Expectations surrounding the Boston Celtics are as low as they’ve been in years. Many coined the 2025-26 season a “gap year,” after the Cs lost Jayson Tatum to a torn Achilles in May and then Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet this summer.
Though the roster is different, the goal for head coach Joe Mazzulla remains the same.
“You've got to maximize the personnel in the roster that you have,” Mazzulla explained at Monday’s media day. “ So hopefully that's something that we'll do every year.”
That mindset applies to returning leaders like Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Sam Hauser, as well as newcomers like Chris Boucher, Anfernee Simons, Luka Garza, and Josh Minott.
For the Celtics to maximize their potential as a team, which remains the goal, they’re going to have to get the most out of each individual.
“It's not different,” said Mazzulla of how he’s handling training camp this fall. “I mean, at the end of the day, we have core guys that have been here a long time. They understand the subject of basketball and kind of how we do things. And then there’s a group of guys who have been here for six weeks.”
One of the most prominent aspects of Mazzulla’s coaching style has been maximizing his players’ strengths. He and his staff have found ways to put them in positions to showcase what they’re best at.
For example, Kornet just inked a lucrative contract with the San Antonio Spurs after showcasing a great ability to catch-and-finish at the rim and thriving as an effective screen setter. This is a player who was primarily a stretch big man early in his career. Then, once he got to Boston, the team leaned into setting him up to succeed.
Regardless of what outsiders feel about what’s going on in Boston, the expectation doesn’t change internally.
“I think you know you have to be able to push yourself, hold yourself to a standard, and that's not only at home, that's when you come to work every day. So that's really the focus, I think, is not allowing others to put expectations on you, but if you don't have high expectations for yourself, you're not going to get to where you want to get to.”
Joe Mazzulla's players have clearly inherited his mindset
Mazzulla’s messaging on Boston’s expectations has been in line with what some of his players shared over the past few months.
Brown hopes to embrace the challenge of being a leader for many of the team’s new players this season.
"We have got some new players, but it’s a great opportunity to show my leadership, you know?” he explained last week. “Welcome guys into the organization, welcome guys onto the team, and try to come out there and make some noise."
Pritchard refuses to back down from the challenge of winning another championship with the Celtics.
“There’s only one mindset, always – I’ve never been on any team in my life where the mindset wasn’t to try to compete for the championship,” Pritchard told CelticsBlog last month. “People can say gap year and all that, but as a competitor, that should never be it, and that’s not the mindset of the city of Boston, either.”
Though the Celtics lack the depth of talent they’ve had in years past, they’re still carrying themselves like champions as the new year approaches.