The Celtics reached the NBA Finals in 2022 and fell one game short of returning last season, but management decided changes were needed after the playoff loss to the Heat, co-owner Wyc Grousbeck said in an interview with Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.
Grousbeck characterized the last two seasons as “missed opportunities,” even though he admitted his team lost to two good opponents. Following the playoffs, he had a meeting with president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and head coach Joe Mazzulla in which they decided to explore chances to revamp the roster. That led to a three-team trade in late June that brought Kristaps Porzingis to Boston.
“The general tone was, how do we take this energy we’re feeling right now that was built up over having two good seasons, but then didn’t get all the way,” Grousbeck said. “The whole point is, how do we get to banner 18? If we’d all agreed we should keep things the same, that would have been fine. But the idea of bringing in another talented big popped up early in the conversation, and we ended up executing on that idea.”
They decided to focus on Porzingis, who was facing a decision on a $36MM player option after a productive season with the Wizards. Porzingis had other interested teams if he had opted for free agency, but Grousbeck said he was eager to join the Celtics.
“He is a committed and now seasoned and effective player. He’s a real force. I’m really impressed with his commitment to being part of a winning Celtics team,” Grousbeck said. “I met with him when he came up for the press conference and spent some real time with him, and he’s so happy to be here. He’s so ready to shine at this stage of his career. But he sees a team concept, not the KP show. He’s continually improved over his career, and he thinks this is his prime. But he’s about the team, his teammates and the banner. He chose us. There were other people, I hear, that wanted him. And he chose us. He wants to be here and he wants to win a ring.”
Grousbeck covers several other topics in the interview, including:
The commitment to Mazzulla, who faced criticism in the playoffs in his first year running the team:
“If Joe had done a poor job, I would have thought about replacing him, but he did a very good job. He took us within one game of the best record in the league and then one game of being in the Finals, as a rookie coach. So I’m comfortable and happy to have Joe as head coach.”
The Celtics’ willingness to spend despite restrictions in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement:
“The league doesn’t allow us to comment on the details of the CBA, but having said that, we’re obviously all in, with the record contract for Jaylen (Brown) and with our payroll this year and in coming years. Eventually, there are basketball penalties for spending, so that will go into the thought process down the road. But at the moment, the best basketball thing we can do is what we’re doing.”
Heading into the future with Brown and Jayson Tatum as franchise cornerstones:
“They’re the best two people I could imagine building a team around. We’ve had them since the beginning. We’ve been very lucky to have them here for their whole careers, and we’re building the team around them. But you add the next eight guys to the list. You take our top 10 and we’ve got a really good team. The focus is naturally on those two because they’re All-NBA players and All-Stars, but I like the whole roster.”
I don’t know, seems like the Celtics changed their entire team philosophy this summer. What made them successful was the grit and the defense and getting on the floor etc. Losing Grant Williams and Marcus Smart I think is a pretty big deal. Now they’ll be a little bit more finesse and jump shooting.
Would be the same if the Warriors lost Draymond Green and brought in a more talented offensive guy. I think they would fall off the map. But we’ll see. I agree that change is good if you’re knocking on the door but can’t get in. Try the side door lol.
I think their interior defense and rim presence is increased by this deal a lot. Porzingis showed last year that not only can he really attack from the post in addition to as a shooter and roller, but he can also create from the top of the key or the high post as he did with Beal and Kuz. Brown and Tatum should slot into those plays effortlessly. He’s also a great rim protector and drop coverage guy who is still mobile enough to switch onto an open shooter. And White is a better playmaker than Smart without much, if any, of a downgrade on defense (he’s a clearly superior point of attack defender, for one thing). Losing Grant Williams does hurt, but the Cs can play Tatum and KP at the 4 in addition to Horford. They still have tons of depth and defense.
This Boston defense pulls them closer to a .500 team than a championship caliber one.
Not even remotely close to true. Between having three great rim protectors who can switch, multiple athletic wings, and an elite defensive guard at PG, they’re fine. Maybe they’ll be slightly worse than last year. But not by much. Still a top 3 seed in the East and not likely to be less unless Tatum and Brown miss a bunch of games. Especially since their offense will be less 3-or-nothing this season.
I believe our defense will be overall better, more consistent and defend the three.
You think GS would fall off the map if they lost Draymond but still had Steph, Klay and Wiggins?!?!
slapnuts, yes.
Go see a doctor, immediately
For what, disagreeing with you Mr 100% correct? We’ll never know the answer because they resigned him but how about providing your own opinion sometimes instead of trashing other’s? Then we’ll see if your predictions have any validity at all. That’s if you care to put your thoughts out there and expose them to scrutiny.
No, not for disagreeing with me. Normally when people make a statement/prediction that no one else on the entire planet would agree with it’s a sign of a sever head injury or a severe mental disorder
Then you should go see a doctor.
Wyc and Stevens have turn the Celtics organization into joke. Only they would fire Udoka for consensual sex but then trade for Kristaps The Rapist Porzingus. It’s pretty sad when you pick up a player the Knicks got rid of
‘If you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t poppin’, so hate away,”
– Robert Saleh
Oh yea cause the Jets are a Poppin team, hahaha!! Not to mention Saleh tried to sign a rapist himself this past offseason til he got exposed.
what’s really sad is your pathetic attempts at trolling the Celtics Kurtis blows.
