When it comes to playing NBA basketball at the highest levels, what you can (and can't) see clearly can be the difference between winning it all and going home empty-handed. This perspective is not lost on veteran Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday, who recently sat down with the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast to talk all things Celtics, sight, and community. We get into everything from how the new City Edition jerseys look and how the right fit can do wonders for your...

The annual league event known somewhat generically as the "in-season tournament" has returned for its second-ever iteration, and it has a new name to go with it. Now known as the "NBA Cup," the midseason tourney is starting to pick up some momentum from fans and players alike, yet is still far from being a hands-down hit that is certain to return for many years to come. What do we like about the NBA Cup? What still needs work? What else could they add to it to make it even better? And with...

What is going on with the Milwaukee Bucks to start the 2024-25 NBA regular season (and are they still a threat to Boston)? This was supposed to be the season that star Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and new(ish) arrival Damian Lillard learned to play together, that coach Doc Rivers got the team chemistry in order, and that Khris Middleton got back on the court with two healthy ankles. But none of those things has happened yet, and after a 1-5 start and comments about trades leaving the...

Not even a full week has passed, and we are already projecting the entire NBA season for the Boston Celtics off entirely too little data. But that has never stopped the league's media from trying to do so in the past, and we have new tools to project how the season might go in NBA 2K's official season projection for the Celtics that the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast sat down with NBA 2K spokesperson Ronnie "2K" Singh to learn more about what might happen in the season...

The Boston Celtics elected to take Ring Night to a whole new level, blowing out the new-look New York Knicks 132-109. That it was against the team that was framed as their biggest rival for the 2024-25 NBA regular season made the victory all the more sweet, wrapping up a timeless ring ceremony replete with Celtics champions of past eras there to celebrate the historic moment pre-game. Most impressive of all was star Boston forward Jayson Tatum, who had himself one of the most efficient nights...

The 2024 NBA offseason is coming to an end, and the 2024-25 regular season kicking off with it. Which teams around the league have seen their stock rise in recent weeks? Which clubs have seen their stock fall, and which are holding steady as injuries, extensions, and signings shift the title odds ever so slightly? And of course, where are the Boston Celtics trending throughout all of this as opening night is upon us? The hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast sat down to talk out where...

What does it take to repeat as an NBA champion -- and do the Boston Celtics have it? There has not been a repeat champ in the league since 2018, and there have only been a handful since the turn of the century. At present, the Celtics are heavy favorites to win it all and hang Banner 19, but what does the past tell us about Boston's potential future as a back-to-back champ? What helps a team repeat from one season to the next? What can get in the way? And which of these things are even under...

The Boston Celtics have finished their training camp and kicked off their 2024-25 NBA preseason with a pair of wins over the Denver Nuggets in Abu Dhabi. And around the rest of the league, preseasons are kicking off with the last of the trades and signings we are likely to see until the month of December having been finalized. With these data points, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast took a last look at which teams we think will find success in the 2024-24 regular season,...

The Boston Celtics have had their Media Day and training camp early to facilitate their preseason exhibitions in Abu Dhabi later this week, but they have done so with a few notable shadows hanging over the storied ball club. The more imminent and tangible of those two shadows comes in the shape of Karl-Anthony Towns having been dealt from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the New York Knicks. The other of the two is more phantasmal and harder to pin down, simply due to the ephemeral and volatile...

For the Boston Celtics, the NBA's 2024 offseason has officially ended with the arrival of the team's Media Day. And while many Celtics have been back in the City of Boston for some time now, now the work truly begins for the team to defend their status as the league's reigning champions. During the annual event, Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens gave the assembled press updates on everything from the pending sale of the franchise to the overall health of the roster, as...

For such a popular league, the NBA's origins are among the most mist-shrouded among North America's major pro sports, with the flash, cash, and reach of the sport of obscuring its humble -- and sometimes problematic -- early history. And at the core of the institutionalized racism that was ubiquitous in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) era was the so-called 'gentleman's agreement' that kept players of color off the floor. But a trio of black players broke that color line at about...

When news initially broke about the potential sale of the Boston Celtics, fans were still elated over their favorite ball club finally winning Banner 18. We collectively scratched our heads, and then moved on with our celebratory mood still in full effect, not quite digging into the story behind the story when it came to the Grousbeck family electing to sell their crown jewel for estate planning purposes. The mission was accomplished, and it made sense. But this week, more news came to light...

