5 takeaways from Celtics practice and the Shamrock Foundation gala

With the start of the regular season just around the corner, it's been a relatively busy past 24 hours for the Celtics. The entire team was in attendance at the Shamrock Foundation Tip-Off Gala on Thursday night at the Westin Waterfront in Boston before getting back to work on Friday morning at the Auerbach Center in Brighton. Here is a closer look at a few items of note from both events.

1. Wyc Grousbeck is all-in on this season: The Celtics co-cowner spoke for the first time Thursday about Kyrie Irving's commitment to re-sign at the Celtics Shamrock Foundation Tip-Off Gala (an event where the organization raised over a million dollars to support children's charities all over New England).

"I thought that was super cool," Grousbeck said of Irving's announcement last week. "If I had known it was going to happen, I would have been there. I think it's just a stepping stone on the way to making a decision next summer. That's the way it all works, and I think he wants to focus on this season and have that distraction and sense out of the way. It's for him to say. But in terms of the relationship with Kyrie and the Celtics and his teammates, this bond between these guys -- I think -- is the real deal. I've seen 16 rosters now and this team is knit together. They're a real team and they're taking a great approach to this season. I'm really excited for the whole team, not just Kyrie."

When pressed about expectations heading into this season, Grousbeck was not shy about putting the pressure on this group.  

"I want to see someday one of these again," Grousbeck said while pointing to his ring finger. "But I want to have a sustained run where we're the real deal. In the mix. Contending. And I'd like to start right now. I came in, I named the company Banner 17, and we only had 16. I'm not ready to re-name the company, but the goal is the same. You have to honor the Celtics by winning championships. That's the way to be an ownership that does your part. You have to win the thing."

Grousbeck and his fellow owners have pushed their chips to the middle of the table by showing their willingness to go into the luxury tax range this season for a bill that will only grow much higher in future seasons. Since this deep bench core will likely be unable to be retained next year in full, it's understandable the sense of urgency is so high for the present.

2. Gordon Hayward's minutes will be limited at the start of the season: The former All-Star has been dealing with other ailments as he works his way back into shape following a 12-month absence. While there are no plans for him to sit in any back-to-back games at the start of the season, his workload will be reduced when compared to the other starters, according to Brad Stevens.

"The plan is for them to play back-to-backs," Stevens said of Irving and Hayward. "Gordon will probably be a little limited early from a minutes standpoint. Not in any big way, but we'll probably have to manage that, just because he's been out for so long."

3. The starting lineup will be written in pencil on a nightly basis: There's no question Stevens will be playing a small-ball starting five for the majority of the year. But he's leaving the door open for adjusting it plenty after an underwhelming start to the preseason by that group.

"I've got a really good idea about how we'll do it," Stevens said Friday. "It's going to be night-to-night. Could be half-to-half. Could be a lot of things."

There will be plenty of chances to experiment in the opening week, as the Celtics face all kinds of lineups between the Sixers, Raptors and Knicks. All three opponents have true centers (Joel Embiid, Jonas Valanacunias, Enes Kanter), which means the C's will need some muscle against if they want to hold their own on the glass. The question Stevens will need to answer? Whether the smaller starting five can punish those bigs with their speed and versatility to make up for their size limitations. It didn't go well during the preseason. But a full week of practice may help things on that front.

4. Marcus Smart has advised Terry Rozier on contract negotiations: Rozier is facing a very similar situation to Smart this October in regards to hammering out a potential rookie extension ahead of the October 15th deadline. Smart gambled last year and ended up going through a stressful restricted free agency process before re-signing. One year later, he's trying to help his teammate and friend through that process.

"I’ve definitely had those conversations," Smart said Thursday night when asked about advising Rozier. "Like I told him, it’s not going to be easy. It’s not. But like I said, just go out there and play, because whatever is going to happen. If it’s supposed to happen, it’s going to happen. Just let your play do the talking for you."

Smart later expressed confidence in how Rozier would be able to handle the situation.

"It’s tough, but Terry is a great player," he said. "Really, all he has to do is just go out there and let his play do the talking for him and not really focus on everything, because once you start focusing on it, it takes you out of what the real goal is, and that’s to help this team win a banner. When you start doing that, focusing on things and distractions like that, it kind of puts you out of whack. So my advice to Terry is just go out there and play. Don’t think about anything else but playing, and everything else will fall into place."

5. Brad Stevens remains optimistic about Guerschon Yabusele over the long-term: An under-the-radar decision the Celtics have looming ahead of Monday is whether to pick up the team option on the French big man for the 2019-20 season. Yabusele remains buried on the depth chart, but has made some strides since an up-and-down summer league. Stevens appears to be an advocate for him as decision day waits.

"I think he’s done a good job, and I thought summer league he did a good job," Stevens said Thursday. "We’ve asked him to play a lot of 4 in the games, some 5 in practice, and he’s bounced back and forth. But one of the things about him was last year there were multiple games where we didn’t have guys available of whatever the case may be. And when we started (Yabusele), there wasn’t a whole lot of dip with regard to our production as a team. So his ability to kind of play those different roles, play at the 4, play at the 5, be a guy you can throw in with any different lineup, has proved to be very important. As we move forward — obviously we have a deep team, and that’s a big challenge — but as we move forward, we really value him."