Paul Pierce, here to carry on a tradition, sees shades of the past in the Celtics

It’s quarter past one, and Celtics practice has been over for about an hour or so. Celtics players have mostly retreated to the locker room, the weight room, or for treatment in the training room. Media availabilities are mostly over, with Jayson Tatum giving the final interview of the day. 

But the gym is still loud. Trash talk is spewing as a shooting contest erupts at the main basket. Paul Pierce is dusting off his jumper and jawing at his former teammate, and current Celtics assistant, Sam Cassell. Out of nowhere, Eddie House joins the fray as if the shooting contest has set off some sort of bat signal. 

The old teammates are riding again, even though the baskets aren’t falling. And this is exactly what Joe Mazzulla wants. 

“I sent an email out to all the Celtic former players because I felt like it's important that we share in this experience together,” Mazzulla said. “They started the tradition, they kept it going and now it's our responsibility as an organization to keep it alive.”

Pierce has been a regular around the Celtics recently, especially around Tatum, Boston’s biggest star since Pierce hung up his sneakers. 

“I was going just to watch his workout with Sam Cassell,” Pierce told reporters on Thursday. “Then I found out that he actually works out at the gym that I used to work out. So I was like, for me to get back into it, I just started to join them. And then from that point, we just kept going every day.”

Pierce dropped a few pounds along the way, but more importantly, he dropped some knowledge on Tatum. 

“He has a lot of stories,” Tatum said. “He’s seen it all from being a lottery team to losing in the finals to winning an NBA championship. So just the insight and those little nuggets, I guess, of information. Stories about the ’08 team and things that they did that may have helped win a championship, may have had nothing to do with it. But just being able to hear those things is cool.”

This is obviously the most important season in Tatum’s career. Boston has come too close, too often for anyone’s tastes, and the league’s new collective bargaining agreement has made the Celtics open championship window a lot heavier. Between Pierce, Cassell, Jrue Holiday, and former Milwaukee assistant Charles Lee, there is a lot of championship wisdom available to Tatum. 

“You have your bumps in the road and you figure it out, and have to get over the hump.” Pierce said. “I’m sure he’s more hungrier than ever because he’s felt what it tastes like to be in the Finals, he’s felt what it tastes like to be so close, so I just tell him just understand that it’s a long year and it’s hard to win.”

Winning requires support. Teammates support each other, coaches support the players, owners support the rest of the organization, and so on. In Boston, there is an added advantage of getting support from prior generations. The fact that Mazzulla has an email distribution list is an advantage. 

“I think that's what it should be all about,” Pierce said. “That's how it was when I played. Every time I look up, Tommy Heinsohn, he was always there. And then we look up and see John Halivcek, Bill Russell, (Bob) Cousy. It just brings a certain energy to the building whenever I saw those guys in practice or at the game. So I think it kind of continues the brotherhood. It's all part of our culture and that is something that the Celtics have always been about.

“It's definitely inspirational because me, understanding these guys coming back, this is something that they built. And me coming back with the guys who have been here is something that I help continue to build, and so on. It's going to go on this franchise is a franchise. And so I just think that's important to keep that alive.”

The Celtics are hoping there's a synergy at play here. They're hoping this roster, probably the best top six since Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen pulled on Pantone 356 threads, can duplicate the success unseen in a quarter century. They're hoping Brad Stevens’ moves can do what Danny Ainge’s moves did back in 2007. 

Everyone around the league is feeling themselves in the first week of camp. Aside from the obvious rebuilders, most NBA teams are talking themselves into having a chance. So the enthusiasm of these first few days comes with many grains of salt. 

Still, Pierce has been sitting on the sideline, feeling a familiar feeling. If you squint, you might just see some shades of the past. 

“It's the intensity and these guys are coming in with high expectations and they understand that. And so you can see it and how, you know, guys are getting here early,” he said. “The practices are intense, you can see how hard they're going. Not as much talking as our team. We had a loud team. You can just see in, in the habit before, during and after you see guys getting extra shots up in the room, you can just feel it in the air.”