The Boston Celtics will kick off the preseason on Thursday night when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland. Boston is coming off a 56-26 season that saw them finish No. 2 in the Eastern Conference while Cleveland is coming off a year in which they went to the Eastern Conference Finals.

While the preseason is obviously different than the regular season in terms of playing time, playing rotations and overall intensity level, there are still things to take away from these performances, so let's examine what we want to see in the opener.

After tearing his Achilles tendon in the 2024-25 playoffs, Tatum returned to play 16 regular season games in 2025-26. Though he looked good to the general public, he's spoken on multiple occasions about how he wasn't fully confident when he returned. He's said that he feels better now, both physically and mentally.

How does that manifest itself on Thursday night?

This will be an ongoing conversation all year. How do the Celtics look without Brown in the fold? He had been there for a decade, so we don't really know.

How does the offense flow? How about the on-court leadership? Who steps up to fill the scoring void?

We're about to find out.

Paul George, Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley are all new to the mix, and each will be important in their own way. How many minutes do George and Robinson get? How does the offense look when Robinson is on the floor? Are they able to push the tempo, or will they have to slow it down to accommodate the more traditional center?

As for George, he says he's healthy and confident, so how does he look playing alongside Tatum?

The Celtics drafted big man Chris Cenac Jr. out of Houston in the first round of the NBA Draft and they drafted Dillon Mitchell out of St. John's in the second round. Both players bring supreme athleticism into the mix and should help on defense and in the rebounding department, but how much have they grown offensively since we saw them in Summer League? Both players have been making steady progress on that front, per reports.

If they can make offensive gains, they'll have a chance to stick on the NBA roster and contiribute.

Tip off between the Celtics and Cavs is set for 7 p.m. ET.