Joe Mazzulla isn’t pretending the Celtics’ next step is obvious. That’s exactly why he sounds energized.
At media day, the Boston coach leaned into the uncertainty around a roster that looks different after a busy offseason. Boston is coming off a year in which it outperformed expectations even while Jayson Tatum missed the majority of the season with an injury, and Mazzulla helped steer the team through the middle of the year with the moves he made.
Now the picture has changed again. Jaylen Brown is gone after being traded to the 76ers for Paul George.
The Celtics also added Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley, then brought in more solid pieces through the draft. With that, it’s officially Tatum’s team.
What that means in practice is still unclear. The Celtics enter a season with real unknowns, and the Eastern Conference carries its own shift as well, with the Knicks coming off a championship win and younger teams gaining confidence.
Mazzulla says that uncertainty is part of what pulls him in, not what pushes him away.
"There is a short-term motivation vs. a long-term process, journey, motivation that you’re on,” Mazzulla said to the media via WEEI. "The most thing I'm excited about is the unknown.
I always get excited about that. There’s risks to the unknown, but there’s also opportunities.
"What we can become, what we have to go through to get to where we want to get to... I’m inspired and motivated by the unknown more than anything else, because I don't know what we could be. I have no idea."
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Bostons interest makes sense as a low-risk swing on talent rather than a short-term fix. A two-way contract would give the Celtics a chance to bring in a former top-10 pick who is still available as an unrestricted free agent, with very little downside if the fit never develops and a meaningful upside if his game starts to stabilize. [Read more 🡒]
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Joe Mazzulla has already acknowledged the need to shape the system around the current roster, and thats where the real tension sits now. Boston knows the talent is there, but talent alone does not settle the question of identity, especially when training camp is the place where habits are supposed to harden and roles are supposed to become clear. The Celtics are still searching for the version of their offense that can hold up when opponents take away the first option, and the conversation around how they get there is very much alive. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Still Carry One Surprising 2026-27 Ceiling After Major Change
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Paul George and Mitchell Robinson are also part of that optimistic equation, and their contributions would matter almost as much as Tatums health. It is a reminder that the Celtics ceiling still looks formidable on paper, but the whole forecast depends on key players being available and productive when it counts. [Read more 🡒]