BOSTON -- Jaylen Brown is the longest-tenured member of the Celtics. Drafted third overall in 2017, the nine-year veteran and three-time All-Star has seen the highs and lows first-hand, but something specifically about the team's reigning championship roster feels "weird" heading into training camp this go-around: stability.
The organization's front office and ownership group worked tirelessly this past offseason, allocating a jaw-dropping figure of well over $500 million to retain as much of last year's roster as possible. Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk, now a member of the Utah Jazz, were the only two left deserted in free agency, something Brown isn't accustomed to. Brown experienced the Isaiah Thomas, Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker eras, and also bid farewell to Marcus Smart a little over a year ago, but this time is much different. The stakes are higher, everyone's committed and the Celtics, as a whole, are aiming toward their first repeat in over five decades.
"It's kind of weird, actually, having stability," Brown said Tuesday during media day at Auerbach Center. "Cause over the last couple of years we've had the head coaches change, coaches leaving in the middle of the season, trades, players in and out. Nobody mentions that when you lose so it's good to hear it as an excuse now when you win; that we have some stability, but it definitely feels a little bit different. But I think it'll be good for us to continue to build off the chemistry that we already have and take some leaps forward."
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Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens got to work way ahead of time. It all began when Brown signed the (now-former) largest contract in NBA history at five years and $304 million last July to kick-off Stevens' blockbuster summer. Kristaps Porzingis, before ever taking the floor in a Boston uniform, was signed to a two-year, $60 million extension and Jrue Holiday, prior to the postseason, inked a four-year, $135 million extension with the Celtics. Jayson Tatum took over as the recipient of a historically large ($315 million) supermax deal, the same day Derrick White, too, earned a handsome five-year, $126 million payday. Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman -- the team's reserves -- were also re-signed, signaling a mega-firm stance that Boston isn't content with settling for anything less than Banner 19 plus more in the coming years.
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Brown isn't the only roster member to identify this new, but no less "fortunate" feeling coming into the locker room's first season as defending champs.
"For us, we're very fortunate to have pretty much all our guys back and everybody on the same page and understanding, and ready to go," Al Horford admitted Tuesday. "It is nice for a change to have that stability and not have to worry about anything and just focus on continuing to build what we have here."
Featured image via David Butler II/Imagn Images
