Making the Case for the 2020–2021 Boston Celtics
By: Ben Cronin
Tags: NBA, Boston Celtics

Projected starting five once Kemba returns from injury. Image by https://fadeawayworld.net/2020/12/03/the-2020-21-projected-starting-lineup-for-the-boston-celtics/

The Boston Celtics are legitimate championship contenders this year. I’m aware this claim probably sounds like it’s coming from a green teamer who’s full of high hopes and boasting their team’s abilities going into any other season like they always do. However, I at least attempt to be realistic, this is something I haven’t said since the previous Celtics championship contending era where they had the likes of Paul Pierce, KG, Ray Allen, and Rondo.

Tatum celebrating Brown’s game winner against the Jazz during their rookie and sophomore seasons respectively. Copyright: Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are just beginning to enter their peak years in the NBA. It wasn’t until Lebron James reached the age of 27 and left his former team to join the Miami Heat along with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh when he won his first NBA championship. Michael Jordan was 25 when he won his first NBA championship during his seventh season in the league. This is only Jayson Tatum’s fourth season in the league, and Jaylen Browns fifth season in the league. Jayson Tatum is now 22, Jaylen Brown is now 24, and both have extended contracts with the team that drafted them. It takes time to learn how to win an NBA championship. They not only needed to get their NBA legs on, but they also needed to learn where they fit into Brad Stevens system along with all of their teammates. Fans, media, coaches, and GM’s need to understand this. Do I want to trade Marcus Smart, multiple first round draft picks, and a 24-year-old emerging all-star and all-defensive talent in Jaylen Brown for a 31-year-old James Harden who constantly appears to be travelling, chucking up inefficient threes, and dominating the ball? Absolutely not. Hardens brand of basketball has proven to be a losing system, or at least the Rockets brand of basketball with him on the team has been for the last 8 years. I’m not saying Harden is incapable of winning an NBA championship, but I’m saying he clearly doesn’t fit with the team and won’t help the team win. People need to be more patient before they throw it all away for an unrealistic pipe dream. Remember how long it took all the previous greats to finally win a championship, and give it at least another season or two before you consider trading away either Tatum or Brown.

Not only does it take time to learn how to win an NBA championship, but it’s also a feat that can’t be accomplished alone. Lebron James didn’t win a championship until he had the help of Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, then he had the help of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, then he had the help of Anthony Davis. Even the great Michael Jordan never won an NBA championship without all-star talent surrounding him. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown simply haven’t had enough experience yet to accomplish this feat on their own, as they attempted to do so in 2017 during Jayson Tatum’s rookie season and Jaylon Browns sophomore season when they took Lebron James to game seven of the eastern conference finals. At the time, Hayward and Irving were sidelined due to injury and it was up to the extremely young and inexperienced Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to do this all on their own. Afterwards, chemistry issues held the team back with no help from Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris, and Terry Rozier. Even if the team got along perfectly off the court, there simply weren’t enough minutes on the court to satisfy all the talent and ego the team had.

Now in 2020, there are clearly defined roles. Jayson Tatum is the go-to guy, and Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown can pick up the slack if he’s having an off night. Daniel Theis, Tristan Thompson, Marcus Smart, and Jaylen Brown are the elite defenders. Jayson Tatum also still has the chance this early on in his career to establish himself as an elite defender. He has shown flashes of elite defense throughout his career. Last season, the majority of the time, he showed great effort on defense. However, he tends to get lazy or just make the incorrect defensive read at times. With two elite defending guards who have the ability to defend forwards if need be, two elite defending big men, and Jayson Tatum; The Celtics should have no problem on defense. Nor should they have any problem deciding who is going to take the last shot. Unless he is having an off night, it’s Tatum, and if not Tatum, then it’s either Kemba or Brown.

Not only are team roles more well defined, but the bench has improved drastically. When Kemba returns the team will have their choice of pulling either Smart, Theis, or Thompson off the bench. All three of which making an excellent 6th man. The Celtics not only improved their depth at the center position, but also the point guard position. The team signed Jeff Teague during free agency, which is a dramatic improvement from Brad Wanamaker. Likewise, the team also drafted Payton Pritchard, a sharpshooting point guard from Oregon, who will make an excellent third or fourth option alongside Carsen Edwards. Aaron Nesmith is another sharpshooter the Celtics picked up in the draft who is capable of playing either the 2 or 3. Going into this free agency the Celtics were in desperate need of a solid backup point guard, a more dependable piece at the center position, and better scoring off the bench. The team has seemed to fill all these holes with Teague, Thompson, Pritchard, and Nesmith.

