Joe Mazzulla

Celtics Notes: New Owner, Horford, Kornet, Hauser, Pritchard, Mazzulla

March 22nd, 2025 at 7:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

The record-setting $6.1 billion purchase price for the Celtics is just the beginning of William Chisholm‘s investment in the franchise. As Jay King of The Athletic notes, Chisholm is taking over a team with a massive salary and huge expectations that will become even more expensive if the core of the roster is kept together.

Boston’s payroll is projected to be in the neighborhood of $445MM next season in salaries and luxury tax, per John Hollinger of The Athletic. That’s without free agents Al Horford and Luke Kornet, who would push that total higher if they’re both re-signed.

As players waited out the sale process, Jayson Tatum talked about the importance of finding a new owner who understands “the culture” and Jaylen Brown expressed the need to “keep the emphasis on winning.” Both statements reflect the necessity for continued spending for the Celtics to remain at a championship level, as King adds that the fanbase will quickly turn on the new owner if talent is sacrificed to save money.

“That’s something that they’ll have to figure out,” Horford said. “Ultimately, they’ll be the new owners of the team, they’ll have to make those decisions. But this is my 18th season in the league and there are very few times when you get a special group or a certain window of guys that you can do some special things. So I’m sure that they will be aware of that but that’s something that you have to understand what you’re stepping into.”

There’s more from Boston:

Bobby Marks of ESPN believes the roster is “sustainable” for the near future, even with the giant tax bills (Twitter video link). Marks points out that the Celtics have 11 players under contract for next season — including Tatum and Brown, who are both signed to long-term deals — and they’ll have two picks in the top 32 of this year’s draft. However, he adds that it could be hard to keep complementary players like Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard long-term because of the effect they’ll have on the luxury tax.
Coach Joe Mazzulla came away encouraged from his first meeting with the new owner, according to Adam Himmeslbach of The Boston Globe. Chisholm, a Massachusetts native and life-long Celtics fan, pledged to build on the team’s recent success. “Just continue to win championships, continue to be a high-level organization on and off the court, and he obviously has a lot of experience doing that in other endeavors,” Mazzulla said. “So just continuing to work to make the Celtics better, and then kind of give us a shot every year to go after a championship. So I’m excited about that.”
Chisholm expressed similar sentiments to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links). “The team is in a great place right now, and I’m very sensitive to that,” he said. (Current owner) Wyc (Grousbeck), (president of basketball operations) Brad (Stevens) and Joe have done amazing jobs. … My approach is to win and raise banners. That’s in the near term and the long term. I bleed green. I love the Celtics. When opportunity came up, I couldn’t pass it up. Wyc has done an incredible job. So why would you mess that up? I’ve had a couple of sitdowns with Brad and it’s been about aligning our goals and extending the window of this team.”
Eric Fisher of Front Office Sports examines the record price tag, attributing it to the scarcity of pro sports franchises for sale and the NBA’s new media rights deal.

Celtics’ Grousbeck Talks Tax Aprons, Sale, Chisholm, Arena

March 21st, 2025 at 11:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck has agreed to sell his controlling stake in the franchise, but the plan is for Grousbeck to remain in his current position with the team through the 2027/28 season, collaborating with William Chisholm and his investors as the defending champions transition to a new ownership group.

A major part of that transition will involve determining how long to maintain one of the NBA’s highest payrolls. The Celtics are operating over the second tax apron, restricting their ability to make certain roster moves and ensuring that their 2032 draft pick will become “frozen” this offseason, making it ineligible to be traded.

According to Grousbeck, those roster-related restrictions imposed on teams operating above the second apron are of greater concern than the prospect of repeatedly pay substantial luxury tax bills.

“It’s not the luxury tax bill, it’s the basketball penalties,” Grousbeck said during a WEEI appearance when asked about the Celtics’ ability to remain well above the tax line (story via Brian Robb of MassLive.com). “The new CBA was designed by the league to stop teams from going crazy. They decided that it’s not good enough to go after the wallets because the fans can be like, ‘Hey find someone who can afford to spend $500 million dollars a year or whatever it is, like the English Premier League. I know seven guys who own Premier League teams in England with no spending caps and most of them don’t know what the hell is going on.”

“The basketball penalties mean that it’s even more of a premium now to have your basketball general manager be brilliant and lucky,” Grousbeck continued. “Because you have to navigate because you can’t stay in the second apron, nobody will, I predict, for the next 40 years of the CBA, no one is going to stay in the second apron more than two years.”

