Brad Stevens talks Celtics playoff flame out, offensive issues, and Jaylen Brown comments

BRIGHTON – Brad Stevens spoke with the media on Wednesday morning for the first time since the Boston Celtics’ first-round exit at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Before any reporters had a chance to raise their hands, Stevens opened up with a detailed statement that included his thoughts on the series -- and season -- in general.

“One of the things when the season is over that's tough to reconcile is just kind of the journey and the growth and the things that go along with the abrupt ending and certainly disappointing ending, no question about it,” Stevens said. “From a series review, before we get into specific questions, I thought we really struggled to generate good looks against Philly. I thought they deserved to win. I thought on the other end, they made it really hard on us, and really kind of felt in control in a lot of ways, especially as [Joel] Embiid got his legs under him.”

Embiid returned for the Sixers in Game 4, though Boston managed to handle business in Philadelphia in that game, cementing its 3-1 lead in the series.

He was, inevitably, a game-changer for Philadelphia, despite his relatively poor performance in Game 4. But the Celtics also struggled to maintain their offensive consistency as the Sixers strived to take away their usual pathways to success on that end of the court.

“I thought that probably one of the defining things that they did to us in games five through seven was they cleaned up the glass, which had been a real boost for us,” Stevens said. “Our first-shot offense wasn't very good the whole series, but we really got a lot of good looks on second chances and off the glass, and I thought they did a really good job. So I think overall, obviously, we had chances to win, and I'm sure there'll be specific questions about that, but I thought overall, Philly deserved to win, and played a great series and made it hard on us.”

More than anything, Stevens wanted to credit the 76ers. “I thought they certainly deserved to come back and win that series,” he said. Embiid was dominant, Tyrese Maxey imposed his will, and Boston’s offense ultimately fell flat.

Now, Stevens is shifting gears to the summer. Change is certain to be a hot-button issue. And it may be necessary.

“I've got a little sign above my desk that says: ‘What do you want? What's true? And how do you get there?’” Stevens said. “And there's no question what we want. There's no question when you look at what's true, that, though we did a lot of good things, we lost in the first round, and we were also 3-11 against the top three seeds in the West and the other top two in the East. And so we've got to get better. And that's been the communication in here, just talking to the team.”

For Stevens, the offensive end took center stage. In all four of its first-round losses, Boston was unable to score 100 points. The 3-point shot failed them, but more than anything, and at the top of Stevens’ mind, the offense failed them.

“I thought we struggled to get to where we wanted to go on offense a lot of the series, but [it] was particularly in those last four games, when those four perimeter defenders who are all very good, had Embiid standing behind them,” Stevens said.

Boston will have time to assess its situation. To assess the 3-point attempts. To assess the offense. As Stevens doesn’t believe this season is the only problem.

In actuality, he sees the offensive issues as a trend of the past few postseasons. He referenced the Celtics’ second-round loss to the New York Knicks in 2024, as well as their matchup against the Orlando Magic the series prior.

“The other thing [is] that we haven't been done this early in a while, and so there's time to do deep dives, and it's really important that we all do,” Stevens said. “I will say that I look at more of each shot individually, and my general feeling watching us play, in really each of the last two playoffs, in the second round against New York, even against Orlando in the first round, was, we had a hard time generating really good looks on that first shot. So, we got to figure out a way to do better in that.”

But it was the championship season, too. Game 2 losses to the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers may have been early warning signs. Signals of issues that would come back to bite Boston down the line.

“You go back to our championship year, and we did that in the Miami series and the Cleveland series, with a very experienced, good team,” Stevens said. “Now, you go back to the Miami series three years ago. We had a big lead in Game 1. Go back to the New York series last year. Big lead in Games 1 and 2. You go back to Game 5 this year. 

“And so to me, it is somewhat prosperity within the game and being able to, in those moments, be even more dialed in and locked in and recognize that, yeah, we should have played better in games. We could have played better in Game 7. We could have played better on the road in Game 6. We had a chance to close that out in Game 5.”

It’s a trend. One that Stevens cannot ignore.

“There's enough [from] those three years [that], I agree with you, and I would even say our championship year,” he said. “And we need to get better in those moments.”

