Judging by Brad Stevens' end-of-season press conference, we shouldn't expect the Boston Celtics to undergo major changes this summer. The C's president of basketball operations confirmed Joe Mazzulla will return as head coach and expressed his desire for All-Star Jaylen Brown to remain with the team.
While it looks like the Celtics are ready to run it back with the same coach and starting five, the second unit is a different story. The futures of two key bench players, Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard, are up in the air heading into the offseason.
Celtics Talk: “I really believe in our foundation”-Brad Stevens on what’s next for Celtics in exclusive 1-on-1 | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
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Williams is set to become a restricted free agent this summer, meaning another team can offer him a contract and the Celtics will have a chance to match. On Thursday, Stevens was asked to share his view on Williams going forward.
"I can't talk about, as you know, with Jaylen, Grant or whoever. I can't talk about details of contracts and specifically with Grant's own restricted free agency. All those are down the road right now. As far as when we can discuss those things with him or with you," Stevens said. ...
"But everybody around the league knows that Grant can add value to a winning team. We know that we're big fans of his. And I thought did a lot of good things when he got the opportunity."
Boston Celtics
As for Pritchard, the 25-year-old opened up ahead of the trade deadline about wanting a bigger role. Despite his shooting ability, he was buried on the Celtics' depth chart behind Marcus Smart, Derrick White, and Malcolm Brogdon.
Those three guards don't appear to be going anywhere, so Pritchard is a prime candidate to be traded this offseason.
"I really feel for a guy like him because there are guys that work at it and then there are guys that are obsessed with it. And he's obsessed with it. You know, that's kind of his personality," Stevens said.
"He works at it. He's a really good player, as I've told him many times this year. Everybody knows you're a really good player, not only in this building, but around the league. ... But we don't know how that's all going to shake itself out moving forward."
You can watch Stevens' end-of-season press conference in its entirety here.