Boston Celtics News (2024-2025)

Frederick and Bernard Matthew,

Many of us know that you are bosom buddies and lifelong pals.  However, we've gotten complaints from HR, reportedly all the way from the top (Mr. George Slate).

Wilma and Elizabeth Jean suggest that you two get a cave.

Boston Celtics @celtics
about 2 hours ago
We're grateful for @Al_Horford and he's grateful for us Watch all five episodes of #AllInCeltics presented by @FDSportsbook now:

https://t.co/1LQr0Onird

https://t.co/K8atZP6O3H


https://x.com/i/events/1786074224844554240


Bob


.

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2024/07/celtics-land-favorable-draw-as-nba-cup-tournament-opponents-revealed.html



Celtics land favorable draw as NBA Cup tournament opponents revealed


Published: Jul. 12, 2024, 8:52 p.m.


By Brian Robb | brobb@masslive.com


The Celtics will face against one of the weaker groups in the Eastern Conference next season in the newly renamed Emirates NBA Cup. The league unveiled all six groups consisting of five teams each for the second annual in-season competition on Friday evening.

The Celtics will play in Group C in the Eastern Conference and matchup against the Bulls, Hawks, Cavaliers and Wizards in Group Play games across four Tuesdays (Nov. 12, 19 and 26 and Dec. 3) and three Fridays (Nov. 15, 22 and 29) in November and December. Each team will play one game against their four group opponents during the group stage with the winners of each group and one wildcard team from each conference advancing to the quarterfinals in December. Eight total teams will advance to the quarterfinals with the semifinals and championship held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the second straight year.


The Celtics advanced to the quarterfinals last year of the in-season tournament before bowing out in a road contest against the Pacers. Boston is likely to play the entire tournament this season without starting center Kristaps Porzingis who is expected to be sidelined until at least December after undergoing offseason leg surgery.


The Cavaliers should poise a formidable challenge to Boston within Group C but the Bulls and Wizards are not expected to be playoff teams while the Hawks are a borderline playoff team in the East next year after trading away Dejounte Murray. Here are the full groups for each conference.


East A: Knicks, Magic, 76ers, Nets, Hornets

East B: Bucks, Pacers, Heat, Raptors, Pistons

East C: Celtics, Cavs, Hawks, Bulls, Wizards

West A: Wolves, Clippers, Kings, Rockets, Blazers

West B: Thunder, Suns, Lakers, Jazz, Spurs

West C: Nuggets, Mavericks, Pelicans, Warriors, Grizzlies


Bob


.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
about 2 hours ago
Ron Harper Jr. has agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract with the Celtics, league source tells @TheAthletic. Harper has shown progress with the summer league team after returning from shoulder surgery.


Bob


.

Yossi Gozlan
@YossiGozlan
Updated cap sheet for the 2025-26 Boston Celtics following Sam Hauser extending for four years, $45 million.

They now project with a roster that will exceed $500 million once they reach 14 players.

Their luxury tax penalty is projected to be $50 million more than their payroll.






Bob


.

The only mitigation to this huge salary cost is that the new media deal will infuse each franchise with 2.5x the revenue they are currently receiving. My estimation is that the Celtics could receive approximately $133M more in 2025-26 in TV rights money than in 2024-25. The Celtics revenue was $443m in 2022-23. (you have to figure their revenue increased this past year). However, using the $443m as a base and adding $133m to this is $576M in revenue. This is a conservative number. I'm sure other sources of revenue will also increase. The point being even though salaries will be $515m in 2025-26, the Celtics as an organization could still be profitable. I realize other expenses have to be considered, but depending on who he owner is it can be managed. In all likelihood, the Celtics made a very nice profit this past year that could be put into the team.

All I am saying there is a decent chance that this team could be kept together for 3-4 years, but all depends on what is most important to the owners.