As far as the threes, in particular, Stevens doesn’t view them as a one-stop shop for all of Boston’s problems. Again, his focus is on the Celtics’ offense as a whole.

Because he doesn’t believe it’s been good enough.

“I know the threes are a big talking point, but it all goes back to being able to generate the best looks,” Stevens said.

Though Stevens did note that “we need to look at everything” when asked about the team’s 3-point rate.

Cutting out the bad ones is important.

“The bad ones, yeah. Yeah, sure,” Stevens said when asked if the Celtics take too many threes. “But I don't, for me, again, Tony, I look at every shot. And so, for me, it's evaluating each and every shot. But yeah, if we come down and shoot a really tough contested three when a guy's wide open at the rim, or if we have an action that we can get to, sure.”

“And I think anyone would say that. I think I think Joe would be the first to say that. And I also think that we have to do our best to generate the best possible look we can. But yeah, I think we all would love dunks. I would love dunks.”

That goes back to Stevens’ point about the offense. The need to attack the paint better. The need to generate consistent open shots.

But the Celtics’ so-called reliance on 3-pointers isn’t one Stevens seems overly concerned about. 

“I think that the 3-pointer -- after dunks and free throws, or layups and free throws, if it's not a contested layup by a giant and you're a little guy -- an open kick-out three is a good shot,” Stevens said. “And those are the ones we would like to get. Absolutely.”

All of that begs the question -- what can the Celtics do to improve their offensive creation? Their ability to generate quality looks?

“With more options, we can help him [Joe Mazzulla] and help this team get the best possible looks,” Stevens said. “And it may very well be a wide-open three, if that's what, certainly, you're able to generate, because you can't get the other stuff.”

Yet before considering a play style change, first, the roster must be set in stone.

“I just want to win, and I don't think play style comes before roster,” Stevens said. “You’ve got to figure out who you have and then play to the strengths of your team, but that's on both ends of the court.”

The Celtics won 56 games during the regular season. But Jayson Tatum returned in March after dealing with an Achilles injury for most of the year. Boston traded massive rotational pieces last offseason in order to duck under the second apron. It was an imperfect season.

But they were still in position to win. The No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. And had a few key moments gone the other way, there could be very different conversations occurring right now.

“If we do a better job defending the three at the end of the third quarter in Game 5, we're probably talking about what our plans are for Game 2 tonight,” Stevens said. “So, there are margins here.”

Ultimately, however, the Celtics weren’t good enough. 

“I'm pissed. I'd rather be playing New York tonight,” Stevens said. “We all would. But we also, as I look back, we didn't have a team that was as experienced or as, certainly, as ready for that moment as you know we've had in the past. 

“And so, for me, I see there's positives in that, because these are experiences that will then add up for these guys to take advantage of in the future. But when you're in the midst of it, and you have a chance, you wish you would still be playing.”

All of that will be taken into account during their potential summer reconstruction. Boston plays for titles. That much is clear. But Boston doesn’t want to throw away a season of growth because it ended in an ugly collapse.

Stevens sees all. And the Celtics, as always, will meticulously comb over all possible summer options with the goal of creating sustained success.

“We will – like we normally do – take a little bit of time before we all meet and sit down and get together and determine the best course of action for building the best team that we can that's also sustainable over a long period,” Stevens said.

On the one hand, the Celtics have plenty of talent. Tatum and Jaylen Brown are All-NBA players. Derrick White is an elite defender. Payton Pritchard took a massive leap this season. Neemias Queta did, too.

Not to mention, Boston’s haul of young wings looks primed for a leap.

But again, this season wasn’t good enough.

“Our margin for error needs to get bigger,” Stevens said. “And at the same time, I don't think we're like way far away.”

The solution? For Stevens and his front-office group to figure out.

While nothing seems to be fully off the table, Stevens refused to discount the talent currently on the roster, especially when fully healthy.

“Whatever moves that means, I have no idea, but I also, I don't take for granted how good we've been when we've been full,” Stevens said. “When we've been full and all on the court and playing together, we've been a good basketball team. Those are hard to get, and so we just have to be better around the margins.”

Brown has made daily headlines since the Celtics’ Game 7 loss to the 76ers.

