Boston Celtics 2021 Media Day

[Conroy]

GM Roy: Welcome to Media Day. We are excited to be here. A quick recap of last year, we snuck into the playoffs and felt like it was a great learning experience for our young guys. We might have only won 1 game in round 1, but we were competitive in nearly every game in the series with the eventual champs, and really liked the fight our guys showed.

The offseason started with draft, in which we had targeted Robert Oxford from the beginning, we paid a few points to move up and get him. He's a raw center but we expect him to contribute a few years down the line. RFA was pretty uneventful we knew we'd be bringing KAT back on a max contract, and we had max cap space and threw it at some guys, but nothing happened and we instantly matched the Nuggets max offer on Towns. Still armed with max cap space heading into UFA, we had some talks on some trades, but nothing materialized. We ended up bringing in Dario Saric, Dennis Schroder, and Jeff Whithey probably not the sexiest names on the UFA list, but 3 guys that will probably play 20-30 mpg if not start. We tried to convince Gobert to come back on a short-term contract, which had we been able to, would have been an ideal free agency. But he understandably took more years and more $$ to join the Timberwolves, we wish him the best of luck (tell Carlos we said hi).

We were feeling pretty good about the offseason we liked our draft pick, loved the guys we signed, still have 10M in cap space. But we had what looms over every offseason to fear, TC. With such a young team and some guys in their prime that were new to the team we knew TC can always make or break a team but we had hoped, to just not have anyone regress. Then we went out and had the best TC of the league and arguably the best TC in the history of the Franchise. We had 5 players gain at least 48 total points in their ratings. The obvious guys KAT, Ulis, JDLR made major improvements, but Vaccaro who we pretty much shelved last year had an amazing camp. We are really looking forward to his development and seeing what he can do on the court this year.

But they don't hand out trophies for the offseason, so now we gotta make it happen on the court. Our goals for this year are to compete for the division, get a top 4 seed, and to sweep those candy-asses in Philadelphia.

[Wombataholic]

With a stated goal of sweeping "those candy-asses in Philadelphia", would any other outcome be considered a failure? Say you win the series 4-1. Would that be a failure? What if Philadelphia is eliminated before you were to play them, would that result in a failure?

[false9]

Who do you envision in the starting five? Will we see some flexibility in Dario Saric's role?

[garbageman]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Your team is young, deep, and balanced. In terms of gameplan, what do you believe your team will excel at, and what's one area you'd like to see improvement?

[NOLa.]

Karl Anthony Towns had reportedly the best overall camp among all players. Is this the year we finally see a jump in production for him?

[logpmess]

What is the level of concern with Oxford's conditioning? Is that going to prevent him from becoming the talent that you foresee him being?

[ballsohard]

Welcome back and congrats on the preseason division crown:



We saw KAt taken #1 overall as that franchise star. We've seen you trade for DLR who's taking some time, but is another #1 overall and has potential bursting out of the seams. We also see Ullis who's really produced since day 1 and looks like he wants it. Who would you say is the sole guy this team is built around ?

[Conroy]

With a stated goal of sweeping "those candy-asses in Philadelphia", would any other outcome be considered a failure? Say you win the series 4-1. Would that be a failure? What if Philadelphia is eliminated before you were to play them, would that result in a failure?

I should have clarified I meant a regular season sweep. Once in the playoffs, a series victory is a sucess in any fashion. I wouldn't consider the season a failure if we didn't sweep them, though I would be very disappointed.

[Conroy]

Who do you envision in the starting five? Will we see some flexibility in Dario Saric's role?

This preseason was one of the rare times the rec'd settings were close to what I was envisioning. Ulis probably didn't get as many mins as I'd like to see but was still able to score 18ppg in only 22 mpg. I plan on experimenting with the lineup a lot. I bet we will lead the league in different starting 5's, but if I had to guess the 5 guys that will start the most games it would be Schroder, Ulis, Brown, KAT, and Withey. Withey will start a lot of games, but probably play the 8th most minutes. And KAT may be the only permenant fixture in the starting lineup. Saric will by far have the most flexibility, I could see him playing every position he had a fantastic preseason and will be key to the rosters flexibility in general.