Celtics17,

That's what I've been thinking.  Today these moves look really nice for the players.  And they are getting what they have earned and deserve.  But for an owner, it looks like he has a screw loose.  No one with money acts the way our owner(s) are without knowing something we don't.  

We may be (are and will be) in that rare space where we can (and will) have...

...the best..of...both...worlds.  
Honey, I know what it's worth!!  
If we could have the best of both worlds,
it would be Heaven right here on earth!!

Anyone?  Bueller?  That's too easy.  

db

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2024/07/nba-schedule-2024-25-heres-the-full-celtics-preseason-slate.html



NBA schedule 2024-25: Here’s the full Celtics preseason slate


Published: Jul. 23, 2024, 12:54 p.m.


By Brian Robb | brobb@masslive.com



The Celtics full regular season schedule will not be released until next month but the team announced how they will kick off their title defense this October Tuesday with a five-game preseason slate. The unique schedule kicks off with two straight matchups against the Denver Nuggets that will occur in Abu Dahib on Oct 4 and Oct 6. Here’s a look at the full preseason schedule with contests that will be broadcast on NBC Sports Boston and 98.5 The Sports Hub locally.


Oct. 4: vs. Denver (in Abu Dhabi), 12 p.m. ET

Oct. 6: vs. Denver (in Abu Dhabi), 10 a.m. ET

Oct. 12: vs. Philadelphia, 8 p.m. ET

Oct. 13: vs. Toronto, 7 p.m. ET

Oct. 15: at Toronto, 7 p.m. ET

With the Celtics kicking off the NBA’s preseason slate on Oct. 4 in Abu Dhabi, they will report to training camp on Sept. 27, one week ahead of the remainder of the league. After a few days of practicing in Boston, they will fly to Abu Dhabi for the international contests before returning to the USA for a few days of rest before continuing their preseason schedule.


Boston will play without Kristaps Porzingis for the start of the season amid his recovery from leg surgery but the Celtics will return nearly their entire roster from their 2023-24 title team this year. Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White will also be coming off Olympic appearances so rest will likely be a priority for Boston’s starters amid the quick turnaround. The full NBA regular season schedule will be released in August with the Celtics expected to host their regular season opener in a game that will double as the team’s ring ceremony and banner raising.


Bob
MY NOTE:  The first pre-season game is October 4th.  That's 74 days from today, call it two-and-a-half months.  Camp will begin, probably, around 9/27-ish, to give the team 4-5 days of practice before they have to get on a plane to Abu Dhabi.  The league always lets teams who are playing pre-season games overseas to begin camp a day or two earlier than the rest.  So, 68 days or so before the start of camp.  Another great thing about being the World Champions is that the offseason is really short.  The players will start trickling into Boston 6-7 weeks from now to do some scrimmaging.


.

This is TORTURE!!!

db

https://www.si.com/nba/the-celtics-define-greatness-in-any-era


MY NOTE:  This is a long article but for those of us who got that special tingle when Hoosier Larry Bird arrived and embraced the Celtic's Mystique, and then got it again when Inglewood native, and life-long Laker fan, Paul Pierce came round, and then almost lost it completely when The Big Ticket Kevin Garnett was informally adopted by Bill Russell like a son and declared "I bleed green, I die green, that's what it is" this article is pure uncut crack cocaine.




The Celtics Define Greatness in Any Era



Following in the Converse-clad footsteps of 1956 SI cover subject Bob Cousy, Boston’s Jayson Tatum led the Celtics to their 18th NBA title, making them the most successful team of the magazine’s seven decades.


Chris Mannix | Jul 25, 2024



Jayson Tatum is on the cover of Sports Illustrated's 70th anniversary issue. / Jeffery A. Salter/Sports Illustrated




There is a note of skepticism in Jayson Tatum’s voice. “That’s a real picture?” he asks, peering down at the Jan. 9, 1956, cover of Sports Illustrated. Indeed, photography from that era can resemble a well-painted watercolor or something that today might be spit out by an Instagram filter, but the image of Boston Celtics icon Bob Cousy turning the corner on Fort Wayne Pistons big man Larry Foust is, in fact, legit.

