“I want a third ring, and then I want a fourth one.”
A little over a month after the sale of the Celtics was completed, new lead owner Bill Chisholm, co-owner/alternate governor Aditya Mittal, CEO Wyc Grousbeck, President Rich Gotham and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens addressed the media on Thursday afternoon at the Auerbach Center.
The introductory press conference addressed topics including Chisolm’s priorities as lead owner, expectations for next season, and much more.
Here are five takeaways from Thursday’s presser:
Chisholm’s identity as an owner
It’s been six months since it was first reported that an ownership group led by Chisholm won the bidding for the Celtics at more than $6.1 billion — a record price paid for an American professional sports team.
Chisholm noted on Thursday that he’s still getting his feet wet as the team’s lead owner, especially with the sale of the franchise only made official in August.
But, as he steps into a leadership role on a Celtics team both staring at a potential bridge year and saddled with high expectations, Chisholm stressed that he plans to take on whatever role is required to support an established basketball operations staff led by Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla.
“I’m a huge fan first of all. So I’m so excited to be there, to have the best seat in the house, frankly,” Chisholm said of his role as owner. “So I will absolutely be there. I will do whatever it takes — whatever the Boston Celtics need me to do.
“If they need me to be doing press conferences every day, I’ll do them. If they need me to stay out of the way, I’ll do that. I feel like I have enough self awareness to know where I can be hopeful and know when to get out of the way. And the biggest thing I think I can bring is support to the folks on the stage here.”
While Chisholm plans to let Stevens steer the ship in terms of roster maneuvers and other dealings on the court, he added that he stands as the final say as part of Boston’s reworked leadership hierarchy.
“I’d say my approach to leadership and the way I’ve approached that all my life is through consensus. We have a great team,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m accountable. There is a governor and the governor has final say — and that’s me.”
Wyc Grousbeck “reenergized’ with new role
It’s been an interesting 18 months for former Celtics lead owner and governor Wyc Grousbeck, who formally ceded those titles to Chisholm after the sale of the team was made official in August.
Grousbeck was initially expected to remain the team’s lead governor through the 2027-28 season, but that plan was shifted when additional fundraising put Grousbeck’s ownership stake below the 15 percent needed to account for that role.
Still, Grousbeck — who remains involved with the team as an alternate governor and CEO — noted that the Celtics are in good hands with Chisholm.
“This was a challenge to wrap my head around this,” Grousbeck said. “I worked it out with my family. I ended up with half of what my family and I collectively put in. So that’s now in my name. So I’m a significant owner in this team alongside Bill and Aditya and Sixth Street, and I’m grateful for that. But more than ownership, it’s love and commitment. And [my wife] Emilia and I have agreed to — and glad to be invited to — stay in forever and keep shares of the team and courtside seats and just be there for our kids.
“Starting off, it was a challenge to figure out how to auction the Celtics successfully and find the right group, among the many qualified groups and great people, including old friends who were bidding. But we knew one would step forward eventually, and a great group stepped forward and now we’re partners. So it’s actually worked out. No fooling, it’s worked out authentically. I think it’s worked out well for the Celtics, too. I hope so.”
While Grousbeck’s role in this reworked ownership group has shifted, he noted that the goal will remain the same.
“I want a third ring, and then I want a fourth one,” Grousbeck said. “I’ve got two. It’s a nice start. This group, we are committed to getting it together. So what’s it like for me? I’m actually reenergized. I love the fact that more than half the new group is actually the previous group rolling over.
“So we’re staying in, in many ways, and being welcomed in. … So it’s kind of a new partnership building on the success of my great partners of the last 23 years, who I appreciate and thank forever. So there’s just lots of good feelings going on.”
Addressing Boston’s offseason moves
Chisholm’s first year as lead owner of the Celtics could be a bumpy one, given both Jayson Tatum’s recovery from a torn Achilles and the pain of Boston moving on from several lineup regulars due to luxury-tax restrictions.
In order to get under the restrictive second apron of the NBA’s new CBA structure, the Celtics traded away two starters in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, while also letting players like Al Horford and Luke Kornet walk in free agency.
While Chisholm acknowledged that it was unfortunate to let so many key cogs from the 2023-24 championship team go, he added that getting under that second apron gives Boston the flexibility it needs to remain competitive during both Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s prime years.
“I’d say some of those, as a fan, I get it,” Chisholm said of Boston’s roster turnover. “Those hurt as a fan, both as good people and obviously great players had to part ways with. And I get it. I get that hurts. I would say, and I don’t mean to be glib, but there are sort of three things I would say: first there’s Derrick White, second is Jrue Holiday, third is Kristaps Porzingis.
