On Tuesday, the Celtics were officially purchased by Bill Chisholm. News first emerged months ago that Wyc Grousebeck intended to sell the franchise to Chisholm but there were many hoops to jump through and even more i's to dot before the NBA approved the sale. Earlier this month the league cleared the way for the transaction and the team released a statement Tuesday announcing the purchase as final.
It is a new era for Boston and it may make fans nervous because new owners of sports franchises often enact sweeping change the moment they are in charge in an effort to make their mark and reshape the organization to fit their vision. Even the Celtics' very recent championship doesn't necessarily protect the franchise from that. Chisholm and the others in his ownership group just forked over north of $6 billion for the team for the right to make those calls.
The new Celtics owner put those fears to rest in an interview shortly after the purchase became official. Speaking to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe, Chisholm offered a clear show of support for the team's current braintrust headed up by president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and head coach Joe Mazzulla.
"We’re not playing for second; we’re playing for championships and banners,” Chisholm said while discussing the state of the team after the significant roster turnover of the offseason. "We’re playing for them in the near term, although we obviously had to do some things to get below the second apron. But we’re also playing for them in the medium and long term.
"The second apron means you can’t do it by just throwing money at the problem. You have to do it with talent, you have to do it with leadership, and with Wyc and with Brad and [president Rich Gotham] and [coach Joe Mazzulla], I feel like we have the best leaders in the league."
Through a certain lens Chisholm has already proven he believes that and isn't just paying lip service. Mazzulla signed a contract extension earlier this month, and while Chisholm wasn't technically in charge yet the extension doesn't get signed without his approval. He clearly believes in Mazzulla and therefore believes in Stevens, who chose Mazzulla to take over in the wake of the Ime Udoka scandal.
They also made it easy for Chisholm to believe. The Celtics have gone 182-64 since Mazzulla took over, winning nearly 75% of their games and one NBA championship. Last year's second-round playoff exit, ushered along by Jayson Tatum tearing his Achilles, was the earliest Boston had been knocked out of the postseason in the Mazzulla era. It helps that Stevens assembled an excellent roster for the young coach to work with, one that he had to disassemble this offseason and did so pretty well.
It is a new era for the Celtics under Chisholm but he is making it clear that he won't be looking to overhaul the organization from Day 1.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as New Celtics Owner Offers Clear Show of Support for Joe Mazzulla, Brad Stevens.
