Celtics owners, front office members and even Hall of Famers were raving about Jrue Holiday‘s performance Wednesday in his first practice with the team, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Co-owner Wyc Grousbeck said the energy reminded him of the first practice session after Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were acquired in 2007. Co-owner Steve Pagliuca said Paul Pierce told him he had never seen anything to match Holiday’s intensity, then Pagliuca offered a few superlatives of his own.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen Jaylen Brown be stopped going to the hoop with a full head of steam, and he just ran right into Jrue,” Pagliuca said. “And that was it. It was incredible. One of the most incredible things I’ve seen in practice.”
Pagliuca added that the organization has been enamored with Holiday for years and had been hoping he would eventually become available. That opportunity arose after he was sent to Portland last week in the Damian Lillard trade, and the Celtics were determined that they wouldn’t be outbid when the Trail Blazers put him back on the market. Holiday said that as soon as the trade was finalized, Boston coach Joe Mazzulla sent him video clips of the team’s pick-and-roll coverages and offensive sets.
“From the beginning, (Mazzulla’s) told me my role is to do everything,” Holiday said. “Do everything, be all over the floor defensively, be able to control situations offensively, situations to calm us down and get good shots toward the end of games. But I think when it comes down to it, it’s about winning. It’s about keeping this culture of winning and Joe’s a part of that and the way he’s communicated with me has been awesome.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Holiday told reporters that the Celtics have already had discussions with him about a contract extension and are hoping to reach an agreement on a long-term deal as soon as he becomes eligible, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe.
- Holiday credits Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin for helping him get to a place where he wanted to be, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “Portland blessed me,” Holiday said. “Joe Cronin did a great job of communicating with me on how I wanted to proceed. … Working with him was very easy, very seamless, and made all of this possible.”
- Wenyen Gabriel, who signed with the Celtics on Tuesday, hopes to provide an answer to the team’s need for frontcourt depth, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. Gabriel isn’t guaranteed a roster spot, but he believes he can provide what the team needs. “I’m not thinking they’re expecting me to do anything new that’s out of the character of what I’ve already done in terms of bringing energy, toughness, getting us extra possessions, being able to switch, being versatile out there, running the floor, being athletic, blocking shots,” Gabriel said. “There’s a lot of different things I can do defensively, being a good help defender. So there’s a lot of things that I already do as a player.”
- Former NBA guard JJ Redick revealed on his podcast that the Celtics offered him a job as an assistant coach last September and again when Damon Stoudamire left in March, relays Brian Robb of MassLive.
Who would want that delusional thinking JJ on their team
Jrue changes everything. Celtics offense will be smoother and tougher to stop. Jrue is unselfish. That will catch on. KP will get plenty of good looks. This was major for Celtics. Especially after Dame trade.
East is going to be fun.
Sign I Thomas so everyone will forget M Smart and be happy. Sign B Griffin and Boston should go on to win unless the coach isn’t up to par
The lil guy hasn’t played regular rotation minutes for an NBA team in a long time.. there’s a reason for that. Besides, Thomas makes Pritchard look like Gary Payton on defense…
Haha, the last time he played over 40 games was 7 years ago.
Many Celtics fans can’t forget our magical Isaiah Thomas, “Mr. 4th Quarter,” but should. Remember all the hoopla around IT would take away the focus on our team. Not good.
It doesn’t matter they will lose with Tatum at the PF spot and a clueless coach. Only silver and the refs can help the Celtics go all the way. I’m just talking about Thomas playing spot minutes (5 a game). I don’t care if he signs or not but think the Celtics owe him something after doing him dirty. I would think his presence would be good since they traded Smart and Williams. I understand how the NBA doesn’t want veterans and I understand he is a liability on the floor, I’m not asking Thomas to play 35 minutes a game jeeez you all
What? A “clueless coach?” Ok, I now see your mindset. Celtics did Isaiah Thomas “dirty.” I saw Celts make IT into a dazzling star.
I’ll hold you to this. We will see how he does this season coaching. Everyone is trying to find the next young Brad Stevens. I appreciate veteran coaches like Nate McMillan, Hubie brown etc etc. We will see if he is a good coach. I’ll hold you to this
Also it’s called veteran leadership. I know you all don’t understand what that means. Four minutes a game is what I am saying, not thirty minute a game. I would rather have a veteran than some young player chucking up shots. In silvers there are No veterans in the NBA unless they are super stars. I feel like you are a new age fan
Anything to say or are you a new age fan
Celtics will be a tough out for all Eastern teams…
Jrue Holiday comes into the Celtics training camp right on time as an already, great player and no complaining, no whining, no “it’s all about me.” Good start! Thank you Jrue! Let’s go Celtics!
Hopefully the Celtics will have a healthy year. They should make the ECF again.
I look at it as a Holiday for Smart trade…. Boston wins. Holiday is easier to coach (conversation rather than confrontation), won’t clash with teammates, isn’t a technical foul waiting to happen on the court, and is actually a better player – and teammate – than Smart.
The Celtics are in a better place today.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen Jaylen Brown be stopped going to the hoop with a full head of steam”
I have — by anyone who stuck their hand in and knocked the ball away.
They forgot he was the main reason they lost game 7 against the Heat. J.Brown had 8 turnovers in that game alone. Don’t forget J.Tatum turnovers…
My take was that two bodies COLLIDED, Jaylen & Jrue, and that’s how Jaylen was stopped. We’ve all seen how Jaylen gets stripped on his drives by someone reaching their hand in & knocking the ball away. Why we want Jaylen to work on his handle, one of his weakest skills.
“From the beginning, (Mazzulla’s) told me my role is to do everything,”
Basically he saying that Mazzulla wants Jrue to run the team because he has absolutely no idea what he’s doing.
If that is really the importance of Holiday to their schemes they better pray he does not get injured…
K-Blow I love ya. Like the first robin of Spring, the Ever-wrong Enema Man speaks again. A storied franchise like the Celtics with a top grade team president like Stevens hires a head coach who has, “… absolutely no idea what he’s doing.” Wrong AGAIN! You really ARE consistently WRRONGGGGGG! :)))
Ridiculous comment. From all I see, hear & read Coach Joe is on top of everything. This grudge you constantly exhibit does you bad. But we’ve seen in recent years how millions of people get off trashing others as it gets them attention. Wish you’d come on board & offer up some intelligent insights as you know the NBA & our Celtics. Sunday at 6 pm I think Celtics are on TV!
Who is the woman in the photo?
It’s called agenda