“Nice sneakers,” Tatum says, noting Cousy’s black Chuck Taylors, which sold for around eight bucks. Tatum recently revealed he owns a pair of Nikes that sell for $8,000.


Drafted by Boston in 2017, Tatum knew little of Cousy. Or of the Celtics, really. He grew up in St. Louis, a city the NBA abandoned long ago. Kobe Bryant was his basketball role model. He recognized the names of some of the Boston greats—Cousy, Bill Russell, Larry Bird—but not much else. It wasn’t until ESPN released its documentary on the Celtics-Lakers rivalry in ’17 that he realized Cedric Maxwell was more than a radio analyst. He met Bird for the first time last February, during NBA All-Star weekend. “I was in awe,” Tatum says. “That’s the guy that you aspire to be when you wear this uniform.”

Tatum is studying the old issue during a break in his own photo shoot, the latest NBA athlete on the cover of SI admiring the first player from the league to be featured there. Cousy, sheepishly, admits he doesn’t remember the cover. “Wasn’t SI a hunting and fishing magazine for a while?” Cousy asks. Well, yes, early editions of SI did feature a fisherman’s digest and articles about African safaris. But there was plenty of mainstream sports coverage, too, including barrels of ink spilled on the Celtics, who, after knocking off the Dallas Mavericks in five games to win their 18th championship, moved past the Los Angeles Lakers on the NBA’s all-time title list while slipping ahead of the Montreal Canadiens for the most championships in SI’s 70-year history. “I do remember SI being a big deal,” Cousy says. “And I did like being on covers.”


Cousy is a realist, or at least sounds like one. Physically, he is healthy, or as healthy as a soon-to-be 96-year-old can be. He doesn’t move around much these days, his limbs weakened by back surgery and a mild case of diabetes that have left him largely wheelchair-bound. Every Thursday his daughter, Ticia, wheels him out of the modest Worcester, Mass., home he bought 61 years ago and drives him to a nearby country club, where Cousy sips on a couple of Beefeaters on the rocks and remembers better days. Internally, everything’s functioning, or so says his doctor, who makes monthly house calls. “He tells me, ‘Cous, you have the heart and lungs of a 20-year-old,’ ” Cousy says. It’s everything else that’s falling apart which, for a Hall of Fame point guard who spent 14 seasons effortlessly zipping up and down the floor, can be maddening. In 1956, the article accompanying Cousy’s SI cover had the headline BASKETBALL’S GENIUS. Yet to Cousy, the image of his 27-year-old self deftly dribbling through traffic is nearly unrecognizable. “I’m in double overtime of life,” he says.

There is still strength in Cousy’s voice, which rises when he starts talking about the past. “All I’m doing is sitting here all day on my fat ass thinking about the old days,” he says. He was 18 when he boarded a train from New York to Worcester to attend Holy Cross, and he never left the area. When the Celtics acquired Cousy in 1950—via a dispersal draft, after Cousy refused to report to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks when they declined to pay him the $10,000 per season salary he demanded—he became a commuter, driving the 47 miles between Worcester and Boston every day. “I’d get back here, lock the gates, go into my loner routine, not pick up the phone,” Cousy says. “And I avoided 90% of the crap that I would’ve had to put up with for all this stuff.”

The “stuff,” as Cousy calls it, was outsized success: 13 All-Star appearances, 12 All-NBA honors, the 1957 MVP trophy. For seven years he was the offensive yin to Russell’s defensive yang, whipping never-before-seen passes on one end while Russell swatted away shots on the other. He won six championships in Boston, though on his trophy shelf there is little commemorating them. He remembers getting one ring. Definitely not six. The only one on his shelf is one the Celtics gave him in 2008 for his role as a broadcaster. He got a set of golf clubs after one title. Some jewelry for his wife, Missie, after another. Besides, he’s still preoccupied by the one he didn’t win. “In 1958, Russell stubs his toe,” Cousy says, referencing the ankle injury Russell suffered in that year’s NBA Finals. “It would have been seven. It should have been seven. But I’ll settle for six.”


