Everything You Need To Know From The Celtics Media Day As Defending NBA Champions
Maddie Malhotra. Getty Images.The past 99 days have been nothing short of true bliss.
Once the clock hit 0.0 on June 17th, our lives were changed forever. For the last 16 years, we dreamed of seeing the Celtics once again reach their rightful place atop the NBA food chain. For the last 8 years, we hoped that one day both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown would fulfill their prophecy as the next two great Celtics legends, and the only way you do that is by raising your own banner. It's the requirement of greatness that comes with this franchise. Nothing you do on the court matters when you're talking about the legends unless you raise your own banner. You can be good, but you can't be part of that club without the hardware. That was the standard of the previous generations, that's the standard for this generation, and that will be the standard for future generations.
And here we are. They did it.
In the blink of an eye, we have arrived at Media Day. I guess when you spend the last 100 days doing nothing but watching every highlight/game/edit of the 2024 Celts title run, time apparently moves quickly. I've been doing this blog a lonnng time, since March of 2015, and every single season I have wondered what it would be like to do a Media Day blog with the Celtics being NBA Champions, and I still cannot believe this is real
As historic and life-altering as the 2023-24 NBA Champion Boston Celtics season may have been, Media Day represents the official turning of the page. This is Day 1, and the journey back up the mountain officially begins. We've had 99 days to bask in the glory of one of the most dominant seasons in NBA history, and now it's time to change the focus to the new challenges that lie ahead.
Media Day is a time for hype, for pandering, and for letting your brain go to dangerous places. The beauty of this team and the reality of where the Celts are right now is our dreams are not crazy. For the first time, they can finally enter a season without the "will they get over the hump?" hanging over their heads. The questions have gone from "will they ever win?" to "how many will they win?". Do you know how fucking awesome that is? I've waited 16 years for that question to change, and here we are.
Alright, as we do every year, let's take it from the top, beginning with our lord and savior Brad Stevens.
On defending their title
God damn do I love this man. Of all the strengths that exist in the front office of the defending champs, their mentality and focus have to be near the top of the list and that starts with Brad. He gets it. We heard a similar tone last year when it came to living up to the extremely high expectations that came with his newly constructed roster. He did not run from them but instead embraced the challenge. Now that he's a champ, nothing changes. This is no different from Joe Mazzulla doing classic Pyscho Joe shit and craving the pressure that comes with trying to repeat as champions. They know there is a target on their back and they embrace it. Does Brad Stevens look scared to you? Sure doesn't to me.
The Celtics sale
Let's not forget, the champs are being actively shopped for a new owner. As of today, we don't really have too many updates as to who is in the lead to take over the team, but honestly, that doesn't really matter right now. What matters is what Brad Steven said in that clip. It's business as usual. Spend whatever the hell you need to spend to keep this train moving. I'm not sure exactly how that's going to happen now that Irv has probably canceled Wyc's credit card, but all I care about is this team staying the course during this window.
If Brad is going to have the freedom to do whatever he feels is the right move for this team, that's what I care about. The man hasn't missed since taking over this job, and from the sounds of it he's fully empowered to do things his way.
Porzingis' injury
OK, here's the thing. When it comes to Celts injuries and timelines, I'll never believe this "good news" or "surprising" news when it comes to timelines. I've been hurt too many times before. So when I hear that KP is ahead of schedule and is healing at a rate not seen since Wolverine, I want to believe it. I want to get excited about a potential earlier return.
But I'm not taking the bait. If he's getting better faster, that's great! I still want him in bubble wrap until he's 1000000% healthy. If that means December? Cool. If that means January? No problem. He's the cheat code that makes the Celtics unbeatable, but really he's a luxury. This team went like 31-6 or some shit without him last year, so not rushing him back and being extra cautious is the #1 priority.
Alright, let's move on.
How about Al Horford? What an offseason it was for Al. Of all the players on the roster, nobody deserved this title and everything that has come with it more than Al. Frankly, I will die for Al Horford. He's perfect. His skillset is perfect, he's the perfect leader and teammate, his eyes are perfect, he's basically a Knight now which rules, and he's finally off that brutal list of most postseason games without a title. So how does he look entering another season? Fantastic
If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. NBA Champion Luke Kornet is a national treasure. Not only is he a more than serviceable reserve big, but the man is also a quote machine
It'll never not be funny that Luke Kornet's $2M extension was the first news of NBA free agency. The entire world waiting on Woj and Shams bombs of major moves involving big-name players and we got the Kornet news instead. That ruled.