This is the second consecutive season the Celtics have been in second-apron territory, so Grousbeck’s comments about the sustainability of that approach are eyebrow-raising.

Of course, it’s worth noting that not all of the apron-related penalties had been implemented during the 2023/24 season, so a third season above the second apron might be more viable for the Celtics or another team in ’25/26 than it would be going forward. Still, based on Grousbeck’s remarks, it sounds like some cost-cutting could be in Boston’s future.

Here are a few more noteworthy comments from Grousbeck’s media appearances this week:

On how the Celtics, specifically, plan to navigate the second apron in the short term:
(via Robb)

“We have Brad Stevens, the reigning Executive of The Year, and thank God we do. He’s the one who really brought us this championship with his brilliant moves –along with many other people — but Brad is at the forefront. He’s looking at this and is going to extend our window and make it work. We’ll find out in June or July what we’re going to do.”

On what he told Stevens, head coach Joe Mazzulla, and stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown about the sale:
(via Sanjesh Singh of NBC Sports Boston)

“I’ve actually talked to Jayson, Jaylen, Joe and Brad and said, ‘Just so you know…these small group of finalists are all great and they can all do the job, and we won’t let it go to anybody who would fall short of that.’ I told them basically just a few days ago when I saw them all at practice, ‘It’s OK. Don’t put it on your mind. Take it off your mind if you can. Because we’ve got you, this is going to go fine.’

“They said, ‘We trust you.’ Jayson Tatum literally looked at me and said, “I trust you, Wyc. Got it.’ And with good reason, hopefully, that he trusts me. Everything’s good on that front.”

On what advice he has given to Chisholm:
(via Singh)

“Be yourself. You are a fan. The fans are going to love you. We’re not going to win every game together. They want to see that you care, that you’re a fan who bought the team. That’s our group here, we’re fans who bought this team. You’re a fan who’s buying in…we’re going to be fans who’s running this team for Celtic pride on and off the court…When you do that, everything else follows.”

On why there are no plans to build a new arena that the Celtics would own:
(via Robb of MassLive.com)

“It’s not broken over there, and we have a great partnership with (the Jacobs family, which owns the Boston Bruins and the TD Garden). Honestly, there’s room for one arena in Boston, not two. Because you need to have concerts and events to fill out the bill. And if we ever talked to the Jacobs, we all decided to renovate the Garden very seriously – there have been huge, hundreds of millions of dollars of renovations. But if we ever decide to do anything, I’m sure we’d do it together and have both teams playing there.

“It shouldn’t be on everybody’s mind. We’ve got a lease in the Garden until, like, the 2030s, and we’ve got a good partnership with them, and we’ll both upgrade whatever we need to do to keep the fans happy, because we’re fans ourselves.”

Lakers Notes: Hachimura, Hayes, Doncic, Redick

March 9th, 2025 at 9:39am CST by Luke Adams

Lakers forward Rui Hachimura missed a fifth consecutive game on Saturday due to patellar tendinopathy affecting his left knee, but he’s doing “well,” according to head coach J.J. Redick, who told reporters that Hachimura is going through the return-to-play process and doing more on-court work (Twitter link via Khobi Price of the Southern California News Group).

The plan, Redick added on Saturday, is for Hachimura to be reevaluated in about a week.

Meanwhile, the Lakers were also without center Jaxson Hayes on Saturday, which is a more significant loss than it would have been earlier in the season. Hayes had been Los Angeles’ starting center for each of the team’s past 16 games following Anthony Davis‘ injury and the subsequent trade sending him to Dallas.

Hayes, who was listed as out due to a right knee contusion, was replaced by forward Jarred Vanderbilt in the starting five. Redick said the club has been monitoring swelling in Hayes’ knee, but added that he doesn’t believe the injury is “anything serious” and conveyed optimism that the big man’s absence won’t last too long, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link).

