BOSTON – Last week, as the regular season began to wind down, I followed the Celtics around for a couple of days. The assignment was not too dissimilar from my usual shenanigans; as a beat reporter, you — in effect — follow the team around to shootarounds, practices, games, and other events (and if you’re wondering, yes, it feels invasive at times).
The difference was that this time, the team had two consecutive days off from game action and travel, something that very rarely happens during the regular season (only four times so far, to be exact).
Usually, when the team has two consecutive days off, one of those days is a travel day (if the Celtics play at home on a Monday, and on the road on a Thursday, they technically have two days off, but Wednesday would be a travel day).
But, in late March, a two-day span between a Sunday night game against the Minnesota Timberwolves and a Wednesday night game against the Oklahoma City Thunder was one of those rare times.
How do players maximize that time?
I dove deep into that question.
Much of it revolves around giving back to the community, said Celtics longtime team president Rich Gotham. Players participate in off-court events in and around the city of Boston, events that are oftentimes centered around empowering youth, among other causes.
“Generally, what we try to do is really understand, like, what makes each player tick — what they’re into, the kind of stuff they want to do, what their interests are,” Gotham told CelticsBlog. “It’s different for every player, depending on where they are in their career arc. But, particularly with the young players, we try to sort of cement that this is what it means to be a Celtic. You’re part of an organization. There’s what goes on on the floor, but then there’s everything that supports what goes on. And you have to actually be a participant in that. You have to contribute to that.”
Monday, March 23rd: Youth workshops, sporting events, and dinners
Sam Hauser attended a financial literacy event for middle schoolers at the Dearborn STEM Academy, a public middle and high school in the heart of Roxbury that is focused on science, technology, and math.
Players attend these kinds of community events all the time. In March alone, Derrick White, Hugo Gonzalez, Amari Williams, Luka Garza, Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman, and Neemias Queta each headlined one of a myriad of Celtics off-court events.
The events are often hosted in collaboration with the team’s corporate partners; Hauser’s workshop was hosted in partnership with TD.
3:30pm: Sam Hauser headlines a financial literacy workshop for Roxbury youth
Hauser was the guest of honor and the star of the show at Dearborn. For more than an hour, he hung out with kids as they reviewed information and answered questions about financial literacy, learning about concepts like interest rates, emergency funds, and credit scores.
“I didn’t learn this stuff in high school, so honestly, I was learning some stuff on the fly here today, which is pretty cool,” Hauser said. (I can confirm I also struggled with some of the questions the students were asked).
The highlight of the event came at its conclusion, when the Celtics forward participated in a heated knockout game against the middle schoolers.
Hauser taught a bunch of the kids the rules of knockout — then subsequently eliminated nearly all of the competitors.
“It’s tough love,” Hauser said afterwards with a smile, conducting his post-competition interview alongside one of the knockout participants. “As much as you love these kids, you gotta lose sometimes in life.”
Ultimately, Vladimir Hyppolite, an 8th grader at the Dearborn Academy, came out victorious, winning a pair of tickets to Friday’s Celtics game against the Hawks.
He walked both the basketball contest and the financial literacy trivia walked away with a basketball signed by Hauser and his autographed jersey.
“It’s definitely weird,” Hauser said of seeing his jersey be the event’s prized reward. “Still, I don’t see many of my jerseys out there, so seeing them here today and a few in the crowd every now and then. It’s pretty cool – something that you kind of dream of when you’re a little kid, like, ‘I hope someone wears my jersey when I grow up.’ But actively seeing it is pretty special.”
Hauser has a one-year-old boy, Teddy, and spends lots of downtime with his family when the Celtics have a day off.
But this type of give-back to the community was a priority, too.
“You’ve got to fit it in,” Hauser said. “In this case, we have an extra day before the next game, and this stuff’s important, so you make time for it. And, today was a special one for sure – to come in here and learn about this stuff, and be present, and fit into the schedule perfectly. It couldn’t have been more of a perfect storm.”
