Mitchell Robinson arrived in Boston with a clear purpose: strengthen a center spot that had been a weak link. So far, that part has gone as planned. After one preseason game, it’s already obvious the Celtics have gotten plenty from him.
But Boston isn’t asking Robinson to be just a pick-and-roll guy. Joe Mazzulla’s offense puts a huge load on centers, and Robinson is being pushed to stretch beyond the role he’s known best.
“One of the most important positions in the league is your center position,” Mazzulla said on media day. “They're involved in every single pick and roll on both sides of the floor.
They control your offense and defensive rebounding numbers, and most adjustments run through them. So those guys carry a lot of pressure, expectation, and responsibilities.”
That’s where the shift begins. Robinson’s screening and rolling will still matter, and it will matter a lot, but Boston wants more than that.
Mazzulla said after Saturday’s win over Philadelphia, “Mitch is just used to being a pick and roll screener,” Mazzulla said after Boston’s win over Philadelphia on Saturday. “Here, we're asking to be a little bit more dynamic as far as reading and off-ball and playing through.
So, just habits that we have to be able to just work on.”
The Celtics can already see the obvious value. Robinson’s gravity on a simple pick-and-roll can pull a defense inward and open up the wing. That alone should produce points for Boston this season.
Still, the bigger ask is about awareness. The Celtics want their centers to process the floor, not just finish a sequence.
It’s not enough to set the screen, roll hard, and disappear. As Mazzulla put it before Monday’s practice, “Every time they’re coming down the floor, information is given to you on what gives us the best chance to win that possession,” Mazzulla explained before the team’s Monday practice.
“Is it a rim run? Is it a pick and roll?
Is it an off-ball screen? Where are Jayson [Tatum] and Paul [George] or Sam [Hauser]?
How can we set screens for them to get open?”
Neemias Queta showed that idea against the Sixers, even on a possession that didn’t finish the way Boston wanted. The sequence still reflected the kind of thinking the Celtics are after: screen, read, reset, and keep creating pressure until someone breaks free.
First came the pick for Payton Pritchard and the roll, with nothing there. Then Queta set another screen for Pritchard and again saw no path to the rim. After that, he reset the action at the top and kept the possession alive with another option for Pritchard once he was doubled.
The play likely would have worked even better if Pritchard had gone into a hand-off, which would have opened the door to an empty-side pick-and-roll and maybe an alley oop or a dump off. Still, the possession showed the kind of layered decision-making Boston wants from its bigs.
Queta also had another small but useful sequence that won’t always jump off the screen but can pay off later. He read Hauser’s defender, set the screen, and helped create an open three for Hauser.
If Tatum had driven baseline instead of shooting, he could have kicked the ball to Hauser in the corner. Robinson, by contrast, usually makes his living in spots like that by hunting offensive rebounds.
And that’s part of the appeal with Robinson too. He’s one of the best offensive rebounders around, so his strengths are already going to help Boston.
The point is not to take that away from him. It’s to add layers.
Mazzulla said the center isn’t doing anything wrong. He’s leaning on habits that have worked for his entire career. Boston just wants him to do more inside a system that asks for more.
“It’s not that he’s not working on that and it’s not that he doesn’t have that in him. It’s just a different system,” Mazzulla said.
“There’s really not a wrong answer, it’s more just being able to get to doing it and being more dynamic in that. So I’m excited for him.
He has a really high basketball IQ and I’m excited to see where he takes that.”
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