So, now what?
That one question is an umbrella under which dozens more find themselves as the Celtics head into the offseason. With a weekend behind them to lick their wounds, the Celtics can now officially turn the page to what happens next.
More than a dozen cameras set up at the Auerbach Center on Monday for Brad Stevens’ postseason media availability, more than any media session except for maybe the first session of the playoffs. Everyone was here for a glimpse into Boston’s future.
They didn’t get it.
“I know there will be a lot of questions about what’s next, but I’ll talk probably more about that at the draft time when we have a better idea after meeting with all the key stakeholders and everybody else about what next steps might be,” Stevens said in an opening statement. “I think that we’ll have more clarity as we take a deep breath and get a little bit more sleep than we have the last three nights and figure out how to be the best version of ourselves here moving forward.”
There is no doubt the Celtics have to make changes. Even the most optimistic view of the team involves at least one, maybe two major moves involving big-salary players. Which salaries get moved is up for some discussion, though that discussion isn’t being had at a podium with a sponsored backdrop.
“I think the way that you say it is the North Star is to have a championship contender,” Stevens said. “You have to do what’s best to give yourself the best opportunity to do that when you can do that. So we just have to look at it all and decide how feasible that is on any given year and make sure that we’re making the decisions accordingly.
“But the reality is that we have a lot of good players. We’re in a unique situation. They’re all under contract, and obviously there are several basketball penalties that come with that amount of salary. So we just have to weigh it all and make those decisions, and I’ll have more clarity after we meet and talk and go through it.”
A new ownership group will soon be approved now that all the financing has been settled. Bill Chisholm and his new investors are joining with Wyc Grousbeck and some old investors to usher in this new era of Celtics basketball. They will give Stevens the parameters under which he will work.
From a basketball sense, getting under the second apron feels like a bare-minimum requirement. Trades are nearly impossible for a team in Boston’s position. Between the restrictive salary-matching rules and freezing of draft picks, the handcuffs on the Celtics only get tighter moving forward.
From a financial sense, getting under the tax line feels like an eventual mandate. The Celtics are being hit with a monster repeater tax bill that is so punitive that dumping Sam Hauser’s $10 million alone saves them more than $80 million in taxes.
Something is going to have to change.
“The CBA has been well-known for years,” Stevens said. “There are penalties associated with being at certain levels, and we know that. You just weigh that. You weigh where we are. You weigh everything else then you make those decisions. You have to have the clarity of a full season and a full playoffs and, like I said, a couple good night's sleep. Then everybody gets in a room and put your heads together and figure out what's next."
Stevens always has something up his sleeve, and he doesn’t exactly have an obvious tell that tips you to the hand he’s holding. Boston’s ability to keep things quiet during a summer where rumors will get loud will only help the Celtics as they navigate this path forward. The path will involve at least some of the current roster, but how big the changes will be and when they might happen is still a mystery.
“I never put a ceiling on a group of players,” Steven said. “Some years you put a group together that you think has a better chance than others, but — we’ll see how it all works — but my goal is always and will always be to try to best position us to compete for championships.”
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Stevens spoke for 30 minutes on Monday afternoon. Here’s some of what he said, with some added reaction and context:
ON JOE MAZZULA:
“Yeah, Joe’s great. Joe’s done a great job. Uh, look, I don’t think anyone in coaching ever thought it was certain. So I think uncertainty is what you signed up for in some ways. But listen, there’s so many things that go into winning and losing, and coaching is part of it, right? Playing circumstances, injuries, whatever the case may be, there’s so many things. And so that’s why I think it’s so important to – I know how hard their jobs are and I’ve felt for Taylor (Jenkins) and Mike (Malone). I’ve obviously talked to both of them. But every year, good coaches get let go. And they’re way better than everybody talks about. I’m just telling you because I coached against them. They’re way better than everybody thinks or knows. But that’s the reality of our situation because that’s the way the world works. And then there’s other coaches that are really good too that’ll get their opportunities. But yeah, we’re lucky that we have Joe here, we’re lucky that we have the staff that we have here, and we’re thankful.”
Karalis’ analysis: I never really entertained the thought of Mazzulla being canned, but here’s the answer.
There is just always going to be a segment of the fandom who blames the coach for everything. Some hatred is Mazzulla-specific.
I feel like there's always room for improvement, but I just never saw the main problem in this series as coaching. I’m always one to give players the majority of the credit and the blame for what’s happening on the floor.
ON THE LOSS TO THE KNICKS
“Listen, The reality is we blew the first two games, right? That's why we put ourselves in a tough spot. I realize, and we all realize, these leads go fast, these games go fast, but we had our opportunities. Yes, you can win when you're down 2-0, but you've just diminished your margin for error. There's gonna be games like ours in Game 5 where we go nuts and we're hard to beat that night or ours in Game 3 where we're hard to beat that night, but that just ties it. You still have to do that two more times.
“That's not on any one person, that's not out of a maliciousness, that's not like a bad decision. It's not like bad luck. We had opportunities to win those first two home games and then we put ourselves behind the eight ball. New York gained what I thought was not only confidence but momentum. They are peaking, you can see it. I think all four teams that are playing in these semifinals deserve to be there, and any of the four could win it. Credit to New York for the way they played and the way they came back in those two games specifically.