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Luka Doncic was shocked when he first learned of the trade sending him from Dallas to Los Angeles, but after over a month with the Lakers, he’s feeling more comfortable in his new NBA home, having recently moved into a leased house in L.A., according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link). “He’s felt more and more appreciative and comfortable with how the Lakers have surrounded him with support, with inclusion in the process of everything,” Charania said on NBA Countdown. “This has been a true partnership that they’re trying to develop, and that means a lot for his long-term future for the Lakers.” Doncic will be extension-eligible this offseason and the Lakers are expected to offer him a maximum-salary deal at that time.
The Lakers’ trade for Doncic earned the organization the Alpha Award for Transaction of the Year at this year’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, tweets McMenamin. As McMenamin points out, the Celtics won that award a year ago for their acquisition of Kristaps Porzingis.
In an interesting article for The Athletic, Jovan Buha takes a look at the connections between Redick and Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who offered Redick a spot as an assistant on his staff on Boston before his first year at the helm in September 2022, then again in March 2023. Redick wasn’t ready at that time to get into coaching, but he made it clear there’s significant mutual respect between him and Mazzulla. “When I was going through this process, he, along with a few other coaches in the NBA, were really helpful,” Redick said. “Not just in preparing for an interview, but just really helping me understand what this was and what it required.”
In case you missed it late on Saturday night, LeBron James is being evaluated after sustaining a groin injury in Saturday’s loss to Boston.

Celtics Notes: Tatum, Mazzulla, Porzingis, Trade Priority

December 21st, 2024 at 7:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

Celtics star Jayson Tatum grew up as a huge admirer of Kobe Bryant, so he was excited about the chance to join the Lakers in the 2017 draft, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. However, Tatum never got a tryout with L.A., which held the second overall pick, even though he was one considered one of the draft’s top prospects following a stellar freshman season at Duke.

Lakers legend Magic Johnson, who served as team president at the time, explained this week that they were already set at forward with Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram and Larry Nance Jr. on the roster and were focused on finding backcourt help.

“Yeah, I think I was upset at the time that there wasn’t genuine interest,” Tatum said. “From my perspective, I grew up the biggest Kobe fan and wanted to play for the Lakers. And Magic explained it. They had too many forwards and that was their thought process at the time. It wasn’t like I got any animosity toward Magic or the Lakers. It was just as a kid, I was close to accomplishing a life-long dream, the way I thought it would be.”

The draft played out perfectly for Boston, which landed Tatum with the No. 3 pick after trading down from No. 1. Tatum is already a five-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA selection, while Markelle Fultz, who went to Philadelphia with the top pick, is currently out of the league, and Lonzo Ball, whom the Lakers took at No. 2, recently resumed playing in Chicago after missing more than two full years with a knee issue.

“Obviously it worked out best-case scenario,” Tatum added. “But I love Magic Johnson. I love what he means to the game. I have no hard feelings toward him. Every time I see him, it’s always love. It’s just something that happened and it’s probably a million stories throughout the NBA that guys should have went or thought they were going somewhere. Everything happened for a reason.”

There’s more from Boston:

Coach Joe Mazzulla, who was fined $35K for “aggressively pursuing” an official following Thursday’s loss to Chicago, talked to his players before this morning’s shootaround about the importance of staying in control and not overreacting to bad calls, Washburn adds in the same piece. “It’s a long year, so whatever the keys are not only to games but to how you want to go about the season,” Mazzulla said. “It’s just small reminders, always good to refresh those.”
Kristaps Porzingis has been removed from the injury report for tonight’s rematch with the Bulls, according to Souichi Terada of MassLive. Porzingis was originally listed as questionable with a right heel contusion he suffered Sunday at Washington.
Assuming the big-man rotation stays healthy, finding veteran wing depth should be the Celtics’ priority in any trade before the deadline, Brian Robb of MassLive states in a mailbag column. He notes that Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman and Jaden Springer haven’t inspired confidence that they can be reliable during the playoffs.

Celtics’ Mazzulla, Nets’ Claxton Fined By NBA

December 21st, 2024 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has been fined $35K, while Nets center Nic Claxton has been fined $25K, the NBA announced today in a pair of press releases (Twitter links).

Mazzulla was hit with his fine for “aggressively pursuing and directing inappropriate language” toward a referee in Boston’s loss to the Bulls on Thursday. The Celtics’ coach came onto the court at the end of the game and had to be held back by his assistants and a security guard as he yelled at official Justin Van Duyne (Twitter video link).

Mazzulla was believed to be upset about technical fouls assessed to him, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum during the fourth quarter of the loss, but he offered a deadpan response when asked during his post-game media session about what he was saying to Van Duyne and the other referees.

