BOSTON, Mass. — Joe Mazzulla understands that issues are going to look totally different this season.
There’s no Al Horford nor Luke Kornet, each of whom served as fixtures of his Celtics’ tenure. No Jrue Vacation nor Kristaps Porzingis, veteran voices of the Banner 18 crew who have been traded away in an offseason overhaul.
And Jayson Tatum, out for many, if not all, of the season as he recovers from an Achilles rupture, is sidelined (although within the constructing, tirelessly targeted on his rehab).
However, regardless of the absences, the Auerbach Heart — the Celtics’ dwelling base and follow facility — doesn’t really feel empty.
Coaching camp is teeming with an inflow of youthful expertise, from Anfernee Simons — the Portland Path Blazers’ main scorer for the previous two seasons — to extra unproven gamers like Luka Garza and Josh Minott, who’ve proven loads of promise of their early days. Longtime Toronto Raptors large man Chris Boucher and rookie Hugo Gonzalez spherical out the brand new additions.
“This can be a totally different vibe of coaching camp with rather a lot youthful guys than earlier than, so we bought after it,” mentioned Xavier Tillman, who’s coming into his third season with the Celtics. “[We’re] working round rather a lot, coaches screaming, you’re type of simply turning your head attending to the following spot. However it was enjoyable. It was good.”
Sam Cassell, the Celtics’ prime assistant coach, mentioned on 98.5 Sports activities Hub that he’s by no means seen a coaching camp fairly like this one.
“I’ve been on this enterprise 34 years,” Cassell mentioned. “And that is the toughest coaching camp [I’ve seen] proper now.”
With a lot expertise out the door, the Celtics acknowledge the significance of being the hardest-playing, most related crew. That course of began 12 weeks in the past.
Camp is the end result of a summer season of tireless work
This summer season, most Celtics gamers have been within the constructing for months. That wasn’t the case final offseason, when the crew was recent off a championship and three gamers performed for the Olympic basketball crew.
Tatum and Brown each rehabbed their respective offseason surgical procedures in Boston. Payton Pritchard spent a while in Cape Cod, Spain, and Oregon, however he’s been understanding every day within the Auerbach Heart since August.
Derrick White was in Colorado for a lot of the offseason, however returned final month as properly. Neemias Queta was in Portugal — after which Latvia, for EuroBasket — however shot again to Beantown upon the event’s conclusion.
And, the youthful guys — Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez — have since turn out to be fixtures of the ability since Summer time League concluded in Las Vegas.
“We’ve been right here all summer season,” Scheierman mentioned, explaining that exercises have introduced everybody nearer. “The entire guys actually have turn out to be tremendous snug with what the coaches are preaching to us.”
As such, new duos and social dynamics are forming. For instance, Xavier Tillman and Luka Garza — as soon as school rivals taking part in for Michigan State and Iowa, respectively — sometimes shoot collectively for 20 to 40 minutes a day.
“Sam [Hauser] calls us the buffaloes,” Tillman mentioned with a smile, explaining he bought up a “tireless” quantity of three-point pictures in the summertime after a disappointing 2024-25 season.
Gamers have been honing in on particular person weaknesses forward of a season the place the margin of error can be noticeably thinner. For weeks now, Anfernee Simons has been methodically engaged on defensive playmaking drills targeted on getting in passing lanes, enhancing defensive positioning, and racking up deflections.
“These issues are issues I by no means actually labored on or been taught,” Simons mentioned. “And so I used to be pleased that that was the main target.”
Nonetheless, as intense as summer season exercises have been so far, issues reached one other stage when camp formally tipped off on Monday.
For one, it’s the primary time that the whole roster is current, abruptly. And, the depth and tempo instantly picks up. There’s additionally the collective understanding that actual video games are inching nearer; the Celtics’ preseason formally suggestions off subsequent Wednesday in Memphis.
“It’s best to have a basis primarily based on what you’ve been in a position to do,” Mazzulla mentioned. “So, you’re in a position to transfer at a sooner tempo, you’re in a position to train just a little bit extra. However, actually it’s simply the depth and the mindset — that is preseason coaching camp.”
Within the background, Exhibit 10 and two-way gamers anchor camp
Alongside the 14 Celtics gamers who’re on customary contracts (5 of them brand-new), three coaching camp attendees are on two-way contracts and 4 are on coaching camp (Exhibit 10) offers. The Exhibit 10 gamers — Kendall Brown, Jalen Bridges, Wendell Moore, and Ron Harper Jr. — are preventing for a extra sure NBA alternative and can be part of the Maine Celtics on the conclusion of camp. (Brown and Bridges additionally performed on the Celtics’ Summer time League crew in July).
