Joe Mazzulla Making BIG CHANGES For Celtics In 2025-26 NBA Season | Boston Celtics News

Joe Mazzulla Making BIG CHANGES For Celtics In 2025-26 NBA Season | Boston Celtics News

Celtics training camp is underway and Joe Missoula is making some big changes for this upcoming season. But the biggest change we all know is that Jason Tatum will not be out there on the court. And uh I I think he really really wants to be out there. If you see this picture of Jaylen Brown rising up for a jumper in the Arrowback Center. There’s a player over there in the uh in the wait room. He’s kind of lurking. Yeah. Yeah. That’s JT. He’s dying to be out there on the basketball court. So, if you are dying for JT to be out there on the court as well, go down below, smash that thumbs up icon, and we’ll talk about the changes that Joe Missoul is going to make on today’s show. [Music] What’s going on, green teamers? You’re watching Celtics Today by Chat Sports. I am your host, Tyler Smith, and the Boston Celtics look a lot different this upcoming season. It’s going to be led by uh mostly this crew right here. These are the four guys who we know are going to be guaranteed big-time minutes this upcoming season along with newcomer Anthony Simons as well. But with a new kind of look roster, a little bit more youth injected into it, a little more athleticism, it’s going to come with it some philosophical changes. And I think with based on what we’ve heard from media day and what we’ve heard from the early training camp practice is that the Celtics want to be fast. Not just fast though, they want to be the fastest team in the NBA this season. And that’s a stark contrast from where they’ve been over the past few years. If we look at pace here in the NBA last year, the fastest teams in the league. Now, to be fair, you look at some of these crews. Uh don’t know if I want to be in the the same demographic as the Bulls, the Hawks of last year, the Wizards of last year. Now, to be fair, the Thunder were the fifth highest uh team in the league as far as possessions per game. That’s how you that’s that’s what this number is here. Uh possessions per game total. The Thunder were five. They won the NBA title. The Grizzlies, they were number one. and they made the playoffs. So, there is a little, you know, selection selectivity when it comes to how fast you want to be. It comes down to execution, which we know that the Grizzlies and the Thunder were much better at than these three units here. But then if we look at the slowest teams in the league from last season, well, we were one of them. The Celtics were 29th in the league in possessions per game at only 96. So, less than 100 possessions per game. I think the C’s want to be above that mark this season. And what’s that going to take? That’s going to take pushing the pace. And it makes it a little easier when you don’t have 39-year-old Al Horford demanding him to run up and down the floor or Drew Holiday 30 34 years old, you’re running him asking him to do win sprints left and right. Chris has Porzingis who we know probably shouldn’t be doing win sprints of any kind uh for long stretches. So now that they have a little bit more athleticism, a little bit more youth injected into the team, that’s going to change the the outlook of this roster as far as how they want to approach both offense and defense. We’ll talk about the def defensive side in a little bit. Let’s start on the offensive end. Here’s what Missoula had to say. Whatever your roster is, you you try to play to its strengths and what might uh what night wins night in and night out over the course of the NBA season. The league is always changing. So, you have to stay on top of the trends. And that is kind of what where the league is trending at this point. High volume, high like just just as many possessions as you possibly can. And it is crazy because I kind of thought that’s how the Celtics have been running over the last few years. But it is really just the volume of three-point attempts that they’ve gotten up. It’s not the pace. It’s it’s just the the sheer number of shots that they get out from the outside. But it looks like the guys on the court are buying into this new kind of pace, push the pace, push the tempo, get up and down. Like once the ball’s off of the off the rim, then we’re running. It doesn’t really matter who has it. We’re pushing and that that’s the name of the game. Looks like the guys on the team are buying into that mentality. And we’re going to tell you who exactly had to who spoke on the new Celtics philosophy in just a moment. But make sure you are subscribed to the channel because we’re going to watch this Celtics team in action this season right here on the channel. We’ll be doing live watch parties for your Celtics this upcoming season and we’ll be giving you videos every single day on the channel updating you with all the latest news and rumors. So make sure you are subscribed to the channel and you turn your notifications on so you never miss a moment around your Boston Celtics right here at Celtics today. All right, Peyton Pritchard was the first one to speak on this new kind of Celtics philosophy here. And he said, “I definitely think that we need to adapt. We do not have the same team. a lot of different players. I think we need to play a lot faster. It’s a great opportunity for the new faces to show what they’re capable of doing and helping winning. It benefits the players that are going to be on the court right now for us like me, Derek White, Jaylen Brown, and them getting up and down the floor quick, getting into early offense and create havoc for teams and we’re best in that area. So why so that’s why we should emphasize it and play early and fast. You see that it’s like sometimes those are