Derrick White reveals Mazzula’s call that predicted success

on July 2 last year, Boston Celtics guard Derrick White he celebrated his birthday with a relaxing round of golf. Then the head coach of the Celtics Joe Mazzulla called him, but not only to wish him a happy birthday.

During a joint show with “The Old Man and The Three” and the White Noise Podcast, the 31-year-old revealed that Mazzulla also called him give some exciting news about the upcoming season, or, at least, Mazzulla’s take on what’s “exciting.”

“He’s like, ‘Happy birthday man…Everybody thinks we’re going to smoke, I love it,’ and then he hangs up,” White recalled with a smile.

A few months ago, Derrick White mentioned the call he got on his birthday from Joe Mazzula.

He finally discovered what Mazzulla had said:

“He’s like, ‘Happy birthday man…Everybody thinks we’re going to be smoking, I love it,’ and then he hangs up.”

“And this is in July.”

🎥 @OldManAndThree pic.tvitter.com/Aamo9jUtRc

— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) January 29, 2026

Since the Celtics were expected to without star forward Jayson Tatum for most, if not all, of the 2025-26 season and they already had to sell starting center Kristaps Porzingis for financial reasonsexpectations around the Green Team were low.

Macula never accepted these outside opinions, and told White as much back in July.

“He’s like, ‘I can’t wait to get back here, I think we could be so good,'” White said. “We’ve had that mindset for a while and now people are starting to notice. It’s just up to us to keep building and growing.”

How the 2025-26 Celtics proved Joe Mazzula right

White told this story to teammates Luca Garza, Anfernee Simmonsand Payton Pritchardall guys who helped the Celtics shock the NBA world. More than halfway through the regular season, the C’s are 29-18 overall and in third place in the Eastern Conference.

But just because the Celtics overachieved doesn’t mean they want to rest on their laurels.

“We’ve just got to go out there and be the toughest team, we’ve got to be the smartest team,” White said. “And so everyone kind of has that chip on their shoulder and we’ve come together. And we’re not happy with where we’re at right now and we have a standard that we have to live up to every day.”

Celtics star Jaylen Brown didn’t think his team met that standard during their last game, which was a 117-106 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. In fact, he came out and said it directly.

“I don’t think we played up to our standards tonight,” Brown admitted in his postgame presser. “I don’t think I played up to my standard … it’s all about coming out with the right intention, the right energy and leading the season and tonight wasn’t the best example of that.”

Jaylen Brown on the Hawks’ great play and why January basketball requires extra effort:

“I give Atlanta credit, they beat us up and down.

“You have to dig deep, physically, mentally, and tonight was not the best example of that.” pic.twitter.com/i7Ks9djRvOG

— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) January 29, 2026

Boston will look to return to the high standards it set Friday night against the Sacramento Kings. However, Brown may not be around to contribute, as the Celtics officially listed him as questionable with a strained left hamstring and right knee contusion.

Perhaps White, who was motivated by Macula all those months ago, will lead the charge if the C’s are even less than usual. Or, Boston will rely on its depth during the year it shouldn’t have.

“We’re doing a good job where everyone contributes and contributes to the win,” Pritchard said as he sat next to White, Simmons and Garza.