Celtics Know Elite Roster ‘Doesn’t Guarantee’ Playoff Success

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens put together a fairly talented roster for the 2023-24 season.

Is that underselling it?

Stevens, who has proven to be pretty damn good at this roster building thing, actually put together one of the most talented teams the NBA has seen in a long time. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been around for a while, but the additions of Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, as well as the reintroduction of Al Horford, have been master strokes over the last two offseasons.

The Celtics, with all that talent, have been exactly what you’d expect: dominant. Boston is home to far and away the best basketball team on the planet, setting multiple records throughout its first season together. It makes sense, but even Stevens couldn’t have expected this level of dominance.

“You can never expect that you’re going to be a 64-win team,” Stevens said Tuesday, per NBC Sports Boston video. “That’s a really high threshold to meet, no matter how good you are, no matter how well organized you are from a coaching standpoint, how many options you have from a playing standpoint. That’s just a hard thing to do. I don’t know that that was my expectation, but being able to see what we’re capable of on both ends of the court, I’m not surprised that we can be a really good basketball team.”

It’s important to note, though, that the job is far from finished in the eyes of Stevens.

“That doesn’t guarantee anything, because you’ve gotta go out and continue to play well and earn it,” Stevens said. “We’ve got a lot of good players that want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. That was pretty clear from the get-go, and I think our job is to try and fit it all together.”

The Celtics will look to start their journey to Banner 18 on Sunday, facing off with either the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks or Chicago Bulls.