The Boston Celtics came up short in 2021-22, falling to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals in six games.
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens made a concerted effort to add to his team throughout the offseason -- trading for Danilo Gallinari and signing Malcolm Brogdon to improve the teams bench scoring. Those two will join pretty much the same group that fell to the Warriors in June, hoping to get over the hump and bring home Banner 18.
While Ime Udoka's squad added talent and expects their stars to continue to improve, former NBA champion Tony Parker believes their most valuable improvement will come from the leadership of their head coach -- who bounced back with Parker and the Spurs to win the 2014 NBA Finals after losing the previous year.
"(Udoka) was with us in those years," Parker told Jay King of The Athletic. "So he can definitely take some stuff from what we had to go through. I played with him as teammates and had him as a coach. He's been through everything with us, so he knows better than anybody how to bounce back from a tough NBA Finals loss."
The Spurs bounced back to defeat the Miami Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals, one year after losing to LeBron James' squad -- despite being 0:30 away from securing the 2013 crown in six games.
The Celtics are the current favorite to win the 2023 NBA Finals according to DraftKings Sportsbook, holding +550 odds. Parker's Spurs have the second-worst odds at +80000.
