The Celtics are facing far lower expectations this season after losing several key players from their championship core this summer via trades and free agency, along with the loss of Jayson Tatum to an Achilles tear. Boston is no longer considered a contender in the East due to those developments, but that isn’t impacting the team’s mindset in training camp. According to assistant coach Sam Cassell, Joe Mazzulla is kicking things up a notch in a new era of Celtics basketball.
Cassell spoke to Zolak and Bertrand on 98.5 the Sports Hub on Wednesday about what he’s seen from the team so far during training camp before making a surprising declaration about what the players are facing.
“We’re going to play hard, we’re going to compete,” Cassell said. “We’re going to be the hardest playing team in basketball and that’s how camp is going right now. I’ve been in this business 34 years, my 34th training camp and this is the hardest training camp (I’ve seen) right now. It’s only one day but it’s a lot and our players are embracing it.”
Cassell played 15 seasons in the NBA before retiring in 2008 after winning a championship with Boston. He’s been in the coaching ranks for the past decade plus including the previous three years in Boston under Mazzulla as a top assistant.
“Training camp when I first came into the league was a month,” Cassell said. “All the veterans used training camp to get in shape so you would see veterans falling out (of workouts). We had 28 more days to get ready for opening night and preseason. This training camp we have right now, Joe wants to push the envelope. He wants to force the issue. Not break them but take them to a point where this is hard. That’s how we’re going to have to play this year. We’re going to play this year balls out and turn our hat backwards and get after it. That’s Joe Mazzulla.”
The Celtics loss of four rotation players in Al Horford, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet has opened the door for plenty of opportunity for players further down the depth chart and Cassell expects that group to make the most of their chances to take on a heavier load.
“We just got a hard playing group of guys,” Cassell said. “The good part about our team is they really enjoy playing for each other. They want to make the best of this. I know they think in their mind everyone is coming us out because we did have a lot of talent that left our program but our guys are looking for the opportunity to showcase more. More of Sam Hauser, Pritchard, we got so many guys, Tillman, Neemie, we have guys that have wanted the opportunity to play for the Celtics at this level.”
The Celtics will have two more training camp sessions this week after a day off on Thursday. They will play their preseason opener in Memphis next Wednesday night on Oct. 8.