Orlando Magic, playing in 30 regular-season games and averaging 1.4 points and 1.5 rebounds per contest.

The move to add the former Blue Devil will also appease Jayson Tatum, who is a close friend of the incoming assistant coach. Jefferson will be the fourth coaching addition of the summer for Boston. Sam Cassell, Charles Lee, and former Celtics point guard Phil Pressey have all recently signed deals to join Mazzulla’s staff for next season.

However, question marks remain over the futures of Aaron Miles and Jarrell Christian, as The Athletic’s Jared Weiss reported on June 21, “Assistant coach Aaron Miles and player enhancement coach Jarrell Christian are still weighing their futures, according to team sources.”

Last season, Mazzulla was operating with a depleted coaching staff. With the suspension and ultimately release of Ime Udoka, Mazzulla’s assistant spot was left vacant along with that of Will Hardy, who became the head coach of the Utah Jazz. Then, during the early part of the post-season, Damon Stoudamire left the franchise to become the head coach of Georgia Tech University. Each of those departures hurt, but upon Stoudamire’s exit, Mazzulla’s help was limited ahead of the Celtics Eastern Conference Finals run.

With four new assistant coaches, three of whom have some form of NBA playing experience, Boston’s bench projects to be one of the deepest in the league. With the 2023 NBA Draft just a day away at the time of writing, it’s fair to assume Stevens will now turn his attention toward balancing out the Celtics roster, ahead of the new season later this year.