CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Jaylen Brown and Joe Mazzulla shared a laugh as they walked off the podium, Brown and Celtics’ brass including Brad Stevens, Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca officially signing and celebrating Brown’s super max contract in front of students from Brown’s Bridge Program at MIT on the summer camp’s final day. Everyone on stage focused on Brown’s community work and Grousbeck expressed pride in Boston and Brown agreeing to the largest contract in NBA history.
The signing signaled substantial change to come on the court too, Brown accepting the pressure and expectations of the roughly $304-million contract. He said he appreciates the commitment from the Celtics on the floor, as a franchise cornerstone, and off, where he hopes to utilize the contract to construct a Black Wall Street in Boston, an economic center to integrate the city’s minority population in what he described one of the American cities with the greatest level of wealth disparity. Brown sent off Marcus Smart, describing him as a best friend it won’t feel the same to move forward without, and finally emphasized a defensive mindset entering next season.
“I’m excited to get started with the journey,” Brown said. “I think what Kristaps (Porzingis) can bring to us defensively, and the addition of some of the guys can bring to us defensively, I want to make sure that’s where we hang our hats this year. That starts with me, that starts with Jayson, that starts with Rob. With Marcus gone, we don’t want our defensive identity to go out the door as well. So we’ve gotta really emphasize that at the start of training camp.”
After Brown and Mazzulla left the podium sporting large grins, Brown welcomed ASAP Ferg to send off the students while Mazzulla spoke to reporters outside the door, acknowledging the need for a defensive focus and improving on inconsistency from last season. Mazzulla began last training camp focusing on offense, and pointed to the team’s high ranking on the defensive end throughout the season when it lapsed, before the team dipped from No. 2 in defensive rating during the regular season to No. 10 out of 16 teams in the playoffs. Several players, Brown among them, pushed for a return to defense during the playoffs, and the Celtics changed back to a double big look to finish the Philadelphia series, suffocating the Sixers in Game 6 and 7 with size.
The Porzingis addition projects to reestablish that large lineup. Mazzulla signaled the Celtics will return to courting two centers to begin games, and named Derrick White his point guard after the Smart trade. While he doesn’t expect the team’s system on that end to change drastically, new personnel will allow him to make small tweaks, stressing that side more than any time prior in his young tenure as Boston’s head coach.
“It’s a daily commitment,” he said. “You just have to commit to it daily and you have to talk about it, but at the same time, we’ve had multiple systems. This team, this organization has always been built on defense, and so a few years ago, we played double big, there was a bunch of maintaining and there was a physical way to play, and when Ime came, and last year, we were able to do some switching. So I think we have an opportunity to be able to blend both of them to where we do maintain our system, and do some of the things that we did well for a majority of the season. Then kind of reinvent and find small ways that adhere to our roster … to do some different stuff.”
Mazzulla still expects to mix smaller and larger lineups, acknowledging the continued healing process involved with reintegrating Malcolm Brogdon to the team following the trade that nearly sent him to the Clippers last month. Stevens and Mazzulla continue to discuss Brogdon as part of the plan next year, and while it’s impossible to rule out a trade, it appears likely he’ll recover from his arm injury and join the team for training camp as a key link between those two sizes Boston can play at. Brogdon ranked among the league’s worst isolation defenders last season, Brown struggled defending away from the ball at times while Robert Williams III played only 35 games due to injury. Players across the board will have to recommit on that end along with the schematic shits Mazzulla and his new coaching staff weigh.
Charles Lee and Sam Cassell, Mazzulla’s new top assistant coaches, bring experience coaching top defenses in Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, specifically in systems built around a drop defense around a large, defensive center. Mazzulla noted their experience will help in improving on that end, and while the system itself won’t change drastically, he’s seeking an identity shift for the team toward balance the team struggled to strike last postseason. The comments marked an adjustment by the coach the Celtics brought back with hopes he’d grow and evolve in his position, and Brown’s provided an early look at how he’ll use his voice to guide the franchise forward.
“I don’t think (the defense) will change too much next year,” he said. “We were the 2nd best defense, and so we did some good things for most of the season. We were a little inconsistent at times, so we have to work on that, but I think we have to find small ways to reinvent ourselves, to be a little bit different. We’re going to be able to do that with our roster. We’ll have the ability, wit the current team, to play both big and small … we’ll just do whatever makes the most sense on both ends of the floor, but we have some versatility and we’re able to go with that. I’m looking forward to playing with that versatility.”
