BOSTON — Laughter reverberated across the Auerbach Center as the Celtics opened training camp on Tuesday morning.
Mike Conley and Payton Pritchard kicked off the day with some synchronized dribbling drills, Hugo Gonzalez and Baylor Scheierman practiced corner three-pointers through contact, and Mitchell Robinson and Amari Williams worked on form shooting and push-shots. All the while, general manager Brad Stevens sat courtside to watch the roster he constructed this offseason take the floor.
For the first time since May, when the Celtics’ season abruptly ended at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers, beat reporters returned to the parquet to film the players’ on-court work and ask a litany of questions.
But though Tuesday marked the first official day of camp, it quickly became clear it was far from the players’ first day working together, as evidenced by Baylor Scheierman playfully shoving Mike Conley as if they were longtime teammates.
Jayson Tatum invited the team to come out to Los Angeles, where he spends a portion of his offseason, for offseason workouts, and a critical mass took up the offer, including Paul George, Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Sam Hauser, Jordan Walsh, Mike Conley, and rookies Chris Cenac Jr. and Dillon Mitchell, among others.
“JT hit the group chat, invited us all out, and most of us were able to make it work with our schedule,” Hauser said. “So it was cool to get a bunch of guys out there earlier and get acclimated and get used to being around each other.”
While in LA, players spent time together both on and off the floor.
“We did a lot of work on the court, played some golf, had some dinners,” Hauser said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Walsh, fresh off his fourth summer as a Celtic — and the signing of a 3-year extension — said the intensity of this summer’s workouts stood out.
“It’s been really, really competitive,” Walsh said. “I would say it’s one of our better summers for sure. There’s a lot of guys that came to compete every day.”
Scrimmaging took center stage: “We played 7-game series in a day, or 8-game series, 9, whatever it is, in a day. So every guy [was] showing up for every single game and playing as hard as you can, and really respecting the game in a way, and I think that kind of is a statement to the staff as well.”
Joe Mazzulla takes a backseat during offseason training
Joe Mazzulla prioritized spending time with almost every player on the roster in their hometowns, visiting Mitchell Robinson in Nashville, Luka Garza in Iowa, Hugo Gonzalez in Spain, Neemias Queta in Portugal, Jordan Walsh in Nebraska, and Baylor Scheierman in Nebraska, among others.
But Mazzulla is not actually responsible for spearheading offseason workouts — that’s his coaching staff’s job. Most of the offseason training is orchestrated by head of player development Craig Luschenat, along with the rest of the Celtics player development staff, which includes DaSean Butler, God Shammgod Jr., Steve Tchiegang, and Nana Foulland, among others.
This year, Amile Jefferson also took on significant responsibilities as the team’s Summer League head coach in Las Vegas. The coaching staff is the same as last season’s.
“We have one of the best staffs in the league, so I’m really as hands-off as possible, allowing them to do everything,” Mazzulla said. “Craig, our head of player development, and our PD guys do a great job. The Summer League head coach does a great job of setting that tone. So, I try to stay out of it as much as I can, and just give the guys the empowerment and the responsibility to grow.”
Players have increasingly spent their offseasons in Boston
The fact that some Celtics have made Boston their year-round home makes it even easier to facilitate offseason workouts. Payton Pritchard, now the team’s second-longest-tenured player, lives in Massachusetts year-round.
“I stay in Boston for the summer,” Pritchard said. “It’s kind of home now, so when the first guys, the young ones, come into the gym in mid-August, I’m in there playing with them… I’ve been in here scrimmaging, working out, trying to set the tone.”
Ron Harper Jr., who signed a 4-year extension this offseason, similarly spent most of the summer in Boston.
“Y’all know I’m from Jersey, so going home is nothing but a car ride to me,” Harper Jr. said. “So I can always just hop in the car and go over there. But I tried to stay around here in the summer, with my PD [player development coach] DaSean Butler, and just keep continuing to work on my game.”
Walsh explained that everything is optional, but that you’d never know: “You don’t gotta be here until Media Day if you don’t want to be. It’s just the standard that everybody set for themselves.”
Luka Garza smiled when asked who participated in offseason workouts.
“Everybody,” Garza said. “Everybody was here at some point.”
As the summer progressed, more and more players arrived in Boston, and consequently, the intensity only increased.
“The last few weeks have been great,” Harper Jr. said. “We’ve been to the gym, playing pickup, working out, lifting together, just getting to know each other; you get to learn somebody best through competition. So the pickup sessions have been great. They’ve been really competitive. They’ve been really fun, and we’re gonna have a great year. And we’re all looking forward to getting on there and sharing the court together, as opposed to playing against each other.”
For Paul George, who has 16 years of NBA experience, the energy has felt different.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s one of those things where, man, I wish I was here a lot sooner,” George said. ”Not to discredit anywhere I’ve been, but since I’ve been here, it’s just been nothing but happiness, greatness. It’s just a great energy in this building, in this facility.“