Photo by By Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA — Brad Stevens, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58519989

With all of this said, there are still many question marks for the Celtics heading into this season that need to be addressed in order for this to be a fair analysis. As far as team only concerns, this list would include the development of Tatum and Brown, the coaching, the development of the rookies and sophomores, the way Teague and Thompson fit into the system, and Kemba Walker. For the newest members of the team acquired in the draft and free agency it’s simple, they either mesh and develop with the team well or they don’t. Brown has a substantial chance to become an all star this year, and the team will need him to play at least as well as he did last season if not better. Tatum needs to become more consistent in clutch situations, and more consistent on defense. Honestly, he was a pain to watch in the bubble at times last season. He never seemed to make an important shot, and completely blew certain plays on defense that ended up hurting the team. Tatum will need to tighten that up, and it isn’t unreasonable to expect him to be able to do so with this only being his fourth season in the NBA and only being 22 years of age. Brad Stevens needs to play the right people and not get fancy. In other words, let’s not throw Tacko Fall into the final seconds of a playoff game to block the inbound. Also, lets maybe not draw up a play in the last second for Smart to launch a three at the buzzer. Likewise, Grant Williams and Semi Ojeleye have no business on the court unless the entire team is injured. His rotations off the bench at times baffle me. I have no idea what he saw in Brad Wanamaker, Yabusele, Ojeleye, or Grant Williams. Clearly, neither Grant Williams nor Semi Ojeleye deserve any playing time. Neither can make a jump shot, and Grant Williams is far too small to defend the assignments that Brad Stevens for some reason gives him. I’d much rather see Timelord or Nesmith off the bench over Ojeleye or Grant Williams. Lastly, Kemba Walker needs to make a splash when he returns and his knee needs to hold up. This is more of a prayer than a question mark. We know his knee is getting worse and won’t get better, the only question mark is how much longer he can play at the level he did for us last season, if that’s even possible. However, Kemba is relentless, motivated, and loves the game of basketball. It would be shocking to see this injury take him down without much of a fight. I expect at least a few more relatively highly productive seasons out of his career, even if he needs to rest up before the playoffs and skip back to backs mid-season. We won’t know the extent of the injuries severity until he’s been in the rotation for a few weeks.

Now for the competition. Some could say the NBA has never been as exciting as it is now. It feels like a great number of teams have the chance to win an NBA championship heading into this season, and the eastern conference no longer appears to be little brother to the western conference. In other words, there’s more diversity and less of a talent discrepancy than there ever has been. This is both good and bad for the Celtics. Kevin Durant and Russel Westbrook are immediately obvious additions and threats to the eastern conference this season that the Celtics will need to address. The Bucks look stronger and the 76ers look stronger. However, I would say the Celtics look stronger as well. Gordon Hayward is a net loss in itself but not as much as one might think, and the improvement from Thompson over Kanter and Teague over Wanamaker on their own arguably make up for this loss. After all, something every Celtics fan got sick of hearing last season was how they probably had the best starting lineup in the league, but worst bench. Haywards departure along with Teague and Thompson’s arrival certainly address that issue. Likewise, Hayward was mostly injured during his time with the Celtics, and the amount of playing time he got when he was available appeared to cause chemistry issues. In theory, Teague, Smart, Brown, and Tatum can all replace what is being lost in Gordon Hayward. Smart and Teague are both capable of facilitating the ball just as well as Hayward. Similarly, Smart, Brown, and Tatum can defend whoever Gordon would have, but likely do a better job of it. The only real loss is the scoring, and the hope would be that now Tatum, Brown, and Kemba will be able to take additional shots. Likewise, the team now has much better scoring off the bench, which was a team statistic the Celtics suffered in last season.

Copyright: Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

In the east the early contenders appear to be the Celtics, 76ers, Bucks, Heat, and Nets. I like the Celtics chances against the 76ers and Bucks. I believe all three of Giannis, Simmons, and Embiid have severe flaws in their game that have been exposed in the playoffs that will continue to be exposed unless their teams make huge changes, or the players make huge changes to their game. I don’t expect the Nets to become contenders this year. Not with Kyrie Irving attempting to play his first full season with the team, not with Kevin Durant attempting to play his first full season with the team, not with Nash as a first-year head coach, and not with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant being in the locker room. The Heat are scary, but after the way the Celts lost to them in the Eastern Conference finals practically intentionally pissing away huge leads in the second half of every game and then throwing chairs at each other afterwards, I don’t see that happening again. That was a learning experience for them, and I’m sure the entire team is dying to roll the heat over this season after losing in such an embarrassing fashion in the playoffs to them last season. Out west the contenders still appear to be the Lakers, Clippers, Jazz, and Nuggets. Perhaps the Suns and or Portland also make big advances this season to solidify themselves as playoff teams. I would love to see a Celtics Lakers final series, and I think it’s the most likely outcome heading into this season. If that holds true, the series will lay upon the shoulders of Tatum, Brown, Lebron, and Davis.

Photo by Elise Amendola/Associated Press

So, there it is. Brad Stevens will have to play the right people, or at the least the best options for what he has available, and not get too fancy or overthink plays and matchups. Tatum needs to become more consistent in clutch situations on both sides of the ball. Brown and Tatum both need to at least play at the level they did last season, preferably at an elevated level. Teague and Thompson need to become dependable pieces to the Celtics rotation. And finally, the elephant in the room, James Harden must not join a contending team in the Eastern conference, including the Celtics. He doesn’t fit with the Celtics as I stated above. Even if for some absurd reason I was okay with the fact that the Celtics would be giving up Brown for him, Brown’s absence alone wouldn’t prevent the impending catastrophe of chemistry issues if Harden were to join the team. However, other teams in the east appear to be much more well suited for a Harden addition. If he joins the 76ers, Bucks, Heat, or Nets it could be devastating for the Celtics. The Celtics themselves may be better off without Harden, but they’re also much better off if he stays in the western conference or joins a subpar team; Because a Harden trade could completely change all of this.