Celtics 2025-26, Off-Season/Training Camp Thread

[Celts17Pride]

Why are we talking about Al to Houston? What did I miss?

I'm just speculating that if Big Al wants to chase a ring his last few years it might be Houston or OKC. Maybe he wants to finish a Celtic. I'm fine either way.

[phincsfan]

Well as per Celtics All Access, JB was playing through a partial meniscus tear. Thats what I said he had weeks ago.

IMO, I don’t see any team entertaining a trade for him this offseason. I’m totally fine with that. Clean it up and let him get healthy. I think he has a solid season in 25/26.

[ConstableGeneva]

Please make this off-season as interesting and eventful as possible, Brad. Tatum has at least one more title in him with the right cast and coach.

[chrisab123]

Asked what he'd say to fans who want Boston to tank for a better pick in what's expected to be a loaded 2014 draft class, Stevens said, "I don't think they'll like me all that much, then. I'm one of those guys, I'm going to prepare every single day to be the best that we can be."
https://www.espn.com/boston/story/_/id/9483622/brad-stevens-hits-ground-running-boston-celtics-coach

Context is key there. He was the coach, not the GM. That was his first year. Look at the roster he agreed to come coach that had just traded away all of its good players basically and continued to do so throughout the year. Obviously he understood from the roster management standpoint what was going on. GMing to tank is different than COACHING to tank.

I could very well see Brad sell off a bunch of players but he'd still expect Mazzulla to coach them hard, build good habits, and make decisions in the interest of winning games.

Brad Stevens (after the 2024 finals): 'I'd rather be in the mix and have my guts ripped out than suck'
https://hoopshype.com/2024/06/19/brad-stevens-id-rather-be-in-the-mix-and-have-my-guts-ripped-out-than-suck/

I see no reason to believe his stance on tanking has changed since.

Tanking is far from a sure thing. This board would have you believe if the Celtics tank “properly” over the next year or two that they’ll get franchise altering talent, this usually isn’t the case otherwise the same teams wouldn’t be in the lottery every year.

[cloverleaf]

Why are we talking about Al to Houston? What did I miss?

I'm just speculating that if Big Al wants to chase a ring his last few years it might be Houston or OKC. Maybe he wants to finish a Celtic. I'm fine either way.

"Few years"? How much longer can the old man play?!?

[phincsfan]

Context is key there. He was the coach, not the GM. That was his first year. Look at the roster he agreed to come coach that had just traded away all of its good players basically and continued to do so throughout the year. Obviously he understood from the roster management standpoint what was going on. GMing to tank is different than COACHING to tank.

I could very well see Brad sell off a bunch of players but he'd still expect Mazzulla to coach them hard, build good habits, and make decisions in the interest of winning games.

Brad Stevens (after the 2024 finals): 'I'd rather be in the mix and have my guts ripped out than suck'
https://hoopshype.com/2024/06/19/brad-stevens-id-rather-be-in-the-mix-and-have-my-guts-ripped-out-than-suck/

I see no reason to believe his stance on tanking has changed since.

Tanking is far from a sure thing. This board would have you believe if the Celtics tank “properly” over the next year or two that they’ll get franchise altering talent, this usually isn’t the case otherwise the same teams wouldn’t be in the lottery every year.

Tanking is terrible. For the NFL it’s fine but those ping pong balls and the inner workings of the NBA it is terrible imo. Perfect example is this year. The tanking teams got screwed and personally I loved it because I hate tanking.

That’s why I’d rather see how valuable White is considered amongst a few potential playoff contending teams who are in the lottery. Fans won’t know, just Stevens and the staff.

[Celts17Pride]

Why are we talking about Al to Houston? What did I miss?

I'm just speculating that if Big Al wants to chase a ring his last few years it might be Houston or OKC. Maybe he wants to finish a Celtic. I'm fine either way.

"Few years"? How much longer can the old man play?!?

Still the best center on the Celtics roster

[itrsteve]

Well as per Celtics All Access, JB was playing through a partial meniscus tear. Thats what I said he had weeks ago.

IMO, I don’t see any team entertaining a trade for him this offseason. I’m totally fine with that. Clean it up and let him get healthy. I think he has a solid season in 25/26.

Get your Baylor Schiererman jerseys now, it’s going to be a tough season.

[chrisab123]

Brad Stevens (after the 2024 finals): 'I'd rather be in the mix and have my guts ripped out than suck'
https://hoopshype.com/2024/06/19/brad-stevens-id-rather-be-in-the-mix-and-have-my-guts-ripped-out-than-suck/

I see no reason to believe his stance on tanking has changed since.

Tanking is far from a sure thing. This board would have you believe if the Celtics tank “properly” over the next year or two that they’ll get franchise altering talent, this usually isn’t the case otherwise the same teams wouldn’t be in the lottery every year.

Tanking is terrible. For the NFL it’s fine but those ping pong balls and the inner workings of the NBA it is terrible imo. Perfect example is this year. The tanking teams got screwed and personally I loved it because I hate tanking.

That’s why I’d rather see how valuable White is considered amongst a few potential playoff contending teams who are in the lottery. Fans won’t know, just Stevens and the staff.

Anyone remember how that Philly tank went? People were celebrating every loss and calling Philly Tank City. Hinkie was god. They got Embiid out of it. But they also got Noel MCW Okafor Fultz and Simmons. If that’s what the fan base wants then cool, just don’t expect to ever have a time of relevance like they’ve had the last 9 years or so. People are more concerned about spreadsheets and budgets than they are about the games.

[redslastlaugh]

We were dead last out of playoff teams in passes per game (238) per nba tracking stats. Indiana was first in passes per game (337) this year.
First year under Mazzulla that we finished last in passing of playoff teams.

