BOSTON—The last dance?
Nah.
Well … maybe.
The Boston Celtics officially opened training camp on Tuesday—Boston and the Denver Nuggets, tabbed by the NBA to travel to Abu Dhabi for a pair of exhibition games next month, held their respective media days a week early—and, not surprisingly, there were plenty of good vibes. Jaylen Brown was happy (that’s good), Jayson Tatum was not (ditto), while head coach Joe Mazzulla was in midseason (news conference) form. Even the latest Kristaps Porzingis update was encouraging: Porzingis, who underwent surgery to repair a rare leg injury after the season, is on schedule for a December return.
Six years have passed since the NBA crowned a repeat champion, but make no mistake, these Celtics are built to end that streak. The core of the team is back, from Tatum and Brown to Sam Hauser and Xavier Tillman. There are a handful of concerns (Porzingis’s health, fatigue hitting the Olympic trio) but nothing to suggest Boston won’t be a buzzsaw by April.
Take Tatum. In July, Tatum was riding high. He celebrated his first championship by signing a five-year, $315 million extension. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The cover of NBA2K. A month later, Tatum was riding the bench during USA Basketball’s push for an Olympic gold medal.
Asked about the Olympics, Tatum chose his words carefully. He called his two-game benching “a unique circumstance,” adding “whatever the reason is, I haven’t figured out yet.” He refused to declare the Olympic snub a source of motivation, calling it overall “a good experience.”
“I am a believer,” Tatum said, “that everything does happen for a reason.”
Still, there’s no doubt Tatum enters the season with a boulder-sized chip on his shoulder. Mazzulla thinks so, at least according to Tatum. Tatum said no one was happier than Mazzulla that Tatum didn’t win NBA Finals MVP and was benched during the Olympics. “That was odd,” Tatum said. “But if you know Joe, it makes sense.”
Translation: Motivation is a good thing.
Tatum has spent the last few weeks fine-tuning his game. He poured his time into film study. With his trainer, Drew Hanlen, he has fine-tuned his mechanics. Pickup points and hand placement. “Not circling the ball,” Hanlen says. “Straight line from pickup to follow through.” Last season, Tatum finished sixth in the MVP balloting. Tatum believes the best is still to come.
Brown, too. Brown experienced his own Olympic drama, when he was passed over as an injury replacement for Kawhi Leonard. He declined to address the slight specifically, declaring only that he was “extremely motivated” for “obvious reasons.” He says he enters this training camp “the best I have ever felt.” After years of uncertainty of his place with the team, Brown finally has stability.
“It definitely feels a little bit different,” Brown said. “But I think it’ll be good for us to continue to build off the chemistry that we already have and just try to take some leaps forward.”
Want more? Porzingis says he is running and participating in light contact. Derrick White says after three—three—root canals, the teeth he busted in the Finals are feeling normal. Jrue Holiday shrugged off concerns about fatigue entering the season. “I got enough of a break,” Holiday said. “I’m excited to be back here doing what I love to do.”
In a different year—or at least under a different collective bargaining agreement—we might float the ‘d’ word. But dynasties are difficult to build under the current rules, which penalizes free spenders, both financially and operationally.
Consider the Nuggets, Boston’s Middle East travel partners. Two years ago, Denver looked poised to rack up championships. The Nuggets had the best player in the world (Nikola Jokic) and a pair of 20-something stars (Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr.) alongside him. That trio is still in Denver, but spending restraints have forced the Nuggets to shed valuable veteran role players.
Denver’s not alone. Steve Ballmer is worth around $150 billion and the Los Angeles Clippers still balked at extending a four-year deal to Paul George. The Miami Heat lost Caleb Martin after reportedly failing to convince Martin to opt in and extend off a smaller contract. These days, the most feared words in NBA front offices are “tax apron.”
Which brings us to Boston. The Celtics are historically pricey. Between salaries and tax penalties, the payroll is expected to exceed $500 million—the largest in NBA history. Ownership ponied up the cash this summer, signing Tatum, White (four years, $126 million) and Hauser (four years, $45 million) to lucrative long-term deals. But Wyc Grousbeck, the team governor, has put the team up for sale. And a new owner might balk at that kind of bill.
What looks like a three- or four-year window could be one or two. The Celtics know this. Brad Stevens, who masterfully filled in the pieces around his stars the last two years, understands the reality. This team won’t be broken up this season. “I do think that these guys, they have a unique chemistry that I truly believe matters and they deserve the opportunity to attack this challenge together,” Stevens said. But it seems inevitable that it will eventually be broken up.
This season could be Boston’s best chance to do something special. Teams have armed up around them. The Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, even the Oklahoma City Thunder added wing defenders, attempting to Celtics-proof the roster. “Seems like that,” Brown said. Still, the Celtics are heavy favorites to repeat (+300, per FanDuel) with an enviable blend of talent, chemistry and continuity.
“We got a great group of guys, a great team chemistry, a great locker room,” Brown said. “We just got to take it one day at a time and see where we go from there.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Celtics Run It Back in What Could Be Their Best Chance at Another Title.
