Donovan Mitchell makes Boston Celtics analogy when discussing Cleveland’s development

Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell thinks the team should mirror the Boston Celtics’ modus operandi over the past years and be patient with its core players.

“You look at Boston, won the championship this year, but they’ve taken steps seven, eight years,” Mitchell said when asked what he’d need to see at the end of the season to prove that the Cavaliers have developed. “But I think that’s where my head is at. I mean, obviously I hope it takes less than eight years or seven years, whatever. But for us, continue to build as a group and it starts with me and then everything else will follow.”

The Celtics were the most dominant team in the NBA from start to finish last season, and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were perhaps Boston’s two best players. Tatum and Brown weren’t star players as soon as they stepped foot in the league, however.

After all, Brown averaged only 6.6 points per game as a first-year player and started 20 of the 78 regular-season games he appeared in. As for Tatum, he was more productive as a rookie than Brown was but still not the elite talent he is today.

The former Duke University star averaged 13.9 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest in 80 appearances with the Celtics in the 2017-18 regular season.

Brown and Tatum have spent the entirety of their pro careers in Boston. The former was drafted by the Celtics with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, and the latter was selected with the same pick in the following year’s draft.

There have been times when folks questioned whether Boston should break up the pair of stars, too. The Celtics endured some painful playoff exits earlier in the decade before winning the 2024 NBA title, as the team lost the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals in seven games and 2022 NBA Finals in six games.

The Cavaliers’ core players haven’t been teammates nearly as long as Brown and Tatum have, but it seems as if Cleveland is starting to build continuity with its roster. Mitchell is heading into his third season as a member of the Cavaliers and will be under contract for the foreseeable future. In addition, the 2024-25 season will mark Evan Mobley’s fourth and Darius Garland’s sixth in Cleveland.

Perhaps if the Cavaliers can keep their core players on the team for as long as Tatum and Brown have been members of the Celtics, Cleveland’s patience will help it win its second title in franchise history. The Cavaliers won their first title as a franchise less than 10 years ago in 2016.