It sounds like you heard the initial reporting of the Porzingis accusations then never followed up as new information was released, particularly about the forged document and all the text messages that were released.
Also the timing of the alleged assault happened when Porzingis was still getting looked over for his ACL tear.
Also “consensual sex”, sure. Except that he held a position of power over the staffer he was macking on. Incredibly unprofessional at best.
Pushed narratives by a lawyer who job it is to make sure their millionaire clients are innocent does not constitute as factual information
The claim of the timing came from the accuser. Which you should probably know before spreading narratives.
So YOU decide Udoka’ actions were fine but others are rapists? Ha, ha!
so Kurtis Blows you defend Udoka but deride KP. Your hypocrisy knows no bounds hahahahah
yea because you’re not doing the same thing with Udoka Kurtis Blows. such a hypocrite.
I see you’ve met Kurtis. Much like the rest of his ilk, that’s all he does… Stick to the narrative, no matter how wrong it might be, facts be dammed. It feels better
Only a Dingus would spell Porziņģis with a U, much like the letter the alleged victim produced. The same one which was allegedly signed by Porziņģis even though his name was spelled wrong several times. The same one she wouldn’t turn over for handwriting analysis. The same victim who tried to extort $68,000 dollars from the Knicks even though he didn’t play there anymore. The Knicks even informed the Mavericks of the incident and referred to it as extortion instead of rape.
Damn y’all will make up anything to make excuses for a white player, just keep proving me right
Sounds like “I didn’t do my research” to me.
Nah sounds like I just use logic and facts instead of just believing pushed narratives, but nice try
Says the person who knew none of the context behind what he accused Porzingis of and tried to defend it by calling everyone who disagreed racist. Nice try yourself, bud.
Haha, what context? The one pushed by his lawyer? Ahahaha, talking about drinking the Kool aid, ahahaha, you’re such a pod.
Here let’s play the facts game.
Fact 1: the accusers name was never made public.
Fact 2: Extortion is a felony
Fact 3: If proof of a felony raises in a legal process, the person commiting the felony must be charged, therefore releasing the name to the public.
Logic: if there was proof the accuser did commit extortion they would have been charged and their name released, but it wasn’t so therefore there is no proof.
Afterword: you chose to believe the narrative pushed by the lawyer, meaning you want to believe he is innocent with no actual proof, which you have shown a history of only doing for white players.
No Mr. Blow it seems you do quite the opposite. You distort facts and logic in hopes of being controversial and further your agenda of obsessive dislike of the Celtics.
Nah, there’s no distortion, just straight truth. You just tell yourself that to support your agenda
so Kurtis Blows you defend Udoka but deride KP. Your hypocrisy knows no bounds hahahahah
you haven’t said one truthful thing Kurtis Blows. You’re the last person who should be critiquing anyone for having an agenda.
Because he turned all 1920s on her after they broke up…
I know some people like to live in the past but there are clear laws in place against that now…
He broke the corporate laws and paid the price…
It’s not the consensual sex that got him fired it was the harrassment after she broke it off showing up at the womans house unexpectedly the constant phone calls and the office harrassment all documented if udoka just said thanks for a nice time and left it he’d still be headcoach discretion is a wonderful thing
Pistons took Joe Harris for some 2s. Cs could have added a 1 and the Pistons would have taken Malcolm Brogdon for pure space allowing the Cs to get Porzingas while keeping Smart.
If healthy they would have won 65+ games with that team.
If healthy they’ll win 65 games with this team
@slapnuts how much crack smoke did you inhale this morning? 45 more like.
Lmao you think slapnuts is on crack? They’re winning more than 45.
You want to talk about smoking crack and bad takes what about you predicting the warriors wouldn’t lose more than 3 games after losing game 1 to the kings in the playoffs?
Are you and Gary related?
Another fantastic basketball opinion.
That wasn’t an opinion, it was a question. You need to see a doctor, ASAP
Slapnuts: Celtics win 65 games if healthy?” Screenshot right here. But of course when porzingis plays 57 games you’ll say they weren’t healthy lol. Every team deals with injuries.., make a firm prediction or not.
Sound like one of those that only if, should have happened but, I almost completed it except for, LOL
Gary, the op used “if healthy” as a qualifier in his post.
Yep and so did you. Only if, yeah but, they almost did except for, it could have but…
No firm stance, no solid opinion just bashing others who post theirs. I think you need to see a doctor.
I am surprised they didn’t do that after trading Smart for a pick instead of trading Brogdon and a pick. Traded Grant Williams for crappy picks. Drafted a SF. Clueless Brad. Don’t worry silver has your back next season.
White will be critical. Don’t think KP and Brogdon can stay on the court much past 50 games.
This team wont get past the first round of the palyoffs. Boston sure “blew it up” meaning they went from contenders to the most overrated roster weve ever seen.
45 wins at most.
This is an article about the Celtics…
Not GSW… ;)
I’ve been consistently worried about our Celtics being owned by any hedge fund person what with their mentality of “pay the top guys & get rid of the other employees” to squeeze profits. And maybe that’s what we’re now seeing Celts getting rid of Grant.
But what I just read by owner Wyc Grousbeck seems fair & logical. Go Celtics!