The Boston Celtics should feel good about their progress in 2019-20.
NBA.com’s Sekou Smith gave the Celtics a B+ Thursday in his “NBA Midseason Report Cards” column. Smith hails the impact of Kemba Walker’s arrival as starting point guard as overwhelmingly positive but warns Boston still might need to upgrade its frontcourt options in order to transfer regular-season success into a deep run in the NBA playoffs.
“Kemba Walker has been everything he was advertised to be and then some,” Smith wrote. “The positive impact he’s had on the court and in the locker room for the Celtics is undeniable. The fact that he’s still scoring the way he did in Charlotte with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward all playing at their effective best offensively certainly helps the cause. If you don’t think the Celtics look like a much improved and more cohesive bunch with Walker at the controls, you’re not paying attention.
“Overachieving in the regular season is fine, but the Celtics have to shore up a few things for the playoffs. Daniel Theis and Enes Kanter have done an admirable job trying to replace the 1-2 big man punch Al Horford and Aaron Baynes provided last season. But can they count on Theis and Kanter in the postseason? That’s the question Danny Ainge will answer by the trade deadline or leave to coach Brad Stevens to figure out in April.”
Although Boston won’t reach the midpoint of its 82-game, regular-season schedule until next week, Ainge, Stevens, Walker and Co. undoubtedly will be pleased with their high mark. They might even lament certain factors — injuries, puzzling losses such as Wednesday’s setback against the Detroit Pistons, etc. — that kept them out of the lofty A’s.
The Celtics enter Thursday night’s crunch matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks with a 27-12 record, which has them in third place in the Eastern Conference standings, just one-half game behind the second-place Miami Heat.
