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Celtics Ready to Take Next Step to Banner 18

addByline("Taylor C. Snow","Celtics.com","taylorcsnow"); addPhoto("https://i.cdn.turner.com/drp/nba/celtics/sites/default/files/160926thomas.jpg","Last season's first-round playoff exit left a sour taste in Isaiah Thomas' mouth. He's hoping for a sweeter finish this time around.","Brian Babineau/NBAE","IT");

WALTHAM, Mass. – Establishing roster stability is one of the first steps in forming a title-contending team in the NBA.

For the first two seasons of Brad Stevens’ coaching career in Boston, the Celtics lacked such consistency. The franchise underwent a post-Big 3 rebuild and was constantly moving pieces in an attempt to compile the right combination of players to represent Celtic Pride.

It was crystal clear Monday, as the Celtics hosted their annual media day ahead of of the 2016-17 season, that the team is on the right track in that capacity.

Twelve of Boston’s players who were in attendance during Monday’s festivities were also on hand for last year’s media day session. It’s been quite some time since the team has been able to make that claim, but it’s a confidence-booster for the current core as it looks to build upon its successes over the last season and a half.

“The first year I was here was the year they had like 10,000 trades,” recalled center Tyler Zeller, who is entering his third season with the team. “Last year we didn’t have many, so having the same group, being able to mesh with them and get on the same page, I think goes a long way.”

It sure goes a long way for the coaching staff, as it makes the group's job easier when it doesn't have to constantly adjust on the fly as a result of roster turnover.

“Ever since the All-Star break of 2015, we’ve had a pretty good, stable group and a lot of continuity within that group,” said Stevens. “I think that having people that understand what you’re trying to accomplish, how practice works, how it flows, what we’re looking for in film sessions, being used to the training room, used to the strength and conditioning – I think all that stuff helps. And then being able to draw on that corporate knowledge as you’re playing games and tweaking things I think is important.”

One vital aspect that has kept the current cast of Celtics glued together heading into this season is that the players come from a similar mold and have complementary desires to learn and contribute in a team-first manner. Most of Boston’s players lacked an identity at this time two years ago. Guys like Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder were searching for a franchise that would allow them to thrive and fulfill their respective potentials.

This group has developed a collective “chip-on-the-shoulder” mentality, and that has allowed them to flourish both as individuals and as a unit.

This season, they will attempt to take that one step further and contend with the elite teams of the NBA for a crack at a title.

“We’ve built an image now to be a household name with a couple of players who were nobody before we got here,” said Crowder, who experienced a breakout season in 2015-16. “Now we have to take the next step. The next challenge is to be a great team.”

While Boston has exceeded the expectations of many during the last two seasons, it has not been able to make it out of the first round of the playoffs. Its most recent postseason exit left the Celtics’ floor general particularly unsatisfied, and he and his teammates are using that fuel to light their fire this season.

“Losing that series left a bad taste in all of our mouths,” said Thomas, who is coming off of his first All-Star campaign. “Last season hurt. It hurt me especially because that was the first time in my life I can say I gave everything that I had. I had no more left in me, and that’s why it hurt so much.”

Added the determined point guard, “We want to get past that first round. I want to win a playoff series and go further. We have a good enough team to make that happen. Having the new additions to this team, having everybody under the Celtics organization back for another year, we’re looking for bigger and better things.”

While there are many returning faces this season, the Celtics, as Thomas pointed out, also made a few intriguing acquisitions this summer to bolster their chances of vaulting into the elite group of NBA teams.

During the Draft, Boston added uber-athletic, 19-year-old forward Jaylen Brown to the mix. Later during the summer it brought in a couple of veteran free agents: Gerald Green, who began his career in Boston in 2005, and the franchise’s grand prize of the summer, four-time All-Star Al Horford.

While those three additions all come from very different backgrounds, they’re all similar in that they bring humble, hard-working mentalities to the Celtics. On top of that, they all believe there is something special brewing in Boston, which is a major reason why Horford chose the Celtics during free agency.

“Looking at my career at this point, I’m going into my 10th year and I want to be a part of something special and win a championship,” said Horford, who spent his first nine seasons with the Atlanta Hawks. “And with the type of guys we have here, we have that possibility.”

Horford, alongside Thomas, Crowder and Avery Bradley, are expected to be leaders on this Celtics team. Thankfully, they all have an identical agenda and the same optimism as they enter training camp.

“The sky is the limit for us,” said Bradley. “If we want to work hard and buy into what Brad’s trying to do and what we think we need to accomplish as a team and make sacrifices… there’s a lot of things, but if we’re able to do all those little things, anything is possible for our team this year.”

That notion is promising to hear, especially coming from Boston’s longest-tenured player – the only guy who has experienced the ups of the Big 3 Era and the downs of the Celtics’ rebuild.

Those rebuilding days are clearly in the past, however, as Boston has established a strong, stable roster.

“We expect our team to be better and we expect each of the players to be better,” said president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. “We have a lot of guys that aren’t yet in their prime that are moving in that direction.”

As for the direction of the team as a whole, it’s pointed sky-high as the Celtics head into the 2016-17 season with a dozen familiar faces and a few newcomers who have already adopted Boston's prideful mentality.