First, it was his stream. A film breakdown of what went wrong in the season-ending loss that included plenty of drama-inducing comments.

He noted that this year was his favorite basketball season of his career, how dominant Embiid was in the series, and his displeasure with the officiating -- which earned him a $50,000 find from the league.

But perhaps the most notable tidbit came just a day before Stevens spoke. During a recent episode of his podcast, ‘Cousins’, Tracy McGrady mentioned that Brown’s “frustration lies deeply within the organization.”

When asked specifically about those comments, Stevens stated that Brown had not expressed those concerns to him.

“I talked to Jaylen [on] Monday a little bit after —  real quickly, and it was nothing but positive,” he said. “He has not expressed those frustrations to me.”

That said, Stevens also said that he is always available to talk.

“I'll be here, and my door is always open, and if anybody ever wants to come in and talk about it — and talk about their team, their place, whatever the case may be, I'm all ears,” Stevens said. “And that would be 1-16, not just Jaylen, not just Jayson, not just the guys that have been here. I think it's really important to be available.”

As for Brown’s co-star, Tatum, his absence in Game 7 was massive news, especially considering Mazzulla, after Game 6 ended, said that he would be available.

The day after Game 6, Tatum didn’t do much, but in his workout the morning of Game 7, it was clear that something was off. That’s when Boston knew his status was in serious question.

“I think he had, obviously, you probably could see it at the end of Game 6, we thought that it would dissipate and be okay the next day,” Stevens said. “He didn't do very much on Friday, just rested, and then came in on Saturday morning and tried to do a workout. I watched it, and [he] clearly didn't feel right. 

“I think it's not like a long, long-term concern, but it certainly didn't look right when he was working out, and didn't feel right. So, it made sense to be smart about that. The obvious answer is, anytime you're coming back from an injury like he was coming from, there's a tendency to overcompensate, and there's probably a little bit of that there.”

In the weeks following his return on March 6, the Celtics steadily increased his minutes. He went from playing 25 minutes to what seemed like an uncapped number.

“We did try to ramp him up for more playoff load and playoff minutes towards the end of the regular season, including a couple of the games there late where we kept him in, even though the games weren't necessarily close, just to get his minutes up,” Stevens said.

And despite his inability to play in Game 7, Stevens is thrilled with the steps Tatum and the medical team took to get him to that point.

“I feel really comfortable that they worked their butts off to try to get everybody on the court, and they did an amazing job with JT, and he did an amazing job all year, and to be able to play a lot if needed,” Stevens said.

Right alongside Tatum and Brown is Mazzulla, who has endured plenty of scrutiny in the days following Boston’s Game 7 loss.

Missed opportunities for rotational, offensive, and defensive adjustments played a significant role in the Celtics’ failure to capitalize on their (seemingly) unexpected playoff birth, especially as a top seed.

Based on Stevens’ remarks, Mazzulla’s job seems to be safe for the time being, though his comments weren’t quite as positive as in years past.

But it’s clear he still believes in Mazzulla and his staff.

“I think our coaching staff, like all of us, can continue to improve and get better. That said, I think they're very good,” Stevens said. “And we need to continue to provide them the resources to grow, and to get better, and to continue to be the best that we can be.”

Mazzulla has earned the trust of the players, the front office, and the organization -- a feat that should not fly under the radar.

Combined with his player development success this regular season, Mazzulla, while not completely safe, is likely in a better position than most may believe.

“[We] can't ignore anything, the good and the bad,” Stevens said. “But there was a lot of growth this year, and I thought that there [were] a lot of things that we can build off of, even though that ending was disappointing.”

The Celtics couldn’t get across the finish line this season. In a way, they barely got to the starting line. They tripped over their own feet when the starter pistol was shot.

But the building blocks are there. The foundation of a team that could -- or perhaps should -- be talented enough to win a championship.

Now, it’s up to Stevens to put that puzzle together.