“I just hadn’t seen them in a while, so just a Merry Christmas, happy holidays,” Mazzulla said (Twitter video link). “I wasn’t sure I was going to see them before the holiday. I just can’t let a moment go by where you wish someone just the best to them and theirs and their families.”

As for Claxton, he earned his $25K fine for throwing the basketball into the spectator stands during Brooklyn’s win over Toronto on Thursday.

That incident occurred in the second quarter — after being fouled by Kelly Olynyk, the Nets center tossed the ball into the crowd, seemingly frustrated about a non-call on the previous possession. He earned an ejection and also appeared to be on the verge of throwing a seat cushion before assistant coach Juwan Howard intervened (Twitter video link). Claxton admitted after the game that he needs to do a better job of keeping his emotions in check on the court.

“Yeah, he knows he has to be better, especially this one,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “You can control your frustrations. That’s no reason to do that. I understand that we all have emotions, but the team needs him. His teammates need him, and he knows it. And that’s why he’s going to come back and work and be better.”

Celtics Notes: Mazzulla, Brown, Springer, Horford

December 20th, 2024 at 10:05am CST by Arthur Hill

Head coach Joe Mazzulla had to be restrained from approaching official Justin Van Duyne after the Celtics lost to Chicago on Thursday night, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Mazzulla was angry about being whistled for a technical foul for coming onto the court after a jump ball was called following a loose-ball battle between Payton Pritchard and Ayo Dosunmu. Although Mazzulla was upset in the moment, he admitted to reporters after the game that the technical was justified.

“I just can’t be on the court,” he said. “The ref had to do his job. I was on the court.”

Jaylen Brown, who also received a technical during the exchange, provided a little more insight, Washburn adds. Brown told Van Duyne that he T’d up Mazzulla for no reason and alleges that the official told him not to say that again or he would get a technical of his own. When Brown repeated his comment, Van Duyne obliged.

“You can’t threaten guys with a technical foul,” Brown said. “That’s not part of the game either. You want to fine people for gestures and all this stuff, [then] fine that. We were down three at that time and that led to us being down eight. That affects the game. That could have been avoided. Joe didn’t say anything to deserve a tech.”

There’s more from Boston:

Brown’s mother and assistant coach Amile Jefferson both had their homes broken into this week, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Jefferson was with the Celtics in Washington when burglars struck his house on Monday, but Mechalle Brown was at home when she was targeted on Sunday. “We’re all right,” Jaylen Brown said. “We’ll deal with situations accordingly. Thank God nothing serious or physical or threatening happened, but the fact that it could have kind of lingers in your mind.” The NBA issued a statement saying that it is “deeply concerned” about burglaries in the Boston area, and its security representatives have contacted the Celtics and local law enforcement.
With Sam Hauser unavailable on Thursday, Jaden Springer got a rare opportunity for extended playing time, notes Souichi Terada of MassLive. Springer had four rebounds and missed both his shots in 13 minutes, marking the first time this season he’s played outside of the fourth quarter. Mazzulla said matchups were behind his decision to keep Springer on the court so long. “Just match the speed that (the Bulls) play with overall,” Mazzulla said. “I thought he does a good job on the offensive glass and his individual defense and just kind of wanted to match the speed there. I thought he played well.” Terada adds that Springer has already been involved in trade rumors and that his $4.2MM expiring contract could be useful in any Celtics deal.
Al Horford believes that becoming a three-point threat has extended his career, Terada states in a separate story. Horford only attempted 65 total shots from beyond the arc during his first eight NBA seasons, but he has evolved as the game has changed. “For me, physically, it has added years to my career, I feel like,” Horford said. “It’s been good for me, and I think Brook (Lopez) saw it as well, and it’s been a great benefit. And that’s what I was mentioning, that now, like the guys are coming in from college, and they’re already shooting it, and they’re confident, they’re giving them the green light, and it’s a good thing.”

Celtics Notes: Pritchard, White, Injuries, Mazzulla

November 30th, 2024 at 9:44pm CST by Arthur Hill

Payton Pritchard provided a huge lift off the bench Friday night as the Celtics broke open a close game in Chicago and kept their hopes alive for a spot in the NBA Cup’s knockout round, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. Forced into extra duty after Derrick White left the game with a sprained right foot in the third quarter, Pritchard played 28 minutes, including the final 19, while scoring 29 points. He hit seven three-pointers and scored all the points in a late 11-4 run that put the game away.