7pm: Luka Garza, Neemias Queta each attend corporate partner dinners
In addition to off-court community events, the Celtics have partnership dinners sprinkled throughout the season. Luka Garza, Neemias Queta, Hugo Gonzalez, and Cedric Maxwell participated in private dinners for Boston Celtics corporate partners at local Boston restaurants last week. At these dinners, the players mingled with guests, shared stories from the season and time in the NBA, and enjoyed dinner together.
8pm: Derrick White and Joe Mazzulla sit ringside for a WWE event with their families
A couple of hours later, Derrick White and Joe Mazzulla attended WWE’s Monday Night Raw at TD Garden with their respective families.
A clip of Mazzulla jokingly putting White in a chokehold went viral, and the Celtics coach later reflected on the off-night excursion.
“I grew up as a kid watching it,” Mazzulla said. “I was able to have a family night, take the kids there, hang out with D-White. It was a good time.”
White said these types of off-court excursions with Mazzulla have become increasingly during his tenure as head coach.
“Just bonding – I think that goes deeper than basketball,” White said. “So it’s always cool to do things like that.”
Mazzulla was asked if it felt unusual for a boss to go out with an employee on an off-night.
“I don’t consider myself a boss, and I don’t consider Derrick an employee, with all due respect,” he clarified. “It’s not how we operate. I think it’s more about relationships and the people that you have.”
It’s far from unusual for Derrick White to be found at a Boston sporting event. Last month, he attended a Boston Fleet gam, rooting for one of eight Professional Women’s Hockey League teams. He’s also a frequent attendee at Red Sox games.
And, White’s had an especially busy month of off-court endeavors; also last month, he was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Tuesday, March 24th: Practice, content day, and community events
While the Celtics were off from basketball activities on Monday, the team was back in action at the Auerbach Center on Tuesday. But that’s not all they did.
10:00am-10:30am: Team Photo
Before practice, the Celtics took a full team photo, updated for the postseason action that will soon commence.
10:30am-12:30pm: Celtics Practice
Then, the team held its first official practice in more than two weeks, which came on the heels of a loss to the Timberwolves. Jayson Tatum later described the practice as a “really good” one, and the team went on to rattle off three straight wins against East playoff teams.
After practice, most players work on individual skill development with their assigned coaches on player development and review film from the previous game (some players get this work in before practice).
Derrick White, for example, fired up shots alongside longtime assistant coach Matt Reynolds. After the two completed White’s shooting workout, they typically compete in a trick shot competition — just for fun — along with other members of the staff.
On the opposing basket, Payton Pritchard, Ron Harper Jr, Jordan Walsh, and Charles Bassey competed in 2-on-2 drills organized by player development coaches Craig Luschenant, Nana Foulland, and Da’Sean Butler.
Luka Garza worked out on post moves and touch shots with Celtics assistant DJ MacLeay, his assigned player development coach.
Jayson Tatum got up shots with coaches Tony Dobbins, Amile Jefferson, and Steve Tchiegang.
And, Hugo Gonzalez and Neemias Queta worked out with Tyler Lashbrook and Ross McMains.
Then, after practice, Joe Mazzulla and at least one Celtics player address the media. On this particular day, that player was Derrick White.
12:30pm-3pm: Playoff Content Day
When practice concluded, Celtics players headed over to the WGBH TV studios down the street, where the team records a ton of content ahead of postseason action.
Playoff content day is a couple-hour obligation in which every player on the roster fulfills a litany of tasks that helps create video content for the postseason run ahead. That content will be posted on social media throughout the upcoming playoff run, repurposed for pregame and midgame Jumobotron hype-up videos, and more.
The goal is to record as much content as possible, so when the playoffs begin, players won’t have any off-court distractions.
Tuesday’s itinerary includes conducting interviews with a variety of media people; for example, Brian Scalabrine sat down with Jayson Tatum and Derrick White for NBC Sports Boston, and Marc D’Amico and Megan Ottolini interviewed Hugo Gonzalez for Celtics Weekly, the team’s in-house weekly show. (Those are just a few of the dozens of interviews that took place on Tuesday afternoon).
