Getty Joe Mazzulla
Following the moves they’ve made, the Boston Celtics have some adjustments to make, between who will replace Marcus Smart in the starting lineup, knowing that he was the Celtics’ longest-tenured player.
After Jaylen Brown’s press conference on July 26, Head Coach Joe Mazzulla provided reporters with updates on their guard rotation, primarily who would be starting for the Celtics with Smart gone.
“Derrick will be our starting point guard,” Mazzula said. “We have the ability to play different ways with the ability to play small. We have the ability to play big, and so, with some of the changes we made, it opens up a lot of opportunities for Derrick, Payton (Pritchard), and Malcolm. So I think it’s really important that those three feel like we have an opportunity to grow them. We have an opportunity to help them on both ends of the floor, and those three guys at the guard spot is a part of our identity and part of where we need to get to on offense and defense.”
White started in 70 of the 82 games he played for the Celtics during the 2022-23 season, though his role fluctuated between the starting lineup and the bench during the postseason.
Joe Mazzulla Comments on Malcolm Brogdon Situation
Mazzulla also talked about where the Celtics stand with Malcolm Brogdon, who they nearly traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in the original three-way deal that would have sent them Kristaps Porzingis.
Mazzulla talked about how the Celtics have talked to Brogdon in the time since he was almost on a new team.
“The organizations had a few conversations (with him). I think anytime you’re in a situation like that and you’re in a relationship, you just have to take small steps into it. You know there’s a healing process, there’s a listening process, there’s a process towards seeing where we’re at and where we have to get to. We’ve had some conversations as an organization,but at the same time, we understand the situation that it was. As the healing process goes on, we’ll continue to just move forward as well as we can.”
There will be an elephant in the room between the Celtics and Brogdon going forward, but there have been no reports of Brogdon taking issue with them after what went down before the trade for Porzingis was finalized.
Celtics Will Keep Malcolm Brogdon
Though Brogdon almost found himself on another team, Heavy Sports Steve Bulpett was told by a league source that the Celtics will keep him.
“We asked about him, and we were told he’s a valued member of their team,” the league source told Bulpett.
The league source then added why the Celtics have chosen to keep him.
“They said he’s a valued member of their team, and that’s where it ended,” he told Heavy Sports. “I don’t know if that changes down the line, but we didn’t get anywhere. And I’m pretty sure we aren’t the only team that got that response.”
It sounds as though the Celtics’ intentions in the original Porzingis trade were to acquire Porzingis more than it was about getting rid of Brogdon.