The 2-way gamers — Max Shulga, Amari Williams, and RJ Luis — are additionally prone to spend a lot of the season in Maine. Within the meantime, they’re deepening their relationship with Phil Pressey, the first-time head coach of the Celtics’ G-League affiliate, who’s at coaching camp day by day.
That implies that precisely one-third of coaching camp members arrive with the understanding that their days with the dad or mum membership are numbered. However, for the weeks that they’re with the crew for preseason, they’re simply as a lot part of this system as anybody else; for instance, on the Celtics’ opening day spikeball event, Derrick White was paired up with coaching camp returnee Ron Harper Jr., because the crew captured on TikTok. (It’s Harper Jr’s second consecutive 12 months attending Celtics coaching camp).
At camp, Mazzulla expects the non-rostered gamers to be taught the system and push each other the identical because the extra high-profile guys on the crew.
“It’s the identical customary as everybody else,” he mentioned. “Any means they may help us get higher — they do this.”
“Everybody’s bought to know what they do actually issues, and whether or not it’s the primary man or the fifteenth man. In the event that they don’t really feel like they’re empowered, [that] they will affect successful, then we simply can’t have the stability, and the depth, and the tradition that we’d like.”
Joe Mazzulla, Jaylen Brown prioritize off-court connections
As he leads coaching camp, Mazzulla rejects being referred to as ‘coach’ by his gamers.
“I can’t even clarify the connection,” Simons mentioned. “It’s, like, nearly as a mentor.”
That interprets to an expedited stage of buy-in, Simons defined: “It makes you wish to go on the market and play for him much more when you might have that connection off the court docket. And he’s actually invested within the off-court life.”
Simons mentioned Mazzulla typically asks about everybody’s youngsters. He’s dropped issues off at Simons’ new dwelling, ensuring that his acclimation to Boston is easy. He’s studying what makes the brand new guys tick.
“He takes plenty of time to personalize his relationships with folks,” Josh Minott mentioned. “He doesn’t discuss to any two folks the identical means.”
Final month, Mazzulla and a number of other members of the teaching employees attended Chris Boucher’s baptism, a gesture that made the 32-year-old really feel like he was formally part of the “brotherhood.”
“It’s not simple to maneuver and begin over once more,” Boucher mentioned of his relocation from Toronto. “However Joe actually helped me with that. Brad, too. It’s been a very, actually, actually heat welcome.”
And as such, in separate interviews, each Garza and Minott — former Minnesota Timberwolves teammates — have provided that they’d “run by a brick wall” for Mazzulla.
“He simply has that impact on folks,” Minott mentioned.
“Each time he says one thing, it’s extremely impactful,” Garza mentioned.
However, it’s not simply the Celtics’ head coach who acknowledges the significance of cultivating deep off-court bonds.
Jaylen Brown, the crew’s most veteran participant, has made a concerted effort to carry gamers collectively off the court docket — whether or not that’s by facilitating crew bonding occasions (a portion of the crew collectively attended an NBA YoungBoy live performance on Sunday) or by having gamers over at his dwelling.
“JB has all the time been a pacesetter for us,” Scheierman mentioned.
“We’ve bought an entire new crew, and other people suppose that each one the items are supposed to suit collectively,” Brown mentioned on NBC Sports activities Boston on Monday. “It doesn’t work like that.”
Final 12 months at coaching camp, there have been few new faces, with the whole Banner 18 roster, save for Svi Mykhailiuk and Oshae Brissett, returning for an additional shot at a title. This 12 months, that’s not the case.
“We’ve bought to make up for misplaced time to guarantee that the product once we get to the primary recreation of the season is there,” Brown mentioned. “We bought to spend some extra time with one another and actually attempt to chemistry-build as a lot as attainable, from now till the tip of the season. It takes work.”
Brown and 6 of his new Celtics teammates attended a Patriots recreation final weekend.
“[It’s] dinners, concert events, occasions, inviting guys to the crib, the home — all that sort of stuff,” Brown mentioned.
The Auerbach Heart feels totally different. The absence of Horford, Vacation, and different veteran voices implies that new guys are discovering their voices and distinctive management kinds.
On the similar time, regardless of the losses, there’s an plain sense of power and connection surrounding camp. With Opening Night time just some weeks away, there’s loads of new schemes and terminology for everybody to be taught.
However, the laughter, private connections, and crew bondings matter too.
“We’re attempting to construct a household with the brand new guys,” Jordan Walsh mentioned. “That’s vital.”