“Sometimes it's as simple as those are the margins, what I just mentioned, from winning and losing. We lost an overtime game at home in game one and a game by 1 point in game two that you know we're up 16, 18, 20 with 15 minutes to go in the game. that's the margin of error that you're dealing with. I think that those are all things that you appreciate when you can go on deep runs like we did last year and ultimately win it because some things have to go your way.
“I've said many times, we could easily have been up 3-1 when Jayson got hurt, but the reality is we were probably not winning that game anyway, so we were gonna be down 3-1. Last year in the Indiana series, they could have easily been up 3-1 on us. I think that that's just kind of these series. You get these opportunities and one team takes advantage of them and that team usually moves. The Knicks did that, and they deserve credit for that. They've been amazing late in games, and certainly played a lot of those in the Detroit series and showed it against us.”
Karalis’ analysis: Everyone in that building believes they should have won that series. Everyone in that building is pissed off about Games 1 and 2. The Celtics should still be playing right now, and them losing is their own fault.
I will add the Detroit series was probably very helpful to the Knicks. They matched the physicality of the Pistons instead of giving in to it. They then flipped that physicality on the Celtics, which Boston didn’t always handle well. That was not the same Knicks team Boston destroyed in three of four regular-season games.
That said, I just can’t shake the feeling that if they’d just closed out Game 1, they would have made it out of this series in relatively short order.
ON JAYSON TATUM’S INJURY
“Obviously, that’s hard. Super hard for Jayson, more than anybody. As has been well documented, he loves to play, and I think even missing two games has been grueling for him. So we know that there is a long road ahead and that there’s going to be several steps that he’ll have to take before he ultimately gets back out on the court, but the positive was we were 15 minutes away from Dr. (Martin) O’Malley, who is a terrific surgeon, who has done a number of these, and (Head Celtics Physician) Dr. (Anthony) Schena was on the phone with him before we left the building on Monday night, and he was out of the MRI and consultation and done with surgery by the time we had an injury report the next day, because there was real benefit to doing it early. So as tough as that injury is and as tough as that was that night, just an amazing set of circumstances, and an amazing thank you from our organization to Dr. O’Malley, the nurses at (the Hospital For Special Surgery) and everybody there, the hotel that we were staying in and the accommodations they made Jayson feel comfortable in. I thought it was about as good of a transition in about as bleak of a feeling as you could have.”
Karalis’ Analysis: I’m very optimistic about Tatum’s prognosis. His situation is unprecedented, really. He’s 27, he had surgery right away, done by the best in the business, with an innovative technique known for good results and fast recovery.
Obviously, there are things that can go wrong, but I don’t think looking at the history of others with this injury is truly indicative of what Tatum is facing. Most of those examples are either of older guys or of guys with much different body types. So I’ll remain optimistic about Tatum until I hear something about things not going well.
ON JAYLEN BROWN’S TORN MENISCUS
“What was reported this weekend, that’s been something that he’s had for a while and it’s been stable. So that’s been several scans through and through. So, like, we’ve known that for a long time and he’s known that for a long time. But it just tells you, these guys care. They care about winning, they care about playing, they care about playing well. And again, he’ll drive that, but certainly we’re thankful for how much and how hard he’s played but he was definitely experiencing some discomfort there in March but you guys all watched it in the last couple of weeks, I thought it got better and better and better and I think he actually felt better or at least he told me he felt better at the end of the Knicks series.”
Karalis’ Analysis: This feels like an acknowledgement that Brown’s knee pain that started in February was related to the torn meniscus. We’ll need some confirmation on that, but Brown has clearly been dealing with this for some time.
This is what people mean when they say you need some luck to win a championship. The Celtics might have been doomed this season when you factor in Brown’s knee, Tatum’s Achilles, and Kristaps Porzingis’ mystery illness. They were never going to be able to overcome all that.
ON THE PORZINGIS ILLNESS
“Yeah, no, I don't think anybody was more frustrated than him. I felt for him because the way it was described to me, it was just post-viral syndrome, which is just lingering effects of a long illness. I think we've seen that and probably all read too much about that over the last several years. But I think that, unfortunately, I thought he had really turned a corner there towards the end of the regular season, when we went to Madison Square Garden, he was so good. And even in the first round. For whatever reason, he just didn't feel as good there early in the Knicks series and never really felt great. Now, in the middle of a playoff series where you play every other day, it's not an ideal situation in terms of feeling better, especially with the travel and everything else and the amount of physical force these guys put on their bodies. Our expectation is that it'll probably be the next couple weeks will do him good to be off. He's going to play for Latvia. I think that's a good thing. I think it's good to be playing in Eurobasket and I'm sure it'll be well-cleared up by then."
Karalis’ Analysis: This, to me, was the single biggest crushing blow of the playoffs. Porzingis was signed to get Boston out of jams like fourth quarter collapses. His whole thing was to be the mismatch Boston can toss the ball to when nothing else was working. That he wasn’t there killed Boston’s chances against New York.
There are obviously other factors involved, but a healthy, normal Porzingis wins them Games 1 and 2. Being able to go to him down the stretch for some buckets off switches would have changed everything.