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LAS VEGAS The Boston Celtics summer league squad held their first practice in Las Vegas ahead of their (at least) five-game schedule, and there were a couple of unexpected guests on the floor at UNLV.
Neemias Queta, fresh off a four-year, $56 million extension, showed up and got a workout in with the coaches after the rest of the guys practiced.
Joe Mazzulla was also there, making the rounds with coaches and players, and speaking to the media since the first time since the Jaylen Brown trade.
Still processing it, Mazzulla said.
I think obviously when something like that happens, it's not a black and white type of thing.
There's a ton of stuff that goes into it on and off the court.
The part that I hope gets talked about more and the part that we really want to focus on the most is really just the respect, the appreciation and the gratitude for what he did for the Celtics for 10 years.
Brad Stevens was clear that despite the high level of respect for Brown as a player and a person, the overall usage and production he provided no longer matched his massive contract.
Explaining how he came to that decision, Stevens said, I had a lot of time to study, think and use the expertise of the people in our building, and try to figure out how best to move forward.
Mazzulla is among the people in the building with expertise, but he says he didnt have input in the decision to trade Brown.
Brad comes to you and talks to you and gives you a breakdown and an understanding, Mazzulla said.
And in moments like this, obviously there's great alignment within the organization and there's conversations that are always going to be had.
But I think in moments like this, this is where you just trust, you listen, you trust and you have an understanding for what they do.
I think Brad has been the absolute best at what he does and theres just a level of trust going into that.
There might be some semantic cover in that statement.
Mazzullas input is tremendously valuable in a decision like this, but its also not his job to say yes or no to a trade of this magnitude.
His job is to coach the team that Stevens give him, and now figure out how to replace Jaylen Brown.
You're not going to, Mazzulla said.
What he's done in his career, but what he did this year, you don't replace that.
..
We've also brought in people.
And so we have to have an understanding that we're not asking anybody who comes back, whether it's free agency, whether it's (in a) trade, whatever, to be anything what he was because we are not going to do that.
But theyve got to be the best version of themselves and they have to bring things to our team to try and help us become a better team.
The Celtics have added Paul George in this trade and Mitchell Robinson and MIke Conley in free agency, so this is much different than just swapping Jayson Tatum for Brown in last years situation.
They're bringing something in ..
obviously with Mitchell's ability to protect the rim, his ability to rebound on both ends of the floor, his ability to change the game, Mazzulla said.
He'll bring in something different.
And the same thing with Paul George.
He brings in experience.
He's been in the league for such a long time and Mike brings in an experience being around great coaches, being around a great organization, other great players and his leadership.
So it's not about them having to do to come to our identity.
It's about us coming together and how can we create a collective identity to try and go after something.
The new version of the Celtics will hit the floor in only three months.
That's not a lot of time to figure out how to attack a remade roster missing a franchise cornerstone.
Everyone in the organization, from the guys fighting for spots in Las Vegas to Stevens and his front office, has a lot of work to do to move past this seismic trade.
He was a Celtic longer than I have been.
He was here before me, Mazzulla said of Brown.
He set the tone and started that, and was a part of special things, and continued that, and obviously was one of the biggest reasons why we were able to be as successful as we have been.
So that to me is what we have to focus on more: the respect as a competitor and the gratitude for what hes done.
John Karalis is a 20-year veteran of Celtics coverage and was nominated for NSMA's Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year in 2019.
He has hosted the Locked On Celtics podcast since 2016 and has written two books about the Celtics.
John was born and raised in Pawtucket, RI.
He graduated from Shea High School in Pawtucket, where he played football, soccer, baseball, and basketball and was captain of the baseball and basketball teams.
John graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism and was a member of their Gold Key Honor Society.
He was a four-year starter and two-year captain of the Mens Basketball team, and remains one of the school's top all-time scorers, and Emerson's all-time leading rebounder.
He is also the first Emerson College player to play professional basketball (Greece).
John started his career in television, producing and creating shows since 1997.
He spent nine years at WBZ, launching two different news and lifestyle shows before ascending to Executive Producer and Managing Editor.
He then went to New York, where he was a producer and reporter until 2018.
John is one of Bostons original Celtics bloggers, creating RedsArmy.com in 2006.
In 2018, John joined the Celtics beat full-time for MassLive.com and then went to Boston Sports Journal in 2021, where he covered the Celtics for five years.
He has hosted the Locked On Celtics podcast since 2016, and it currently ranks as the #1 Boston Celtics podcast on iTunes and Spotify rankings.
He is also one of the co-hosts of the Locked on NBA podcast.
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