BRIGHTON — At age 38, Mike Conley is entering his 20th NBA season. Two years Conley’s junior, Paul George is entering his 17th campaign.
Together, the Celtics’ two veteran players have accomplished a boatload: they’ve combined for 10 All-Star appearances and collectively scored more than 36,000 career points. They’ve each made the NBA playoffs 12 times.
Still, despite their long list of accolades, neither Celtics offseason addition has achieved the thing they want most: an NBA title.
As such, on Tuesday
afternoon, when Conley and George sat side-by-side at the Auerbach Center podium for their introductory press conference with the Celtics, the two made clear how desperately they wanted that to change.
“I believe I’m a winning guy,” George said. “And so that’s always gonna be a chip on my shoulder.”
Mike Conley explained he chose to sign with the Celtics as a free agent in pursuit of his first-ever championship, while George stressed that joining such a banner-filled organization only increased his own desire to win one.
“You look around the league, there are very few organizations and teams that you look at that honestly are trying to win every year,” Conley said. “The culture here in Boston speaks for itself — the championships, the banners, the fanbase.”
Conley, who will likely serve as the team’s backup point guard, noted he still feels he has plenty to give on the court this year. But it’s his off-court leadership that might end up being most impactful when it’s all said and done — and a burning desire to win his first-ever NBA championship at age 38.
“It’s that sense of urgency that maybe reignites that for the guys who have been on this team who’ve already won it,” Conley said. “To kind of continue to push them every day, continue to show them how bad we want to win in practices and try to translate that to games.”
In a similar vein, when George was asked about his overall impressions of the Celtics, he emphasized his own desire to win a title: “When you think of Boston, it’s winning.”
“I haven’t won yet, so I’m on the other side of that,” George said. “So the chip on my shoulder is — I believe I’m a winning player. I believe I’m all about winning, being a winning teammate, a winning locker room guy.”
And, both players stressed that they planned to bring desperation and urgency to a Celtics squad that is just two years removed from a title.
Many on the current Celtics roster do have championship experience
Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta, and Jordan Walsh were all on the 2024 title team, as was the majority of the current coaching staff, minus a few exceptions.
On top of that, Mitchell Robinson, who has yet to be formally introduced in Boston, joins the Celtics just a few months removed from his first-ever championship with the Knicks,
Joe Mazzulla said the Celtics will tap into all of the different experiences that the new additions bring to the roster, both Robinson’s newfound championship pedigree and Conley and George’s pursuit of a first-ever title.
“We have Mitch, who’s coming off a win, so we have to take that wisdom and experience. He was around great coaches and great players,” Mazzulla said. “And Mike alluded to it — Mike and Paul have a different perspective on not getting there yet, and that desperation, and we need to be able to leverage that as a team, and that’s where they could lead and help us.”
Paul George is a 9-time All-Star, a 6-time All-NBA member, and a 4-time All-Defense team member. He’s won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA. He’s scored nearly 20,000 points in his regular-season career.
Still, he’s well-aware of the one thing his resume lacks, and he’s eager to change that.
“I’m a guy that, when it’s all said and done, where my legacy falls [when] being compared to guys in my category, I’ve yet to have something to show for it.”
