Let’s be honest with ourselves here: the Boston Celtics are not better now than they were last season. If anything, they might be worse.
The Milwaukee Bucks still are the best team in the East. The Miami Heat are a cut above the Celtics, as well. Boston could hold its own with the Toronto Raptors, but that’s more or less a push. The Brooklyn Nets probably are going to be the most toxic team in the NBA, but if everything comes together, they are far more talented than the Celtics.
Throw in a competently run Philadelphia 76ers team, and the Celtics are, at the absolute best the fourth team in the East again, but maybe as low as the sixth. This particular writer thinks the Indiana Pacers have a good thing going, but we’re not ready to say they’re better than Boston (which would put the C’s at *gasp* seventh in the conference).
Translation: They’re not a legitimate NBA Finals contender.
Look, the Celtics are loaded with talent, young and veteran. Jayson Tatum is on his way to becoming a premier player in the NBA, and Jaylen Brown is a solid wing himself. The addition of Tristan Thompson addresses a big need, while Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart make for great backcourt options.
But their bench is, in a word, ghastly, and that’s going to sink them.
Boston’s likely starting five of Walker-Smart-Brown-Tatum-Thompson is nice, and the first men of the bench, Daniel Theis and Jeff Teague, is pretty good. But you’ll notice that the Celtics still have no shooters, and banking on Aaron Nesmith isn’t smart nor fair to the player.
And if there’s ever was a team that knows banking on sharpshooters in college doing just that in the pros doesn’t work, it’s the Celtics. Think: James Young and R.J. Hunter, and it looks like Carsen Edwards might be on his way to the same fate.
That thin bench depth will be all the thinner with Walker out to start the year, and it would be naive to think that he won’t need load management or some level of restrictions even well after he returns. Again, Teague’s a good player and a shrewd pickup, but if you think the combo of Teague-Smart-Brown-Tatum-Thompson is going to guide the Celtics to the Promised Land, well, we admire your optimism.
Of course, this might all change if the Celtics find a way to use the trade exception they landed in the Gordon Hayward sign-and-trade, but it’s tough to envision any immediate paths to them getting use of that.
The reality is that the NBA is a star-driven league, and the Celtics don’t have the necessary pieces. Tatum is on his way, and this very well might be his true breakout season. Walker is a high-end player, but his health is too much of a question mark. Brown isn’t the elite talent people want to believe he is. So, if we’re positive, the Celtics have a likely star plus another that has his share of health issues. That probably won’t cut it.
The only way the lack of star power can be counteracted is by a tremendous bench (see: 2018-19 Toronto Raptors). Boston doesn’t have that, either.
This isn’t to say the Celtics are miles off from being a true contender, but they are short a few pivotal pieces.
Danny Ainge can try again next offseason to put together the right package, but let’s face the facts: He hasn’t assembled a true contender for this season.
