Upcoming documentary ‘Celtics City’ a labor of love for executive producer Bill Simmons

By Chad Finn, The Boston Globe There has been an uncommon amount of mystery when it comes to the particulars of the upcoming Celtics documentary series set to air on HBO and stream on Max.

As cameras followed the team during the 2023-24 season (which ended with confetti and a parade perhaps youve heard?), there was much speculation that it would be entirely specific to that season.

The record was set straight in this space months ago with the news that it would be a nine-part series documenting the 18-time NBA champions history.

A few more details were revealed in a press release in mid-November , including the director, seven-time Emmy Award winner Lauren Stowell, and the title of the series, Celtics City.

Still, some mystery regarding specifics remained.

So I checked in with someone who would know whats up better than anyone: Bill Simmons.

Simmons, along with Connor Schell (with whom he created the exceptional 30 for 30 documentary series during their time at ESPN), are the executive producers of Celtics City in a joint venture among HBO Sports Documentaries, Ringer Films, and Words + Pictures.

It is, of course, a passion project for Simmons, the onetime Boston Sports Guy, whose knowledge of and affection for the Celtics is well known.

The project, which will debut in the first quarter of 2025, is something that Simmons and the production team have been working on for almost four years.

It took some real thought to figure out, How do you tell the definitive history of the Celtics but also do it through the lens of a bigger story than just basketball? said Simmons during a recent phone conversation.

Youre talking about 77 years.

Youre talking about a franchise that for the first 40 years was the dominant franchise in any sport.

And then all of a sudden, it was arrow pointing down in some of the worst possible ways for 22 years, and then all of a sudden it got rejuvenated again.

It has all the bones of an awesome sports story.

And then you have some of the most important people who have ever played professional sports, like Bill Russell.

I think we felt a lot of pressure.

Just, how do you do this in nine episodes? And how do you do this correctly? How do you do this in an honest way, and not have it turn into an infomercial? Simmons said one of the most important aspects was the willingness of the Celtics brain trust to tell the authentic story of the franchise.

Youve seen some projects that people have done about franchises and you can kind of tell how involved the team was, and not always in a good way, he said.

The Celtics, people like Wyc [Grousbeck] and Rich [Gotham], just wanted to make a great documentary.

I dont want to step on too much of the structure of it, but I think we figured out an awesome way to do it.

There have been documentaries about a lot of this stuff that were covering.

So we wanted to keep it fresh and we wanted it to really feel pretty special and unique.

The docuseries, Simmons said, aims to appeal to Celtics fans and basketball fans in general.

That was made easier because of the franchises connections to virtually every significant matter in league history.

Pick a scene from just about any era, and the Celtics were probably there, he said.

But it was also important for us to dive into how the team has evolved with the city as the city has evolved.

Sometimes not in the greatest ways, and sometimes in the most awesome ways.

The down times namely, after the 1985-86 championship until Kevin Garnett arrived to form the New Big Three in 2007 are not pushed to the background.

Another source, who was among 80 or so people interviewed for the project, told me the segment on Rick Pitinos disastrous tenure is compelling.

We wanted to shine a light on some of the stories in a real way that just havent been told, said Simmons, citing as an example the death of Reggie Lewis in July 1993.

Reggie is still the saddest thing that happened when I lived in Boston.

I never fully saw that captured in the right way.

Its really painful.

Its painful now all these years later.

Of course, Celtics history has been marked, more than anything else, by extraordinary success.

Simmons said the part of the docuseries that covers the era of Larry Bird and the original Big Three is going to be like red meat for people.

We got Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish all to sit for interviews, said Simmons.

Ive got to say, Parish is in the running for MVP of the doc.

His odds were like 100 to 1 heading into the process.

Hes really great in it.

Obviously having Larry is huge.

Im so glad he did it.

It would have been weird not to have him.

He has some really great moments in this, too.

The 2023-24 Celtics are part of the story, he said, but not the focal point.

Rather, their championship ended up being a fitting coda.

It was like, Man, it would be so cool if something did happen with them [winning the championship] before this came out, said Simmons.

And then Jaylen [Brown], who is not a small part of the doc, winning the Bill Russell Finals MVP was meaningful, because he stands for a lot of the same things that Russell did.

The Celtics are an incredible story.

They really are.

You think of all the people and characters that have passed through this franchise, to try to do this in nine hours, its almost impossible.

But I really feel good with where we landed.

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