the best shots rather than waiting for the end of the shot clock. Look, I most of the Celtics success last season came in the half court, right? They have elite decision makers. They have elite basketball IQ talent on the floor for them last season. Holiday, Tatum, Horford, Porzingis, like those guys are all always knowing where each other are on the basketball court. So, it’s okay to take long possessions out there. But with this new team that we know objectively just not have as much basketball skill and talent as the last two seasons, uh, you know, rosters did, they need to be able to run teams out of the gym. they need to be in better shape. Like it it’s kind of like a high school basketball mantra where you know you’re matching up against a team that you know they may be way much better shooters than you. They may be much better ball handlers than you. But if you can outwork them, if you can outrun them, if you can literally make them want to not play anymore, then you are going to have some success. Now, this doesn’t mean play recklessly. Doesn’t mean hawk up shots in 20 seconds left on the clock just for the sake of getting possessions up there. No, execution absolutely has to be a part of the equation. And newcomer Luca Garza, he he knows that. He said this, “Obviously, I wasn’t there last year. All I know is what we’re putting in now and the structure that we’ve been working on. A lot of it has to do with playing at a high fast pace, getting up and down the court. Definitely as a player, I enjoy that. I feel like that’s where I’ve been at my best, being able to push the pace, run the court, set early screens, get guys open. He said it doesn’t mean just get up shots for the sake of getting up shots. And then why not? his is a former Minnesota Timberwolve teammate. Now, Celtics teammate said that we definitely speak about the pace that we want to play with. We want to be the fastest team. We want to have no lag time in any decision-making that we do. Whether that be taking the ball out after a bucket or transition, we want to make it a point of emphasis to be the fastest team on the court. Pritchard said it, not said it. There is going to be no walking up the ball this season for the Celtics. Maybe, you know, there in some certain instances, some team uh some teams are, you know, kind of mashing that energy for Boston. Maybe they have to switch it up and and go with a little bit more of a a methodical approach, but don’t expect to see a shot go in from an opponent this season, and the Celtics just kind of mosey on down the court. No, no. They’re going to be pushing the pace. They’re going to try to catch defenses on their heels and get easy buckets out of it. Now, how’s that going to happen, right? because you can’t be sprinting for a full 48 minutes like especially when guys are going to be in uh the game for stretches of maybe 7 8 9 minutes at a time. You can’t be running full sprinting like giving 110% uh during that stretch. Say if it’s in the first or second quarter you’re going to be gassed for the rest of the game. So there’s been some discussions about how the Celtics are kind of going to manage this high tempmpo fastpac offense that they have going on this season. It could be in the form of like hockey subs, uh, straight lines coming in and out of the game for Boston. There have been discussions of a five in, five out system. Five guys on the floor, they go crazy hard for five minutes, five guys come off the floor, new guys come in. Jordan Walsh spoke on it. He said, “I think that Joe wants to uh have more of a five out or five in, five out type of rotation where it’s like we’re all going super hard, four or five minutes, boom, switch out, come in with a new five, then fight, fight, fight for four or five minutes.” I don’t hate this, especially early in the season when you consider who the Celtics have with their personnel. There’s a lot of guys who we don’t really know about. There’s a lot of guys who haven’t really shown a ton in their NBA career to this point. So, I think this system, especially early on in the season where we’re experimenting and working out a bunch of kinks, is is very, very good. Like, we don’t know if Baylor Shyman provides a better spark for this Celtics team than say an Ugo Gonzalez will down the line. Like, we have to be able to test these things out. We have to be able to see these guys against real high level NBA competition in order to see how that 10-man rotation gets when the Celtics end up trying to make a postseason run as the season goes along. So, I’m sure there’s going to be 11 12 man rotations to start the year. They’re going to be seven in five in five out. Hopefully, as the season goes along, we see a little bit less of that, but for now, I I don’t mind it at all. Let’s talk about the def the the defensive side of the ball a little bit too in just a moment because it’s not just pushing the pace on the offensive side of the ball for Joe Mazula. He says he wants to push the pace defensively as well. And I didn’t really know what that meant until I read what he uh how he explained it. So, we’ll tell you that in just a moment. First though, get hooked up with these awesome Celtics hats as gift giving season is on the horizon. This corduroy one is pretty dope with the Celtics script. What about this little ‘9s era like kind of design with the cream top colored brim as well with the rope in the middle? I like that one a lot. What about the khaki version right here? They’re all at this link right here, chatports.com/eltics hats. These are not the only hats on the site as well. all them at this link right here, chessports.com/selix to get yours today. A bunch are on sale as well, and that link is in the comment section and description of today’s