The Three Most Interesting Things Said At Boston Celtics Practice on Monday

As rain continued to douse the South Carolina coast, the Celtics embarked on day two of their three-day stint at The Citadel. While the deluge might have cut into some golfing plans, the Celtics are right on track with their preseason plan.

Derrick White practicing in the McAllister Field House at The Citadel | John Karalis

CHARLESTON, SC — As rain continued to douse the South Carolina coast, the Boston Celtics embarked on day two of their three-day stint at The Citadel. While the deluge might have cut into some golfing plans, the Celtics are right on track with their preseason plan.

“We play indoors. Practice indoors,” Joe Mazzulla deadpanned before practice. “At the end of the day, it may impact some of the extracurricular stuff, which also it shouldn't. But we've gotten everything we need to get out of Charleston so far and we got two more days to do it."

The “also it shouldn’t” is pure Mazzulla, who seems to be challenging his players to channel their inner Bishop Pickering and get a quick nine in before the heavy stuff starts coming down. 

Either way, the full contingent of Celtics was on the floor at the McAllister Field House. Here are the three most interesting things said at practice on Monday. 

Mazzulla Doesn’t Expect 82 From Anyone

"I think, regardless of who it is, the standard and the expectation of playing all 82 isn't realistic. So I don't know that anyone on the roster, I think one or two guys have played 82. Derrick or Payton may have missed a game or two there. I don't think 82 is the standard or the expectation. To your point, A, managing or making sure that we're getting the best out of them for an entire year, however long that year lasts. That's for everybody. It's not like we come in and tell guys that we have to play 82 games and make that the other standard. One thing here, since I've been here, we've always trusted the competitive character. If a guy is competitive, and even if they feel like they can't, they're still going to try the best they can to play. As long as we keep the standard of doing everything I can to put themselves out there every single night, that to me is more important than anybody else."

A lot of guys can play 82 games if they just get out there and dog it for a little while. It’s pretty clear here that Mazzulla is doing two things: Making sure the guys who will assuredly miss time are protected from unrealistic expectations, and make sure it’s understood that he wants 100% of what a guy has, and not whatever bare minimum it takes to get on the floor to meet some goal beyond winning games. 

The Celtics are a deep team, and they’ll need all of that depth to shine all season long because guys will miss time. I’m curious to see how he handles that in his rotations. For example, we all expect Paul George to start games when he’s available, but does it make more sense to bring him off the bench in order to keep a more consistent starting lineup on the floor for 82 games? 

How the Celtics navigate the lost games is going to be a fascinating element to this season. How far will Mazzulla go to protect the continuity of his rotations? 

Mitchell Robinson Cares About Free Throws

"It's a preparation that I've been doing now. Back in the day I was just like more like get it over it whatever, but now I'm actually focusing in on it and locking in and getting it in the air."

It’s a good thing Knicks fans have a championship to celebrate because this would be a bothersome quote, otherwise. 

It’s also a “we’ll see” kind of thing. Mazzulla has a way of connecting with guys, so maybe he got through to Robinson somehow. Also, Mazzulla was one of the more extreme “Hack-a-Mitch” practitioners, so if anyone could explain the “why” behind it, it’s him. 

“Yeah, after playing against them four times a year for the past eight years, it was always a fun little rival,” Robinson said. “Now that I'm a part of this team and we joke about it all the time, so great vibes."

That's great. And I’ve seen with my own eyes that Robinson is, indeed, shooting free throws ahead of practice, so he’s not lying. Now let’s see how much it really helps.

Celtics guards getting some pre-practice work in here at The Citadel pic.twitter.com/uxVLXDWfTm

— John Karalis 🇬🇷 (@John_Karalis) October 5, 2026

Gonzalez Thinks The Trip Is Working

“I just think that it helps a lot. Obviously, when you are put in different environments, basketball-wise, or environment-wise, I think that helps a lot of like being able to manage different situations. Obviously, we're also simulating, like we're already on the road and already simulating what the season is going to look like. Long road trips and long days we're away from Boston. Obviously, you want to go home, but you also need to have this experience before the season starts.”

This is probably music to Mazzulla’s ears. 

There are probably layers to Mazzulla’s reasoning for this trip, but Gonzalez laying it out like this hammers home the main point of it: The Celtics are new and they travel a LOT to start the season. Twelve of their 16 November games are on the road, so getting used to the road early is really important. 

And maybe the rain is a good thing. There isn’t a golf tan in sight right now, which means the Celtics have had to figure out some other team activities in closer quarters where the non-golfers can participate. 

Either way, it sounds like the trip is going the way Mazzulla wants it to. That's good news in October. Now let’s see if it has the staying power to translate to good news in March and April.