The Rafters Pod Ep. 123: 2024 Off-season Recap, Preseason

The Rafters Pod is back for the 2024 Off-season Recap and Preseason start. After an off-season of celebrating Banner Eighteen, it’s all business in studio and in the Celtics practice facility. Joe Mazzulla has tuned up the volume at Celtics practice to weed out complacency. It’s really easy to win a championship and rest on your laurels the year after. Coach Mazzulla refuses to let that happen. This team has all the talent to be repeat champions. The time for celebration is over. Why can’t we win another one.

“Training camp has been hard,” Jaylen Brown said after Friday’s practice. Coach has the team focusing on defense to set a tone for the season that this team will do the difficult things to win. The players are going through it, but they respect their Coach’s desire to repeat and they are buying in. If you want to go down in history, you have to put the work in.

A big story going into the season pertains to Jayson Tatum. A member of the Olympic Gold Medal team this off-season and if you missed seeing him out there, no one can blame you. The NBA Champion got virtually no playing time in the first two Olympic matches. When he eventually did play, it was underwhelming. Clearly the lack of playing time got to Tatum even if his team accomplished the ultimate goal. Will the Celtics star come into the season a defending champion, with a chip on his shoulder? The Rafters guys dive into it and project his production for the season.

The 2024 Off-season was one of retaining. Only Lonnie Walker was signed as a newcomer. The young and explosive Guard is a sneaky stellar signing for the defending champions to bolster their bench. Every other move was a resigning.