I thought Joe's coaching this year, even being gracious in light of Brown, KP and Holiday injuries, was the worst of the three years.
I don't know how you can run an offense so simplistic and unable to attack in combinations that teammates pass the ball to each other 100 times(!) less than another NBA playoff team.
That's insane.

Passing the ball to an open teammate is how you get the open shots and high percentage shots that makes it hard for lower seeds to beat you.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/passing?Season=2024-25&dir=D&sort=PASSES_MADE

[bisme37]

Read on Twitter

[redslastlaugh]

top 5 Celtics game of my life as a fan !!

Read on Twitter

[Fierce1]

First time in 3 years we won't see the Cs play until the end of May.

[hugepatsfan]

Context is key there. He was the coach, not the GM. That was his first year. Look at the roster he agreed to come coach that had just traded away all of its good players basically and continued to do so throughout the year. Obviously he understood from the roster management standpoint what was going on. GMing to tank is different than COACHING to tank.

I could very well see Brad sell off a bunch of players but he'd still expect Mazzulla to coach them hard, build good habits, and make decisions in the interest of winning games.

Brad Stevens (after the 2024 finals): 'I'd rather be in the mix and have my guts ripped out than suck'
https://hoopshype.com/2024/06/19/brad-stevens-id-rather-be-in-the-mix-and-have-my-guts-ripped-out-than-suck/

I see no reason to believe his stance on tanking has changed since.

Tanking is far from a sure thing. This board would have you believe if the Celtics tank “properly” over the next year or two that they’ll get franchise altering talent, this usually isn’t the case otherwise the same teams wouldn’t be in the lottery every year.

Forget the word "tanking" for a second...

Brad signed on to coach a team that had just traded away most of its best players in KG/Pierce/Jason Terry.

In the middle of his 2nd year, they traded away Rondo and Jeff Green halfway through the season.

After his 2nd year, when they still made the playoffs, they tried to sign top free agents but no one wanted to come here. Rather than truly just sign the best guys they could, they gave what were considered big overpayments to Amir Johnson and Jerebko on 1 year deals with team options. The idea was saving flexibility for the next year rather than truly going all out to be as good as they could in the moment.

The next year, after his 3rd season, they managed to land Horford. They also pursued Durant. When that failed, instead of using that cap space on truly the best guys left, they just re-upped Amir Johnnson to keep that flexibility open for the following year. That enabled the successful pursuit of Hayward, but they could gotten better players in the moment if they wanted to.

During our finals year vs. GSW a couple of years ago, Brad made several cost cutting moves to go with acquiring White and Theis so they could stay below the tax. They had a TPE that fit White (the old Fournier one). They didn't HAVE to trade JRich in the White deal, but he did because he knew it was right for the long term cap sheet to stay under the tax another year.

At several points in Brad's tenure here both as GM and as coach, he either executed moves himself or was organizationally aligned with the team executing moves that were NOT in the best interests of the current year team and instead either prioritized future flexibility/assets or financial implications. His understand of that is probably a big part of why after moving on from him as a coach they thought he'd fit in the front office. That type of stuff is just part of the business.

[WeLikeOurGuys]

Brad didn't mention anything in particular
We blew both games in Boston, and we'll probably answer more about what's next around draft time.

[leper-con]

It sounded like no moving up in the draft , I think we should do a one year tank

[Fierce1]

It sounded like no moving up in the draft , I think we should do a one year tank

If they trade JB then that will be a one year tank.

But if the Cs keep White and JB, Cs will be a team fighting to make the playoffs as a #6 seed, at best.

[winsomme2]

It sounded like no moving up in the draft , I think we should do a one year tank

If they trade JB then that will be a one year tank.

But if the Cs keep White and JB, Cs will be a team fighting to make the playoffs as a #6 seed, at best.

If one of the goals this offseason is to unload salary for cap tax purposes, Brad might have trouble moving KP and Jrue. Those are the obvious first moves to make but who is going to take on that money without sending significant money back?

As far as moves to help this team, the one skill that this team desperately needs more of IMO is ball handling. When I look at OKC and compare them to the Cs, the differences I see are youth and ball handling.

Many here want the Cs to attack the basket more, but when the current personnel do that, they turn the ball over. JB and JT are top 10 players but they both are not great ball handlers. And when they put the ball on the floor, it gets very sloppy. DWhite and Jrue are not much better. Honestly, I think part of the reason they rely on the threes so much is because that is where they function best. Attacking the basket, especially against good defensive teams, doesn't go that well.

I would love to see Brad bring in an elite ball handler, preferably with some size...

[Fierce1]

It sounded like no moving up in the draft , I think we should do a one year tank

If they trade JB then that will be a one year tank.

But if the Cs keep White and JB, Cs will be a team fighting to make the playoffs as a #6 seed, at best.

If one of the goals this offseason is to unload salary for cap tax purposes, Brad might have trouble moving KP and Jrue. Those are the obvious first moves to make but who is going to take on that money without sending significant money back?

As far as moves to help this team, the one skill that this team desperately needs more of IMO is ball handling. When I look at OKC and compare them to the Cs, the differences I see are youth and ball handling.

Many here want the Cs to attack the basket more, but when the current personnel do that, they turn the ball over. JB and JT are top 10 players but they both are not great ball handlers. And when they put the ball on the floor, it gets very sloppy. DWhite and Jrue are not much better. Honestly, I think part of the reason they rely on the threes so much is because that is where they function best. Attacking the basket, especially against good defensive teams, doesn't go that well.

I would love to see Brad bring in an elite ball handler, preferably with some size...

Bingo!

[leper-con]

I want a chainsaw to this team. I’d like a version that plays at a lot faster pace and moves the ball a lot I’m OK with all the threes but there has to be some variant.