Mazz on the Celtics: If they don’t win it this year…massive failure

The Boston Celtics wrapped up their preseason with a 127-99 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night and will now get set to kick off the regular season next Wednesday. On Friday's Felger and Mazz, Mazz made his expectations known for the Boston Celtics this upcoming season.

Championship or bust for the Celtics? 

Mazz: In some of these other years when you've looked at the Celtics this time of season, we would go into the year and we would say, "they're close, they're close. You know, are Tatum and Brown quite there yet they're not 26 or 27 yet. They're on the cusp, but they're not quite there or they might not have this on the roster. Do they have that ability to close out games? Do they have the personnel as much as they were? Good going into these preseasons?". There was always still in my mind, I don't know, maybe not yours.....

Jim Murray: No, not these last two years. They should have won it these last two years.

Mazz: Okay. But I always felt like, are Tatum and Brown quite there yet? I don't have any doubt now. They're good enough to win. They're good enough and physically they were good enough to win before. But now, I don't think there's any doubt. Like I look at it and say, not only are they good enough to win, they should win. And I know Felger felt this way before I did.

Jim Murray: They should've won last year. I definitely felt it about that team.

Mazz: Right. But I would say they lacked the discipline and emotional maturity to do it. So it wasn't a talent issue, but they didn't have the discipline or emotional maturity to accept what the responsibility was. Like they didn't get it. They didn't get it. Now they have Kristaps Porzingis. Now they have Jrue Holiday. Marcus Smart is gone. Tatum and Brown, the path has been cleared for. The coach is going into his second year. They even have a security blanket in coach waiting whether it's Lee or whether it's Van Gundy, whoever, they have options. They have checked every single freaking box that they wanted to check to make sure that even if something goes wrong, we're prepared to handle it. They have done that in every freaking column. If they don't win it this year....Massive failure. The good news is I think they know it. And the way Mazzulla and Stevens are talking, to me, sort of fortified some of that.

Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!

The new look Boston Celtics wrapped up their preseason with another dominant performance, beating the Charlotte Hornets 127-99 last night. The Celtics finished the preseason 4-1 and looked like a juggernaut throughout most of it. With Marcus Smart and Grant Williams departing, the new additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday have been impressive and have fans excited for the regular season.

Now with the preseason officially wrapped, I wanted to give my 6 biggest takeaways from watching/listening and working the preseason.

My first takeaway from watching the Celtics in the preseason is their clear emphasis on getting back to their defensive ways of a few seasons ago. Led by Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis, the Celtics have the chance to be the best defensive team in the league. Joe Mazulla wants to get back the defensive mindset of the 2022 NBA finals Celtics team,

“Defense is what gets you in the door, defense is the admission ticket,” he said. “You just have to do it, you don’t really have a choice. That’s how I can get better as a coach. When something is obvious to me, I have a tendency to not emphasize it as much. Maybe because I sucked at offense, so I had to play defense, nobody had to remind me because I couldn’t do anything else.”

The Celtics should have no problem scoring with all their offensive firepower, but if they can get their defense back to the level it was a few years ago, they should walk to the Eastern Conference finals.

The biggest change to the Celtics this off season was trading Marcus Smart for Kristaps Porzingis and Porzingis has been a stud so far in the preseason. Now I get it, it's only preseason, but Porzingis has been everything the Celtics hoped for so far, stretching the floor getting wide open looks because of Tatum and Brown, while impacting the game defensively around the rim.

The biggest question mark around Porzingis will always be his health, but if he stays healthy the Celtics will be almost impossible to stop offensively and a pain to play against on the defensive end.

Another takeaway from the Celtics preseason is Payton Pritchard's great play after getting a new 4 year 30 million dollar deal. Pritchard was stellar in the preseason, averaging 15.6 points per game and shooting 36% from 3. The Celtics will need bench scoring this year, as their options off the bench offensively are somewhat limited.

If Pritchard can continue to build on his play from the preseason, he'll be a crucial rotational piece for a Celtics team looking to make a deep playoff run. Pritchard still leaves something to be desired defensively, but if he shoots like he did in the preseason it outweighs his defensive deficiencies.

One of the biggest question marks after their brutal loss to the 8 seeded Miami Heat last season was Joe Mazzula and the Celtics coaching staff. Even with the additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, the additions the Celtics made behind Joe Mazzula on the bench could be just as important to helping this team get over the hump.

The Celtics added Charles Lee a defensive minded assistant, Lee was with the Bucks from 2018-2023 won a title and is viewed as one of the up-and-coming head coaching prospects in the league. Former Celtic and 3 time NBA champion Sam Cassell was also added to the staff after spending 2020-2023 with the Philadelphia 76ers. Cassell gives the Celtics a veteran NBA champion player/coach on the end of their bench who can help show them how to get over the hump from his own experience.

I still believe it's Joe Mazzula's team and I expect him to have a great year after being thrown into an unprecedented situation last year. Mazzula seems to have an emphasis on defense and proving doubters wrong this year. With the help of Sam Cassell and Charles Lee in the game, the Celtics also added former NBA head coach and ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy to their staff as a consultant. Van Gundy eats, breathes and sleeps basketball and can be a valuable resource to Mazzula and the rest of the Celtics coaching staff.

Another question mark heading into the season for this Celtics team was their bench and its depth. With already mentioning Payton Pritchard's great play this preseason, I wanted to take a deeper look at some unfamiliar faces. The Celtics have the best top 6 of any team in the league, but their bench depth has been a concern heading into the season. We may have got a few answers to those questions during the preseason, but I still think there's room to improve on the bench.

The biggest winners of the preseason on the bench were Neemias Queta, Dalano Banton and Oshae Brissett in my opinion. Queta is a 7-foot defensive specialist who spent last year in Sacramento. Queta is only 24 years old, and his fresh legs and defensive mindset might have earned him a rotational spot over Luke Kornet.

Dalano Banton another player I was impressed with this preseason came over from Toronto and could help the Celtics with their ball handling issues when some players need a rest. Oshae Brissett came over from the Indiana Pacers after being undrafted in 2019 and spending a year with the Raptors. Brissett is a 6'7" swing forward who can give Tatum and Brown a break when needed.

As for losers of the preseason on the Celtics bench, it's hard not to see the way Luke Kornet played and worry that his spot could be in jeopardy. I still believe Kornet could be a solid asset to this group because of his rebounding and smart play, but he didn't have a good preseason at all. He didn't even play in the Celtics' final preseason game, so it's up in the air what his future could be.

My last takeaway from Celtics' preseason is Jayson Tatum continuing to ascend into the MVP caliber player we all expect him to be. Tatum added 12 pounds of muscle this offseason and was showing it off in the preseason, getting wherever he wanted and toying with defenders on a nightly basis.

Tatum is no slouch on the defensive end either, and adding 12 pounds of muscle is sure to help him lock guys down. Now that Al Horford will be coming off the bench at times and Rob Williams was traded, the Celtics will need Tatum to step up at times in the paint and on the post slowing down who ever happens to be in front of him.

Tatum started off last season in the MVP conversation, but his campaign faded as the year went on. This year I think he's going to be an MVP candidate throughout, as the Celtics have the best roster in the league, and he's their best player. As he goes, the Celtics go, and if they are going to be the dominant team we all expect them to be. I expect Tatum to lead the way and have his best season so far, being a top 3 MVP candidate throughout the year and leading the Celtics to the NBA Finals.