“It’s obviously a great feeling but I feel like the best feeling is winning on the road and being able to help my team get over the hump tonight,” Pritchard said. “Obviously I feel it. I can hear the crowd, the gravity it pulls. It definitely was a fun night.”

Pritchard is in his fifth season with Boston, and it seems like a long time ago that he was asking to be traded due to a lack of playing time. He has become one of the most dangerous bench weapons in the league — averaging a career-high 15.6 PPG while shooting 48.5% from the field and 44% from three-point range — and Jayson Tatum is pushing for him to get some individual recognition.

“It’s been pretty cool to see him grow into the player that he is, being effective on a championship team,” Tatum said, “and the things that he’s doing is Sixth Man of the Year worthy for me.”

There’s more on the Celtics:

White’s injury doesn’t appear to be serious, as he’s being listed as questionable for Sunday’s showdown with Cleveland for first place in the East, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Jrue Holiday are also questionable, and Terada suggests they may be staggered as Boston prepares for a stretch of five games in seven days.
Other coaches have expressed reservations about running up the score in NBA Cup games to gain a points differential advantage, but Joe Mazzulla enjoys that aspect of the tournament, Terada adds in a separate story. Mazzulla called time out Friday with 1.4 seconds left to set up a Sam Hauser three-pointer that increased the Celtics’ final margin of victory to nine points. “I like it because this tournament and the point differential kind of eliminates the unwritten rules that you’re supposed to follow or not follow,” Mazzulla said. “Where in a normal situation, you wouldn’t do that. But in this one, you get to draw up a play and try to get better in that situation. So guys did a good job executing and we tried to extend the point differential as much as we could.”
Three-point defense was a concern in Friday’s game as Chicago stayed close by sinking 20 shots from beyond the arc, notes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. It was the most all season against the Celtics, who rank fourth in the league in limiting three-pointers. “We had to turn up the pressure a little bit more. We were scoring and maybe we weren’t as physical with them so they felt good about themselves,” Porzingis said. “The second half that was an emphasis for us, being more physical with them, make them work a little bit more for everything.”

Celtics Notes: Kornet, Tillman, Mazzulla, Brogdon, NBA Cup

November 23rd, 2024 at 6:16pm CST by Arthur Hill

Neemias Queta has seen an increased role this season, but Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla turned to two other big men after a sluggish first half at Washington Friday night, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. The first was Luke Kornet, who replaced Queta in the starting lineup for the second half. He responded with a 3-for-3 shooting night and a few hustle plays that had his teammates raving after the game.

“Energy, energy. Luke is just a ball of energy,” Jrue Holiday said. “He makes plays that don’t show up on the stat sheet, but when you’re out there playing with him, it’s like he’s just trying to run through a brick wall and you wanna do that with him.”

Later on, Mazzulla inserted Xavier Tillman, who has been out of the rotation for several weeks. Tillman played nine minutes in the second half, including a rare crunch time appearance.

“I just thought that (Xavier’s) been working hard and I felt like the game needed something different,” Mazzulla said. “Those guys are always ready and we wanted to be a little more switching and the last time we played them, we played him and Luke together and he did some great things on the defensive end, especially on (Jonas) Valanciunas. So I just kind of wanted to win those minutes in the fourth quarter. Credit to him just working hard and being ready and I thought he gave us some good stuff.”

There’s more from Boston:

Mazzulla explained that he was “manipulating the environment” on Friday when he got whistled for a technical for angrily confronting referee Ed Malloy after a play where he believed Jaylen Brown got fouled, according to Souichi Terada of MassLive. Mazzulla admitted it was an intentional tactic, and his players took notice. “I think that it was smart just to know that like he has our back no matter what,” Holiday said. “He was disrespectful in a respectful way, so I think getting that tech just showing us that like, yeah, I’m gonna fight for you guys and then having the crowd behind us even in that situation was big.”
Wizards guard Malcolm Brogdon admits being angry after the Celtics traded him to Portland last summer, but he has made peace with the situation, per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. After winning Sixth Man of The Year honors and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in his lone season with Boston, Brogdon has moved on to two rebuilding franchises. “You play with the cards you’re dealt at a certain point,” he said. “Things change at some point in your career. For me it’s changed a few times over the past couple of years. It’s embracing the situation that you’re in. I’ve been tasked to lead with these young guys and with this growing team and honestly I’m enjoying it. The Wizards are building the right way.”
After being surprised by Atlanta in their NBA Cup opener, the Celtics have posted back-to-back wins over Cleveland and Washington that have them in a good position to advance, notes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. They’ll win East Group C if they can beat the Bulls in Chicago and Cleveland defeats the Hawks. If Boston and Atlanta wind up tied at 3-1, the Celtics will have to rely on their point differential, which is currently +14.

