Jrue Holiday sat at a dais on the sixth floor of the Auerbach Center on Wednesday afternoon and started answering a question about his first Celtics practice.
He said he was a bit nervous, but that he could instantly feel the team’s hunger. He said coach Joe Mazzulla lost his voice from barking instructions. He said the team’s competitive fire was palpable.
As Holiday was completing his thought, team co-owner Wyc Grousbeck interrupted.
“If you were nervous, you were pouncing on guys,” Grousbeck said. “I was sitting 5 feet away as if I’m courtside. You were playing five-on-five and you were just like going to envelop them immediately. You’re 6 foot 5. It’s really something to watch this guy play.”
Holiday sheepishly told Grousbeck he appreciated the compliment, and Grousbeck said that if that’s how Holiday plays when he’s nervous, he’s eager to see day two. Then co-owner Steve Pagliuca shared his own instant memory from this suddenly memorable practice that concluded an hour or so earlier. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen Jaylen Brown be stopped going to the hoop with a full head of steam, and he just ran right into Jrue,” Pagliuca said. “And that was it. It was incredible. One of the most incredible things I’ve seen in practice.” Holiday once again politely and appreciatively tried to deflect the praise for simply playing hard, but on this day there was no hiding the franchise’s excitement about its latest big-name acquisition.
Pagliuca said Celtics legend Paul Pierce, another observer Wednesday, told him he had never seen such a long, intense session. Grousbeck said the day reminded him of the first practice after Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett joined the team in 2007, when something just felt different. President of basketball operations Brad Stevens gushed about how Holiday had smothered assistant coach Phil Pressey in a drill.
“That made me so happy,” Stevens said.
Over the past decade there have been plenty of these high-profile introductions. Al Horford. Kyrie Irving. Gordon Hayward. Kemba Walker. Kristaps Porzingis. Thus far, none have led to a championship.
And it remains to be seen whether this time will be different. But the enthusiasm and energy appears to be as high as ever, with Holiday and Porzingis joining All-NBA talents Jayson Tatum and Brown to form another championship favorite.
But Holiday, who helped the Bucks to the 2021 title after being acquired from the Pelicans that season, is the only player on this roster who has actually won a title.
pass_ball
Fans and teammates should be excited about Jrue Holiday. That said, Jrue Holiday is basically a shorter Gordon Hayward. The Celtics probably would have won two of the last three championships if they simply signed Gordon Hayward.
Nervous fans and media refuse to admit this. If Brown and Tatum fully embraced Hayward, instead of fighting for the ball and individual accolades, they would have have already achieved the success they will get this year.
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From [Globe.com](https://Globe.com):
By Adam Himmelsbach
Jrue Holiday sat at a dais on the sixth floor of the Auerbach Center on Wednesday afternoon and started answering a question about his first Celtics practice.
He said he was a bit nervous, but that he could instantly feel the team’s hunger. He said coach Joe Mazzulla lost his voice from barking instructions. He said the team’s competitive fire was palpable.
As Holiday was completing his thought, team co-owner Wyc Grousbeck interrupted.
“If you were nervous, you were pouncing on guys,” Grousbeck said. “I was sitting 5 feet away as if I’m courtside. You were playing five-on-five and you were just like going to envelop them immediately. You’re 6 foot 5. It’s really something to watch this guy play.”
Holiday sheepishly told Grousbeck he appreciated the compliment, and Grousbeck said that if that’s how Holiday plays when he’s nervous, he’s eager to see day two. Then co-owner Steve Pagliuca shared his own instant memory from this suddenly memorable practice that concluded an hour or so earlier.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen Jaylen Brown be stopped going to the hoop with a full head of steam, and he just ran right into Jrue,” Pagliuca said. “And that was it. It was incredible. One of the most incredible things I’ve seen in practice.”
Holiday once again politely and appreciatively tried to deflect the praise for simply playing hard, but on this day there was no hiding the franchise’s excitement about its latest big-name acquisition.
Pagliuca said Celtics legend Paul Pierce, another observer Wednesday, told him he had never seen such a long, intense session. Grousbeck said the day reminded him of the first practice after Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett joined the team in 2007, when something just felt different. President of basketball operations Brad Stevens gushed about how Holiday had smothered assistant coach Phil Pressey in a drill.
“That made me so happy,” Stevens said.
Over the past decade there have been plenty of these high-profile introductions. Al Horford. Kyrie Irving. Gordon Hayward. Kemba Walker. Kristaps Porzingis. Thus far, none have led to a championship.
And it remains to be seen whether this time will be different. But the enthusiasm and energy appears to be as high as ever, with Holiday and Porzingis joining All-NBA talents Jayson Tatum and Brown to form another championship favorite.
But Holiday, who helped the Bucks to the 2021 title after being acquired from the Pelicans that season, is the only player on this roster who has actually won a title.
Fans and teammates should be excited about Jrue Holiday. That said, Jrue Holiday is basically a shorter Gordon Hayward. The Celtics probably would have won two of the last three championships if they simply signed Gordon Hayward.
Nervous fans and media refuse to admit this. If Brown and Tatum fully embraced Hayward, instead of fighting for the ball and individual accolades, they would have have already achieved the success they will get this year.