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Tim BontempsESPN
THERE ARE TWO versions of the Boston Celtics.
One is led by two All-Stars under the age of 25 and carries the expectation of having reached the conference finals in three of the past four seasons. The other has eight players in his first or second year in the NBA, most of whom have failed to win a consistent spot in the team’s rotation.
The split between these two realities indicates why the Celtics enter tonight’s clash against the LA Clippers at 0.500, in a swamp of teams fighting for position at the back of the Eastern playoff image.
“This is shocking,” said an Eastern Conference scout at the weekend of the Boston record. “They have more talent than their track record would indicate.”
Despite developing two All-Stars in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, Boston’s momentum broke out. A series of defections by free agents, poorly spent choices and payroll cuts resulted in a team that is far from the stated goal of hanging an 18th championship banner on the TD Garden beams. Their weaknesses have been exposed and they have no good options to fix them.
So, with two games remaining before the All-Star break and less than four weeks to the negotiation deadline, the Celtics are still looking for their identity.
“I feel that our group is very close,” Celtics GM Danny Ainge told ESPN. “The boys are still working hard and I feel like we still don’t know who this team is.”
TATUM AND BROWN will go to Atlanta this weekend not just as All-Stars, but as the first Celtics pair averaging 25 points per game each since Larry Bird and Kevin McHale in 1986-87.
Add Kemba Walker, an All-Star a season ago, and Marcus Smart, a selection of All-Defensive teams twice, and Boston should have the ingredients for a championship contender, not a team fighting in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference image playoff.
“We have a lot of work to do to stand out as better than we are,” said Celtics coach Brad Stevens. “And that is the reality of it.”
An exodus of veteran collaborators in the past two years has left Boston dangerously scarce behind its big four. And, thanks to a series of injuries in each of these players, that group started just two games together this season and divided the court for a total of 28 minutes.
“The injuries and everything, I think, worked against them, for sure,” said an Eastern Conference executive, “and especially if Kemba is not Kemba.”
Scouts and executives from across the league had the same opinion about the Celtics: if Walker can’t return to the All-Star level, Boston’s hopes of being a threat in the East will disappear.
“It can still add value,” said a Western Conference executive. “But is he worth $ 35 million? Is he worth that number? This is difficult [to build around] if he is not. “
When named an All-Star last season, Walker averaged 21.8 points per game before the break, shooting almost 39% in the 3-point range. Then his knee started to hurt, causing him to lose every game except 10 in the second half of the season.
And while there have been recent signs that Walker is getting back into shape – he dropped 32 points on the Pacers last week, part of a stretch that saw him averaging 23.2 PPG in the last five games – he is still shooting 38, 5% overall and 35.7% deep, numbers that look more like her early Charlotte Bobcats days than her All-Star credentials with the Hornets.
“You would think that after the playoffs he would have left and had a very good start to the year,” said the executive. “What [he hasn’t] surprised me. “
Walker’s inconsistent contribution also exposed the lack of depth behind him. Jeff Teague, one of the few veteran reserves in the Boston squad, is shooting on the field, the worst of his career, 34.2%. The Celtics’ other guard options are mostly untested beginners and sophomore players.
This is a problem that exists in almost every position for Boston, stemming from decisions made in the past two seasons. Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Morris Sr. and Terry Rozier all left the agency in 2019, with only Rozier leaving bringing back any help (as part of a subscription and exchange agreement for Walker). Gordon Hayward followed last summer, when the Celtics decided that the big offer he received from the Hornets (four years, $ 120 million) was out of his price range.
Boston had previously rejected openings from the Indiana Pacers that could have surrendered Myles Turner and Doug McDermott at a Hayward signal and switch. After the ex-All-Star won his contract with Charlotte, Boston was able to negotiate a signature and exchange contract with the Hornets that created a $ 28.6 million exception, the largest in NBA history.
This exception can end up being a useful asset, which helps Boston to improve before the negotiation deadline or in this off-season. But up to this point, the inability to replace Hayward has hurt the Celtics on the court.
The two Boston veterans signed this offseason, Teague and centerman Tristan Thompson, have been fighting, highlighting Boston’s decision to rely on the band of young players that they have summoned for the past three years, from newcomers Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard to the second-year guards Romeo Langford and Carsen Edwards and striker Grant Williams for third-year center Robert Williams III.
“They all had a chance to play and everyone had a good time,” said Ainge. “What is difficult this year is just the roles we wanted them to play, especially as young players, it is not being the leading scorer. When you lose [starters], everyone has to go up and play a bigger role. That was when we had some inconsistencies this year. “
Pritchard, the No. 26 chosen from Oregon, established himself firmly in the rotation, averaging 7.4 PPG and pitching 38% deep. Now in his third year, Robert Williams has become a trusted member of Stevens’ three-headed monster in the center. But the rest of Boston’s sophomore and sophomore brigade provided very little; Langford hasn’t played this season yet.
This resulted in Boston being stuck around 0.500, despite Tatum remaining an All-Star and Brown joining him at that level, in what has been a season of the caliber of the Most Improved Player so far.
“If you had told me that Brown and Tatum would be so good, I would be surprised [at their record]”said a Western Conference executive.” I could have seen it if they had fought, but not as well as those guys. This is surprising. “
FOR THE PAST several years ago, the Celtics tried to perform the most complicated balancing act that an NBA team can try to do: win today, while remaining well positioned to win tomorrow. It almost worked. The Celtics reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2017, 2018 and 2020. They have won 35 playoff games in the past four years. Only the Golden State Warriors (46) won more.
But the Warriors hung two championship strips in that period, something Boston hasn’t done since 2008.
The Celtics record so far this season would indicate that the drought is likely to continue, but Ainge does not see the title window closing for Tatum and Brown, invoking names of players like LeBron James and Michael Jordan, who struggled to win titles earlier in their lives. careers.
“You have to keep things in perspective,” he said. “These guys are 22 and 24 years old now. If you put all the guys I just mentioned at the same ages, a lot of them were not who they became [at that age]. All great players, it takes time for them to play their best. “
Still, the league’s members don’t believe the Celtics can hold on and potentially waste a year from the cousins of their two young building blocks who are playing at an elite level.
“There comes a time when you have to do something to keep your stars at ease and show you are trying, especially when you are young and at the beginning of your cousins,” said the East executive. “You have to commit to them.”
This is something that Ainge has been reluctant to do in the past. The last time Boston acquired a player in a trade during the season was six years ago, when the team signed Isaiah Thomas from Phoenix. Only the San Antonio Spurs has a longer drought.
“They will only do something,” said the West executive, “if they think they are going to bury him.”
The Celtics no longer have the deep cache of draft assets from other teams to potentially include in an agreement. They still have all of their future choices in the first round, as well as the huge tradeoff exception, which puts them in a better trading position than most other competing teams. Rival executives believe they are hunting for a player who can play on either side and punch the goal – exactly the type of player they lost when Hayward left.
And while the team’s salary is low at the moment, the property has spent on luxury tax in the past, and Ainge has indicated he is willing to do so this season.
“If there are players that we can get to put us on top and keep us under the hood, we will make a deal that falls into that category,” he said. “But we’re not going to do this for a band-aid, or someone who maybe, maybe, will help us a game or two.”