Joe Mazzulla has tried to avoid reflecting on the Celtics’ 2024 NBA championship since the team reconvened for training camp last month.
But before Boston tips off its new season Tuesday night against the New York Knicks, it’ll enjoy one last well-deserved celebration.
The opening night festivities at TD Garden will feature the hoisting of the Celtics’ 18th championship banner to the TD Garden rafters and the presentation of the team’s championship rings.
Team owner Wyc Grousbeck wouldn’t reveal details about the design of the rings during a Tuesday morning appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” But one word he would use to describe them was “massive.”
Grousbeck enlisted a small group to design the rings, including his wife, Emilia Fazzalari, and jewelry company Jason of Beverly Hills to produce them. Though the ring committee received “a little bit of input stylistically from a couple players,” the finished product was hidden from the team until Tuesday night’s ceremony.
“Really, the players didn’t want to have any input,” Grousbeck said. “They wanted to be completely surprised tonight, and they are going to be completely surprised. They have not seen the ring.”
Immediately after the rings are revealed and the banner is raised, the Celtics’ focus will shift to the task at hand: trying to become the first NBA team since 2018 to repeat as champions.
Grousbeck, whose family is in the process of selling the fabled franchise, is entering the season with high expectations.
“This is like, guys are completely on a mission and more confident. Confident guys on a mission,” Grousbeck said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ve got some great teams ahead of us or with us. We’ve got one tonight with the Knicks. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but Jaylen (Brown) and Jayson (Tatum) and (Payton) Pritchard and (Al) Horford and everybody are laser-focused. And (Kristaps) Porzingis looks pretty good in practice. So, I’m hoping we can get off to a good start this season.”
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