Despite falling on a random Saturday in the middle of Training Camp, there was a whole lot that came out of Saturday’s practice at the Auerbach Center.
From insight about the team’s competitive nature, to a new member of the basketball operations staff being revealed, to football being played on the court, we’re covering it all in a few brief sections below.
Van Gundy Joins Basketball Operations
Word got out Saturday that Jeff Van Gundy has been added to Boston’s staff heading into this season. Van Gundy is serving as a Senior Consultant within the basketball operations group and will be involved in the entire operation, from working with the coaches, to working with Brad Stevens, to working with the Maine Celtics, and everything between.
“Anytime you can add high-character, high-level, professional people, I think it’s a no-brainer,” Mazzulla said of Van Gundy’s addirion.
Mazzulla and multiple players revealed that Van Gundy has been at practices throughout camp to observe and share thoughts, tips and advice when he feels it would be beneficial. Mazzulla said that Van Gundy has already “added a lot of value in just the first couple of weeks he’s been here.”
One of the key reasons why Van Gundy was brought in, according to Mazzulla, was to have a talented and experienced mind available to provide an impartial view of the team’s operations.
“It’s good to get a guy who hasn’t been here before that can kinda have an unbiased opinion as to where things are and where they need to go,” said Mazzulla. “He’s kinda a fresh set of eyes, because he’s not around all the time, and he’s looking at it from an unbiased position, which kinda gives us an advantage because you kinda see it from a different perspective.”
Competitive Nature Remains Strong at Camp
Many voices around the team, including majority owner Wyc Grousbeck, raved about the competitive nature of practices during the first couple of days of practice. It sounds as if that level of competitive action has continued through the first two weeks of the preseason.
Newcomer Kristaps Porzingis said of camp, “It’s been high intensity, for sure” and that intensity went up as Boston’s two stars went at it this afternoon.
“We had JB and JT going at it at the end of practice,” he revealed. “High-intensity and high competitiveness, which was really fun.”
This type of competition is exactly what Mazzulla has envisioned for the team. He said the players are living up to expectations, and haven’t required an ounce of external motivation to get them to do so.
“We’re doing what we set out to do at Training Camp, which was to create a highly-competitive environment and continue to work from that,” he said. “That’s most important.
“No one in this gym have we had to motivate yet. That’s the sign of where we’re trying to get to, is Jayson (Tatum), Jaylen (Brown), Al (Horford), Derrick (White), Kristaps, (Jrue Holiday), those guys set the standard, and everybody else falls in line.”
Football Saturday at the Auerbach Center
Despite the heightened level of competitiveness, the team has still found ways to mix plenty of fun into their day-to-day operations. For example, Saturday morning, the team was playing football, rather than basketball, during their early moments on the court.
Players were split into four groups, each with a football, to see who could become the most prolific wide receiver, quarterback and cornerback. The only caveat: running was not allowed.
That’s right, Mazzulla kept things as safe as possible by restricting his players to speed walking through the drills. Just imagine Derrick White speed-walking his way through a route, with Kristaps Porzingis – al 7-foot-3 of him – speed-walking his way through defending that route. This actually happened.
“I think it’s just like an easy way to kind’ve warm up and get everybody in a good mood before practice,” Porzingis told Celtics.com with a smile. “I think it’s just more to ease up the mood.”
Porzingis said that this Training Camp has been the first time he has participated in football-related drills, and added that he has a pretty solid arm. Sam Hauser, though, is the player who stood out to him when it came to football skills.
“Honestly, Sam, at least from what I saw, he had a little bit of an arm,” Porzingis said. “I couldn’t tell because guys weren’t running, we were walking, but I feel like everybody’s kind’ve competitive and everybody enjoys the game.”
