The media got their first look at star big man Kristaps Porzingis as a Boston Celtics player on Thursday afternoon, with the Latvian center also joined by Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens and Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla.
The new Celtics center opened up about the process of becoming a member of the team as the deal bringing him to Boston from the Washington Wizards shifted from a deal sending Malcolm Brogdon to the Los Angeles Clippers to the completed version sending Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies, as well as his fit on the team and expectations.
Stevens and Mazzulla weighed in on many of the finer details of the trade as well.
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“(I was) very excited when I first heard the news and it was a pretty easy decision for me,” said Porzingis of the trade that brought him to Boston. There’s not much else to say.”
“The opportunity to play for a really good team already, to be able to add to that, and hopefully help these guys, make their lives even easier, and just being (a part of) a high-level organization like Boston, a historic franchise, iconic franchise made it extremely easy for me to make that decision.”
“Getting traded to Boston, it kind of made me realize how much I missed being on a big stage,” admitted former Mav Porzingis. “Dallas was great of course and Washington was great also, but this is a different level of excitement with how good the team is.”
Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis is set to Latvia in country’s first FIBA World Cup campaign. https://t.co/SeEIwjh3DH
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) June 28, 2023
“We’re trying to win,” said Stevens of the move, a bold one given Porzingis’ $36 million in salary for next season.”Everybody is very supportive of that from the top down.”
“It starts with Wyc (Grousbeck) and (Stephen Pagliuca, Celtics co-owners) and our ownership group, and we’re trying to win, and we’re going to try to do our best to put our best foot forward to do that,” added Stevens.
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“The required part of that is the right talent to build around and we’re fortunate to have a lot of talented players.”
“Kristaps is sitting up here, Jayson (Tatum) and Jaylen (Brown) have been mentioned a ton, we’ve talked about Al (Horford) and Rob (Williams III). We haven’t even mentioned Derrick (White), Malcolm (Brogdon), and Payton (Pritchard).”
“We’ve got guys that are under contract here that are really, really, really good players, and so building a team around that all fits together in our best way we can is what we’re trying to do,” suggested the Celtics president. “It’s about winning.”
After the dust settled, the hosts of the CLNS Media “Bob Ryan, Jeff Goodman, and Gary Tanguay” podcast discussed their thoughts after reassessing the deal. https://t.co/BeSXrrJ0Q5
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) June 29, 2023
“We’re fortunate that we were deep into the tax last year,” related Stevens, alluding to the constraints created by the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement.
“We’ll be into it this year and have the green light to continue to do it. We just want to build a team that makes sense being together.”
As for the departing Smart and the void his trade created, Mazzulla had some words. “He was a very important piece of the locker room, to the city.”
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) June 29, 2023
“I think a strength of his was the ability to have an impact on and off the floor,” added Mazzulla about the Flower Mound native, now part of the Memphis Grizzlies. “So that’ll be missed.”
“At the same time, we’re bringing in Kristaps, who, from a personality standpoint, brings a lot of the same characteristics to where he works hard on the court, but he’s also a guy that carries himself very well off the floor. So, I think that’s important and the most important thing in our locker room is that whoever is on our team, we have a group of guys that share the same values in wanting to win and wanting to do it together.”
“That’s what we have to build upon, and like I said, it’s important for us — for me, really — when we’re learning about our players that they are just as good of basketball players as people,” said Mazzulla.
“So, I think Kristaps will make our team better, but also make our locker room better as well.”
Some analysts believe the Kristaps Porzingis trade was home run for the Boston Celtics. https://t.co/WoI1xjG4IV
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) June 29, 2023
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