Stevens is often long-winded in his responses, so here are his full-length responses, for the sake of providing full context:

Stevens’ opening statement: “One of the things when the season is over that's tough to reconcile is just kind of the journey and the growth and the things that go along with the abrupt ending and certainly disappointing ending, no question about it. From a series review, before we get into specific questions, I thought we really struggled to generate good looks against Philly. I thought they deserved to win. I thought on the other end, they made it really hard on us, and really kind of felt in control in a lot of ways, especially as Embiid got his legs under him. I thought that probably one of the defining things that they did to us in games five through seven was they cleaned up the glass, which had been a real boost for us. Our first-shot offense wasn't very good the whole series, but we really got a lot of good looks on second chances and off the glass, and I thought they did a really good job. So I think overall, obviously, we had chances to win, and I'm sure there'll be specific questions about that, but I thought overall, Philly deserved to win, and played a great series and made it hard on us. I guess the tough part, the part that's hard to reconcile, is just when we were sitting here, if you would have told me last summer that we would have won 56 games in the regular season, that the young guys would all become contributors, that people would have great impact all up and down our roster, that we would get Tatum back for 20 games or whatever it was, I would have been thrilled with those results. But the reality is that we came up short. And so now the job is to do an honest assessment. I've got a little sign above my desk that says: “What do you want? What's true? And how do you get there?” And there's no question what we want. There's no question when you look at what's true, that, though we did a lot of good things, we lost in the first round, and we were also 3-11 against the top three seeds in the West and the other top two in the East. And so we've got to get better. And that's been the communication in here, just talking to the team. Obviously, these guys are really committed to growth. I thought the coaches did a really good job of helping guys all get better. But there's another step to take. And whether you're in my shoes or you're in any of our support staff's shoes, or if you're in our coaches' shoes, or if you're in our players' shoes, we got to get better. So that's going to be the charge and the focus. So we'll figure out how best to do that. It'll probably be a balance of development and, at some point, obviously, with the draft coming up and free agency coming up and trying to figure out how to make our team as good as it can be. But I don't want to take credit away from Philly. I thought they certainly deserved to come back and win that series.”

On Jaylen Brown’s comments and the rumors that he is frustrated with the organization: “I talked to Jaylen [on] Monday a little bit after —  real quickly, and it was nothing but positive. He has not expressed those frustrations to me. We've been here 10 years together. Obviously, I love JB, and everybody around here loves JB, and just like any of our other guys, as we get to the end of the season, I'll be here, and my door is always open, and if anybody ever wants to come in and talk about it — and talk about their team, their place, whatever the case may be, I'm all ears. And that would be 1-16, not just Jaylen, not just Jayson, not just the guys that have been here. I think it's really important to be available. So I certainly am, and none of that has been expressed to me.”

On how significant the changes need to be in order to win a championship: “If we do a better job defending the three at the end of the third quarter in Game 5, we're probably talking about what our plans are for Game 2 tonight. So, there are margins here. Our margin for error needs to get bigger. And at the same time, I don't think we're like way far away. But we've lived it here. Again, this is where the honest assessment part has got to come in, right? We've been to six Eastern Conference Finals, a couple of finals in the last few years. We've won one, and when you get beat in the first round, you're not there. So we need to be. I think that the moves to get there, obviously, you have to consider the other teams that are at those levels, and I think the other thing that you have to consider, especially for next year, is there were a lot of teams in the NBA that were playing for draft positioning this year, and that will not be the case next year. So the league's gonna be a lot better. The regular season is gonna be a lot harder. And it will probably give you a better indication of what everybody really is.”

On the three-point-heavy style, the potential need to diversify: “First of all, I think it's really fair, and we need to look at everything. And I think that's going to be the charge. The other thing [is] that we haven't been done this early in a while, and so there's time to do deep dives, and it's really important that we all do. I will say that I look at more of each shot individually, and my general feeling watching us play, in really each of the last two playoffs, in the second round against New York, even against Orlando in the first round, was, we had a hard time generating really good looks on that first shot. So, we got to figure out a way to do better in that. And I think that that's again, one of the things that we've got to figure out is how to have more of an impact at the rim. And I think we do need to add to our team to do that. Everybody plays a role in that. But, at the end of that game, Embiid is standing at the rim on all those possessions, or a lot of those possessions, right? And so I thought the shots we took, with the exception of Jaylen’s top-of-the-key-three and the one where you get in the middle of the lane, and then Payton's open shot, I thought they were really well defended. I thought we struggled to get to where we wanted to go on offense a lot of the series, but [it] was particularly in those last four games, when those four perimeter defenders who are all very good, had Embiid standing behind them.”

