The Boston Celtics have hit a very low point. Jaylen Brown even said it “could be” rock bottom.
It’s come after the Celtics have lost 10 of their last 15 games including four defeats in their last five. The last two have been Boston’s worst losses of the season — Friday at home against Detroit Pistons; Sunday at Washington Wizards — and it has many piecing out the blame pie.
Danny Ainge, the president of basketball operations, believes it falls on him.
“The record of our team is on me,” Ainge told BostonSportsJournal.com on Monday. “It’s not on coaches. It’s not on all the players, even though I know some of them are capable of playing better.
“We haven’t played with the urgency we need to play with,” Ainge continued. “And consistency. We’ve had some really good wins, and some hard-fought, really hard played wins and we’ve had some no-shows. Some of that it is just not taking the opponent as seriously as we need to take it.”
Ainge, obviously, is not at fault for the lack of effort or urgency. That’s on the Celtics’ players, and it’s been a major issue. A bigger issue than Ainge for sure.
No, Ainge’s fault is in regards to roster-building.
And with free-agent additions like Jeff Teague and Tristan Thompson yet to impress, or recent draft picks Carsen Edwards, Tremont Waters and even first-rounder Aaron Nesmith yet to come into form, it’s a fair self-critique. Especially when you add in just how much the Celtics rely on two main contributors — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — showing, at this moment, Boston doesn’t have the depth to compete with the heavy hitters in the rest of the league.
“Winning is hard in this league,” Ainge said. “With the parity there is in this league and when you are not a superpower team, you have to work hard to play to beat anybody in this league and that’s been proven to us this year. Hopefully, we can get that message.”
Hopefully it comes soon.
