The 5 Most Interesting Things Said at the Final Day of Celtics Practice at The Citadel

CHARLESTON, SC — As a strange, yellow light emerged in the sky, the sun was starting to set on the Boston Celtics training camp excursion to The Citadel. Their third and final day of practice was held at the McAllister Field House before the team took off for Cleveland and their first preseason game against the Cavs on Thursday.

Joe Mazzulla has structured practices differently so the team handles its media obligations before they begin. He’s also been bringing in NBA referees to officiate the team scrimmages.

“I would say we've been treating practice as kind of like a playoff-type environment,” Neemias Queta said Tuesday morning. “Guys are really locked into it. We've been watching a lot of film right after possessions so whatever you did on the court is still pretty fresh on your mind and having to break it down is pretty good. I think that we've been really locked into that and I think that we're able to adjust on the moment quicker. That makes us better, too. Understanding what you did wrong on the possession and getting to fix it right away. Instead of forgetting about it when you watch film in a couple days. It can be really helpful for us."

With the aprons preventing Boston from mining for talent, Mazzulla is trying to create a lab-grown diamond with this group. Which bring us to the most interesting things said at the Tuesday practice.

Mazzulla Says They Accomplished … Something

“It was multiple things you're looking to get to, right? Just get away, just have time together on and off the court, and just kind of just continue to grow as a team, so you don't really know what you got accomplished. You won't know until 90 days, six months, you know? And so I think that's part of the journey. It feels as if you got something accomplished, but you may have to go back to it and continue to work on it. So I think it's just more than getting something done, it's more of opening up the process and the objective of what we're trying to accomplish over the course of the entire season, and be able to go back to it when we need to.”

Fair enough.

I understand the need to be vague in this moment because if he says ‘wow, we’ve really been nailing our pick-and-roll reads,’ and the team then turns the ball over on the first five pick-and-rolls they run in Cleveland, then the first question he’ll get is about what happened to all that progress?

So this is how Mazzulla protects his guys. There's no doubt they have accomplished things. And he’s also right, because once a team gets something right, they move on to something that was wrong, and the thing they got right can experience some slippage.

“I think you try to create moments of stress, throughout training camp, whether it's in the scrimmaging, whether it's in certain situations,” Mazzulla said. “You definitely try to actively work on those beforehand, but at the same time you can't stimulate, those things, four or five months from now."

Queta’s Confidence in the Bigs

"We're competing a lot. I think we're having each other's backs. One thing's for sure. We're rebounding a lot. I think we're just one of the best front courts in the NBA when we're all locked in. Depth-wise and ability-wise. It's just a matter of going out there on the court and showing it. We gotta be really smart to help the teammates that we have and that's something that we want to lean on."

I believe that this can be the best rebounding team in the league. The combination of Neemias Queta and Mitchell Robinson along with the offensive crashing from Luka Garza in spots, will pump up the rebounding numbers for the center spot.

Toss in Jayson Tatum’s defensive rebounding ability and the Celtics should finish the season with the league’s best defensive rebounding rate and probably one of the lowest opponent field goal percentages. If anything is going to help them increase their pace, that’ll be it.

Could we even see some double-big lineups?

“I think nothing's off the table with taking the team that you have and trying to figure out different identities, right?” Mazzulla said. “You don't know what matchups are going to give you a hard time, and you always want to have as many tools in the arsenal as you can. So nothing's on the table as who's playing with who, or anything like that throughout an entire season. Just a matter of can we get better at it? Can we work on it? Can we have it ready if necessary?”

That's a solid ‘maybe.’

Mazzulla Wants Rookies to be Seen, Not Heard

“Yeah, put his head down, keep his mouth shut, work on his game, do what needs to be done. Very simple. He's done a great job of that. He works every single day. He's been here all summer. Does whatever's asked of him. Wants to learn. Wants to grow. Wants to be coached. Wants to be challenged. Him and Chris [Cenac, Jr.] have both done a great job of that, and it's important if we continue to do so. Like I said, those two guys are very well coached in college. I think coming into you know certain NBA environments that goes a long way, and they've been obviously taught the game and you know coached at a high level from those two guys. And I think you kind of see the beginning of that when they're in here, and they just got to continue to do that. They've done a great job so far.”

The question was about how Dillon Mitchell could earn trust. Maybe he should have spent some time at The Milford School with Buster Bluth.

You can always tell a Milford man.

Mazzulla DIDN’T Do Anything Military-themed?

“Nothing out of the ordinary, which surprised me a little bit. Coming to Citadel, I assumed we were going to do some military stuff … We're here, just working out, getting our work in and getting to know each other. It's a good, different change of scenario and I think we're taking it to the full advantage."

I’m with Queta. Color me shocked.

You’re telling me the guy who piped in sounds of war took his team to The Citadel and they did NOTHING military-themed?

I don’t believe it. It might be true, but I’ll never believe it.

How Jayson Tatum is Just Like Michael Jordan

“It's definitely challenging. I think golf is like the hardest sport in the world, but it's just a lot of fun, and you can travel and play with anybody. So yeah, I mean it's something to get our mind off basketball, but it's a lot of [trash] talking, it's a lot of gambling out there. You know, it's guys keeping score, keeping track of who won yesterday, and all type of stuff like that.”

All Tatum is missing on the golf course is the Jordan cigar.

A lot of basketball players love playing golf, but it’s such a tough transition. The long limbs add so much room for things to go wrong, and the emotions involved with playing basketball don’t serve players well on the golf course.

I’m sure the league would prefer Tatum leave the gambling part of this anecdote the next time he tells it.

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