It didn’t take long for there to be a running theme at Celtics training camp.
“It was just exciting, just exciting to get back on the court. Really good practice, felt like we had a lot of purpose to the practice today. Pretty focused on what we needed to do,” Al Horford said on day one.
“I was here all of practice today, so I’m actually very … not surprised, but the amount of maturity and like welcomingness, I don’t know if that’s a word, but it’s a different atmosphere than I was sort of used to, in a good way,” said new guy Blake Griffin.
“Everybody was locked in. Normally you have guys coming into training camp, depending on the year, they might not know the plays. Guys came in with the whole playbook, guys came in ready to start … everybody was attentive and everybody was ready,” said Grant Williams.
At the risk of making this whole thing sound like ‘scandal=good’, it’s clear the Celtics have responded to the Ime Udoka mess by rallying around each other. While it’s obvious no one condones what Udoka did and most people wish he’d behaved himself and returned to his job, the response by the Celtics has resulted in something undoubtedly positive on the floor in the early going.
The Celtics took the floor in the season opener and immediately forced the Hornets into late clock offense thanks to strong switching and good communication on the first possession of the game. Brian Scalabrine commented during the game about how focused and disciplined the Celtics seemed to be. The product didn’t look polished, but it didn’t look like a team easing into anything with a new coach and some new players.
“Practice has been a lot harder than the game so that's a credit and a tribute to our coaching staff and the environment we try to build,” Jaylen Brown said after the game, adding there is obviously more work to be done. “We're not patting ourselves on the back here for winning a preseason game. It's a lot of work to be done so better get to it.”
This level of focus and attention to detail is what will be Boston’s saving grace as it aims to navigate the messy start to the season. It’s clear that there are still some ripple effects being felt around the team. There is still some confusion and hurt being felt, even as the team moves forward.
But the moving forward part had to happen, and the way the Celtics are doing this behind Joe Mazzulla is making it happen quicker than many on the outside may have anticipated.
“When we’re on the floor it’s just us and nothing else matters, and that’s how we have to approach it,” Marcus Smart said. “Everybody’s been very professional and everybody understands the severity of what’s happening right now where it can go one of two ways … The energy has been great and everybody has been really professional and participating very well and trying to do everything they can to help this team and help themselves.”
Everyone talks about blocking out noise, but it’s not always easy to do. The timing of everything forced the Celtics to make a choice about how they were going to handle things, and guys seem to be sticking to that plan for now. There's no sign of lingering animosity or anxiety about what happened.
If the Celtics are going to prove to the outside world that they can ride out this turbulent start to the season, they have to keep doing what they're doing on the inside.
This is a toughness that was cultivated under Udoka. For all he did off the floor, he taught the team some valuable lessons on it. The irony is that they have to use the things Udoka taught them in order to forget the chaos he caused.
PRACTICE NOTES:
- JD Davison’s crash course
The level of intensity on the practice floor is evident to Davison, the Celtics second-round pick who is here on a two-way deal.
“It’s definitely on the defensive end, you can see why they were the No. 1 defense in the league last year,” he said. “You got to come here and learn and pick up everything on the defensive end. Marcus is teaching me everything that he knows, so just learning from him, I’m going to be -- that will be big for me.”
Smart has quickly become a mentor to Davison … at the prodding of Mazzulla
“He basically tells me, ‘talk to Smart,’” Davison said. “I talk to Smart a lot, I also talk to Joe a lot. He just tells me to pick up the intensity and just have fun and go compete with the older guys.”
- Robert Williams is around
“He’s there for the film sessions,” Mazzulla said of his injured center. “He’s getting treatment, and today he shot free throws. So he’s just progressing.”
The last time Williams was seen around the team was at media day, when he was walking without a limp. Williams recently underwent surgery to clean up his left knee, which is where he tore his meniscus late last season.
At that point, Williams characterized the surgery as something necessary to fix recurring problems. The team announced an 8-12 week recovery period at the time of the surgery, which could push his return into late December or beyond.
“He’s in a great mind frame,” Mazzulla said. “He understands how important - as guys are getting better on the court, he knows the treatment room is his basketball court right now. So he’s doing a great job of getting treatment and kind of building towards that.”
- Blake Griffin’s film session
Griffin walked past the media scrum around Derrick White today and disappeared into the film room. He didn’t emerge until after the gym emptied about 45 minutes or so later.
- Luke Kornet was walking around after practice, again without the help of any devices other than a sleeve on the left leg. His recovery from an ankle sprain is progressing well.
“Getting better each day, seems to be in a great mind frame,” Mazzulla said. “He’s still day to day, hopefully he can get back whenever he’s healthy.”
It’s unclear if he’ll play tomorrow night, but the plan is to bring him to North Carolina for Friday’s game.
