PHOENIX — Brad Stevens said he hasn’t spoken with new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm too much since the sale went through last week. Boston’s president of basketball operations found out about 12 hours before the news dropped publicly that Chisholm would be the new C’s owner.
Since then, Stevens and Chisholm have chatted a few times as the organization goes through major changes. Speaking at Celtics shootaround Wednesday, Stevens broke down what some of those conversations have been like with Chisholm and current governor Wyc Grousbeck, along with the future outlook of the franchise. Grousbeck will remain in his current role as governor and CEO through the ownership transition, creating an interesting dynamic in Boston.
“My only thing is just asking to be kept in the loop on everything I need to know from the standpoint of making decisions here and now and moving forward,” Stevens said. “As we get to spend more time with Bill, with Wyc and Bill, then we’ll have more clarity on how we are going to do things.
“But really, every indication is it’s pretty much business as usual, so I’m excited about that. But again, you spend a lot of money on these things, so you have every right to come in and put your stamp on it however you want. So I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Chisholm and his ownership group agreed to buy the Celtics from the Grousbeck family for a record $6.1 billion. Chisholm has been around the team, including speaking with Stevens, when the C’s were in Sacramento earlier this week. Chisholm is expected to be at TD Garden next week when the Celtics return from their six-game road trip.
Of course, as new ownership comes in, there are plenty of questions going forward about the Celtics’ future. The current roster is expensive and the luxury tax bill will continue to soar going forward. So it’s unclear if ownership will be willing to pay record amounts to keep the current roster going forward.
Those are all considerations for the future. The Celtics are currently a month away from the playoffs as the defending champs have a chance to repeat. But for now, Stevens said he’s enjoyed his initial conversations with Chisholm thus far.
“Everybody’s got to just be themselves, right, and bring their own authenticity to it,” Stevens said. “When you buy a team and when you are invested like that, then he’s gonna bring great ideas. We’ll operate and execute plans that ultimately he wants to. I’ve been really impressed with how committed he seems to be to learning more about how we’ve done things, both the business side and the basketball side.
“And also the idea that I think he recognizes that we’ve got a good thing going. For me, the most important thing in this whole transition is just the people that I work with feel comfortable. I think that clearly from every indication of every conversation I’ve had with Bill, I do, and I think everybody should.”
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