Live coverage: Celtics media day

CANTON — Celtics training camp doesn't officially get under way until Tuesday, but the entire roster is getting a chance to meet the media and take questions about the upcoming season today at Highpoint Studios in Canton, MA. I'm live on the scene for BSJ and will be updating this post periodically all day long with the highlights of the sessions.

 JAYSON TATUM

• On his summer league experience: "Summer league was a great experience. I had a lot of fun, played well. But it’s a lot different in your workouts when you’re in our workouts and you switch a pick-and-roll with Kyrie. Kyrie wasn’t in summer league."


• On feeling pressure with comparisons to Paul Pierce: "I guess so. It does add pressure. Especially when someone like Paul Pierce speaks that highly about you. I guess I just have to keep working and hopefully one day I can hopefully achieve some of the things he’s done in his career."


•  What he needs to work on: "I know there are a lot of things I’m not so great at and a lot of things I need to get better at. So every day in workouts he’s always there watching and telling me what I can do better."


• On potentially being in trade talks: "It was a crazy offseason. We had a lot of guys traded. I didn’t know if I was gonna be traded, watching TV, seeing Kyrie and Gordon. But I think everything happens for a reason.  

• A slimmed down Smart said he's down to 223 pounds after weighing 240 pounds for much of last season


• Smart hired a chef to help with the weight loss, cut out fried foods and ate a mostly Mediterranean diet.


• The point guard said he was dealing with a lot of back issues throughout last season due to his excess weight. Those issues inspired him to lose the weight


• Said he wanted to start, but it's out of his control.

• Brown said he had a great summer. Knows there has been a lot of roster overhaul, but he's happy to still be in Boston to help put the pieces together.


• Raved about Marcus Smart's weight loss. "He's running a lot faster. He's jumping a lot higher. It's kind of weird."


• Knows his defense will be critical: "Defense is all mindset, effort and will...my job each and every night is to slow the best player on the other team down."

• He said going overseas helped him regain the confidence he lost during his first few years in the NBA. He had more responsibility over there and he thinks he's a changed player.


• Talked about the importance of the culture with the Celtics in choosing to sign with the franchise: "Who doesn't want to play for the Celtics?" He's thankful to be in this culture.


• Went overseas because he knew he was going to play big minutes and become a better player from it, rather than having no role at the end of a bench in the NBA.

• The head coach is under no illusions about the challenges of meshing that await with 10 new faces on the roster:  “I think that one of the biggest challenges for anybody in this, in coaching or in playing, is that you want it to happen tomorrow. And I think anything having is worth cultivating and growing, and we’re going to figure each other out. And we’ve gotta be smart about not overdoing it. As I watch tape and film from last year of our team, there were a lot of plays that were made instinctually out of kind of a knowledge of each other. And we’re going to have to build and grow. And it takes some time. But everybody seems to be on board, excited, and ready to roll with trying to make it as good as it can be as quickly as it can be.”


• On whether there are  increased expectations with the moves: “Our expectations haven’t changed. So there’s no balance. You’re doing what you do and you work every day to try to be the best that you can be. We know what the goal is in Boston. That’s stated pretty clearly with the banners that hang above us.  But ultimately that has nothing to do with how good we become tomorrow and the next day. So we just focus on the process. And the expectations are the expectations. It is what it is. The daily grind and the growth that you can get from daily work doesn’t change if you’re the 30^th team in the league or the first team in the league.”


• Stevens is excited about Marcus Smart's weight loss and development: “I think Marcus is a critical part of our team. I think that ultimately we want our identity to be a team that gets better every day. And I think that his mindset, his competitive spirit, his toughness, his will, all of those things make teams better. I think it’s a perfect complement to anybody and everybody to play with. And there’s a reason why his teammates speak so glowingly about him. We need Marcus. Marcus is an important part of this team.”On his weight loss: “I think all these guys have worked really hard in the offseason, and Marcus certainly has done his part. He looks great. I expect that he’ll have a great year, and it’s all about how we can take all this individual work to add value to winning as a collective group.”


• On Jaylen Brown's development this summer and the need for him to be a lockdown defender on this year's roster: "I thought he made particular progress in that stint where Avery was out. The challenges that he had to face on a given night, some went well and some didn’t go as well, but every day was a learning process and I think that that was really good. I thought he showed good growth in summer league – and that was really all he cared about. You know ultimately, what Jaylen does on the offensive end of the floor for us, I think he’s going to continue to grow, I think he’s going to continue to get better. He showed great ability with his improved shot. With his ability to get to the rim, get fouled, etcetera, etcetera. We need Jaylen to be a lock down defender. If we’re going to be the best that we can be, that’s gonna be important." 


• On Kyrie Irving's desire to be a true point guard and what his plans are for him: "I think you guys know how we do things. We’re gonna try to create and put together a system that accentuates everybody’s strengths. Kyrie’s great with the ball, but he’s great off of it too. You know, a lot of our actions that we’ve used with Isaiah, we’re able to do a little bit of both and I think the good news about our team this year is we’ve got multiple guys that can handle the ball. He’ll have the ball a ton, there’s no question about it. But he’ll also play off of it some. His points per possession on off the ball screens was pretty remarkable. His points per possession on all those pick-and-rolls was pretty remarkable. He’s a pretty talented guy as we all know."


• Marcus Morris is still at his trial in Arizona and the team does not know when he will be back for training camp. Clearly not until his trial concludes.