BOSTON — The Boston Celtics hosted three groups from three different middle schools at the Auerbach Center on Monday night for the 2024-25 ‘Fit for a Cause’ launch event. All three schools learned about fitness performance and fitness nutrition in preparation for a six-week competition between them.
Celtics forward Xavier Tillman, assistant team chef Taysha Diaz, and executive director of player performance Phil Coles led a panel before Tillman took over for some friendly on-court challenges.
The final competition was a dash to half-court. As students eagerly raised their hands to participate, Tillman scoured the crowd to pick on some unexpecting teachers. As he pointed to one with a wry smile on his face, she tried her best to decline the invitation but was eventually persuaded.
And it nearly went wrong.
“She was like, 'Yo, I'm gonna fall.' I'm like, 'Bro, you got it. Just slow down.' And she almost fell, it was crazy,” Tillman said with a smile.
Xavier Tillman helps lead 'Fit for a Cause'
Tillman also led the group in a reaction-time drill and a contest to see who had the highest vertical leap. The winner of each received a signed basketball, but he wasn’t done there.
The champ https://t.co/u20S5dktbg pic.twitter.com/IRteIUSeXp
— Jack Simone (@JackSimoneNBA) January 13, 2025
Once the event wrapped up, Tillman stood in a swarm of students, signing autographs and taking pictures for 15 minutes. His smile never left his face.
“For me, it's pretty cool just to get an opportunity to talk with kids about health and fitness,” Tillman said. “I think that's something that I really harp on myself. I felt like, as a child, all I knew was [that] you just eat to play, not necessarily eat to fuel the right way.
“So now, knowing what I know, being able to pass on the information that I know about eating lots of fruits and staying away from the chips and the pizzas and all that stuff, it's pretty cool to be able to pass it along.”
Though his time at the Auerbach on Monday went off without a hitch, this season has been a rocky one for the Celtics forward.
A red-hot preseason meant that expectations were high heading into the year. With Kristaps Porzingis sidelined and Al Horford set to sit out back-to-backs once again, there was room for big man minutes to be passed around. But Tillman struggled out the gate.
The now 26-year-old has only appeared in 23 games this year, totaling 175 minutes on the season. But that’s not where his goals start and finish.
“I feel like every opportunity that I have to step in the facility, to be around my teammates, is the opportunity for me to contribute,” Tillman said. “Not necessarily what I do on the floor because my presence is bigger than just my play. And obviously, I want to play, but you got to do what's necessary.
“And so, for me, I just try to bring that energy. Speak that life onto my teammates and give everybody encouragement to keep being them, to keep playing as well as they can play and that I got their back.”
Xavier Tillman working tirelessly on three-first Celtics basketball
As Tillman attempts to navigate the challenges of finding ways to assist the team when he’s not on the court, he’s also been working on adapting his game to the way Boston wants to play. And that means becoming a three-point threat.
It’s a challenge that he’s been constantly working on, and conversations with assistant coach DJ MacLeay have spearheaded it.
“They've been pretty good, especially with me and DJ,” Tillman said of their chats behind the scenes. “We have been talking a lot about using this as an opportunity to work on other things. So for me, becoming more and more of an unconscious shooter, where, it's similar to when you watch Sam [Hauser], and he can have somebody like all up in his airspace, and he's just unfazed, and he still lets it go.
“Just trying to adopt some of those mentalities where I can be the same in terms of just being unconscious about it. And I've been progressing very well over these last two months in that area, for sure.”
Tillman has shot just 4-for-19 from three this year, which comes out to 21.1%. But the efficiency isn’t the problem. It’s the literal act of shooting.
“It's been an ongoing thing,” Tillman said. “So, for me, in my career, I've never been a shooter. So, for me now, coming over here, and that being asked to me, it's a challenge, but it's a challenge that I was more than willing to accept, because I want to impact the team however they see fit.”
At first glance, it’s easy to say, ‘Just shoot the ball.’ But old habits die hard. Tillman has been a drive-first player at every stop of his career.
In his three-year career at Michigan State, he only took 77 threes in 105 games. His volume went up during his time with the Memphis Grizzlies, but still, he only attempted 229 threes in 250 games.
Now, he’s in a situation where the top eight rotation players take at least five threes per game. And the Celtics want him to let it fly.
Boston doesn’t want Tillman to drive close-outs. They want him to shoot the ball. And it’s been an ongoing mental battle.
“It's really hard,” Tillman said with a smile. “And it's actually hilarious because there'd be so many opportunities where we'd be in a live read, and I would do that. I would catch it, and the guy would closeout, and I'd go right by him. And then they'd stop it after I made the layup, and they say, 'No, no, no, you're supposed to shoot that.' And I'm like, 'What? I had him. I saw his feet were out of place.' And they're like, 'That's not the point. The point is to be an unconscious shooter.'
“So, it's been a process. It's been a fun process, though, to say the least. Just because it's truly a challenge that, each and every day, I gotta buckle up for, just because I have to kind of rip out that old habit.”
When Tillman re-signed with the Celtics, he said that, in the end, the decision was easy.
Tillman’s shooting numbers may not be where the Celtics want them, and his old habits may still be getting in the way, but he’s more than happy to work through it all.
And most importantly, he’s thrilled to be doing it in Boston.
“I mean, bro, we're the reigning champs,” Tillman said, beaming. “To say that I'm on the best team in the world is amazing. So, I definitely stand by the decision that I made, and I'm making the most out of the opportunities that I have each and every day. I have zero regrets.”