The curse of the champion who does not repeat threatens, the distressing finances lurk, the cost of the squad has skyrocketed and more will do so. But the Boston Celtics They do not give in. They want to make themselves heard and, to proclaim their rebellious ambition, they went ahead of the rest to celebrate the Media Daywhich the vast majority of teams will carry out on Sunday, September 30.
“We want to win the championship every year. That is the goal, the standard, the expectation. What happened last year does not change that,” said the coach of the team from the Tatum, Brown, Porzingis and company, Joe Mazzulla.
Always with that expressionless, enigmatic pose, Mazzulla’s face is always the same, win or lose, no smiles or grimaces, as if he were programmed to say what he has to say in that linear tone and without blinking. But what he says has a lot of substance.
The Celtics won the ring in June 16 years later
Charles Krupa / Ap-LaPresse
He bears little resemblance in his non-verbal communication to his friend and mentor. Pep Guardiola, who gave him some tactical guidelines in the Finals to penetrate the granite defense of the Dallas Mavericks of Luka Doncic. But his rigor, his seriousness and his forcefulness in his message so that his pupils do not fall into the dreaded complacency in the name of maintaining excellence are identical.
“The biggest challenge is thinking that because we’ve done it one way we just have to do it this way again. There are obviously non-negotiable principles, things we have to do every year, but also things to adjust and find ways to be better. We have to be open-minded and know that just because it worked once it will work again,” Mazzulla warned.
“Winning is as dangerous as losing and vice versa,” added the coach of 36 years old In a very significant phrase, also knowing the recent curse of the NBA: from the Toronto Raptors of Marc Gasol y Serge Ibaka In 2019, the champions have never made it past the Conference Semifinals in their title defense. A kind of spell that has also claimed the victims of the Lakers, Bucks, Warriors and Nuggets.
Brown and Tatum, Boston’s great duo
David Dermer/Ap-LaPresse
As it happened to his teacher Pep after achieving perfection with the Barça After winning the treble in 2009 at the age of 38, Mazzulla will begin to learn at 36 what it takes to motivate the same group of players after having reached the top by making it look good. “Keeping the same players has its pros and cons,” acknowledged the Boston coach, whose style on the field is similar to Pep’s, collective, based on passing and with the unique characteristic of encouraging the players by giving them freedom to understand and execute the game on their own.
It is precisely maintaining the same core of players without losing any important pieces – not even from the bench – that is what represents an underlying threat for the Celtics in the financial sense. Due to the increasingly strict economic rules of the NBA ‘anti-dynasty’, Boston’s roster will be the third most expensive this season with 201 million dollars of salary mass, only behind the 219 million of the Celtics. Phoenix Suns and the 205 of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
However, the worst will come from the next campaign, 2025-2026, when the Celtics will have to pay more than 500 million of dollars between salaries and penalties for exceeding the salary cap. In addition to other essential players in the starting five such as Derrick White, Jrue Holiday y Al Horford -will be a starter while Porzingis is away-, the Massachusetts team extended the contracts of important supporting players such as Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser. Only Svi Mykhailiuk and Oshae Brissett -with a more minor role, especially the first one-, appear in the section of losses while in the section of gains stands out the incorporation of the former Lakers shooting guard. Lonnie Walker IV.
Jeff Bezos, potential new buyer of the Celtics
With the green light from ownership to cough up millions and millions, Boston’s president of operations, the methodical Brad Stevenshas been clear about this when planning the squad.
The recent example of Denver It’s a good mirror for the Celtics to look at, as the team led by Nikola Jokic The Nuggets have only lost key role players since they were champions with the departures of Bruce Brown and Jeff Green last summer and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson this year. The Nuggets have tried to reverse the trend with the recent addition of Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric.
But such a brutal economic effort has a trick, since the owner of Boston, Wyck Grousbeckhas put the franchise up for sale, which means, as they say, someone else will have to take the fall. The answer could be in Jeff Bezosthe owner of Amazon, who is speculated to be interested in acquiring the team for the 6 billion it costs.
Thus, the Celtics have to live with the uncertainty of their economic situation just like the Manchester City from Pep, although the thing about the Sky Blues is much more serious, threatened with relegation for allegedly not respecting the fair play financial.
Pep advised Mazzulla during the Finals
But, aside from the challenges of the curse and the financial penalties, Boston has another reason to raise that Guardiola-style cry of rebellion, that “they want to wipe us off the face of the Earth” that the man from Santpedor blurted out.
The reason, the contempt of the United States for its two stars, those around whom Boston has so proudly built its success due to the value of having drafted them, Jayson Tatum y Jaylen BrownThe first was not taken into account by Team USA at the Olympic Games, playing 17 minutes on average and no minutes against Serbia, neither in the debut nor in the semifinals. The second was directly ignored twice, not being included in the initial call-up and not even included after the discard of Kawhi LeonardAnother Celtic like White came in, but by natural position the designated substitute should have been Brown.
So in some ways, Team USA did the job of keeping the two stars motivated.
“Did I need any motivation for this season? No, I won’t give credit to anyone in particular,” Tatum said at Media Day in statements collected by the ESPN.
“It was hard, but everything happens for a reason”
Tatum on his few minutes with Team USA
“In real time, it was tough (not getting as many minutes in the Games). It was a unique circumstance, something I’ve never experienced before in my career. But I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason. I was coming off a championship, the highest of the highest, 2K cover, a new contract, and that happened. Whatever the reason is, I haven’t figured it out yet. But I’m a believer that things happen for a reason,” reflected the ‘0’, who signed the highest contract in NBA history in July with 314 million in five seasons.
“Now you want to be at least in the same room with the other great Celtics teams,” Tatum, 26, added, referring to maintaining success.
Jaylen Brown spoke louder about the snub Team USA.
“I’m ready, excited to get back. The past is the past, but I’m ready to go for it, lead our guys, build team chemistry, not skip any steps, just set the tone for another year again. I’m extremely motivated for obvious reasons, I’m ready to go for it,” said Brown, who wanted to emphasize his message.
Despite being MVP in the Finals, the forward missed out on not earning the honors of being in the Best Defensive Team and he was direct when questioned about whether he would use that as motivation as well as the snub from the American team.
Porzingis, the piece that gives another dimension to the Celtics
Charles Krupa / Ap-LaPresse
“I would be lying if I said no,” Brown said in statements reported by NBC“As a competitor, you’re always looking for key identifiers to help you stay motivated,” the 27-year-old star added.
Aside from all these conditioning factors and motivating thorns in their side, the Celtics will also have to deal with the injury of Kristaps Porzingisanother star who has not had a good summer either, having missed the pre-Olympic tournament to help Latvia get to the Games. The former Betiswho suffered the injury during the Finals, is not expected to be available until December at the earliest.
“I’m extremely hungry,” warned the center 29 years old, who performed as expected but only played 57 games in the regular season and missed games in the first round and the Finals, as well as not playing in any of the Semifinals and Conference Finals due to his recurring physical problems.
“I still feel like I have that thorn in my side. I want to stay healthy during these next playoffs that we have and I still have a lot of things to prove in my own eyes,” Porzingis said. His absence will test the essence of Boston’s team to face the objective in the first part of the season in the same way as the serious injury of Rodri will do so with the muscle of City as a collective. Just like Guardiola’s men, Celtic willagainst everyone and against all.
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