Expectations are high. There’s no other way to put it. After a season that started rocky, the Celtis figured things out after New Year and rode their new-found cohesion to an NBA Finals appearance, taking the goddamn Warriors to Game 6 before exiting stage left and watching the Warriors take home the worst trophy in professional sports on the parquet.
This year, expectations are through the roof. With Malcolm Brogdon in the fold (which means less Marcus Smart ball handling late in the game) what could possibly stand in the Celtics’ way?
Well, a few things.
The Jaylen Brown “situation” is a curious one. I wrote about the David Pastranak contract saga here, and although the Jaylen situation is a bit different, there are a lot of parallels. Unlike Pasta, Jaylen has two years left on the 4-year rookie extension that he signed in October of 2019 which will pay him $26M this year and $28M next year (contract details here). In any other professional sport, having a player under control for two more seasons would be seen as a positive and any thoughts of an extension or a trade would probably not be on the table until next offseason. Not in the NBA. The trend of the last few years is star players, of which Jaylen is not, but he is All-Star caliber, have shot their way out of town with a lot more meat left on their contract than Brown has now. Add in the fact that Jaylen was brought up in trade rumors for KD all summer, and has leaked info to the media that he’s not necessarily happy playing second fiddle to Jayson Tatum, and it feels like the Celtics and Jaylen are at a bit of a crossroads. The hope from a Celtics perspective is that Jaylen plays nice in the sandbox this year on a team that has very realistic championship asperation and that another run to the finals (maybe even winning a title) will ease the tension and he signs an extension after the season. Hopefully
The next potential hurdle is none other than Marcus Smart. Unlike Jaylen, he got his money last year so his contract isn’t an issue, but almost everything else with him is. How will he react to Malcolm Brogdon taking some crunch time minutes from him? Will he continue to play the facilitating brand of basketball he played in the second half of the regular season, differing to the J’s instead of forcing up shots? Will his ego stay in check for the 9-months of the NBA season the year after winning DPOY and reaching the NBA Finals?
I’ve always said that Marcus Smart thinks he’s Steph Curry. A point guard who can both facilitate and score, primarily from behind the 3-point line. He’s not wrong, per se, but he’s NOWHERE CLOSE to being Steph Curry. Smart is a more than capable point guard who can make the 3 ball, but, unlike Curry, he’s not an elite ball handler and is far from being an elite 3-point shooter. When Marcus plays “his” game, he’s a valuable piece, but that game is predicated on defense, passing, and making the open 3 when it’s there. My gut tells me that Ime won’t stand for his selfish bullshit, and if he starts playing like a jackass, which he’s prone to do, we’ll see more and more of Brogdon until Marcus falls in line.
The last potential roadblock I see is the health of their big men. Al Horford, who is still a huge part of what the Celtics do, will play this season at 36 years old. He averaged 29 MPG last year in the regular season in the 69 (nice) games he played. Then he added 23 more games in the postseason and saw his minutes creep up slightly from his regular season averages. He’s been mostly healthy over the course of his career, but those miles add up. I’d assume he will have a reduced workload during the regular season in an effort to keep him “fresh” for the playoffs.
Then there’s Rob Williams. After signing his extension last offseason, he took the leap we were all hoping he’d take and became a game wrecker. His ability to own the paint while also closing out on opposing shooters was one of the big reasons the Celtics made the NBA Finals. But health was still a problem. He played in 61 regular season games (8 less than Horford who is 11 years his senior) and STILL had a knee injury that forced him to miss the end of the regular season and be less than 100% in the playoffs. The Celtics will limit his minutes during the regular season, again, and cross their fingers he doesn’t go down again. Not a ton else they can realistically do.
The regular season starts on October 18th, so we won’t have any answers until then, but until then, watch this video about their great comeback in Game 1 to fill your time!
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