video. Rep your guys in green on the dome today. All right, Joe Misoula said this. It’s not just an offensive term as far as pushing the pace goes. He says it’s a defensive term. How can you create pace defensively? How can you make guys uncomfortable? How can you make them play faster? How can you make them make more decisions over the course of a possession and over the course of a game? and then using your physicality and your activity, which I think the guys have done a great job of over the first couple days of practice. Let’s talk about the first couple days of practice for your Boston Sullies real quick because Sam Cassell, who’s been in the NBA as a coach, as a player for 34 years, says this is the toughest one, the hardest start that he’s ever been a part of. That speak that speaks volumes to me personally because look, this Celtics team is not the most skilled in the NBA. They’re not the most skilled in their division, not the most skilled Eastern Conference. They’re going to need to win games this season if they want to win a bunch of games based on effort. Now, one player who we heard talk about effort in his media day press conference was Anthony Simons, the newcomer, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. That comment didn’t rub me the right way. uh 100% uh uh if if you ask me because he said that basically the reason that I’ve been pegged as a bad defender is because I really have never locked in on the defensive end if he says it just comes down to whether I want to do it or not. Hopefully he wants to do it this upcoming season. And Joe Mazoula is kind of making sure that he checks all of his boxes in this process as well. He’s been in constant contact with Anthony Simons this offseason. He says to him, “You’re not as bad of a defender as everybody says you are.” He’s tried to instill different types of defensive techniques and whatnot with Anthony Simons. So, I’m I’m excited for these two guys to kind of build their relationship. However long Anthony Simons is a part of this roster because we know the Celtics will probably try to trade him at some point this season. I love that Missoula is still instilling confidence and still buying into Anthony Simons as a member of his roster. Here’s what Simon had to say on their exchanges. He says, “The first things we worked on was just being a playmaker on defense. Whether it’s stabbing at the ball, trying to steal the ball, look at passing lanes, being in the right spot. That’s one of the things that we drill for the first four weeks I was here before training camp. So, those things are stuff that I never really worked on or had been taught. It’s so crazy with the NBA, like just team to team and how organizations are run differently. Tell me nobody taught you how to play defense. Nobody taught you or or or at least made it a point of emphasis to help you improve on the defensive end. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. And it seems like Anthony Simons is upset that that’s taken this long. He seems happy to be coached and he’s seeing the impact already. If we look at what kind of Anthony Simons has been as as a defender and I know this might be just straight gibberish rocket science to you guys and I’m not exactly sure um everything that’s involved with LeBron either, but I do think it’s one of the better defensive metrics that we can look at on a player. And you see the top row of of of data plots there. Anthony Simons is one of the worst defenders in the NBA. If you look at 2022, I I looked closely, he I think he was the worst graded defender in the entire National Basketball Association in 2022. Now, he has improved a little bit marginally uh the past few seasons, but still not a good defender at all. In the offensive end, you see he’s above average over there. Uh we know how what he could do creating with the ball in his hands. But as a defender, he is a negative on the court. I think that’s going to change this upcoming season because we’re going to get more effort than we have ever seen in his NBA career. I don’t doubt that one bit. I I we know what Anthony Simons could do. He could fill up the stat sheet, scoring the basketball, but I the number one thing that I’m looking at from him as far as by the way earning himself more money. I hope his agent I hope the sellers coaching staff are all telling him that in a contract year, you’re going to want to showcase how good of a defender you actually can be because this market for scoring guards that only play on one side of the of the court is diminishing greatly. Cam Thomas just had to take the qualifying offer from the Brooklyn Nets because nobody wants a guard, a small guard that doesn’t defend because there’s just too many of those in the league at this point. Everybody can do that. So, the supply, the demand is not really there for these types of players. You have to become a two-way guy. And hopefully Joe Missoula and the toutelage that he has for Anthony Simons this season will make that happen for him. What’s your confidence level in Joe Mazula as Sully’s coach? Not just in terms of earning wins, long-term prospects of winning championships. We know he’s a champion, but as a tutor, as a mentor, what’s your confidence level? Let me know in the comments section. One being no confidence at all, 100 being more confidence than anything in your life. Let me know what you guys think down below. Make sure you give me a follow over on Twitter, TylerJmith. As the season gets closer, I’m going to be tweeting much more about the Boston Celtics. And make sure to subscribe to the channel, youtube.com/seltics TV for the le the best and latest Celtics news, rumors, updates all season long. We’ll see you guys in the next one. And as always, let’s go S’s. [Music]

