Celtics' training camp blows away four-time NBA champion

Sam Cassell labels the Celtics' training camp the hardest one he has seen.
May 10, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla applauds in the first quarter during game three of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
May 10, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla applauds in the first quarter during game three of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Sam Cassell has spent 34 years in the NBA. He enjoyed a 15-year playing career that included three championships and an All-Star and All-NBA selection. He then lifted the Larry O'Brien Trophy again after returning to the Boston Celtics to join Joe Mazzulla's staff as an assistant coach. It was his second ring with the franchise.

However, what Cassell is seeing at the Celtics' training camp stands out to the former floor general. In a live appearance from the Auerbach Center on 98.5 The Sports Hub's program, Zolak and Bertrand, he shared the following takeaway from what's unfolding there.

"I've been in this business for 34 years, my 34th training camp, and this is the hardest training camp right now," shared Cassell. "It's only one day, but it's a lot. But our players are embracing it."

The Celtics' goal for this season

Jayson Tatum's Achilles tear and a roster reset dictated by spending consecutive campaigns over the second apron under a punitive collective bargaining agreement have lowered external expectations.

However, what Boston can do to overcome not enjoying the talent advantage it had become accustomed to is ensure it's the harder-playing team.

"We want to be the hardest-playing team in basketball, and that's how our camp is going right now," said Cassell.

Setting the tone for that at training camp, the Celtics are "going three hours nonstop, and that's just the practice time," he shared. "We're going 30 for 30: 30 minutes of individual work, 30 minutes of just weight room work, then practice."

Baylor Scheierman noted, "We've got a lot of energy right now. Guys flying around, making plays for one another on both sides of the ball," and that it has "been a lot of fun."

Luka Garza described the start of training camp in Boston as "super intense, super fiery, and the pace was crazy high."

It's exactly the type of response you would expect, as their head coach challenges a roster filled with players eager to prove themselves.

"Joe wants to push the envelope," Cassell told Zolak and Bertrand. "He wants to force the issue. He wants to, not break them, but take them to a point where, 'Man, this is hard,' you know what I'm saying? And that's how we're going to have to play this year.

"We're going to play this year balls-out. We're gonna turn our hat backwards and get after it, and that's Joe Mazzulla. We're gonna turn our hat backwards and get after it."

It's an identity the Celtics are quickly establishing at training camp through a challenge their players are relishing.