Future of Brown-Tatum tandem in spotlight as Celtics enter offseason

BOSTON (AP) —The Boston Celtics began their season in chaos. They ended itconfronted with a decision that could shape the franchise for yearsto come.

Pain,disbelief and uncertainty hung with the Celtics as they walked offthe court following their Eastern Conference finalsGame7 loss to Miami, ending their attempt to return to the NBAFinals.

The matchupwith the Heat highlighted all theimperfectionsofa Boston team that seemingly never recovered after having itsseason turned on its edge following the suspension of former coachIme Udoka just days before training camp, when he was given ayearlong suspension for having an inappropriate relationship with awoman in the organization.

“That was anadjustment,” Celtics star Jayson Tatum said. “We all figured itout. Obviously, we wanted to win the championship. Didn’thappen.”

There are theusual questions about the roster heading into the offseason. Andother ones, like whether interim-turned full-time coach JoeMazzulla is the right person to lead the Celtics as they try tocapitalize on their championship window.

But the mostpressing revolves around Boston’s two biggest stars in Tatum andJaylen Brown.

The24-year-old Tatum is signed for the next two seasons, still underhis rookie extension that kicked in last season. He won’t beeligible for a supermax extension until the summer of 2024. Itwould start in 2025-26 and could be worth more than $300million.

Brown, 26, iseligible for a new deal this offseason, and by virtue of making theAll-NBA second team this season could be offered as much as afive-year contract extension worth as much as $295 million.

With theleague’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement bringing morelimitations on how teams construct their rosters and additionalluxury tax penalties, it may be a commitment the Celtics aren’twilling to make for a duo that hasn’t yet brought Boston atitle.

During theregular season, Brown averaged career highs in points (26.6),rebounds (6.9) and assists (3.5).

But each ofthose numbers dipped in the playoffs. And with Tatum reeling froman ankle sprain he sustained on the first play of Game 7, Brown hada disastrous night. He scored 19 points but shot just 8 of 23 fromthe field with eight turnovers.

It left anythoughts about his future in the immediate aftermath after Monday’sloss the furthest thing from his mind.

“We failed. Ifailed,” Brown said. “It’s hard to think about anything else rightnow, to be honest. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Asked abouthis thought process entering this summer, he said that also isfoggy at this point.

“I don’t evenreally know how to answer that question right now,” Brown said. “Mythought process is take it one day at a time, focus on gettingbetter. Focus on what the future holds and see where we are fromthere.”

For his part,Tatum said he’d like to see the front office keep together a tandemthat has made it to at least the conference finals in four of itssix seasons together.

“It’sextremely important,” Tatum said. “He’s one of the best players inthis league. He plays both ends of the ball and still is relativelyyoung. And he’s accomplished a lot so far in his career. So, Ithink it’s extremely important.”

There was avote of confidence from the locker room for Mazzulla, who led theteam to a 57-win season. But he did struggle in the playoffs tomake game plan and in-game adjustments. It contributed to extendedseries in the first two rounds and Boston’s 3-0 deficit in theconference finals.

Tatum said itshouldn’t diminish the job he did throughout the season.

“It was hisfirst year. We got to the conference finals Game 7,” Tatum said.“We all figured it out. Obviously, we wanted to win thechampionship. Didn’t happen. But I think Joe did a great job. Wewon 50-some odd games. We got to the Game 7 conference finals.Obviously, everybody can be better, learn from this. But I thinkJoe did a great job this year.”

The team’sresilience to make the run it did despite the challenges it dealtwith at the start of season is what Mazzulla will take away.

“What do wehave to do to get better, I think, is what we have to learn fromthat,” he said. “Regardless of those circumstances, the guys, thelocker room showed a sense of toughness and togetherness, startingout the season a certain way and getting to this point and just gotto figure out how to be better.”