It was a rainy morning outside of the Auerbach Center on Monday as Media Day for the 2026-27 Boston Celtics was set to be under way. Perhaps this was a symbolic way of washing away the past to usher in the new season. Walking in, you could tell there was a feeling of change and new beginnings in the room.
This was a common theme throughout the day with new faces arriving to the podium as old faces from a season prior become a memory. As the long, atrocious offseason has finally come to an end, we are finally upon the next chapter of Boston Celtics basketball in the start of a brand new era.
1. Mitchell Robinson is Awesome
Out of all the interviews we were able to see today, I felt like nobody had more fun with it than Mitchell Robinson. Robinson signed a three-year, $47.4 million contract with Boston on July 1st and Media Day was the first time we got to talk to him in a Celtics uniform. Safe to say he made a great impression early with his positive attitude and sense of humor.
His relationship with Joe Mazzulla is going to be a fun watch this year as it feels like both of them have a lot of mutual respect for each other. Mazzulla said that Robinson is one of the best big men in the NBA and his resume speaks for itself. In Robinson’s presser, he talked about how much it meant to him that Joe went down to Nashville to see him, saying Mazzulla “sees them as people instead of just players.” Mitch did say Joe had to apologize to him for fouling him so much when he was on the Knicks but that is water under the bridge now and he is ready to get to work.
Robinson is also a big hit amongst his new Celtics teammates, including his running mate at the center position Neemias Queta. When I asked Queta about his relationship with Robinson, he said, “Mitch is a great guy to be around. He’s gonna make us a lot better. Excited to have him as a teammate, way more than having him as an opponent. He’s gonna give us a different look being able to rebound at a really high level, defend pretty much one through five. He’s a great guy to be around too, and I think he’s gonna help us get to the next level.”
I have a feeling Robinson is going to be a fan favorite amongst Celtics fans this season based off of his personality alone. The room had a different energy when he was at the podium and you could feel that Boston got a great guy. I am excited to see his play on the court and his interviews being must see TV postgame.
2. Jayson Tatum: The Leader
With Jaylen Brown being traded away to the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason, Tatum is now seen as the undisputed face of the franchise. This prompted the question of his ability to be a leader for the team moving forward and we saw answers in some direct and indirect ways.
The first instance we saw was in Joe Mazzulla’s interview when he was asked about Tatum’s ability to lead. He brought up all the success he has had over the course of his career from being a rookie under head coach Brad Stevens, to going to the Finals under head coach Ime Udoka in 2022, to winning the championship in 2024, to coming back from his Achilles injury last season. Tatum has experienced a lot in his NBA career and Mazzulla said he will use those experiences he’s learned on and off the court to become a better player.
When Tatum was asked about his leadership style, he said he is very comfortable taking on this position and echoed Mazzulla’s sentiments of being through it all going into his 10th NBA season. He continued by saying, “leadership is about a lot of different things. The biggest one is self-awareness, awareness of the group, and just understanding we all have roles. We are simply in this together, so it looks different from person to person.”
There was a more contentious question later on in Tatum’s presser when he was asked if he thinks the Celtics are “his team” from a leadership perspective where he seemed a bit apprehensive about taking that title. He said, “It’s not just saying its my team, I got 14 other teammates that I’m gonna lean on and we all need each other.” This is the answer I would expect from a leader. I think Tatum is going to be fine in this position and we have already seen him taking charge.
When Sam Hauser was about the offseason workouts the team had out in Los Angeles this summer, he said that Tatum was the one who organized the entire thing. Hauser said, “JT hit the group chat, invited us all out, and most of us made it work… It was a lot of fun. We did a lot of work on the court, played some golf, had some dinners, so it was a lot of fun.”
This shows me at least that Tatum is going to be a vocal leader on and off the court. In those offseason workouts, we saw him even working out with the younger guys like Chris Cenac Jr. and Dillon Mitchell. I don’t think there should be a question about Tatum’s leadership this season and I am excited to see him play with the new team in place.
3. Payton Pritchard Breakout Incoming
When it comes to the most serious press conference we saw, it had to be Payton Pritchard. It felt like he was already locked in playing in a game and he was just answering questions from the media. One of my favorite lines from him was when he was asked about how he could continue to improve as a player and he said, “everybody always tries to put people in a box and for every year of my career since I’ve been young, people put me in this box of like this is the player you can be, and I just I feel like those expectations I kind of blow them out the water. I don’t know what I can be doing differently, but I will find something that will make me excel to another level.”
This answer gave me chills and it’s not like we haven’t seen him continue to improve his game. Every year of his career, he has increased his production when given more minutes. This has resulted in a 6th Man of the Year Award in 2025 and a career season last year where he averaged a career highs with 17.0 points, 5.2 assists, and 3.1 rebounds. So, if this year is really the year we see Payton Pritchard reach another level, we can look back on this answer from Media Day as the first sign.
4. Increased Offensive Tempo?
One of the big things that I took away from everyone on the Celtics as a whole is that they want to play with an increased tempo on offense. Payton Pritchard said, “I think we are going to be playing with more movement, hopefully play a little bit faster.” Ee also heard Sam Hauser say the offense was going to be “pretty free-flowing.”
This makes me wonder if the Celtics are going to try to get out and run a little more this season. Boston finished last in pace in the NBA last season and with the personnel they have it would make sense. With the fast, energy guys they have like Payton Pritchard, Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, and Jordan Walsh, the Celtics have guys who will be able to push the pace this season and we could see them utilize getting out in transition more.
5. Harper Jr.-George Number Swap
I wanted to end my takeaways with maybe the funniest answer we saw at Celtics Media Day: the story of Ron Harper Jr. switching his jersey number to number 8 this offseason and giving his number 13 to Paul George.
When Harper Jr. was asked for more details about the transaction, he didn’t give us many concrete answers, because him and George never really talked about it. The deal was facilitated through their agents, but Harper Jr. did say, “Both parties were able to come to a mutual agreement that benefited us both. So, we’re both really happy for how that worked out” which got a good laugh out of the media members in attendance.
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