When I said the Celts' collective mentality starts with Brad and trickles down to the rest of the organization, a big part of that is also Joe. Another guy who not only gets it, but craves the pressure and runs head-first into battle. When we talk about approaching this season and any concerns over being complacent, I don't think that's going to be a problem under Joe
People forget, Joe Mazzulla has the best winning percentage in NBA history
and is the youngest coach to ever win a title. Something tells me all the haters and losers of which there are still many that claimed this guy couldn't coach don't know shit. Joe is the Chosen One, and there is nobody I would rather have leading this team into another quest for a championship.
When we finally got to Tatum, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would he actually give answers? Would he have a different vibe now that he's doing one fo these Media Days as a champ or would he be his same old self? One thing I did find interesting was he touched on his shooting woes from the playoffs/Olympics
and it was a relief to not only hear that he knows something was up, but that he's already working to figure it out. While it didn't hurt them last year, make no mistake about it, for the Celts offense to truly reach their potential, Tatum has to shoot the ball better. Most of his issues came on contested 3PA in the playoffs, and really all he needs to do is just be league average. The issue was floating around 26% from deep on high volume, and that shit isn't going to cut it. The good news our sample size of Tatum being a good three point shooter is MUCH larger than his slump, and now is the time to work out the kinks as we get ready for the season.
In terms of his mentality, just like everyone else we heard from at Media Day. Locked in and ready to roll
We also got the least surprising news of all time when Tatum touched on how excited Joe Mazzulla was over him not winning Finals MVP and then Steve Kerr being a bozo at the Olympics
This was sort of the joke at the time, but for it to actually be reality makes me love Joe even more. What a sicko. He knew what we all knew, that this disrespect was a gift from the Basketball Gods that he and Tatum would be able to use as fuel for a revenge tour for the ages. Thank you Steve Kerr for being such a Grade A Bozo, see you November 6th!
NBA Champion Derrick White revealed his new smile (which looks fantastic) as well as addressed getting punched in the face at the Colorado football game, an act that deserves life in prison with no parole
and really you have to be some sort of gigantic asshole to even consider laying hands on Derrick White. He's the nicest human in the history of humans. From a basketball standpoint, I'm excited to see what we get from Bald Derrick this time around. Each of the last two seasons he's had the best year of his career, and now that he has the security of his max extension and is empowered by Joe and the rest of the roster to be the best player he can be, the sky is the limit.
Even though he's on the shelf, I was still excited to hear from KP coming off his first experience as a Celtic. I imagine there's no greater mindfuck than going from the Wizards to winning an NBA title, and he pretty much confirmed that
As I said at the time, KP's Game 1 performance in the Finals etched him in Celtics lore forever. In fact, let's relive it one more time since it's going to be a while before we see KP on the court again
God damn, my goosebumps still get goosebumps watching that performance. What a monster.
In terms of his injury and recovery, he said all the right things
and like I said at the top of this blog, I'm totally fine with him taking his time. We'll see ya when we see ya.
Perhaps my favorite session of the day belongs to Jaylen Brown. One thing about Jaylen you have to remember is that each and every season he comes back better. This time last year he vowed to show that he had improved and hadn't played his best basketball yet, and then he immediately had the best basketball season of his life. With that in mind I was eager to hear what he had to say after his summer of disrespect and boy oh boy does it sound like we are in store for an even better version of the ECF and Finals MVP
It was rare enough that the defending champs brought back essentially their entire roster, something that doesn't really happen in today's NBA. But now that we get to add a pissed off Tatum and Brown to the mix? That's basically unheard of. I think that's mainly why I'm so excited to see the 2024-25 Celts play because they are now fueled by revenge. Last year it was a "holy shit this team is stacked" type of vibe. This year? It's a "holy shit this team is stacked and extremely pissed off, even Al Horford!" and frankly I wouldn't want it any other way.
I don't want to overreact, but it appears Baylor Scheierman is already another Brad Stevens hit. Al Horford was singing his praises with how good he already looks in their practices, and now it makes sense as to why. Sure maybe it's his size and skillset, but I'm also not ruling out the impact of his new haircut
We all saw what happened with Bald Derrick as soon as he got his cut, so why can't the same be true for Baylor? He'll have his opportunity to earn minutes even as a rookie given the Celts wing depth, and I now feel even more confident he's ready to seize it.
All in all, Media Day as the defending champs was everything I hoped it would be and more. My face hurts at this point for smiling for 2+ straight hours, but I can't help it. Pretty much every aspect of life is better when the Boston Celtics are back in action, and knowing we're just a week-ish away from seeing them on the court for the first time has me itching with anticipation.
With Banner 18 secured, now it's time to bring home Banner 19 and from the sounds of things today, this team is more than ready for the challenge.