He’s proud of these accomplishments. He knows the perception: that the Celtics played in a slimmed-down league, that the task of winning titles is far more difficult today. In 2022, JJ Redick, now the Lakers coach but then an analyst with ESPN, criticized Cousy’s success, saying it came against plumbers and firemen. Cousy isn’t about to compare eras, but he insists there is a counterargument. “There were only six teams,” Cousy says. “So whatever talent was available, it was more concentrated. In that sense, winning was tougher.”





From afar, Cousy marvels at today’s game. The size, the speed, the skill. He doesn’t love the proliferation of the three-point shot—“I don’t like it as the first option,” Cousy says—but he gets it. And the money. Yeesh. In 1954, Cousy helped form a player’s association. The exhibition schedule was out of control—teams were playing as many as 23 games, a “full college season,” he says—and salaries weren’t growing. “We needed a seat at the f----ing table,” Cousy says. The union had little leverage back then; attendance was around 4,000 for most games and the idea that games could be regularly watched on television sets was a fantasy. In five years as union president Cousy’s greatest accomplishment was getting owners to raise per diem from $5 a day to $7. “I was a hero for that,” Cousy says. In ’63, Cousy was the NBA’s highest-paid player, at $35,000 per year. Last summer, Jaylen Brown signed a five-year extension worth north of $50 million a season. “I held out for $10,000,” cracked Cousy, “so Jaylen could hold out for [$304] million.” Tatum surpassed that shortly after the Finals with a $314 million deal.


Cousy has an affection for the well-compensated group. Some of it is their journey: Before this season, the Celtics made a habit of coming up short in the postseason. Cousy’s Celtics failed to so much as reach the Finals his first six seasons.

Some of it, most of it, is legacy. He doesn’t usually stay up past 8 p.m., but he was awake till nearly midnight to watch the team celebrate. Championships are what still tether Cousy to the franchise and to stars like Tatum, what connects a shifty 6' 1" point guard from Holy Cross to a 6' 8" three-point shooting forward from Duke. Days after the title clincher, a producer friend of Cousy’s asked him to record a message for the team.

“I just said, ‘Job well done,’ ” Cousy says. “But I hope you appreciate the legacy that you represent. One of the things I’m most proud about is that we started a unit. Red Auerbach and I were the first, we stuck together, then got a guy named Bill Russell in 1956, and finally rang the bell and won. That unit went on to win 11 freaking times. If you want to talk legacy, the Yankees, Green Bay [Packers], Montreal [Canadiens], they all have great legacies. None of them like the Celtics.”



Cousy at his home in Worcester, Mass. / Jeffery A. Salter/Sports Illustrated


Over the years Tatum has immersed himself more in Celtics culture. He’s grown close to Hall of Famer Paul Pierce, who was a frequent workout partner in Los Angeles last summer. “I literally saw Paul every day for six straight weeks,” Tatum says. He’s friendly with Russell’s widow, Jeannine. A few months after Russell died in 2022, the two crossed paths at a game. “I remember her telling me how much he enjoyed watching us play and how proud of me he was and how much he supported us even later in his life,” Tatum says. “Even when he wasn’t as talkative, he could still watch and see things. She just kept saying how proud of us that he was.”

As familiar as Tatum became with Celtics greats, he never felt like one of them. Statistically, Tatum is on a path to be one of the most prolific. Maybe the most. At 26, he’s already in the franchise’s top 20 in scoring, rebounds and assists. Only Bird and Pierce have racked up more points in their first 500 games.

But success in Boston isn’t based on numbers. It’s about banners. And as the failures piled up—three conference-final losses and a six-game flop to the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 Finals in Tatum’s first six seasons—doubt slowly crept in. In the weeks after the loss to the Warriors, Tatum admitted to a full-blown crisis of confidence.


