Before the Celtics and Hornets squared off Tuesday night at TD Garden, Brad Stevens held his first news conference in two months.<\/p>\n
Speaking with reporters for the first time since his post-trade deadline presser on Feb. 6, Boston\u2019s president of basketball operations fielded questions about his team\u2019s newly healthy superstar, its still-adjusting midseason addition, the Celtics\u2019 ceiling in the upcoming NBA postseason and why his name always seems to appear in coaching rumors whenever a big-time college job opens up.<\/p>\n
Still no ceiling<\/p>\n
Stevens said before the start of training camp, back when most expected the Celtics to regress with Jayson Tatum sidelined and their roster overhauled, that he wouldn\u2019t put a ceiling on what the team could accomplish. That hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel the exact same as I did at the beginning,\u201d said Stevens, whose team can clinch the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a win Thursday in New York. \u201c\u2026 I don\u2019t think in terms of the big picture as far as this individual team. I just know that we can play. I\u2019ve seen us rise and meet challenges, and I know that this team\u2019s looking forward to the next one. As you get into this time of year and get into the playoffs, everything\u2019s hard, the other teams are really good, and we\u2019ll see where it all stacks out. But I\u2019m going to continue to not put a ceiling on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several Celtics players (Neemias Queta, Baylor Scheierman, Luka Garza, Jordan Walsh, rookie Hugo Gonzalez) have yet to play meaningful postseason minutes<\/a> in their NBA careers. Stevens said he trusts head coach Joe Mazzulla and his staff to properly prepare them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe margin is small,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cAs the playoffs start, as you get into this time of year, the distractions rise, the burdens rise, the praise rises. All that stuff, right? And the reality is you just have to stay in the moment and be as good as you can today.\u201d<\/p>\n Tatum\u2019s rehab \u2018incredible\u2019<\/p>\n This was Stevens\u2019 first time addressing the media since Tatum\u2019s comeback from Achilles surgery<\/a>. He saluted the Celtics star for his diligence throughout his nearly 10-month rehab process and shouted out Tatum\u2019s surgeon, Dr. Martin O\u2019Malley; his trainer, Nick Sang; and Celtics executive director of performance Phil Coles.<\/p>\n Stevens said it \u201cbecame clear probably around the trade deadline \u2026 that (Tatum) was in a pretty good spot physically.\u201d Tatum then ramped up his activity, which included practicing with Boston\u2019s G League team and running through full-speed scrimmages with Celtics teammates, before making his season debut<\/a> on March 6.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could see that, not only was he going to come along pretty quickly, but you could also see that he was getting more eager to play,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cIt was a really well-thought-out process by Dr. O\u2019Malley and Nick Sang and Phil Coles, and followed to strictly by Jayson. Everybody involved with that gets a lot of credit because of the amount of work that everybody put into it. Nobody more than Jayson. Close, close second by Nick.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty incredible to watch up close. I got a front-row seat to the whole thing. I wasn\u2019t sitting on the edge of my seat like others were the first time they saw him run up and down the court, playing five-on-five.\u201d<\/p>\n Since returning, Tatum has averaged 25.1 points, 10.1 rebounds, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. The Celtics have won 12 of his first 14 appearances.<\/p>\n Week off big for Vucevic<\/p>\n After this Sunday\u2019s regular-season finale against Orlando, the Celtics will have five or six days off before beginning their first-round playoff series. Stevens believes that gap will be important for veteran center Nikola Vucevic, the trade-deadline pickup who missed a month with a fractured finger before returning on Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a work in progress anytime you get a guy that comes in a trade,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cBut Vuc is a pro, and I think that he immediately recognized that he\u2019s got to do his best to find where he can help fit and where he can help impact the team. We haven\u2019t played a ton of teams that have switched everything, like in the first game against Miami, where he really got some post-up opportunities and that type of stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I do think that he can bring an element to this group that will be really valuable down the line, and I think that it\u2019s good that he gets at least a week here to work on it with the guys. \u2026 Having that week in between is going to be really good. And even though we won\u2019t have games to necessarily play with Vuc \u2014 we only have a couple left \u2014 just those practices are probably more valuable than even these next four games.\u201d<\/p>\n