Coming off of their 18th NBA championship, Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics have one goal on their mind — sustainability.
“One of my main objectives is to not have this be anything but sustainable,” Stevens told reporters at the Auerbach Center on Thursday. “Keep finding a way to be sustainable, keep finding a way to sustainably keep yourself in the mix for years and years and years.”
It’s a goal that has become quite difficult to achieve in today’s NBA, especially with the new CBA that went into place last summer. Teams are now met with significant penalties when they have a massive payroll, making it increasingly more difficult to maintain a high-level roster.
Shout out to our very own Michael Spooner for putting together this cheat sheet of key restrictions that limit those high-spending teams.
Been digging into the new CBA. I went through the “Transaction Restriction Table” for apron teams to get a better understanding of the limitations from the source. Figured I’d share my cheat sheet. pic.twitter.com/Jy7TLOvLTY
— Wayne Spooney (@WSpooney) June 22, 2024
Boston is one of the highest-spending teams in the NBA right now. Fortunately, Stevens and his long term mindset have set the franchise up for years of contention. All five starters, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday, have either signed long-term contract extensions, or will likely do so this summer.
“As far as trying to extend our guys… we’d love to have these guys that are extension eligible around here for as long as we can, right? They’ve been awesome, obviously.”
Even when you turn your attention to the bench, things are looking good. Al Horford is on the books for next year, Payton Pritchard is entering the first season of his new deal, and Sam Hauser will be in Boston for at least one more year.
Stevens is hoping that it’ll be more than that.
“I’m not going to get into particulars of what decisions we’ll make with each guy’s contract, but I will say that we want Hauser to be here for a long time.”
It’s not a perfect science. Players are inevitably going to want to go where they can make the most money, which won’t always be here.
One of the keys to combating that is drafting well. It’s essentially how all teams have to operate going forward if they’re trying to compete for a championship.
Smart draft picks lead to winning players who don’t necessarily eat a ton of cap space.
This week, the Cs added two new players through the draft, Creighton wing Baylor Scheierman and Gonzaga big man Anton Watson. Both players spent five years playing college ball and are entering the league at the old (by NBA standards) age of 23.
Sure, they’re older than some of the teenagers that were picked, but Stevens still believes that they’re both young enough to grow within Boston’s system and help the team win games down the road.
“You’re looking for best fit, best player, who can come in and accentuate with your team, and who can grow within your group,” he explained. “And they’re both young enough where they can do that, too.
“I think you’re looking at what’s available when you draft. In the first round, we all thought really highly of Baylor and were excited that he dropped to 30. And in the second round, a similar thing with Anton.”
One of the reasons why Stevens said he was intrigued by both players was because of their character. He cited both players as winners who are passionate about the game.
For Boston, the character bleeds past just the players. Brad pointed to the training staff, coaches, and front office as parties who need to bring that same level of energy.
“I think it’s important for everybody in this building every day. It’s important for the trainers and the coaching staff and the front office. We can’t have any people bringing the energy down. We just can’t. We can’t have someone moving in a different direction.”
Finding the right people to be a part of the process is and will continue to be important to sustainable success for the Celtics.
Head Coach Joe Mazzulla is one of those people. He consistently preached about how important the Celtics’ mindset was during their championship run last season. The players clearly bought into what Mazzulla had to say and it led them to one of the more dominant runs to a title that we’ve seen in recent years.
It’s hard to win in the NBA. It’s harder to win multiple times.
There hasn’t been a single repeat champion since 2018. In fact, no defending champ, besides the 2018-19 Golden State Warriors, has managed to make it past the second round in that span.
It’s even harder to do so now with the new CBA restrictions.
Thanks to Stevens and his sustainable mindset, no team is better set up for years of winning than the Celtics.
