As Anfernee Simons was wrapping up his media session, Derrick White showed up holding Simons’ son. You could tell it was Simons’ son because he has already learned to call for the ball.
Simons lights up when he faces his hometown Orlando Magic. It’s happened enough already that his teammates were busting him up about it before he stepped in front of the microphone. And as he’s done since coming to Boston, his 23 points came off the bench.
"It's for sure an adjustment,” he said after beating Orlando. “Everything is kind of flipped. It's just a change of how you're going to approach each and every game. It's kind of how you're going to do the small things, as well, with what Joe wants me to do and the whole coaching staff wants me to do. And also just being myself, as well."
Just about everyone on the Celtics is trying to do something a little new this season. For Simons, the adjustment is learning how to do the thing he does best without taking away from other guys who are also pretty good at getting buckets themselves. And he has to do it with a lot less playing time than he’s used to. For a guy used to starting and feeling out games, a guy who also happens to be looking for another contract for next season, it’s a pretty big adjustment.
"Obviously, the human side, it's not easy,” he said. “It's just controlling the controllables and letting everything fall into place. I think I've been doing a pretty good job of dealing with all that and dealing with the emotional side of it. And knowing that if I'm playing 15 minutes, as long as I did what I had to do in those 15 minutes and we're coming out with wins, then that's all that matters."
Josh Minott is also riding a roller coaster in Boston this season. He started nine games before moving back to the bench so Jordan Walsh could start instead. Minott was riding high, getting career firsts, and then suddenly he went back to not knowing when he’d be getting into games.
“If you were poor and I gave you $20 and then instantly took $20, you never really felt like you had it, right?” he philosophized in the locker room. “So it’s kind of like, I don’t know, it was nice, but I kind of am used to this position. So it’s not like anything insane.”
Minott was crucial to the Celtics building their huge lead against the Magic. His work in the dunker spot along the baseline allowed Jaylen Brown to drive and draw defenders, and then find Minott as the outlet to finish the play. As much as Minott and Simons are in obvious “figure it out” situations, Brown is learning and growing as well.
“I was drawing help, I was trying to find guys in rhythm for some shots when they doubled in the post and things like that, when they brought somebody over, just trying to take my time to make the right read,” Brown said. “I'm still growing and just coming out and managing the game, especially when it gets into the fourth quarter. But these are all good information for me down the line, so just keep getting better as the season goes on. I think that’s the key.”
That work is as important as the other guys learning how to fit a certain role. We don’t know what the future holds yet for Simons, Minott, Luka Garza, and other role players trying to find themselves on this roster. But while they're trying to carve out roles for themselves, Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard are learning skills that can help them beyond this season.
Brown’s ascension as Boston’s primary option is a work in progress. He still misses plenty of things he’ll see later this season. And as he figures those things out, then he’ll be more capable of taking some of those responsibilities away from Jayson Tatum next season. Instead of Tatum having to be the primary, point-of-attack ball handler, Brown can use what he’s learned to take some of the pressure off Tatum, which would, in turn, up the pressure against opposing defenses.
The same applies to White and Pritchard, who both have found life more difficult as they try to create for themselves much more often than they have in the past. But as each figures out how to score against increased defensive attention, the easier they’ll make things on next year’s team when they have to do the same against less pressure.
There are things the Celtics need to figure out for this season, for sure. Watching Jett Howard and Jase Richardson pick Boston apart in the fourth wasn’t the most fun or encouraging thing in the world. But it’s a small part of a bigger picture.
This team isn’t necessarily built to work well with one another out of the box. The guys we’re watching to grow into integral parts of a future contender are doing more than they have ever been asked to do right now. This part of the process is an important one.
Growth comes with some aches and pains. Games like this one against Orlando, where they were both awesome and awful, are great examples of that. But it’s growth nonetheless, and everyone will be better for it.