On the play style he wants the team to have: “I just want to win, and I don't think play style comes before roster. You’ve got to figure out who you have and then play to the strengths of your team, but that's on both ends of the court. And listen, I thought our coaching staff did an amazing job this year in the series. I think we all could have done better; there's no question about it. And I think we're all looking forward to improving off of that. But I think it starts with – we have to put the best roster we possibly can do together, and then we need to maximize the strengths of that group. This year, some strengths appeared that I thought were a direct result of really good development and really good coaching and we need to again look at whoever we have in July and figure out how to build our best team. And play style should be dependent on who's on your team.”

On what led to Tatum being shut down for Game 7: “I think he had, obviously, you probably could see it at the end of Game 6, we thought that it would dissipate and be okay the next day. He didn't do very much on Friday, just rested, and then came in on Saturday morning and tried to do a workout. I watched it, and [he] clearly didn't feel right.  I think it's not like a long, long-term concern, but it certainly didn't look right when he was working out, and didn't feel right. So, it made sense to be smart about that. The obvious answer is, anytime you're coming back from an injury like he was coming from,there's a tendency to overcompensate, and there's probably a little bit of that there.”

On if the team’s three-point shooting talent was good enough to justify the three-point rate: “Again, I go back to every shot, and if we watched every shot together, I think that would be – would any of us not feel good about Jaylen’s top-of-the-key three or Payton’s corner three right? Those shots are amazing shots, wide-open, hard to get, especially in those moments against those great defenses. The biggest thing is, can we generate looks at the rim? Yeah, everybody wants to do that, and every one of us would prefer a dunk over that, over a three. Every single one of us, those are hard to get, and we struggle to generate them, and so, yeah, we certainly shot some bad ones. I’m not telling you we didn't. There's no question about that. But I also thought we shot some really hard shots at the rim, really hard shots in the midrange too, and I don't necessarily fault anyone for that, other than credit to Philly's defense, and we've got to do a good job as we build out the roster to have more options.”

On if he would consider drastic roster changes this summer: “I think the biggest is we will. We will – like we normally do – take a little bit of time before we all meet and sit down and get together and determine the best course of action for building the best team that we can that's also sustainable over a long period. The one thing, as frustrating as last summer was, for all of us, right, is because… we were in it, with regard to those aprons and in the CBA, and we needed to give ourselves more flexibility to create a longer window.  And again, if you would have asked me last summer, the end result of that, [it] would [be] that probably was going to hurt us this year. How that would be? Again, I didn't know, and I certainly wasn't going to put a ceiling on our team regardless. But, it probably did, and so now we have to use what we can to build this thing moving forward, and add to it. Whatever moves that means, I have no idea, but I also, I don't take for granted how good we've been when we've been full. When we've been full and all on the court and playing together, we've been a good basketball team. Those are hard to get, and so we just have to be better around the margins.”

On Tatum’s workload increasing during the regular season and playoffs and his overall recovery: “I mean, we have a sports performance group that works closely with our coaches, that works closely with the individual physical therapists. In this case, Nick Sang, and you build up to your condition to get to where you can go, and where we think would be best ideal to go. Obviously, there's no—when people say a minute restriction of 30 minutes, if you play 30 minutes and 30 seconds, there's no like science that says that extra 30 seconds is too much, right? But he did play a lot of minutes. We did try to ramp him up for more playoff load and playoff minutes towards the end of the regular season, including a couple of the games there late where we kept him in, even though the games weren't necessarily close, just to get his minutes up. And that's a part of this kind of load management era that we have a lot of discussions about, because I think Phil Coles and his group do a great job. And a big part of that is they say you have to be ready to play those kind of meaningful minutes in those kind of meaningful moments. Do we think that had an impact on his knee stiffness and the injury in Game 6? Hard to tell, but you can't cross it off. So we have to look at that. I know that they will, but I feel really comfortable that they worked their butts off to try to get everybody on the court, and they did an amazing job with JT, and he did an amazing job all year, and to be able to play a lot if needed.”

