Joe Mazzulla didn’t need much time on Day 1 of Celtics training camp to set the tone for Chris Cenac Jr. and Dillon Mitchell. The message was simple: bring effort, stay willing to improve, and the rest can follow.
That’s the bar Boston is placing in front of its two rookies as they begin the stretch leading into the regular season. For the Celtics, the hope is that the 2026 draft class keeps moving in the right direction by doing the basics at a high level.
Both players arrive with traits the organization likes. Both also come with a reputation for doing the work.
Cenac said at Summer League that his parents built that into him. His father, Chris Sr., and his mother, Sharita, have worked across a wide range of roles, including owning a plumbing company, working in real estate, and helping organize events such as NBA All-Star Weekend and the WWE’s WrestleMania.
Cenac’s habits showed up on the basketball side, too. After transferring to Link Academy, he got in late at night and still found time to get shots up.
Mitchell’s approach is just as direct. He told Hardwood Houdini in Las Vegas that he’s arriving in Boston ready to "be a sponge and learn, and just literally play my heart out on that court.
Willing to die for it." That mindset helped him become a McDonald’s All-American and a team captain in his only season at St.
John’s.
Boston’s belief in the pair is rooted in character and athleticism. The Celtics are betting that those qualities, combined with their player development setup, can help push both rookies toward their ceiling.
Cenac’s path already says something about that drive. He was a five-star recruit ranked seventh in his class before heading to Houston, where he played in Kelvin Sampson’s demanding program. That choice lined up with the kind of challenge Boston believes he can handle.
Amile Jefferson, who coached the Celtics’ Summer League group, pointed to Cenac’s upside and mobility. At six-foot-11, he has the frame of a stretch-four/center, plus a pterodactyl-like 7'5" wingspan, a 9'0.5" standing reach, and massive hands. Those traits give him the chance to become a strong rim protector, especially when rotating from the weak side.
Mitchell brings a different kind of value. He’s the player people keep circling when talking about the best athlete on the floor.
He looks like he’s floating at times, gliding through his takeoff. He also earned a reputation as one of the better perimeter defenders in college, and his shooting is already trending up.
Boston’s coaching staff has been pushing him to release the ball on the way up, and he has started to put that into practice. In Las Vegas, he made 3 of 8 three-pointers after hitting just one in his final NCAA season.
In Other News...
Celtics Still Carry One Surprising 2026-27 Ceiling After Major Change
Stephen Nohs latest projection for Boston still leaves plenty of optimism on the table, even after a major roster change. He has the Celtics winning 54 games and claiming the No. 1 seed in the East in 2026-27, a forecast built around Jayson Tatum getting back to All-NBA form after injury and Boston finding useful production from Paul George and Mitchell Robinson.
For a team that just moved on from Jaylen Brown, that kind of ceiling says the framework in Boston is still viewed as strong enough to survive a jarring shakeup. The bigger question is whether the Celtics can keep the important pieces on the floor long enough for that upside to matter, because the outlook hinges just as much on health and availability as it does on talent. [Read more 🡒]
NBA Officiating Change Just Put An Ex-Celtics Star In Focus
The NBA is heading into the 2026-27 season with a fresh officiating focus, and it could have a familiar feel for Celtics fans. The league says it will pay closer attention to how offensive players use their off-arm, with referees instructed to crack down on illegal push-offs while still allowing legal contact that helps a scorer create space. Monty McCutchen, the NBAs senior vice president of referee development and training, used examples involving Jaylen Brown and Paul George to draw the line between what officials should and should not call.
The broader emphasis also reaches straight-line pathway plays and freedom of movement around screens, two areas that have been central to how offenses get organized and how defenders try to fight through traffic. For Boston, it is the kind of change that could matter on both ends, especially in a league where a few borderline whistles can shape how a wing scorer attacks and how much room a teams movement offense gets to operate. The real question now is how quickly players and officials adjust once the season actually starts. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Suddenly Hold A Pick Swap Fans May Start Obsessing Over
The Clippers latest injury wave has only added to the uncertainty around a franchise already trying to navigate a delayed rebuild, and that matters in Boston because the Celtics still control a 2028 first-round pick swap with Los Angeles. With Brandon Ingram, Bradley Beal, Yanic Konan Neiderhauser and Jordan Miller all among the players sidelined, the long view around the Clippers has started to look even murkier, which is exactly the kind of backdrop that can turn a future asset from interesting into intriguing.
For Celtics fans, the appeal is obvious: a swap tied to a team dealing with both health issues and NBA sanctions suddenly feels less like a distant footnote and more like something worth tracking. The value of that 2028 pick will depend on how much the Clippers can stabilize over the next few seasons, but for now the picture points in one direction - and it is enough to keep Bostons front office inventory looking a little more useful than it did before this latest stretch of bad news. [Read more 🡒]