“Because if we were in this situation back then, we couldn’t have gotten those guys on the team. So that’s what we’re playing for. We’re playing for the flexibility to do that kind of thing and when the moment is right to do that, we’re going to do it.”
While Chisholm’s purchase of the team coincided with the Celtics needing to shed payroll this offseason, Grousbeck defended Boston’s new lead owner — admitting that this offseason teardown was going to be inevitable under the terms of the new CBA.
“This type of move would have happened whether or not the team was sold,” Grousbeck said. “I was on the committee that really wrote these new rules and negotiated them with the players, wrote them together with the players — to make it much more tough to just go and buy a championship.
“We have to have teams competing on a basically even financial keel, no matter who owns them and then have the best front office and the best good luck, probably as well, the best players. Competing other than just who has the most money. We wrote that very specifically at the league a few years ago and agreed on it with the players. It was very purposeful and intentional to keep building the parity in the league.”
Boston now sits nearly $8 million under the second apron after its slew of offseason moves, per MassLive’s Brian Robb. Still the Celtics remain over the luxury tax by $12 million.
But Stevens said that the Celtics don’t have a mandate in place to cut even more payroll in hopes of getting below that luxury-tax threshold.
“We’re looking at it from the standpoint of let’s see what this team looks like, let’s put our very best foot forward, let’s let Joe, his staff, the players, let’s all work to maximize ourselves with an attitude of no ceilings and no limitations and go after it,” Stevens said. “And we’ll evaluate the roster like we always will as the year goes on but there’s no tax goal.
Even with Tatum sidelined and several key Celtics players now playing elsewhere, Chisholm believes that Boston can still be a tough out this upcoming season.
“I would just say that I agree with Brad 100%,” Chisholm said. “I’m not going to put a ceiling on the team. We’ve got a lot of talent, and we’ve got some very strong character people. I’m actually pretty excited for what this team can do. When I look back, those Isaiah Thomas teams, those are some of my favorites.
“I do think there’s a smaller margin for error, but I do think that this team has the potential to be pretty special, and I think we’re going to embrace the kind of underdog mentality, as well. So I’m super excited for what’s around the corner.”
The Celtics’ future at TD Garden
One of the more intriguing storylines worth following during Chisholm’s tenure as Celtics lead owner will be the team’s long-term home.
“Chisholm is not going to pay $6.1 billion for the Celtics and remain content with being a tenant at TD Garden,” The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn wrote in March. “He most certainly will want to build a basketball arena in Boston. A model for Chisholm is Steve Ballmer, who paid $2 billion for the Clippers in 2014 (boy, those were the days, huh?).”
The Celtics currently hold a lease at TD Garden through 2036, with Delaware North and Bruins team owner Jeremy Jacobs owning the building.
Building their own arena would allow the Celtics to maximize profits moving forward, but Chisholm noted on Thursday that focusing on the construction of a new venue was high on his most-pressing tasks as lead owner.
“The first thing is, I really like the Boston Garden, personally,” Chisholm said. “I think that more importantly, the team and the players really like the Boston Garden, and even equally importantly, the fans really like the Boston Garden. So that’s a starting point.
“Second thing is, I think the Celtics and the Bruins — they belong together. So that’s another part of the equation as well. But the third thing is, we are 100 percent committed to creating the best fan experience possible. And we’ll take a look at it. Figure where that is. But we’ve got a great thing going right now.”
Chisholm wants a WNBA team in Boston
It’s looking more and more likely that the Connecticut Sun won’t be relocating to Boston, with former Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca’s bid to buy the franchise and move them to Massachusetts seemingly scuttled by the WNBA.
But, speaking on Thursday, Chisholm said he hopes the WNBA eventually set its sights on a market like Boston.
“First of all, I think Boston should have a team. It’s the best sports city in the country,” Chisholm said. “This is the birthplace of basketball.”
While the WNBA seems content on either keeping the Sun in Connecticut or moving the franchise to one of its preferred relocation venues in the next year or so, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Alexa Philippou noted last month that Chisholm could factor into a new WNBA team in Boston in due time.
According to Shelburne and Philippou, the WNBA would consider a team in Boston in another round of expansion — adding that new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm would be the league’s “preferred owner” for that franchise.
“Massachusetts governor Maura Healey, who played collegiately at Harvard and has been trying to help bring a WNBA team to Boston, has already been in communication with Chisholm, sources said,” Shelburne and Philippou wrote.
While Chisholm did not get into specifics on how the WNBA would eventually settle in Boston — or his role in that move — he stressed that the league should view this market as a prime destination moving forward.
“I’ve been in this seat for about a month or so. It’s definitely something we’re going to look at,” Chisholm said. “I know the WNBA has a process. We’re going to do what we can to expedite things, but there is a process there. But philosophically, it makes sense.”