This Friday the Boston Celtics are back in action as they open preseason with a game against the Denver Nuggets at noon in Abu Dhabi. For me, basketball is my favorite sport so once it’s on I give it my entire attention. With the Patriots now falling to 1-3, it’s even easier to be ready for basketball to be back.
Boston had its Media Day this past week and the hope is in the air around New England, the hope of repeating as NBA Champions. The optimism started this offseason with coach Joe Mazzulla and GM Brad Stevens resigning key pieces. The Celtics re-signed free agents Xavier Tillman and Luke Kornet while spending big money to extend Sam Hauser, Derrick White, and Jayson Tatum.
The plan is clear. The Celtics were the best team in the NBA by some distance last year, so bring back everyone and go again.
When building the roster, Stevens said during media day he targets players who don’t get “too high or too low” over the course of the season.
“We really look for people that have a growth mindset,” Stevens said. “They’re not going to get too high or too low. They’re just going to keep working trying to improve and get better.”
This was apparent two seasons ago with Payton Pritchard. The former Oregon guard barely saw the floor and admitted himself that he was upset that he didn’t play as much as he wished. However, instead of feeling bad for himself, he put in the work all offseason and last season was one of our better players coming off the bench. And who could forget those half court shots he hit in the Finals in Game 2 and Game 3?
But the success for the Celtics begins and ends with their two stars: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“I think that’s led by Tatum and Brown,” Stevens said. “Those guys, you know have accomplished all that they’ve accomplished at this young of an age, but they just keep working.”
Both spoke about how they’re focused on repeating as champions and understand that it’s not a given they’ll be back in the Finals.
Tatum mentioned he worked on his jump shot. Fans know his three-point shot has faded over the last year or so. If Tatum can find his early career shooting form again, there’s no question he’ll be a consensus top-five pick and he won’t be number five.
“Been working with my trainer Drew (Hanlen) a lot, recently in the last few weeks,” Tatum said. “Pick-up points, hand placement, getting lower, keeping my shoulders forward, and things like that,…There were some things I could have fixed, but in the midst of the playoffs, trying to manage your rest, it’s a little tougher. I was still playing well. I just wasn’t shooting the ball as well as I would have liked. And obviously, we were winning. So it wasn’t the time or the place to try to fix things in that moment.”
For Brown, he was focused on being consistent and having the mentality to win.
“We just got a stellar group of guys that just have great mentalities. So I don’t think it would be as hard to maintain that consistency,” Brown said. “We just got to make sure that we continue to emphasizing holding each other accountable. Hopefully, we stay healthy for the large part of the year, but I’m excited. We got a great group of guys, a great team chemistry, great locker room, so we just got to take it one day at a time and see where we go from there.
I’ll be sure to be glued to my TV when Boston begins its quest for Banner 19 this Friday when it kicks off preseason against Denver.
