Forward Jayson Tatum, who is out indefinitely after rupturing his Achilles’ tendon in May, created a stir this weekend when he released a video of himself taking part in a full basketball workout at the Auerbach Center.
The footage showed him shooting, jogging, and doing some change-of-direction moves, stoking some optimism that he might return this season after all. But Tatum stressed Monday that the team is not pushing him to get back onto the court.
“No pressure,” Tatum said. “I’ve stated that. There’s no pressure to return back any sooner than when I’m 100 percent healthy. No pressure from Brad [Stevens], Joe [Mazzulla], the team, the organization. The most important thing is that I’m 100 percent healthy whenever I do come back.”
Tatum said that resuming basketball workouts has been “one of the bright spots from this journey.” But he also acknowledged that the coming weeks will be difficult.
“immediately it’s a tough spot I’m going to be in,” Tatum said, “because the team is practicing tomorrow and I’m not going to be out there.”
Mazzulla said it’s been important to provide support for Tatum throughout his recovery. He said he was there with Tatum the first time he walked, ran, and took jump shots.
Guard competition? Not so much.
Guards Payton Pritchard and Anfernee Simons are score-first guards who could ultimately battle for playing time. But Mazzulla already is trying to extinguish that potential story line.
On Monday, he was asked a two-part question that included both players: “I see what you did there, build that correlation between Payton and Anfernee, which I’m sure you’ll try to do the entire season. I’ll nip that in the bud immediately. Those two don’t go hand-in-hand. They’re completely different.”
Mazzulla said he spent part of this offseason trying to study the rest of the NBA, which is constantly evolving with new concepts and schemes.
“Figure out where the game is going, not only this year but the next 3-5 years,” he said.
He said he also focused on growing.
“I think the season exposes yourself to yourself as far as how you’ve gotten better as a coach, as a person,” Mazzulla said.
Forward Al Horford on Sunday agreed to a multiyear discount with the Warriors, officially ending his second stint with the Celtics. Stevens said in July that the team expected Horford to move on, and he acknowledged Monday that the Celtics’ financial constraints made their situation difficult.
“We tried,” Stevens said. “We offered both Al and Luke [Kornet] the opportunity to stay, but I think you can see where our contracts were with who we signed that we were going to be handcuffed around the aprons a little bit.”
Kornet, a backup center, agreed to a four-year, $41 million discount with the Spurs.
“Those phone calls are hard because you’re not going to see those guys every day, but you’re also, like, jacked for him to get a chance to do that,” Stevens said. “And then Al, same thing. We gave out an offer, but there wasn’t any expectation that he wouldn’t take a bigger offer elsewhere and go play, because that’s his right. He’s been great for us, and we very much benefit our time together.”
Veteran forward Chris Boucher, who signed a one-year, minimum-salary discount with the Celtics last month, shot 36.3 percent from the 3-point line last season, the second-best mark of his eight-year career. He credited the uptick to better shot selection.
“I think it’s more knowing where my shots are coming from,” he said. “I think my first couple years I was more trigger-happy trying to show I can shoot threes … immediately the league knows I can shoot threes, so it’s about taking the great ones.”
Boucher said he is eager to join an offense known for valuing and creating open looks from beyond the arc.
Stevens called Simons a “scouting report asterisk guy,” saying opponents will always account for his ability to erupt as a scorer. Stevens also said Simons has been a good passer throughout his career.
But Simons is known as a below-average defender, and he nodded Monday when asked about his play at that end of the court.
“It’s just a matter of if I want to do it or not,” Simons said. “It’s really that simple. Coming into a culture like this you have to be able to adapt or you’re not going to be in the position you want to be.”
Simons said Mazzulla has spoken to him about how he is perceived as a defender, too.
“That’s really the honest conversation we had about it,” Simons said. “He always says you’re not as bad as people think you are. So that’s good to hear, but also I have to do better at that end.”
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.
About the Author