“That was the first time where I thought, I don’t know, maybe I’m not one of the guys that can be the best player on the championship team,” Tatum says. “Because it was so hard to get to the Finals. And we still didn’t win. Getting there, that was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I was drained. That summer I had moments thinking that maybe you have to be a legend to win a championship. And there were moments where I wondered if I was going to be that guy, just because of how hard it is.”

Tatum can’t point to a specific moment that pushed him past it. “Time heals all,” he shrugs. So, too, do trades. Last offseason, after a disappointing conference finals loss to the Miami Heat, the Celtics shook things up. Marcus Smart, Robert Williams and Malcolm Brogdon were out. Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis were in. Holiday added versatility to an already stingy defense. Porzingis, a 7' 2" floor spacer, helped power a historically good offense.

The result was a 64-win season and a franchise-best 16–3 run through the playoffs. “The toughest part about winning this championship is that Smart isn’t here and Rob isn’t here,” Tatum says. “But I’m so happy that we have Jrue and KP. Those guys obviously took us to the next level.”



Tatum poses with the 1956 cover of Sports Illustrated featuring Cousy. / Jeffery A. Salter/Sports Illustrated


As did Brown. Few teammate dynamics have been as scrutinized as those of Tatum and Brown. Drafted a year apart, they had quick success, making the conference finals in two of their first three seasons together. Brown, though, constantly found his name in trade rumors, the result of a run of star players (Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant) becoming available and the flexibility the Celtics had to acquire them.

Meanwhile, the relationship between the two stars has been nitpicked incessantly. A rough stretch can lead to a media colonoscopy. Hell, even a good stretch. After Brown was named MVP of the conference finals, ESPN used video of Tatum applauding—apparently not emphatically enough—to suggest that the two weren’t really close. “Like I wasn’t happy for him?” Tatum says. “Yeah that was tough. Because then we had 10 days off. I was just like, ‘F---, can we start playing?’ ”

Tatum will cop to some missteps over the years. But he insists he never wanted Brown to be traded. “Most stars don’t make a conference finals until they are 27, 28,” Tatum says. “We were doing it when we were 19, 20.” He does admit, however, that he could have been more vocal.


“I’ve always told him that maybe I could have done a better job of voicing my feelings in the public eye,” Tatum says. “He always knew that I wanted him here. I would always tell him like, ‘Man, I don’t get involved with any of those talks.’ I never went to [Celtics president of basketball operations] Brad [Stevens] or went to any player like, ‘Yo, I want this guy in, I want this guy out of here.’ I show up and I want to do my job and play basketball. And looking back on in those moments, I didn’t know how that could affect somebody, because I was never in that situation. I feel like maybe I could have done a better job of publicly saying, ‘No, we don’t want anybody, we want JB.’ I just was always like, ‘I want to stay out of it.’ ”

Over the years, Tatum has often been first to collect the accolades: All-Star, All-NBA. As teammates, they are friendly. As high-level wing players, they are, at times, competitors. Tatum recalls a stretch during the 2019–20 season, when both knew they were battling for one All-Star spot. Tatum got it. “And I knew he was happy for me,” Tatum says. “But when you are a competitor, you want what’s in front of you.” Similarly, Tatum wanted Finals MVP this year. But to see Brown get recognized, Tatum says, “made me genuinely happy.”

“I feel like he has gotten a short end of the stick, whether it’s All-Star selections or All-NBA,” Tatum says. “I feel like he, in a sense, made up for some of those shortcomings that people didn’t vote him for. I was happy that he got it.”


The criticism has quieted now. The trade chatter is gone. Tatum and Brown are locked up for the foreseeable future. It’s not exactly the yin and yang dynamic Cousy and Russell enjoyed, but during the postseason Tatum led the Celtics in points, rebounds and assists. Brown distinguished himself with his defense on Luka Doncic in the Finals.