Celtics Notes: NBA Cup, Tatum, Paint Problems, Mazzulla

November 13th, 2024 at 6:10pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics‘ hopes of stacking an NBA Cup title on top of last season’s championship got off to a rocky start Tuesday night, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. Jaylen Brown blamed a lack of focus as Boston squandered a 15-point second half lead while losing at home against Atlanta.

“I think mentally we were careless tonight,” he said. “We expected to win. Too careless and it showed. I think the No. 1 category it showed in is our turnovers. Uncharacteristic of us to have 20 turnovers in any circumstance. I think that just displayed that we weren’t in sync like we normally are, so we’ve got to be better at that, and I’ve got to be better at that.”

Following a 7-1 start, the Celtics have gone 2-2 in their last four games and are now three games behind Cleveland in the race for the top spot in the East. Their wins over the weekend against Brooklyn and Milwaukee came after slow starts in both games.

“It’s just a mentality,” Brown said. “This is a part of the journey. We’ve got some stuff to clean up. We’re not a perfect team. It’s a new season, a new journey, and we’re looking forward to embracing those moments. We’re going to watch it and we’re going to address what needs to be addressed.”

There’s more from Boston:

Jayson Tatum is no longer on the injury report after being listed as questionable with soreness in his left ankle prior to Tuesday’s game, Robb adds in a separate story. Tatum turned his ankle during Sunday’s contest, but was able to keep playing.
The Celtics continue to have matchup problems with big, physical teams, observes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, as the Hawks collected 20 offensive rebounds and scored 38 second-half points in the paint. Atlanta’s center tandem of Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu shot a combined 15-of-22 from the field. “They got rebounds and layups on everybody, bigs, smalls, mediums,” coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They just outplayed us at both ends of the floor.”
Mazzulla told reporters that he would prefer to see the NBA Cup as a standalone event rather than having the games count in the regular season standings, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. He compared it with tournaments held in European soccer. “They don’t count toward your domestic league,” Mazzulla said. “It’s its own league entirely. That, to me, is my only negative toward it. I like it. I think having something like it in the middle of the season is good, especially in a long year. Just, that’s the difference between what you do here and what you do around the world. But it’s an opportunity for us to win something, an opportunity for us to go after something. So we’re going to go after it from that perspective.”

Atlantic Notes: Raptors Injuries, Raptors Schedule, Mazzulla, McCain

October 22nd, 2024 at 8:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors have listed RJ Barrett, Kelly Olynyk, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Bruce Brown as out for their season opener against Cleveland on Wednesday, Blake Murphy of Sportsnet tweets.

Barrett is making progress in his recovery from shoulder injury. He was a limited participant in practice on Tuesday but still hasn’t been cleared for contact, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports (Twitter links). Olynyk is dealing with back stiffness, while Walter and Brown are recovering from shoulder and knee injuries, respectively.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

The Raptors have acknowledged this will be a rebuilding season but that doesn’t mean they have to be boring, Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes. The Raptors plan to push the pace and play an entertaining brand of basketball but their early schedule is brutal, Koreen notes. In its first 25 games, Toronto will have 22 matchups against teams that finished better .500 in 2023/24.
Joe Mazzulla had a blunt and somewhat amusing response to questions about the pressure to repeat as champions. “It’s not pressure,” said the Celtics coach, per ESPN News Services. “There’s nothing anyone in this circle can do to me that’s going to impact my identity and who I am as a person or a coach. We’re either going to win or we’re not, and 40 years from now, none of you are invited to my funeral and that’s it.”
Sixers first-rounder Jared McCain averaged 12.8 points and shot 37.9% on 3-pointers in five preseason games but he’s unlikely to find many minutes on a win-now team. McCain plans to work hard and deal with whatever’s thrown at him in his rookie campaign, he told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. McCain will be available for Philadelphia’s opener on Wednesday despite suffering bruised lungs during a preseason game last week. He’s not listed on the injury report, Pompey tweets.

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