Paul George’s Boston arrival comes with a simple but important detail: this is the first time in a while he’s headed into a season without spending the summer trying to get back on the floor.
That matters for the Celtics, who dealt Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia in the summer trade that sent George to Boston. It also matters for George, whose two seasons with the Sixers were interrupted by injuries and a suspension, limiting him to 78 games overall. His run in Philly was shaped by a torn adductor and the recovery from last offseason’s arthroscopic knee surgery, which kept him from ever really settling in.
On Tuesday, George met with the media in Boston and said the past two years had taken a toll, but insisted he feels like himself again.
“Last two years have been rough just with injuries but for myself personally I feel great again I feel like I've turned that corner of dealing with injuries and now kind of re-establishing myself and from a physical standpoint again and with that I can carry it over to the court.”
He went a step further and described the feeling as a “rebirth.” The big difference this time, he said, was being able to use the offseason to build up his body instead of grinding through rehab.
That’s the part Boston is watching closely. The Celtics are not expecting George to give them an 82-game season, and they don’t need that. What they need is a healthier, steadier version than the one Philadelphia had, where his best availability in a single season topped out at 41 games.
Boston can help by managing his minutes and giving him nights off, with the goal of keeping him fresh for the playoffs. And George, at 36, already showed in the playoffs this past year that when he’s healthy, he can still swing winning basketball.
With training camp two weeks away, the Celtics have at least one encouraging sign: George says he’s in good shape and ready to go. If that sticks, Boston may end up seeing the player Philadelphia hoped it was getting when it signed him to a four-year max contract in 2024 - and the early backlash over the Brown-for-George swap won’t look nearly as harsh.
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