“We’ve figured out that we need each other,” Tatum says. “We have learned how to coexist. And we know we need to be the best version of ourselves in order for all of this to work. We weren’t necessarily the best playmakers early in our careers but we developed into guys that really bleed the game. We want to be a great example of guys that play on both ends as a floor and guys who are the best teammates that we can be.”

Days after winning the title, the reality of being a champion was still settling in. Tatum willingly—eagerly, even—accepted picture requests at restaurants and grins now at the golf course when he’s called “champ” on the tee box. The duck boat parade through Boston, says Tatum, “was the best experience of my life.” It’s even brought out a little swagger. Before the parade, Tatum was asked about Boston’s celebratory trip to Miami after the Finals. Former Celtic Brian Scalabrine, now a broadcaster, noted the team has had some hard-fought trips to South Florida. Responded Tatum, “They are all easy.”


“It’s like you have that window of nobody being able to tell you anything,” Tatum says. “You are the best team until somebody says otherwise.”

For Boston, that could be awhile. In the pursuit of parity, the NBA has worked to collectively bargain superteams out of existence, establishing punitive tax penalties for the free spenders. And it’s worked: In the last six years, there have been six different champions.

Boston, though, could buck that trend. The Celtics’ top eight rotation players are all under contract next season. Chronologically, Tatum and Brown are just hitting their primes. The days of double-digit title runs are long gone, but Boston is well-positioned to win a couple more.


“When you win a championship, you think about all your favorite players,” Tatum says. “They have that moment. This is what makes them, those guys that they win on the highest level. They did it multiple times. So in a weird way, yeah, I have thought about, man, you can be one of the greatest basketball players ever in some capacity. And winning takes care of a lot of it.”

Cousy would love to see it. He’s watched a lot of friends die in recent years. Russell, Tommy Heinsohn. He was close with Jerry West, who died in June. Satch Sanders, whom Cousy still talks to regularly, is the last of his teammates from the 1950s who is still around. After the Finals, co-owner Steve Pagliuca left a message on Cousy’s answering machine. Cousy would welcome an invitation to watch the banner raising next season, as long as Sanders and Massachusetts governor Maura Healey, whom Cousy has befriended, can be there with him.

“It’s a special moment,” Cousy says.  


And the next one?

“I don’t know,” he says with a laugh. “But I’ll probably be watching from the big basketball court in the sky.”  


Bob


.

dbrown4 wrote:Celtics17,

That's what I've been thinking.  Today these moves look really nice for the players.  And they are getting what they have earned and deserve.  But for an owner, it looks like he has a screw loose.  No one with money acts the way our owner(s) are without knowing something we don't.  

We may be (are and will be) in that rare space where we can (and will) have...

...the best..of...both...worlds.  
Honey, I know what it's worth!!  
If we could have the best of both worlds,
it would be Heaven right here on earth!!

Anyone?  Bueller?  That's too easy.  

db

dbrown,

No one has answered you on this one yet? Geesh; even Wilma loosened the bone once in a while!

That would be Van Halen, the Van Hagar version.

Tough to pick a fave front man between Diamond Dave and Sammy.

The writer of this article knew nothing of Cousy's actual 40-mile trip from Worcester to Boston Garden. Cooz left his home on Salisbury Street (1 block from my old home) and took Route 9 straight into Boston. In 1956 there was no Mass Turnpike, the route the writer must have googled to come up with a 47 mile trek. Even after the Mass Pike was built, Cooz always took Route 9, looping a mile out of his way to drop off Tommy Heinsohn at his own home at the end of May Street. BTW, I went to May Street School for elementary.

Cooz's daughter Ticia was a classmate of my sister at Notre Dame Academy., which was literally 200 feet from Cooz's home. I met Patricia once, at my sister's 50th birthday celebration and almost asked her out, but then I thought, "Would I be hitting on her if she weren't Bob Cousy's daughter?" I answered myself, "Nope," although she is a lovely gal, and the rest is not history.