On consistently losing as the higher seed, losing home games in the playoffs, and a potential leadership overhaul: “I think that's a legitimate question. And, I would say the prosperity, you know, human nature is human nature for a reason. But, we win Game 1 and play pretty well, and then we did not play well in Game 2. And it goes back 1-1. Doesn't matter how much you win by in these series, they all count as one, right? Doesn't matter how much you lose by. They all count as one. But you go back to our championship year, and we did that in the Miami series and the Cleveland series, with a very experienced, good team. Now, you go back to the Miami series three years ago. We had a big lead in Game 1. Go back to the New York series last year. Big lead in Games 1 and 2. You go back to Game 5 this year. And so to me, it is somewhat prosperity within the game and being able to, in those moments, be even more dialed in and locked in and recognize that, you know, yeah, we should have played better in games. We could have played better in Game 7. We could have played better on the road in Game 6. We had a chance to close that out in Game 5. And Embiid’s level, and Embiid coming back had a big part of that, because he went on the run where he scored in the post a few times. But then the kind of the backbreaker part, or the part that brought them right back in the game, was they made about four or five threes right before the end of the third, and then it's a game, and then instead of a 13-point game being 15 at the start of the fourth quarter, it's a lower, more manageable margin. And so those are things we got to get better with. And I don't think we're the only team. I think there's a lot of teams with how many teams shoot as well as they shoot, and how people go on flurries that deal with that, but I don't think we should ignore it. I think that's a big talking point for sure. And I think, Gary, in a lot of those cases, I think for whatever reason, we slowed down, and when you slow down in the playoffs and get a little bit, you know, you're trying to protect something, whatever the case may be. I mean, the guys you're playing against, these are the best players on the other teams, and they're the best athletes left in the league, right, like those four guys we were trying to drive the ball against this week, those guys are elite athletes, and they're hard to beat individually. And so you really have to play great to get what you want. And if you take your foot off the gas at any point, it's going to come back to bite you. And again, was it a little bit of us doing that? Was it a lot of Philly just playing really well in that stretch? Yeah, it could have been, but there's enough of those three years, I agree with you, and I would even say our championship year. And we need to get better in those moments.”

On Jaylen Brown’s fine and the officiating: “I'm not going to get into officiating in our series. Just, I don't think that does me any good. Doesn't do us any good. We're going to focus on us, focus on our own improvement, focus on getting better. I think that it's a physical game in the playoffs. All the - There will be some outlier, big scoring games, but they're not going to be as many as people got used to in the regular season. And it's a very, very physical game.”

On the job Joe has done and his future: “Yeah, I mean, I think, first of all, I know how hard that job is, and I know all that goes into it. And I know he and his staff are putting everything they can into it. And when I say that we struggle to get by - I think that's, again, that's - We need to add to our team. So, I think our coaching staff, like all of us, can continue to improve and get better. That said, I think they're very good. And we need to continue to provide them the resources to grow, and to get better, and to continue to be the best that we can be. I think, again, I don't think we can ignore, and certainly, again, can't ignore anything, the good and the bad. But there was a lot of growth this year, and I thought that there [were] a lot of things that we can build off of, even though that ending was disappointing.”

On if he feels like the Celtics take too many threes: “The bad ones, yeah. Yeah, sure. Yeah. But I don't, for me, again, Tony, I look at every shot. And so, for me, it's evaluating each and every shot. But yeah, if we come down and shoot a really tough contested three when a guy's wide open at the rim, or if we have an action that we can get to, sure. Yeah. And I think anyone would say that. I think I think Joe would be the first to say that. And I also think that we have to do our best to generate the best possible look we can. But yeah, I think we all would love dunks. I would love dunks.”

