Celtics’ Brad Stevens shuns idea team is in a rebuild with Jayson Tatum out

BOSTON AP Even before Jayson Tatum limped off the court with a torn Achilles tendon during the Celtics Eastern Conference semifinals loss to the New York Knicks Brad Stevens knew big changes would be on tap for the franchise this offseason Yes big spending on free agents and contracts had lured in key players like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis who combined with stars Tatum and Jaylen Brown ultimately helped Boston capture the NBA championship in But keeping the core of that roster intact next season with Tatum possibly missing all of it while rehabbing from his injury would have come with a combined payroll and luxury tax bill of more than million And as a group exceeding the second apron of the salary cap it would have also meant additional penalties limiting strategies they could sign or commerce for players We ve known for a long time that hard decisions were coming Stevens explained Tuesday on the decisions to commerce both Holiday and Porzingis which both became official this week The second apron is why those trades happened I think that is pretty obvious And the basketball penalties associated with those are real So that was part of making the decision to push and put our chips on the table and go for the last two years Now under that dreaded second apron it s also brought about a different way of looking at what s next for the Celtics As the crew s president of basketball operations Stevens knows their approach will have to change while Tatum is out But as a former coach he also disclosed he s never going to put a ceiling on any squad s prospective My expectations are invariably the same compete like hell to win the next encounter he noted Stevens stated he doesn t want to hear any mention of the term rebuild this upcoming season That s not going to be part of the lexicon in our building and that s the way we re going to focus moving forward he mentioned While the gang could make additional moves to get entirely out of the luxury tax Stevens mentioned it s not the mandate he s been given by incoming squad owner Bill Chisholm Bill has been pretty clear from the get go that he wants to make sure that we re prioritizing basketball assets and the ability to retool this thing at the highest level that we can Stevens disclosed The greater part key acquisition that we re going to be able to make in the next couple of years is getting Tatum out of a walking boot We re not beating that one So that s going to be the best thing that can happen for us Both Tatum and Brown who had minor knee surgery last month were in the Celtics facility on Tuesday rehabbing According to Stevens Tatum was moving really fast in his walking boot while Brown was already getting shots up and is expected to get full clearance for basketball initiatives soon In the meantime Stevens disclosed he s wholly at ease with Brown being the unit s focal point on the court He thinks it s a challenge that Brown welcomes and one that he s proven an ability to excel in during previous times Tatum has been sidelined by injury He s ready for any challenge and he reliably has been Stevens declared AP NBA https apnews com nba