Otherwise a fun article

Cow, i had a billionaire come in yesterday with his wife who had just broken her arm (humerus) and had it in a sling. After her treatment, I suggested that she use Asea's Renu 24 on it regularly. That's the cream you recommended to me long ago which I use on most of my patients who are in pain. She then said, "Oh, I always use that at home."

If the Celts aren't using it, they should. Can you get one of their trainers to include it in  the Celts' rehab protocols? Come to think of it, I may get my sister to send some to Patty Cousy to use on her dad. I'll let you know what happens.

https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2024/08/03/nba-notebook-jay-scrubb-will-return-to-celtics-following-acl-tear


Jay Scrubb will return to Celtics following ACL tear


By Bobby Manning
Aug 3, 2024 • 2:59 PM



Jay Scrubb had dominated Summer League, signed a two-way contract with the Celtics and was getting to know head coach Joe Mazzulla late in training camp last October when he fell awkwardly on a dunk attempt. He didn't feel the pain right away, but knew what had happened and the anguish set in immediately. Scrubb would have to miss significant time away from basketball with a torn ACL. It ended up becoming the entire season and more.

"I would say the last day of training camp ... closer to the end of practice. We were going through five-on-five with the coaches ... I felt it immediately. I knew it was something. It's just tough being in that position," Scrubb told Boston Sports Journal. "I'm gonna have to be away from the game ... not being able to walk, having to learn how to walk again, it's crazy. That's what was going through my mind immediately, all those things, the rehab process, being away from the game."


Boston waived Scrubb following the season-ending surgery, later replacing him with two-way wing Drew Peterson, but Brad Stevens told Scrubb they'd help him with his rehab and make the Celtics' facilities available to him. He became visible as camp concluded and the regular season began around Auerbach Center with his crutches and knee brace, but after several months returned to his native Kentucky to work with his trainers and largely faded from the memory of many Boston fans as the championship season began. Almost one year later, with a return to the floor looming, Scrubb will receive a second chance. He'll sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Celtics once he fully recovers and receives clearance to play, allowing him to compete for a spot with Boston before likely resuming his basketball career in Maine.

Scrubb, who turns 24 in September, entered the NBA as the 55th overall pick in the 2020 draft as a rare selection from a junior college, which last happened in 2004. He attended John A. Logan College in Illinois, eventually emerging as the NABC Junior College Player of the Year. The Clippers traded for him and he spent 2020-21 around Kawhi Leonard, one of his idols in Rajon Rondo and other veterans who helped acclimate him to the NBA before a foot injury in 2022 led to his release. Scrubb played with Orlando's G-League team for the 2022-23 season before signing with the Celtics for Summer League last year. He averaged 14.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game, flashing enough defensive promise alongside his ability to get his left-handed shot off from all three levels to earn a deal.

"I was the most confident in my career I've ever been," Scrubb remembered. "The success was showing, I tried to let the work take over, getting in the gym twice a day, whether it's three times a day, doing what I gotta do and sacrificing ... it was great. Being around the guys. Being able to compete ... I watched Tatum when he was at Duke, I watched Brown when he was at Cal. I watched those guys when they were in college, even in high school, so it was crazy being able to compete. I could definitely feel like they were onto something early on and it was gonna be a really good year."

Scrubb talked to Stevens, Mazzulla and teammates in the week following his injury and felt welcomed by the organization despite his injury. They helped him come out of his shell in camp and got to remain in the locker room during the early stages of his rehab while receiving attention from the team's training staff. He stayed there for two months, which left him watching the team's championship run from a distance as he now begins the process of reconnecting. Scrubb watched former summer teammates Jordan Walsh and JD Davison progress into another Summer League, surprised at how young they both are.

Being around the Celtics last season, Scrubb heard from the team that he'd be welcome back at training camp this fall, which meant everything to him, he said. Now, he's at 80% in his recovery and still has some things to address physically, but he's focused more on the crushing mental impact of a year-long recovery and focusing on each day of the recovery. The support from the Celtics, he said, helped him get through it.

