Obviously, next season isn’t ideal.
The talent drop-off is undeniably substantial. If you include the impending departure/retirement of Al Horford, the Celtics are losing 51 years of experience, four championship rings, eight All-Star Game appearances, and arguably a Hall-of-Famer or two.
On top of that, Jayson Tatum’s $54 million slot represents 35% of the salary cap. That’s a large chunk of championship mettle missing heading into next season.
Many have referred to it as a “gap year,” a chance to reset the second apron penalties and potentially open another championship window next summer. However, none of that is really Joe Mazzulla’s concern. Leave that to the front office and Brad Stevens. For Mazzulla, next season could be chance for him to experiment with different playstyles and focuses, and play right into his experience with jiu jitsu.
“The art is really the study of transitions,” Mazzulla told ESPN’s Michael Eaves about his love for the practice. “That really helps me because in a game or in a season, there’s transitions — there’s decision-making. You’re actually learning how not to fight. You’re learning how to handle situations. You’re learning how to problem solve.”
After mastering the quick transition between being an assistant and being the head coach three years ago, this “gap year” is an opportunity to reinvent himself and the team once again.
For the last two years, Mazzulla Ball had been defined by Boston’s three-point volume. In consecutive years, they broke the single season record for makes and attempts from behind the arc, leading the revolution of the sport.
That most likely won’t happen again, at least not this year, because that strength was a function of just how talented their rotation was. Now, the Celtics will have to find new ways to win. Yes, they’ve added a really good shooter in Anfernee Simon. They still have snipers Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser.
However, without the gravitational pull of Tatum, Holiday, Porzingis, and Horford, those threes are going to be hard to come by. Mazzulla, despite his affinity for it, won’t be able to rely on winning the math problem.
In its place, the front office has put together a younger and more athletic team at Mazzulla’s disposal. What they lack in shooting, they’ve gained in size and scrappiness, the latter being a quality that seems to be in Mazzulla’s wheelhouse.
Last month, Summer League might have provided a peek into what lies ahead. Boston pressed more, played up into ball handlers and pressured them more. Rather than spacing the floor and taking advantage of mismatches, the Celtics lived in transition and employed more screening and movement in the halfcourt. Only a handful of those players will even make it to Maine and fewer yet will be expected to have an impact with the big club, but this could still be a culture shift in how Boston plays moving forward.
Now, admittedly, the bar may not be set too high for Mazzulla considering the circumstances, but that didn’t stop one of his predecessors from achieving unexpected success in what was considered still a rebuilding year. When Brad Stevens started his third season as head coach, the team was coming off a first round sweep to the Cavaliers and a sub-.500 season.
However, Stevens turned in a 48-34 record with a ragtag roster led by Isaiah Thomas. They’d get bounced in the first round again, but it was enough of a spark to draw Al Horford out of Atlanta in free agency, IT became an MVP candidate the following year, and show the league that their young coach could draw water from a stone.
Mazzulla could pull off a similar season that would then kickstart 2026-2027 with a healthy Tatum and some roster flexibility. There’s enough remaining talent to make Boston a playoff team, but if we’re being realistic, Banner 19 is a pipe dream. However, defining the path to another championship isn’t. With Tatum, Brown, and White entering their primes and the CBA putting an importance in finding affordable (read: cheap) complimentary pieces, next season isn’t just a puzzle night-to-night or week-to-week. It’s figuring out how to escape from this headlock, shifting the weight, and getting the upper hand again.