Boston Celtics news today comes as Celtics training camp is fully underway and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has some philosophical changes for this Celtics roster in the 2025-26 NBA Season. Celtics highlights over the past few seasons have normally come in the halfcourt offense, but Payton Pritchard, Jordan Walsh, new Celtics signings Josh Minott and Luka Garza all recognize how sped up the tempo has become for Boston this year. Celtics Today host Tyler Smith breaks down all the latest Celtics rumors on Joe Mazzulla, Payton Pritchard, Anfernee Simons & more on today’s Boston Celtics YouTube video.

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Payton Pritchard On Celtics Becoming Faster:
“I definitely think we need to adapt. We do not have the same team, a lot of different players. I think we need to play a lot faster. It’s a great opportunity for the new faces and show what they’re capable of doing and helping winning… It benefits the players that are going to be on the court right now for us. Like me, (Derrick White), (Jaylen Brown) and them, getting up and down the floor quick, getting into early offense, that can create havoc for teams. And we’re best in that area, so that’s why we should emphasize it and play early and fast. You see that, it’s like sometimes those are the best shots rather than waiting for the end of the shot clock

Joe Mazzulla On How Boston Celtics Roster Will Play Different:
“Whatever your roster is, you try to play to its strengths and what wins night in and night out over the course of the NBA. The league is always changing, so you have to stay up on the trends… It’s not just an offensive term, it’s a defensive term. How can you create pace defensively? How can you make guys uncomfortable? How can you make them play faster? How can you make them make more decisions over the course of a possession and over the course of a game? And then using your physicality and your activity, which I think the guys have done a good job of the first couple of days of practice”

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NBA Highlights: Fastest & Slowest Teams In 2024-25
1. Grizzlies: 103.69
2. Bulls: 103.61
3. Hawks: 103.41
4. Wizards: 101.82
5. Thunder: 100.90
–
26. Knicks: 97.64
27. Heat: 97.08
28. Nets: 96.73
29. Celtics: 96.59
30. Magic: 96.51

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– Celtics Fans Receive The BEST NEWS YET With This Jayson Tatum Update – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DrB4UbhdLE
– 🚨The Boston Celtics Just Got HUGE NEWS From 2025 Celtics Media Day – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkEJ34CsIhw
– BLOCKBUSTER Celtics Trade Rumors via Bill Simmons & Zach Lowe: Derrick White ROCKETS Trade?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcHvWihDvxU

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– Confidence level in Joe Mazzulla as Celtics coach? Scale 1-100

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