"Even though I wasn't on the deal, I still felt like I was a part of the team, because I was there and the relationships I built and just being there, you still feel like you're part of the organization," Scrubb said. "That gave me the motivation to want to get back and be there with those guys ... the mental part, being away from the game for the first time just crushed me, I didn't really know how to feel, but having the support, it really takes over. That really brought me back ... it's tough physically, but the harder you work, the more you build yourself up to better yourself."


Bob
MY NOTE:  A 'Feel Good" story.  Scrubb really opened up some eyes two summers ago.  He went north-south as well as any wing in SL and that year showcased Kuminga, Quentin Grimes, Dalano Banton and other wings still in the NBA.  His injury was really sad, coming towards the end of pre-season.  Watson just signed the final two-way we have, so other than the 15 spot there's nowhere for him on this squad this year, but maybe he can showcase himself for another team.  He's only at 80%, so it's likely that he's going to Maine no matter what.  


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You are right Bob, I remember how excited we were with his play last year before his injury. I am happy for him and am glad to see the Celtics give him the shot he was earning last year. Maine will give him the chance to possibly get back to full strength and hopefully find his way to the big club at some point. I just remember how impressed I was with him

The Celtics are one classy organization.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/oshae-brissett-opens-role-boston-110014196.html



Oshae Brissett opens up on role with Boston Celtics, free agency



Justin Quinn

Sun, August 4, 2024 at 4:00 AM PDT·2 min read



When Boston Celtics backup big man Oshae Brissett elected to opt out of his player option for the 2024-25 NBA season with the Celtics, he knew he was taking a calculated risk. But he was also a young, solid forward with a chance to find a bigger role on a ball club not so stacked with talent.

Brissett recently opened up on that misreading of the market for his services -- at least to date -- in an episode of his self-produced YouTube show "Brissy TV". "Everyone on the team, on the Celtics, got paid to go back and do their job again, as they (expletive) should," said the Celtics swingman alum via HoopsHype. "Sam (Hauser), Payton (Pritchard), I’m talking about the guys that come off the bench."

"I was going to be starting, but Al (Horford) comes off the bench sometimes when (Kristaps Porzingis) gets back," he added, "and (they've) still got Jordan Walsh, who’s only getting better."


"All those guys deserve to play." said Brissett. "They deserve to be there. They put the work in, and they deserve to be there. But just like how they deserve to be there and play, I deserve to play."

"I put the work in my career, bro. I’ve been cut from teams, I’ve been benched, I’ve been in the G League, I’ve started in NBA games, I’ve scored 30, I’ve scored 25, double-doubles, all types of stuff. I put the work in, bro, to get to where I’m at right now, and all I want to do is play. Feel me?"

Ray Allen once told a story of when Michael Jordan explained how after a title, role players want bigger roles, often creating friction within the team contrary to the title-focused mission.

We have a feeling this is what he was talking about, even if Brissett may have a point.


Bob
MY NOTE:  If Sam hadn't gotten paid he would have left.  If Payton demanded a trade if he didn't get minutes, which he ended up getting.  That's some of the nature of this business.  The only player I can think of off the top of my head whose priorities are perhaps different is Luke.  The reports are that he had better $ offers on the table but chose to sign for less to stay in Boston.  Maybe that's true of Sam too, maybe the deal he did sign isn't as rich as one he could have had elsewhere, but the one he signed was pretty good anyway.  Players want money.  Not just because they have short careers and so they need to get it while they can but also because it's used as a measuring stick vs other players.  Players want to play, that's why they're players.  I don't blame Oshae one bit.  He played his role here perfectly, got a ring out of it and now can pursue other priorities.  Unless a veteran who still "got it" becomes available at the vet minimum I am perfectly happy to wait before we sign a 15th man.  A late season injury to a key player is difficult to recover from if you have no open roster spots.




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