Committing to the chase of a championship is priority No. 1 for any organization, and regardless of the daunting circumstances that’ve arrived on the TD Garden’s doorstep, the Celtics have no plans to change course.
This past offseason saw Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens commission an entire roster overhaul, aimed at alleviating the weight of Boston’s luxury tax bill. Stevens traded away starting center Kristaps Porzingis and defensive anchor Jrue Holiday, which reduced the team’s luxury tax price tag from over $500 million to roughly $274 million. On the one hand, striving toward getting the Celtics under the second apron does well by the incoming new ownership group led by Bill Chisholm and company. However, on the other hand, it also ignites an emerging feeling of speculation regarding what the next few years will look like for a franchise expected to compete year in and year out with its premier stars — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — in the midst of their prime.
Stevens, tasked with reshaping the roster without the financial flexibility he enjoyed two years ago, played the hand he was dealt and welcomed aboard a mix of new faces: Anfernee Simons, Chris Boucher, Josh Minott, and Luka Garza, along with prospects such as Hugo Gonzalez and Amari Williams. The arrivals don’t spark the same online buzz as the blockbuster additions of Porzingis and Holiday a few offseasons ago. Still, Stevens isn’t dismissing the value of this incoming group of “unproven” contributors now slated to have their turn at the plate.
“I think that we’ve got a lot of people that are unproven, but a lot of really good people,” Stevens said during Monday’s Celtics Media Day at Auerbach Center, per NBC Sports Boston. “So I’m looking forward to seeing them grow and develop.”
Parting ways with talents like Porzingis and Holiday isn’t ideal, nor are the optics behind it conducive to pursuing a championship hunt. That’s an understandable gripe for the fanbase to hold. But the team still kept Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard, maintaining an elite core to carry the torch and assume leadership responsibilities while Tatum recovers from his torn Achilles tendon injury. So even though the outlook doesn’t look nearly as glamorous from the outside looking in as it was a year ago, Stevens and the rest of the front office haven’t lost touch with their agenda.
“There’s no question there’s motivation,” Stevens continued. “I’m excited for the guys as a whole, but I’m really excited for the guys that are unproven. And when I say ‘unproven,’ I’m not buying into any narrative of what they have been; we look at what they can do. So can you take what they’re capable of and make it an every-night consistent thing? And when you have a chip on your shoulder, when you’re competitive, and when you’re motivated — because you haven’t gotten opportunities yet — a lot of good things can happen.”
It’s been a while since Stevens and the Celtics found themselves among the counted-out tier of teams in the league, dating back to the Isaiah Thomas days. Concerns about the team’s front court, depth, and starting lineup mix are warranted. Plus, there’s the underlying element of head coach Joe Mazzulla adapting to a potentially new identity that isn’t as 3-point-centric. Newcomers will work to get acclimated and comfortable, and the returning crew will strive to make the transition for guys like Simons, Boucher, and Garza as seamless as it was when Porzinigs and Holiday arrived on scene.
Boston’s intention is to operate with a business-as-usual attitude.
Simons, 26, stands out as the premier addition made this past offseason, and Mazzulla will work to ensure that the organization’s memo is communicated from the higher-ups to the locker room. Playing under ex-Celtics guard and current Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Simons amassed an elite final run in Portland by averaging 19.3 points on 42.6% shooting from the field and 4.8 assists through 70 games played — logging a career-high in starts made (70).
“The message is the same: Don’t put yourself in a box about how you can impact the game,” Mazzulla said, per NBC Sports Boston. “You need to be able to impact it in different ways, and you have to have balance. You have to be able to go to different things on different nights and understand that, making sure that he plays with the utmost confidence because what he can bring to us is important.”
With Tatum sidelined and under strict recovery, Simons is due to inherit a major role to begin his stint in a Celtics uniform. Mazulla’s offense is going to need a scoring boost without Tatum’s 26-plus points a night, allowing Simons to shine under the spotlight. The seventh-year veteran, now wearing Holiday’s former No. 4 in Boston, is a more than capable scorer. He’s a career 38.1% shooter from 3-point range who can also contribute offensively at the mid-range, posing plenty of upside. Defensive deficiencies are where Simons will need to improve and really elevate himself to a new level to become a more complete player.
“I go out there and try to do the best to help my team win,” Simons said Monday, per NBC Sports Boston. “Whether that’s scoring or doing other things. But I think being in this situation and Joe pushing me every single day and being in this type of environment will bring out the best in me, and some of the things you might have not seen in the past. That’s one of the things I’m excited about, just being around other great players like JB, Derrick, Payton, Sam (Hauser). They all play winning basketball.”
That starts with the commitment and in-house culture that Mazzulla flawlessly built when it was time for Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, Holiday, and Al Horford to selflessly buy into the team’s system in 2024. Galvanizing a locker room to put aside individual accolades and buy into the team’s bigger-picture sights is among Mazzulla’s greatest strengths as an NBA head coach, and it’s shown its ability to pay dividends on the biggest stage.
Mazzulla, entering his third season on the job, resonates with Stevens’ sentiment on motivation and expectations — albeit in a much more blunt and authentically Mazzulla-like manner.
“If I ever get to the point where I start basing my motivation on the expectation of others and people that I’ve never met before, I’ll retire. I’ll quit,” Mazzulla explained. “To me, it’s like you wake up every day and you have a standard, an expectation for your family, for your household, and when you come into the building. Regardless of who’s on the team, that’ll never change. It doesn’t guarantee you anything, but you gotta be able to push yourself, you gotta be able to hold yourself to a standard.”
Mazzulla added: “At the end of the day, the process of winning is the ultimate goal, and that will forever be the goal as long as you coach. I think when you don’t have that, you shouldn’t do it.”
Consider that a worthy sign of encouragement moving forward en route to the hunt for Banner 19.
