There’s plenty of uncertainty surrounding the Celtics ahead of the 2019-20 NBA season, but luckily for Boston, there’s an overarching question mark hovering over the Eastern Conference as a whole.
The reigning champion Toronto Raptors saw Kawhi Leonard take his talents out west in free agency. The Milwaukee Bucks, the top seed in the East last season, relatively stood pat this summer, while the Philadelphia 76ers strengthened their championship aspirations by signing Al Horford. The latter two teams appear to be the early favorites for the conference crown, but the shakeout of the rest of the East remains up in the air.
So, how will the Celtics fair in the wide-open East? ESPN’s Nick Friedell, for one, believes Boston will grab the No. 3 seed.
“The Kemba Walker move is going to work for them,” Friedell said Friday on ESPN’s “The Jump.” “Internally it will be much calmer. Can Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown be who everybody always wanted them to be? I don’t know. We’re going to see. See, the problem with Boston is they’re gonna be better, they’re not gonna be good enough to win a title.”
The 2019-20 season will be an awfully telling one for the Celtics. Tatum and Brown will be afforded the opportunity to truly spread their wings, which in turn will give the franchise a better understanding of if the young swingmen are capable of leading a team. Should Tatum and Brown both take the next step, the C’s could return to being legitimate title contenders as soon as the 2020-21 campaign.
So while the C’s probably won’t really be in the mix for the Larry O’Brien Trophy next spring, the upcoming season can help restore excitement in Boston.
