After Capturing Banner 18, Boston’s Hunger for Next Title is Even Stronger

BOSTON – Jayson Tatum’s hunger for Banner 18 has been satiated. But his hunger for the next banner is stronger than ever.

The satisfaction of finally getting over the hump and capturing his first championship has been replaced by a yearning to experience it all over again.

Because that’s what legends do: they grind, they win, they celebrate. And they repeat that process for as long as their bodies and minds allow.

“It was never about trying to just win one,” Tatum said during Celtics Media Day Tuesday morning. “Now you get to at least be in the same room with the other Celtics great teams, great players. All the guys I looked up to growing up won at least one championship. Now it’s just a conversation of how great are you trying to be? What room or what tier are you trying to be mentioned in when it’s all said and done?”

It’s not just Tatum who feels that way. It’s the entire team. And that’s part of the reason why Brad Stevens is running it back with 13 of the 15 guys from last year’s championship roster.

The President of Basketball Operations said, “I generally wouldn’t mind a tweak or two just because I think that those things can galvanize you, can give you a jolt, can give you the juice that you need. But I think that these guys are galvanized by each other … They have a unique chemistry that I truly believe matters. And they deserve the opportunity to attack this challenge together.”

Jaylen Brown agrees that there is a unique chemistry with this group, one that he hadn’t experienced in his previous seven seasons with the team. The longest-tenured Celtic believes that this isn’t the type of chemistry that you want to alter, because this team knows how to win together and they love to win together.

“We’ve got a stellar group of guys – guys that just have great mentalities, so I don’t think it will be as hard to maintain that consistency,” Brown said. “We just gotta make sure that we continue to emphasize and hold each other accountable … I’m looking forward to this journey because of the guys I get to share the locker room with.”

They also have to be realistic, knowing that the journey won’t come without ups and downs. Even last year’s 80-win team had some bumps here and there, but they never lost their competitive edge whenever adversity hit.

“We won’t always be perfect,” said Stevens. “I’m sure we’ll get drilled in a game early this season and I’m sure we’ll have our moments where we play really well. But the question is how can we stay consistent and are we about the things that we embraced last year to get there? Do we sacrifice for one another? Are we willing to take everybody’s best shot? Do we look at it as a fun challenge? For me, this is as good of a challenge as you get if you’re a competitor. So we should be excited about it.”

Perhaps no one is more excited for the challenge than his head coach. Joe Mazzulla has often said how winning is just as dangerous as losing, and this is the first time he’ll see how this team approaches coming off a fully successful season.

“I think being in a situation like this tests why you do what you do, because you can’t only do it for the good times,” said Mazzulla. “I think when you go through an experience like last year, it really just tests your internal motivation. And if you’re going to be externally motivated, that’s going to die out and you’ll kind of be exposed for your external motivation relatively quick. But I think going through successes and failures kind of tests your internal, intrinsic motivation as to what you’re really going after.”

They’ve gone after the same goal year after year, and this season is no different. But it feels different now that they understand what it’s like to achieve their goal. And that just makes them hungrier.

“It does feel different being here as a champion,” Tatum said. “Just knowing what it takes and wanting to be on the top of the mountain as many times as you can.”