by Some rambling reflections on the regrettably redesigned Celtics, along with the question of whether No. 42 ever climbs to the rafters.
This is one of the realities that has emerged as a team that did everything correctly to construct its championship core is the first to be methodically demolished by the harsh terms of the collective bargaining agreement.
Going forward, very, very few teams that are in the running for championships will be permitted to have a learning curve.
Unfortunately, witnessing players—in the Celtics’ case, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown—develop into champions is one of the most fulfilling parts of supporting a team. There won’t be enough space or time for the seasons of ups and downs, ebbs and flows, and lessons learnt from near-misses that typically precede becoming a champion since the runway is so short. Basically everything for the Celtics from, say, 2021 until the confetti eventually dropped in June 2024.
Take the Pacers, one of the most entertaining teams in recent memory, who are already in disarray and will never be the same following Tyrese Haliburton’s injury.
Given all of the resources and depth general manager Sam Presti has amassed, there is a belief that the victorious Thunder will be immune to this, but I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem like paying Shai Gilgeous-Alexander $71 million a season will help the band stay together in the long run.
In one form or another, the tax collector will arrive sooner than most teams can expect.
Although I have already addressed this in a few postmortem columns, I feel that it has to be reiterated because it isn’t being expressed enough.
The Celtics should be in a better position when other teams are in that roster-paring phase in a few years since they are now going through roster bloodletting, especially if they are exempt from the tax entirely in the upcoming season.
Of course, that doesn’t enhance our entertainment value for the upcoming season, but knowing that Brad Stevens is in charge makes it easier to endure a gap year. When it comes to handling all of this and ultimately reassembling the roster, he deserves your utmost trust.
In his straightforward manner, he has stated that Tatum, Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard form the core. He is obviously giving players who play hard first-round choice priority.Josh Minottto, Luke Garza, and Hugo González round out the team this season. (Given the need to cut additional salary, I’ll be shocked if brilliant but defensive-minded Anfernee Simons spends even a season with the Celtics.)
Optimal result for the upcoming season? The Celtics end up at the back end of the lottery, Brown and White get plenty of rest along the way, Baylor Scheierman develops, Gonz Lez crashes around the court Nesmith-style, Tatum returns for a few games just to clear his head and learn to trust his first step again, and they receive the kind of luck that Nico Harrison definitely did not deserve this year.
Getting the most out of players who were engaging but obviously imperfect was Stevens’ greatest superpower during his eight years as Celtics coach.
I offer you Jordan Crawford’s NBA Player of the Week victory in December 2013 as unquestionable proof. (The Blazers offered Evan Turner a $70 million contract since he played so well for the Celtics in 2015–16.)
I wonder if Joe Mazzulla have this quality. He has done a great job coaching the best players and seasoned veterans, but he has a low threshold for inexperienced players and rookies and their unavoidable errors. In order to get the most out of Neemias Queta, he will need to be more understanding, patient, and creative. Can the Celtics ask the NBA to give him eight fouls every game? in addition to Scheierman.
The Celtics’ in-arena production crew should definitely start working on all of the tribute videos they will need to create for well-known players who will be visiting the Garden this season.
Luke Kornet, the most recent 2024 champion to leave, signed a well-earned four-year, $41 million contract with the Spurs, which should be a fantastic fit.
Take pleasure in 26 minutes of buckets and barking from Luke Kornetpic at https://lEO8eY17PR.
Naturally, we don’t need to wait for the regular season to express our gratitude, so let’s honor Kornet for everything he was: an excellent teammate with a truly humorous sense of humor (watch out, Scale, if he ever decides to pursue a career in broadcasting); a significant player-development success story for the organization (he played 15 NBA games for three different teams in 2021–22); and a player who understood his role and did his best to master it. It turns out that his best performance as a Celtic was in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, when he blocked seven shots against the Knicks, his second-to-last game.
Who could have predicted that he would become a member of the Beloved Celtics Role Player pantheon while he was competing with Moe Wagner for a roster spot?
That guy has turned into the summer’s sentence, and certainly, Andsure will miss him.
Boston.com’s sports columnist is Chad Finn. For the last four years, he has been chosen as Boston’s Favorite Sports Writer by the Channel Media Market and Research Poll. In addition, he contributes to Globe Magazine and writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe.
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