Brad Stevens Has ‘Green Light’ To Turn Celtics Into Champion

BRIGHTON, Mass. — The Boston Celtics aren’t exactly in the best spot when it comes to their cap situation, preparing to enter their second straight season in the penalty for going over the salary cap.

That doesn’t exactly matter though, as Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has been given free reign to build Boston into a championship-level team.

“We’re really lucky. We’ve got the green light to continue to add,” Stevens said during Kristaps Porzingis’ introductory press conference Thursday from the Auerbach Center. “I think the biggest part for us is making sure we are smart about building a team. You’re always looking at it from the standpoint of this year, but also down the road. I think that we’re fortunate that we were deep into the tax last year, we’ll be into it this year, and we still have the green light to continue to do it.

“We just want to build a team that makes sense playing together. Sometimes that means spending more, sometimes that means figuring out you’ve got the guys to build around and putting the right people around them. That’s the challenge here moving forward.”

“We’re really lucky. We’ve got the green light to continue to add.”

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens

Boston clearly has the talent to win a championship, with Kristaps Porzingis being acquired in a trade to join Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as the latest iteration of a Celtics big three. That talented roster will continue to cost Stevens and company, as Porzingis appears to be approaching an extension, while Brown is almost certainly in line to receive the Celtics’ second supermax contract alongside Tatum, who is eligible for it next offseason.

“We’re trying to win and everyone is very supportive of that from the top down,” Stevens said. “It starts with (owners Wyc Grousbeck and Stephen Pagliuca) and our ownership group. We’re trying to win, and we’re going to put our best foot forward to do that. The required part of that is the right talent to build around and we’re very fortunate to have the right players.

“… We’ve got guys that are under contract here that are really, really good players. Building a team around that, that all fits together is what we’re trying to do. It’s about winning.”