BOSTON — Jaylen Brown is the longest-tenured member of the Celtics. Drafted third general in 2017, the nine-year veteran and three-time All-Star has seen the highs and lows first-hand, however one thing particularly concerning the workforce’s reigning championship roster feels “bizarre” heading into coaching camp this go-around: stability.
The group’s entrance workplace and possession group labored tirelessly this previous offseason, allocating a jaw-dropping determine of effectively over $500 million to retain as a lot of final 12 months’s roster as potential. Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk, now a member of the Utah Jazz, had been the one two left abandoned in free company, one thing Brown is not accustomed to. Brown skilled the Isaiah Thomas, Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker eras, and likewise bid farewell to Marcus Good just a little over a 12 months in the past, however this time is way completely different. The stakes are increased, everybody’s dedicated and the Celtics, as an entire, are aiming towards their first repeat in over 5 a long time.
“It is type of bizarre, truly, having stability,” Brown mentioned Tuesday throughout media day at Auerbach Heart. “Trigger during the last couple of years we have had the pinnacle coaches change, coaches leaving in the midst of the season, trades, gamers out and in. No person mentions that while you lose so it is good to listen to it as an excuse now while you win; that we have now some stability, but it surely undoubtedly feels just a little bit completely different. However I feel it’s going to be good for us to proceed to construct off the chemistry that we have already got and take some leaps ahead.”
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens started working means forward of time. All of it started when Brown signed the (now-former) largest contract in NBA historical past at 5 years and $304 million final July to kick-off Stevens’ blockbuster summer time. Kristaps Porzingis, earlier than ever taking the ground in a Boston uniform, was signed to a two-year, $60 million extension and Jrue Vacation, previous to the postseason, inked a four-year, $135 million extension with the Celtics. Jayson Tatum took over because the recipient of a traditionally massive ($315 million) supermax deal, the identical day Derrick White, too, earned a good-looking five-year, $126 million payday. Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman — the workforce’s reserves — had been additionally re-signed, signaling a mega-firm stance that Boston is not content material with settling for something lower than Banner 19 plus extra within the coming years.
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Brown is not the one roster member to determine this new, however no much less “lucky” feeling coming into the locker room’s first season as defending champs.
“For us, we’re very lucky to have just about all our guys again and all people on the identical web page and understanding, and able to go,” Al Horford admitted Tuesday. “It’s good for a change to have that stability and never have to fret about something and simply deal with persevering with to construct what we have now right here.”
