"“I'm looking forward to when we get to that point where we catch our wind, what that could possibly be.”"
"This fall, Joe Mazzulla's stacked squad has been sapped away by a 1-2 punch of injuries and cap-related restrictions. Two of Boston's starters last season in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis are now playing for the Trail Blazers and Hawks, respectively. A once-stout bench has been shredded with both Al Horford and Luke Kornet now playing in the Western Conference."
"And Boston's franchise fixture in Jayson Tatum - while present at TD Garden on Wednesday - spent the night stapled to the bench. As he works his way back from a ruptured Achilles, Tatum's eventual return to the court remains as murky as Boston's long-term title hopes beyond this bridge season. For Mazzulla and what remains of a former championship-caliber roster, a painful offseason hasn't given way to despair."
TD Garden remained loud as fans converged on Causeway Street and the 18th championship banner hung in the rafters. Significant roster changes and salary-cap moves left key veterans elsewhere, eroding depth and bench strength. Jayson Tatum attended but sat out while rehabbing a ruptured Achilles, creating uncertainty about long-term title prospects during a bridge season. Boston lost its opener 117-116 after surrendering a 13-point fourth-quarter lead to Philadelphia. Despite the setbacks, the team showed competitiveness anchored by Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard, and coaching staff expressed measured optimism about future cohesion.
Read at Boston.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]