BOSTON — Chris Boucher has all of it found out.
That’s the way it seems from the surface, a minimum of.
Recent off a season mired by inconsistent enjoying time in Toronto, Boucher has shortly discovered a house in Boston, the place he’s been pleasantly shocked by a plethora of nice steak eating places and Haitian meals — two of his favorites.
I sat with Boucher for a prolonged dialog after the Boston Celtics’ third official day of coaching camp. He simply completed getting up his post-practice three-pointers as assistant coaches DaSean Butler, Amile Jefferson, and Tyler Lashbrook rebounded, and preseason motion was only a few days away.
For the final seven years, Boucher has lived in Toronto, a couple of hours west of his hometown of Montreal. With the Raptors, there have been some plain highs: a G League MVP and NBA championship in 2019, stretches the place he turned a core contributor in 2021 and 2022, and a number of seasons of sustained successful.
However for the final two years, Boucher noticed an inconsistent position on a rebuilding Raptors workforce, solely showing in 50 of 82 video games every season. When he performed, he sometimes carried out, final yr averaging 10 factors and 4.5 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per night time, whereas taking pictures 36.3% from past the arc (the second-best mark of his profession).
However, although he embraced a management position with the Raptors, on-court alternatives have been erratic. This offseason, the precedence was to determine a workforce the place he might contribute to successful.
“I needed to be someplace the place they needed me,” Boucher mentioned, explaining that he acknowledged that he noticed an opportunity to right away contribute in Boston. “It’s loads simpler while you come on a workforce like this — the place they’re like, ‘Okay, we all know we’d like you.’”
Boucher doesn’t know precisely what his on-court position will entail this season. However he acknowledges that with gamers like Jayson Tatum sidelined, and Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford donning new jerseys, there’s loads that the Celtics might be lacking on the courtroom this season.
“I obtained a few their expertise — in case you put all of them collectively,” Boucher mentioned with a smile. “I obtained a few their expertise.”
Boucher additionally is aware of that whatever the minutes he performs or photographs he takes, he’ll carry with him the identical indefatigable vitality he carried when he starred on the College of Oregon alongside now-Celtic teammate Payton Pritchard.
“I do bear in mind one factor from faculty,” Pritchard instructed CelticsBlog final month. “He by no means will get drained.”
Boucher laughed after I requested him about that notion. He admitted that his resting coronary heart price is a placing 36 beats per minute, an astonishly-low quantity. (For reference, the resting coronary heart price for a mean grownup is between 60 and 100 beats).
A few of that’s simply genetics. However, over the previous decade, he’s realized to push his exercise to new bounds, conditioning his physique every day to go more durable than the one earlier than.
“I’m at all times enthusiastic about, like, ‘Okay, if I’m drained now, and I push by way of, meaning the following time I get to that degree, I gained’t be drained,” Boucher mentioned. “So I’m at all times pushing myself. After I work out, I attempt to not drink water, as a result of I’m like, ‘Okay, nicely, if I might undergo with out water, then with water it’d be loads simpler. You’ll be able to’t simply go name a timeout to go get water.“
It’s that mindset that has propelled Boucher from an undrafted ahead who missed his first yr within the league recovering from an ACL tear, to a highly-effective rotation participant who has been within the NBA practically a decade.
In August, Boucher formally signed with the Celtics on a one-year, $3.3 million deal. Since then, he’s been locked in on the Auerbach Heart, taking over tough defensive assignments and getting up further photographs. Boston is a brand-new metropolis, however getting ready exhausting for an incoming NBA season is a well-known feeling.
“I’ve been doing this my complete profession,” Boucher mentioned.
However earlier than coaching camp started, Boucher had an expertise that made him really feel much more assured he was in the suitable place.
Inside a particular journey to Montreal with Joe Mazzulla
In September, Chris Boucher determined he needed to get baptized earlier than the season began.