Just how much playing time do we think each player on the Boston Celtics' roster ought to get next season? The Celtics have run it back with more or less the same roster they won Banner 18 with in the 2024 NBA Finals, but shifting expectations, father time, and injuries have conspired to through such a roster a few curveballs that won't just be a short-term concern for Boston's coaching staff to manage. To try to answer the question of how the minutes ought to be distributed in an ideal...

With some time to soak it all in, we are just beginning to have had enough context to begin to place the Boston Celtics' 2024 NBA Championship in its proper place in terms of history. What will we remember about it in five, 10, or twenty years? Which were flashbulb moments along the path to Banner 18? Which will quickly be forgotten? And most importantly, just how special is this title in light of the 17 that came before it? To take a look at the winning of Banner 18 and its historical...

Star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is the new cover athlete for NBA 2K25, gracing the newest iteration of the popular video game with WNBA star A'ja Wilson of the Los Vegas Aces. The first-ever cover to feature both an NBA and WNBA star, the summer of Tatum continues. The game itself will be out in September, but the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with NBA 2K spokesperson Ronnie "2K" Singh to get up to speed on the latest version of the game. How was it made?...

The 2024 Paris Olympics are over and done with, and the only thing that may still remain of them is a potential grudge for star Boston Celtics forwards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to carry forward into the coming 2024-25 regular season.  And with the NBA having just released the schedule for that regular season this week, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with The Ringer's Howard Beck to talk all things Boston and the season ahead of them as Boston tries to repeat...

Team USA won gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but plenty of drama (especially that involving star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum) coupled with an improving field came a bit close for comfort. What will the US National Team need to do to stay on top in the 2028 Olympics -- and which Celtics (if any) might be part of that push? To take a closer look at the future of the Olympics through a Boston-tinted lens, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with NBC Sports...

With the 2024 NBA draft and Las Vegas Summer League firmly behind us, fans of the Boston Celtics and the sport of basketball more generally have been laser-focused on the 2024 Paris Olympics and Boston's players on Team USA. And with that focus has come some concerning narratives, some of which have substance to them -- and others less so. To get into the teeth of the narratives about Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday, and Derrick White on Team USA (and how some of those narratives point to deeper,...

While there has been plenty of excitement over the moves that other ball clubs in the NBA's Eastern Conference arms race, by and large the Boston Celtics are seen as a cut above the rest of their peers in the league's weaker conference. But those moves could make for a tougher regular season path to the 2025 NBA Playoffs, especially among teams like the New York Knicks, the Philadelphia 76ers, and maybe even the once mighty Milwaukee Bucks. So who IS the second-best team in the East? The...

The Boston Celtics have finished their run in the NBA's Las Vegas Summer League, leaving the remaining trickle of news and the trio of Celtics playing for Team USA as the last flickering flames still burning from Boston's banner season. But given we are on the threshold of the dog days of summer, we'll take what we can get when it comes to Celtics basketball.  And not all of that trickle of news is minor -- Boston extended key reserve forward Sam Hauser on a team-friendly deal, for starters....

With the NBA draft and the league's 2024 free agency period over with for all intents and purposes, we know what every team in the league is going to look like on opening night. With that knowledge, we can begin to project how the order of each conference will come together once the games start getting played as the Boston Celtics pursue another title. And with an eye to how the Association's Western Conference is likely to look come the 2025 NBA Playoffs, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics...

The vast majority of action in NBA free agency for the 2024 offseason has gone down, with rosters around the league looking more or less finished barring any unexpected trades. So with that in mind, we can begin to assess how the order of the league will look when opening night finally arrives for the 2024-25 season. And to get a handle on how movement in the Eastern Conference may have shifted the plate tectonics on which the order of the East will be forged, the hosts of the CLNS Media...

The Boston Celtics already had more than enough going on when news broke that Wyc and Irv Grousbeck would be selling their majority share in the team. That very day, the ball club's front office extended not only starting point guard Derrick White to a team-friendly deal, but also star forward Jayson Tatum to the largest deal in NBA history. So there were plenty of balls in the air when the details of the potential sale broke. Multiple reports at times seemed to conflict in places with one...

The Boston Celtics are your 2024 NBA World Champions, but if they want to repeat in 2025 to hang Banner 19, they are going to need to avail themselves of every advantage ahead of the 2024-25 season, particularly the looming 2024 NBA draft. For the vast majority of the team's fans, this is one draft we have not been paying very much attention to, given the Celtics' recent run to and victory in the finals. But securing low-cost rotation help will be key to making a potential dynasty viable,...