If pressure is a privilege, who will feel it most for 2025-26 Celtics? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The 2025-26 Boston Celtics will face drastically diminished outside expectations compared to the championship-or-bust mentality that defined recent seasons. But that doesn’t mean individual members of the organization won’t face their own pressures during a so-called “gap year” ahead. 

What’s more, the Celtics organization — particularly those in the brain trust — would be quick to remind us that pressure is just opportunity in disguise. While some tend to put a negative spin on that responsibility, the Celtics will encourage all levels of their organization to embrace the pressure that will come with new roles this season.

So, which members of the Celtics will face the most pressure — or embrace the most opportunity — during the 2025-26 season? Shoutout to our buddy Brian Robb, who recently posed this question to us on the “Still Poddable” podcast.

After some additional deliberation, we decided to power rank the top pressure/opportunity candidates based on Boston’s roster in early August.

1. Brad Stevens

We’re not sure Stevens ever feels pressure, but he certainly understands the obligation of being in charge of the Celtics’ roster. Those 18 banners are a constant reminder of the North Star you’re chasing. Even in a transitional year, Stevens’ challenge is to show the franchise is actively moving back toward that goal. 

It’s an important season for Stevens’ draft picks. There should be more minutes and more ability to learn through the bumps for recent draftees.

Will first-round selections Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez show they can be rotational presences for Boston’s next contender? Can Jordan Walsh show more consistency in Year 3? Stevens hasn’t had the most glitzy spots to select from in the draft, but the second apron makes it basically imperative that any team with a roster featuring two max-salary players needs to hit on their picks.

Beyond that, Stevens has to plot the next step forward. And that might actually be a step backward.

If the Celtics fail to show signs of being even a sneaky contender early in the 2025-26 season, does Stevens embrace trying to get completely under the luxury tax with hopes of resetting prohibitive repeater penalties? Can he do that without mortgaging draft assets in order to get off additional salary? Is there a move that can add a low-risk, high-reward player who the team can embrace while waiting for Tatum to get healthy again? 

Stevens doesn’t like to procrastinate. Even this past summer, he got his initial roster tinkering done early, moving off of the bulky salaries of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday.

This current Celtics puzzle feels far from finished, for this season and beyond, and Stevens will have plenty of opportunities to chart where things go from here.

2. Joe Mazzulla

We all know what Mazzulla is capable of with a talent-filled roster. The Celtics have a shiny Larry O’Brien Trophy that confirms his ability to push the right buttons with a championship squad. The question now is whether Mazzulla can mask some of the deficiencies of a team in transition.

Stevens had an uncanny ability to take teams perceived as having less talent than rivals and get them to far exceed expectations. Stevens did that at Butler with some magical NCAA tournament runs, and he did it in the infancy of his Boston tenure even before superstars started flocking here. 

How much can Mazzulla mask the defensive drop-off after losing Jrue Holiday and an Al Horford? How does Mazzulla tinker with play style when Tatum is sidelined, and the team is lacking all the little ways he makes players around him better on the court?

The Celtics have plenty of question marks entering the season, particularly in a new-look frontcourt. Outside of Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, there are roles to fill and it’s going to be fascinating to see how Mazzulla chooses to deploy his available talent.

3. Jaylen Brown

We feel like a broken record, but every time the Boston Celtics have asked for more from Brown, he’s given it to them. As Tatum recovers, Brown will slide into the 1A role that many have wondered whether he might eventually crave. He’ll get every chance to show he can maintain an All-NBA level output when he’s at the top of every opponent’s scouting report.

It will be perhaps the biggest storyline of the 2025-26 season. How does Brown fare in that harsher spotlight? Every time someone has attempted to put a ceiling on his potential, he’s rocketed through it. Brown has routinely fueled himself off those doubters, and will get every opportunity to do the same this season.

If Tatum’s absence allows Brown to elevate to new levels, then the Celtics would be extremely well positioned to contend again when Tatum is healthy.

4. Payton Pritchard

Some have wondered if Pritchard might remain in his bench role to start the 2025-26 season. We’d much rather see the Celtics thrust him into a high-minute starting spot and allow him to show even more than what we saw in his evolution to Sixth Man of the Year.

We’ve already seen Pritchard (and White) go for 40 points in a spot start last season. Pundits have long suggested that teams would take advantage of his size if Pritchard was a starter, but he’s routinely found ways to antagonize bigger opponents.

There’s common theme for every Celtics player this season: Let’s see what you’ve got. Maybe if Tatum was healthy, or more of the roster had returned, then the Celtics would have been content to let Pritchard stick in the reserve role. Now? Turn him loose.

Let’s see if Pritchard can answer the lingering questions of whether he could be a high-efficiency starter. Given the thrifty salary at which the team extended him, Pritchard emerging as a starting guard absolutely would aid roster building.

5. Neemias Queta

It’s still truly wild that it’s been less than two full years since the Sacramento Kings waived Queta. His glow-up — from two-way addition, to earning his roster spot on the parent team thanks to his efforts while Boston was dinged up at the start of the 2023-24 title season, to securing a longer-term deal with the Celtics in the aftermath — has been fun to watch.

Now, with the overhaul to Boston’s frontcourt after the departures of Porzingis, Luke Kornet, and, presumably soon, Al Horford, there is going to be every opportunity for 26-year-old Queta to take his next step.

Whether he’s starter or a big-minutes reserve, the Celtics need Queta to hold down the fort, particularly as a defender and a rebounder. Mazzulla routinely put Queta in tough spots early in his Boston tenure with hopes that he would learn on the fly. Now, he’s really going to get every chance to battle through any growing pains. 

Queta saw how Kornet turned himself into a $ 41 million player. Few thought Kornet was capable of that when he first arrived in Boston. Can Queta be the next center whom Boston nurtures into a starter-level player?

6. Sam Hauser

Boston’s sweet-shooting forward is entering the first year of his four-year, $ 45 million extension. The Celtics have been able to keep him on the roster by making cuts elsewhere, but Hauser still has to prove he’s worth the splurge long term.

Even with some health-hindered shooting woes early last season, Hauser still shot 41.6 percent beyond the 3-point arc. He should get even more looks this season.

7. Jordan Walsh

On one hand, Walsh was the second-youngest player on Boston’s Summer League team at just 21. On the other, it’s Year 3 for the 2023 second-round pick and it’s time to show that he can more consistently make an impact.

Walsh has to play with the edge he displayed at this year’s Summer League and make the most of the minutes available as Tatum recovers.

8. Amari Williams

We feel guilty having a two-way player this high on the list, but here’s the reality: The Celtics need to develop reliable big men, and Williams has an obvious skill set with his passing and shot blocking.

Can he make strides with his finishing around the basket and show his long-term potential? The Celtics didn’t hesitate to cut bait with a second-round two-way player last season in Anton Watson. 

9. Luka Garza

Garza hasn’t played more than 250 minutes since his rookie season. That’s about to change. The offensive talents are obvious. The Celtics need him to show he can learn and grow on the defensive end.

10. Baylor Scheierman

It’s only Year 2, but Scheierman will turn 25 before camp opens. The end of his rookie season hinted at great potential beyond just 3-point shooting with his flashy playmaking and high basketball IQ.

Like Walsh, Scheierman needs to take advantage of minutes at the wing spot while they’re available. 

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