Long earlier than this Celtics coaching camp began, Jaylen Brown needed to make one thing clear.
The Celtics star, accepting his record-breaking contract extension again in July, was requested in regards to the crew’s championship expectations. This was earlier than Jrue Holiday was acquired, however shortly after Marcus Smart was traded. Brown went out of his method to emphasize protection.
“I want to make sure that’s where we hang our hats this year and that starts with me, that starts with Jayson (Tatum),” Brown mentioned. “With Marcus gone, we don’t want our defensive identity to go out the door as well, so we have to really emphasize that at the start of training camp.”
Brown’s messaging has stayed constant, and there’s been a transparent emphasis on the defensive finish to start out coaching camp. He talked at media day about sustaining the vitality on protection.
So why has Brown felt the necessity to make improved protection a objective this season? It all began with Smart’s departure.
“Before we got Jrue, (I) wanted to make sure we didn’t slack on that side of the ball,” Brown mentioned Saturday. “Smart was our defensive emphasis, our defensive quarterback, and I think we needed that going into the season. So I took that as a challenge to myself that I could be better on that end of the floor.”
It’s a mindset most gamers within the Celtics locker room ought to take. While the C’s completed final common season with the No. 2 protection by score within the NBA, it wasn’t constant sufficient. There had been too many lapses and breakdowns at important moments, which had been uncovered in the course of the playoffs. Players admitted they misplaced their defensive identification in the course of the Eastern Conference Finals once they fell in a 3-0 collection gap.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has admitted a number of instances within the first week of camp that the crew didn’t make protection its basis – a calling card of the 2022 Finals squad – and he didn’t make protection sufficient of a precedence final season. It’s considered one of a number of classes he realized.
“Defense is what gets you in the door, defense is the admission ticket, but it’s toughness, it’s mindset, it’s the ability to just be physical on both ends of the floor,” Mazzulla mentioned. “So you simply must do it, such as you don’t have a alternative. …
“That’s one thing I can get higher at as a coach. Talking about this the opposite day, when one thing is so apparent to me, I generally tend to not emphasize it as a lot. Maybe it’s as a result of I sucked at offense, so I needed to play protection. Nobody needed to remind me to play protection, as a result of I couldn’t do the rest. If you wish to be nice, you need to play protection, and you need to be anticipating on that finish of the ground.
“But there are times that I don’t always say that because it’s obvious. But I think that’s a thing I learned this year, is it’s not that obvious. So you just have to talk about it all the time, and defensive toughness gets you in the door.”
The Celtics are performing some experimenting throughout coaching camp and preseason as they carry some new faces into the fold. One factor Mazzulla has confused is a necessity for a curveball on each ends of the ground, one thing he can flip to in numerous conditions that don’t essentially and never counting on fastballs, or strengths, on a regular basis. In that spirit, the Celtics have been testing it out some zone protection – which they tried throughout summer time league – that might function a kind of curveballs.
But no matter fashion of protection the Celtics select to play, the core fundamentals – connectivity, belief, focus and toughness amongst them – want to remain the identical. And whereas they wish to play linked as a unit, in addition they wish to play to their personnel’s strengths and huge talent units, too.
“Being great defensively is a great thing as a team,” Brown mentioned. “It places you in video games. It means that you can — even if you happen to do make a mistake, you bought any person there to cowl your again and everyone is simply making reads and enjoying off one another. And that’s the surroundings we wish to construct.
“We want to bring what guys are good at. We want to bring it out of them. You know what I mean? On-ball pressure. (Kristaps Porzingis) blocking shots. JT being long in those passing lanes. Me blowing up screens. Al (Horford) being long in contests.”
Brown is taking over the problem personally, and maybe he can set the tone.
“I think that when I’m dialed in and I make sure that I’m challenging myself, I think I can be one of the better defenders in the world, and that’s something I’m challenging myself with,” Brown mentioned. “Meet more guys at the rim, make more plays, have more of a presence defensively, something that I’m looking to do, so I’m excited about the year in general. I’m excited about our guys. I think we have an excellent group of guys, let’s do it.”
Tip-ins
Mazzulla mentioned each participant on the coaching camp roster – together with Holiday and Porzingis –must be obtainable for Sunday’s preseason opener at dwelling in opposition to the Knicks.
As for the beginning lineup, Mazzulla emphasised that it’ll imply “absolutely nothing.”
“I almost thought about starting someone way off the bat just to throw you guys off but I was talked out of it,” Mazzulla mentioned. “So don’t learn something into it. …
The Celtics have an uncommon back-to-back to start out their preseason schedule, with a sport at Philadelphia on Monday, however Mazzulla is taking it in stride.
“I don’t really care. Just gotta play,” Mazzulla mentioned. “To me it gives you the opportunity to just — we’re gonna have 15 or 20 of those or something like that during the season, so if you gotta go through one now I think it’s a good opportunity to work out stuff, be flexible, have guys available, not available, that will happen. So whatever they give us, we’ll do.”
Mazzulla to count on mild minutes for a lot of the gamers they usually’ll see how they really feel earlier than figuring out their availability for Monday’s sport.
Source: www.bostonherald.com