Accompanied by a member of the Celtics organization, each and every player on the roster went through the various stations. Those stations included signing basketballs and other memorabilia for the Shamrock Foundation, taking photos for jumbotron content, and filming social content with the marketing team.
5:30PM-6:30pm: Jordan Walsh headlines a community event in Lawrence
To wrap up a long day, Jordan Walsh attended an event in Lawrence in which fifty families enjoyed a sit-down dinner at the Boys and Girls Club. Families walked away from the PIMCO-sponsored event with a delicious dinner, gift cards to the grocery store Market Basket, and bags of produce. Some also won kitchen appliances in a raffle, which Walsh handed out.
During the dinner, Walsh sat down for a Q&A alongside former Celtic Leon Powe, which was moderated by Kash Cannon, the Celtics’ director for community engagement.
The room erupted when the 22-year-old arrived — a reaction he’s received dozens of times throughout his Celtics tenure, but one that nevertheless doesn’t get old.
“It kind of does feel like a superpower, in a way, because you bring joy to people by entering a room,” Walsh said. “That’s the highest compliment you could get. Kids would be, like, screaming and yelling and just excited for you to walk into a room – that’s definitely the biggest compliment ever.”
Amanda Hinchcliff, a lifelong Lawrence resident who serves as the club’s program director, said anticipation ahead of the event had been building all week.
“We’re everything to these families,” Hinchliff said. “We’re obviously an after-school provider for them, for the parents who work. But, parents come to us for everything – whether they need help with their rent, with food. We’re like a one-stop shop – kids that come over just from the Dominican Republic, just fresh here, not speaking a lick of English. The first stop is here. I don’t know if we just have that reputation for helping families, and it’s just kind of spread throughout the city: go to the Boys and Girls Club, they’ll help you. And we do, if we can help them, we will.”
The Celtics have a partnership with the Lawrence Public School system and the Boys and Girls Club, and concluded that hosting a food insecurity event, headlined by a current player, would be impactful.
“Generally speaking, an NBA player might not show up in a community unless we’re saying we’re getting to know it, and we’re bringing them there because we see the need,” Gotham said. “And we understand the need, and we feel like we can help.”
Gotham said Lawrence has been a city the Celtics have long been invested in.
“Lawrence is further away,” Gotham said. “It’s a little harder between games or on off-days when guys are trying to get their rest. But we’ve come to understand the community up there. We’ve built some relationships. We understand where the need exists.
Due to some rush hour traffic, the event took more than an hour for Walsh to get to. Still, he was thrilled to be a part of an uplifting evening that also addressed a tangible need in the community.
“I don’t feel like it’s an obligation,” Walsh said. “I feel like it’s something I get to do, it’s an opportunity I get to do. Because, if it was me as one of those kids, I would want a guy like me to show up and be there.”
6:30pm-7:30pm: Hugo Gonzalez participates in a Q&A at the Auerbach Center
At the same time that Jordan Walsh wrapped up the event in Lawrence, 30 miles away at the Auerbach Center, Hugo Gonzalez was beginning a financial literacy workshop for 9th graders, similar to the one Hauser attended a day prior.
Gonzalez and Walsh have both been attending these types of off-court events since the day they were drafted by the Celtics.
“Whether we trade for a player, or sign a free agent, or draft a player, their first day in Boston, you’re doing a community event,” Gotham said. “And it’s our way of saying, ‘Hey, this is part of the responsibility here. It’s giving back.’ So that’s the first thing we do.”
It’s also the first thing they go back to — whenever the schedule allows.
All of it is a crucial part of being a part of the Celtics organization.
“You want people who appreciate what they’re a part of, and sort of understand it,” Gotham said. “And they put it in the context, like, ‘Wow, I’m grateful to actually have this kind of opportunity. And I want to contribute to it.’”
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