On February 7, the Memphis Grizzlies traded Xavier Tillman to the Boston Celtics. Fast forward to a little over one month later, and Tillman loves the change in scenery.
Xavier Tillman was asked about his opinion on the Celtics’ culture, and he gave a glowing review of what he’s seen from the team.
“This is a cool place in terms of keeping basketball basketball and not making it your identity, so that people are allowed to feel all the emotions,” Tillman said. “At the same time, nobody takes it home and nobody’s dwelling on it as well. When you come the next day, you can see people just feel fresh-faced and everybody’s good. Whereas, dwelling on past performances and whatnot.”
Some have interpreted Tillman’s comments as a shot at the Memphis Grizzlies because they’re the only other team he’s played for in his career. However, Tillman doesn’t quite strike as the type of person who would bad-mouth his former team. If anything, he may have just been answering a question about his current team, and the way the clip came off suggested that he was unhappy with his former team. Either way, he’s now on the best team in the NBA, and it’s pretty easy to see why he’d be happy to be there.