On the concept of wanting more dunks but Mazzulla saying that three-point rate is the most important stat (years ago): “I don't know. I don't remember him saying that, so I don't want to get into specifics on that. I think that the 3-pointer, after dunks and free throws, or layups and free throws, if it's not a contested layup by a giant and you're a little guy, is an open kick-out three is a good shot. And those are the ones we would like to get. Absolutely. And there are times where even a pull-up contested three is a good shot, if it's a two-for-one, or if it's a situation where you got a guy backtracking on his heels, whatever the case may be, your person has the right amount of talent. But each shot should be evaluated for, 'What were your other options on that possession?' I think that, for me, this all goes back to, and I know the threes are a big talking point, but it all goes back to being able to generate the best looks. And with more options, we can help him and help this team get the best possible looks. And it may very well be a wide-open three, if that's what, certainly, you're able to generate, because you can't get the other stuff.”

On the unique roster and the challenges of rotations that came with it: “Yeah, I mean, it was an unusual roster in that, we just, we had a lot of unproven young players that had really not contributed at a meaningful level yet in their careers, and [they] really showed themselves capable of that. Oftentimes, as a coach and as a staff, it's a lot easier if some do and some don't, because then there's a clear demarcation line. But that's a good problem to have. And so, I thought that was one of the positives, is that we have a lot of good young contributors, and we didn't know that coming into this year again. I think this is why this is hard for me to reconcile three days after the playoffs, because I'm pissed. I'd rather be playing New York tonight. We all would. But we also, as I look back, we didn't have a team that was as experienced or as, certainly, as ready for that moment as you know we've had in the past. And so, for me, I see there's positives in that, because these are experiences that will then add up for these guys to take advantage of in the future. But when you're in the midst of it, and you have a chance, you wish you would still be playing.”

On record vs. top teams, the gap between Celtics and top teams, and how that will guide offseason approach: "Well, I think, I think it's, it's a, it's a really fair question. And I think you could look at both us and Philly, right? So, Philly doesn't have their whole team all year. Paul George gets suspended for 25 games, and Embiid plays 30 to 40 games, whatever he plays, and then all of a sudden, Game 5, middle of the game, it's like, oh, that's, that's, that's a lot of talent on the court, on the other side of the floor, and they are a seven seed, right? And so each team has its own story, and each team is playing at a level that they're at when you get to the playoffs. And so that's why, when the playoffs start, if you're fortunate enough to make it, everybody's zero and zero, and those teams that have had ups and downs get a fresh start, and those teams that have played well all year, they're 0-0 too. And so, it's an interesting question, simply because I don't want to take -- we have to play well in the regular season to get to where we want to go, and so, like, we don't want to undersell the regular season. That said, as I look at us honestly, I think that how we played against the best teams is relevant and should be taken into account as we look at our team moving forward."

On Vucevic’s time in Boston and his future with the team: “He’s our only unrestricted free agent. And I thought, obviously, getting traded here when he did he had some moments, broke his finger, that probably set him back. And then, this was a hard matchup for all of us, in particular. He was—I think when I looked at it the other day he ended up being a plus in the series, but it was back-and-forth with all of those guys. And to be honest, one of the things with Neemi was just figuring out how to keep him on the floor, right? Because he had two games where he’s off the floor in four minutes. So, it was good to see Neemi have his best game in Game 7 and it’s something he can really build off of. But I thought that Vooch gave us all that he had and did what we asked. It was a hard matchup. And I have a lot of respect for Vooch as a person, as a pro. I thought he was really good in our locker room. I thought he was a really good person to have around.”

On Hugo Gonzalez’s rookie season, why he didn’t play until Game 7, and his future: "I probably should have said this when Noa asked her question, but, it's not, our job as a front office is, 'Here's the team.' The role questions and when people play and how many people play, right? That's what a coach has to do, and it's really hard when, again, there's not clear separation. And the reality is, Hugo had a great rookie year, and is, I think, a critical part of us moving forward because his athleticism can meet the moment in the big games. That's a real thing. You can see it. You know it. His strength is off the charts. He's probably the strongest -- he's one of the strongest guys on our team right now, pound-for-pound, as a 20-year-old. So, he's got a bright future. That said, he didn't separate himself from those other guys. And so, as a front-office person, I can't sit here and say that one person should have been playing over another, should have been playing over another. There wasn't enough separation. I knew Jaylen should be playing. I knew Derrick should be playing, and Payton should be playing. But at the end of the day, that's part of a team. I'm encouraged by all of them, but there wasn't a lot of separation."