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: One key area in where your team still seems to be developing is the Center position. How do you see that rotation shaping up, and will that be enough to handle the likes of Jokic and Simmons?

[Conroy]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Your team is young, deep, and balanced. In terms of gameplan, what do you believe your team will excel at, and what's one area you'd like to see improvement?

It looks like we should be able to score and rebound and those will be 2 areas we focus on. I'd like to see improvement, in the turnover department. Specifically steals, we had the ball stolen away from us a ton last year, and didn't make up for it on the defensive end ranking 25th in the league in steals.

[Soundwave]

If you had to pick one, what is the most important single attribute or skill of any lone player on your team? For instance Saric's quickness, or Towns' strength, etc................ Just one.

[Conroy]

Karl Anthony Towns had reportedly the best overall camp among all players. Is this the year we finally see a jump in production for him?

Its hard to say...every year is the year we think he's gonna come in and produce. He's usually one of the focal points of the offense, and the scoring just hasn't been there. But we are going to really force the issue to keep him down low this year. He has a good jumpshot and he just can't fall in love with it. He shot more jumpshots than inside shots this preseason. But I do beleive he will make the team better with his rebounding and passing and that will be huge him and for the team.

[IamQuailman]

Oxford and Vaughn nice pieces to have but you need a big that can contribute now next to KAT? What's your plan for that?

[ballsohard]

Oxford and Vaughn nice pieces to have but you need a big that can contribute now next to KAT? What's your plan for that?

Are there any truths to the Bucks pitching Mcnary live in your presser for Oxford and Vaughn?

[Conroy]

What is the level of concern with Oxford's conditioning? Is that going to prevent him from becoming the talent that you foresee him being?

When you're as strong as the Ox Man that's the price you pay, you wear yourself out much easier just moving all that muscle around.

[digiskunk]

How do you foresee Robert Oxford and Karl-Anthony Towns fitting together in the post? Of course, it will take a few years for a raw prospect such as Oxford to develop. How many years until they reach their peak?

[Conroy]

Welcome back and congrats on the preseason division crown:



We saw KAt taken #1 overall as that franchise star. We've seen you trade for DLR who's taking some time, but is another #1 overall and has potential bursting out of the seams. We also see Ullis who's really produced since day 1 and looks like he wants it. Who would you say is the sole guy this team is built around ?

I can't wait to see what the regular season crown looks like. For your second question, KAT was the first domino in the rebuild, so I guess technically the roster has been put around him. I know I essentially took a sabbatical is the past, but it really was Ulis who probably kept me from stepping away full-time and kept what little engagement I had going. He may end up being an instant offense 6th man, and definitely not what the roster is constructed around, but he will be a huge part of what the team is moving forward. I just love his game, I love checking the box scores to see how many points he put up. It was crazy as a Y/B he was 10th in the league in scoring.

[Conroy]

If you had to pick one, what is the most important single attribute or skill of any lone player on your team? For instance Saric's quickness, or Towns' strength, etc................ Just one.

Ulis Jump

[Conroy]

Oxford and Vaughn nice pieces to have but you need a big that can contribute now next to KAT? What's your plan for that?

Withey is not the sexiest Center in the league, but has historically gotten the job done in terms of rebounding and shot blocking. He'll be a good stopgap until Ox and Vaughn are ready.

[Conroy]

How do you foresee Robert Oxford and Karl-Anthony Towns fitting together in the post? Of course, it will take a few years for a raw prospect such as Oxford to develop. How many years until they reach their peak?

I think they'll play well together and will be a strong rebounding duo down low. I think it'll work well because Oxford won't have as expanded a role as KAT. We'll rely on KAT to score, rebound, and distribute, letting Ox focus on the dirty work grabbing loose balls, blocking shots. Barring injury Ox won't see much playing time this year, but by his 3rd year I think he'll receive significant minutes.