Celtics’ Offseason Minimized Window In Championship Pursuit

The Boston Celtics shook things up pretty good this offseason.

In response to a devastating Eastern Conference finals loss to the Miami Heat, Boston spent the summer overhauling its roster.

Green Teamers were heartbroken to see the likes of Marcus Smart, Grant Williams and Robert Williams III go, but saw the Celtics’ ceiling rise in their pursuit of a championship. Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday were added to a roster that could conceivably compete with anyone, while stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown return to lead the way, and Derrick White and Al Horford return as two of the more valuable role players in the NBA.

There’s no arguing the Celtics are a more talented team entering the 2023-24 season than they were to end the 2022-23 season. But there is an argument to be made that president of basketball operations Brad Stevens might have shortened Boston’s window.

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If you look at Boston’s offseason in segments, you’d see the organization made major changes at three different points.

The Celtics made sweeping changes to their coaching staff early on, giving head coach Joe Mazzulla an all-star cast of assistants. Charles Lee and Sam Cassell will help Mazzulla run things from the bench, coming off successful stints with the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers, respectively. That will be quite the change from Mazzulla’s first staff, which had minimal NBA experience.

They then swung the trade for Porzingis, which gives them a potentially dominant big man for the first time since Al Horford’s first couple of seasons in green. The idea behind that move was to expand Boston’s depth in the front-court, with the double-big lineup getting a new look. It also doesn’t hurt that Porzingis is a tremendous rim protector and can score from just about anywhere on the court.

The final (?) move came Sunday, when the Celtics traded for two-time All-Star Jrue Holiday. The 33-year-old is expected to come in and help anchor what should once again be the NBA’s top defense, while providing value as a distributor and reliable controller of the offense.

In a vacuum, all of those moves made the Celtics better. They seem to contradict one another when looking at the grand scheme, however.

The Celtics’ acquisition of Porzingis will no longer be beneficial to their front-court depth, as Robert Williams was shipped off to land Holiday. Cassell and White worked together all summer so the 29-year-old could step into the point guard role, but that’s all for not, as Holiday will understandably be the top choice now. Grant Williams’ role off the bench will now probably become Al Horford’s, who could certainly be more effective with less minutes but isn’t nearly as versatile defensively.

In a word, the Celtics are now missing continuity.

That usually isn’t a problem in the NBA, and likely won’t be long-term for the Celtics, but it’s hard to see them stepping onto the court on Oct. 25 and looking like a cohesive unit. That much is going to take time, which they have for this one season, but probably won’t moving forward.

Brown is locked in for the long-haul, with Tatum likely adding a heap of money and time to his contract next year. The stars are sticking around, but Porzingis and Jordan Walsh are the only other players locked into a contract past 2025. White, Holiday, Horford, Sam Hauser, Oshae Brissett and Delano Banton are all eligible to hit free agency in two years. Payton Pritchard could be gone next offseason. The coaching staff will likely continue to see turnover, as well, as Lee and Cassell are each on the shortlist of assistants soon to become head coaches.

Stevens put together an incredible roster, but it won’t stay this way, so the Celtics better make this season count.