Perspective & Continuity Essential to Celtics' Dynasty Hopes: 'We Have a Responsibility'

Bobby Krivitsky | Oct 21, 2024

Dec 7, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) talks with head coach Joe Mazzulla against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Thirteen of the 15 players on standard NBA contracts while helping the Celtics capture Banner 18 will be there to see it raised to the TD Garden rafters on Tuesday. Boston also brought back its two-way players, Drew Peterson and JD Davison.

Regardless of the sport, a title team returning nearly entirely intact for the following season is rare. However, the NBA's reigning champions are heavily invested in their roster as they aim to maximize their opportunity to build the league's next dynasty.

In the last year, the Celtics have committed over $960 million in extensions with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the two-highest-paid players in league history -- granted, that's a title that quickly changes hands -- Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, and Sam Hauser.

That's not even accounting for Payton Pritchard's four-year, $30 million deal that he signed before the start of the 2023-24 campaign, which moves the total cost closer to $1 billion.

As the franchise readies for a change in ownership that could alter the team's plans, Boston isn't just living over the second apron, the Celtics are projected to pay about $515.4 million for next season's roster. That would be the second-highest payroll in NBA history.

Only the Suns, who have an estimated $580.5 million on their books for the 2025-26 campaign, are on pace to field a more expensive roster.

Peter Casey-Imagn Images

"We just did something special. I don't want to get lost in 'what's next, what's next? Let's try to win 3-4, however many.'" Tatum told Boston Celtics on SI in an exclusive interview in September. "Obviously, you want to win as many as you can, but winning a championship doesn't just happen, and you should be able to enjoy that wholeheartedly."

And while Tatum's team resides in a sports-crazed region that can no longer lean on Tom Brady or David Ortiz to deliver championships, Boston's head coach is helping the Celtics maintain a mindset that gives them the best opportunity to return to the NBA's mountaintop.

"I just don't look at it as pressure because a Boston media member or somebody is expecting me to win," voiced Joe Mazzulla a day before the upcoming season kicks off with a rivalry clash between the Celtics and Knicks. "They don't have a weapon, they're not going to come after me if we don't win, they're saying words. They don't mean anything. They're just words.

"You're just saying that because you have to say them. You're contractually obligated to write a 500-word article. They're just words, you can't do anything. It's just a made-up word.

"We don't have a pressure. If we lose, we're not losing our life. We're not surgeons, we're not in the military, we coach basketball for a living, and no one is putting more pressure or expectations than we are on ourselves."

"It's just the perspective of how you look at it and what the truth is," concluded Mazzulla.

David Butler II-Imagn Images

His team has adopted his mindset. It was essential to learning to relish adverse situations, like needing multiple fourth-quarter road rallies against the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The same is true of the efficiency that the Celtics finished playoff series' with during their 16-3 run through the postseason. Their bench boss's lessons along that journey included studying fighters on the brink of victory. Those who took winning for granted suffered the consequence. Boston refused to make that mistake.

Instead, the Celtics stay present, dealing with outside noise that can be deafening as well as one can. Their focus isn't on fans and pundits questioning the legitimacy of their championship due to facing injury-riddled opponents -- discounting Porzingis' absences and Boston's dominance during an 80-win campaign -- or people pondering Tatum's place among the game's greats.

"I don't allow words to take my personal power," said Mazzulla. "They only have power if you allow them to. And that's what I try to teach my kids."

"There's nothing anyone in this circle can do to me that's gonna impact my identity and who I am as a person or a coach," he continued. "We're either gonna win or we're not, and 40 years from now, none of you are invited to my funeral, and that's it."

Where the Celtics keep their focus exemplifies their maturation. It's devoted to adhering to their "win the day" mantra to maximize the 24 hours in front of them with the long term in mind.

That outlook helps Mazzulla and his team minimize, if not shut out entirely, the pressure that comes with being the reigning champions, with a chance to usher in a dynasty, doing so in a region that uses titles to measure success.

It's crucial to this organization avoiding getting caught up in the abundance of distractions that could derail their hopes of providing Banner 18 with as much company in the TD Garden rafters as possible.