“I’ve been enthusiastic about it the entire yr — I used to be speculated to do it final yr, but it surely’s one thing that you must be mentally prepared for,” Boucher mentioned. “So after I knew I used to be coming right here and every part was going to alter slightly bit for me, it was like, ‘Okay, nicely, let me begin the yr the suitable approach, get nearer to God.’”
When Boucher shared with Joe Mazzulla that he was contemplating returning to his hometown in Montreal for the baptism, the Celtics’ head coach reacted viscerally.
“His eyes lit up,” Boucher recalled. “He was like, ‘Yeah, I wish to come to that.’”
So, Mazzulla and assistant coach Amile Jefferson made the journey to Montreal in honor of Boucher’s big day, a gesture that meant a substantial quantity. Just a few weeks later, he’s nonetheless processing its significance.
“I’ve been within the league for a very long time, and to see a coach that desires to be there for sure occasions like that’s actually particular,” Boucher mentioned.
“I’ve been on this league for a very long time,” he repeated. “It’s uncommon to see that.”
In apply, Mazzulla has typically been exhausting on Boucher, as he’s with many of the gamers. However, for a lot of causes, Boucher is receptive to criticism.
For one, the pair’s newly-formed off-court connection makes basketball critiques resonate much more deeply:
“If you’re on the courtroom and he talks to you, and tells you stuff, it makes you see it as — what? He’s there for me,” Boucher mentioned. “He desires me to get higher.”
Boucher additionally famous that he’s been within the NBA for 8 seasons, and understands that when coaches are exhausting on gamers, it’s an indication of respect.
“The day that he’s gonna cease saying stuff to me, I’m gonna understand that, ‘Okay, I could be out of this place,’” Boucher mentioned. “Coaches are fairly sensible. In the event that they don’t say nothing to you, then meaning you’re in all probability out of there. They begin speaking to you, telling you stuff, then that signifies that, sure — they’re providing you with shit. However they nonetheless want you.”
Boucher has been discovering his footing at coaching camp
When Chris Boucher first signed with the Celtics in August, many presumed that he’d play extra of a big-man position given the workforce’s dearth within the frontcourt. However, Boucher mentioned that he views himself as a ahead, and as such, he’s taken extra wing tasks at coaching camp so far.
“I’m guarding JB [Jaylen Brown], I’m guarding Derrick White, which is one thing that I at all times instructed myself I used to be capable of do,” Boucher mentioned. “I’ve by no means needed to be labeled as an enormous man.”
At instances, Boucher has been categorized as a middle. However, at 6’9, he’s discovered that to be a bit limiting: “I really feel like that sort of restricted me slightly bit, simply on this planet of basketball, the place they’re like, ‘Okay, nicely, he’s not large enough to be a middle, however I’m like, ‘Yeah, however I’m quick sufficient to be enjoying quite a lot of completely different positions.”
As he acclimates to the Celtics, Mazzulla’s mentorship has been essential. Boucher mentioned he’s used to a heavy give attention to protection, having performed underneath Nick Nurse in Toronto, however that there’s been an elevated emphasis on taking pictures and racking up deflections in Boston.
“Joe is absolutely serving to me out,” Boucher mentioned. “He’s giving me quite a lot of hints, but additionally giving me quite a lot of construction on what he desires me to do and play sensible and make calculated gambles and all. And I feel that’s one thing that the Celtics have been good at.”
Whether or not or not Boucher will typically discover himself in beginning lineup stays to be seen. He’s not too apprehensive about contributing from the bench, one thing that he’s accomplished for the overwhelming majority of his NBA profession.
“If I inform myself I’m gonna be the very best bench participant of the sport, if they begin me, then that’s nice information,” Boucher mentioned. “However figuring out that you simply’re going to be the very best at [coming off the bench] helps you not get discouraged.”
Boucher has witnessed a number of teammates get overly fixated on a potential beginning lineup position: “I’m not attempting to be a type of individuals. And it’s at all times labored out for me.”
As apply winds down, Mazzulla jokes round Boucher like an previous pal. He’s one among a myriad of latest faces on the Auerbach Heart.
However, he appears proper at dwelling.
