Media day is a week from today, which means the Celtics season is around the corner. We know mostly everyone is coming back, so there isn’t much intrigue around the team aside from wondering if they can do what they did last season all over again.
Still, we know each season is its own thing, bringing new and unexpected challenges. Coming into this season as champions has already made this year different, immediately challenging the Celtics to replicate the hunger and motivation that came from their embarrassing loss to Miami in 2023.
For all the talk about Joe Mazzulla’s challenges to push a championship team to new heights, it’s on the players to buy what the coaching staff is selling. Mazzulla can be a movie villain-level madman, but it means nothing if the players aren’t into it. And the players won’t be into it if Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown aren’t fully bought in.
It might seem borderline unfair to even ask whether they're fully invested at this point. Neither has shown any indication that they're not. Brown seems to be putting in as much offseason work as ever and might be coming into camp in the best shape of his life … which is saying a lot for him. Tatum has been on a media tour selling his children’s book, but he’s been saying the right things about this upcoming season.
“To come into the next season and say we’re going to do it again would be insensitive,” he said on CBS Mornings. “I think a lot has to go right and our mindset isn’t ‘let's win the championship again.’ Let’s start over, let’s get better every single day, and not skip any steps. And that's why we were successful last season.”
Tatum is on the money with that mentality, but it’s easier said than done. Not only to Boston’s two stars have to be fully bought in, but they also have to make sure the rest of the team is following suit. There can’t be any strays sauntering into practice thinking they have the whole world figured out. And because this is the NBA, it’s mostly up to the players to check those attitudes in the locker room.
The beauty of this Celtics team is that everyone has proven themselves to be well-adjusted. History has already shown us that this group has a strong work ethic and is willing to do the work. But we haven't seen how well they can stay focused with a championship glare in their eyes.
We also haven't seen how Tatum and Brown will react to their summers. Both have reason to feel disrespected by USA Basketball, and both could turn their focus on coach Steve Kerr when the Warriors visit in November. Kerr already knows to expect a hostile environment when he shows up.
“I think they’re going to be all over me,” Kerr told NBA.com when asked about the reception he expects.
Tatum and Brown might be all over him too, but Mazzulla has warned that this kind of motivation is like a sugar high.
“Revenge is healthy and it's not at the same time,” he said. “I think it's a short-term thing, and when that runs out, what are you going to rely on? … they can't be long-term solutions, you know? And the long-term solution is just growth. We just have to get better every single day. We gotta grow individually, going to grow as a team."
Boston’s first preseason game is 17 days. Maybe some time eight time zones away will help rekindle the competitive spirit the Celtics need to repeat. Maybe it doesn’t need rekindling at all.
It’s easy to think the Celtics will march right back into this season and pick up where they left off. With mostly the same players and, hopefully, some improvements from guys off the bench, this is a team most people expect to see still playing in June. There is very little to suggest, at least at this point, that they won’t at least be in the mix at the top of the league.
For that to happen, Boston’s top two players have to be even better than they were last season. They need to be even more dangerous, quicker on their reads, and more accurate on their passes. They are a big reason why everyone was so good last season, and they have to make sure everyone continues to get those looks.
But more than that, they have to make sure the environment is the same as last year’s. They have to put the focus where it needs to be, carrying themselves with the confidence of a champion but the humility to understand they don’t eat if they don’t hunt.
For years, Tatum and Brown have had the motivation of getting over a hump. We know who they are with that wind in their sails. And as much as we think we can predict how they’ll be this season, we don’t actually know how they’ll act as champions.
What we do know is the team will follow their lead. As we head into a new season, the question of whether Boston can do it again can be answered best by Tatum and Brown. If they have the humility Mazzulla keeps asking for and are willing to do every little thing all over again, then we might see another parade. If they don’t, then everyone’s vacations will start a bit earlier next summer.