"It's A New Era" - For The First Time In 10 Years, The Boston Celtics Have Officially Entered A New Era Of Basketball

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This time last year, Celtics Media Day had a weird feeling to it given Jayson Tatum's injury. There was excitement, but not having your franchise player available and nobody knowing when he may return made it one of the weirdest Media Days in recent memory, probably only outdone by the 2023 Media Day, when Ime Udoka was fired right before it for being a creep and replaced by Joe Mazzulla.

This time around, for the first time in 10 years, the Celtics held their Media Day without both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the roster. Unlike last season, there is no pending Jaylen Brown return, given the fact that, ya know, he's a Sixer. We have officially entered a new era of Celtics basketball from here on out, and that's not just me saying it, that's Joe Mazzulla saying it

He's right. The Jays Era, the undisputed most successful NBA duo of the past decade, is no more. A duo that became everything we hoped it would be and more. A duo that brought Banner 18 to the rafters. A duo that will see both numbers retired and will go down as two of the greatest Celtics to ever do it. Those days have come to an end.

In the NBA, change is inevitable. You don't have to like it, you can wish it never happened, but that's life in the NBA. In this specific instance, many factors played a role in the decision making of Brad Stevens, and I do think it's important to stress that "different" doesn't exactly mean "worse". It just means different.

The good news? All signs currently point to this new era being pretty fucking good. I know people may not want to hear that, but it's the truth. Why? Because at the crux of everything is a fully healthy Jayson Tatum

As a quick reminder, a healthy Jayson Tatum is one of the best players on planet Earth (fact, not opinion)

For the first time in his career, Jayson Tatum is not sharing the spotlight with anyone. He's "THE GUY". Everything moving forward starts and stops with him (even though you could argue this was always the case). And while he may not want to take the bait and talk about how the Celtics are now "his team"

the fact of the matter is the organization made it very clear. Their entire future now pretty much depends solely on Jayson Tatum. They are HIS team, and I don't think we needed a quote to confirm that. Of course he was going to give the perfect PR answer, but deep down I think we all know the reality of the situation. 

The new era of Celtics basketball is the Jayson Tatum Era. 

Everything Brad Stevens has done this offseason is to build around that concept. Adding Mitchell Robinson to help give Tatum an elite offensive rebounder, screener, and P&R partner in terms of a lob threat. Bringing in Paul George, who profiles as an ideal off ball fit next to a high-usage Tatum, and someone who is coming into this era with the mindset that everything he does is in support the franchise player

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There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic around this new partnership, both from a basketball skillset perspective and the early signs we're already getting that their chemistry is through the roof

While the haters and losers of which there are still many, are once again predicting the Celtics to slide, it's almost as if we didn't have to listen to the same takes last offseason only for the Celts to respond with 56 wins. This time around, you can make the case that their roster is even better than the Tatum-less roster we saw last season. 

On days like today, everyone is saying the right thing. That's what these things are for in my opinion. Vibes are high, everyone is in the best shape of their lives, the new season is upon us, it's all great stuff.

But once you weed through the PR answers and pandering responses, the fact of the matter is that this entire season is Step 1 of this new era. Not only is the expectation to once again be one of the best teams in the league, but I'd say there's pressure to be even better than the version we just watched. They have the talent, they have the coaching, and how they perform moving forward is going to play a huge role in what Brad does next. 

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That starts with Jayson Tatum continuing to be the perennial 1st Team All NBA player he's proven to be for nearly half a decade. The organization cleared the runway for him, and I have zero doubt that he's more than ready to meet the challenge.