-
Tim BontempsESPN
THERE ARE TWO versions of the Boston Celtics.
One is led by two All-Stars under 25 and is expected to reach the conference final in three of the last four seasons. The other has eight players in their first or second year in the NBA, most of whom failed to earn a consistent place in the team’s rotation.
The split between the two realities suggests why the Celtics enter tonight’s clash against the LA Clippers, who stand at .500, in a nonsense of teams fighting for the position in the back half of the image in the Eastern playoffs.
“It’s shocking,” an Eastern Conference researcher said at the Boston record weekend. “They have more talent than their record would show.”
Despite the development of two All-Stars in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, Boston’s momentum has grown. A series of free agent failures, raw selections and pay cuts have led to a team that is far from the stated goal of hanging an 18 championship flag on the TD Garden rafters. Their weaknesses have been exposed and they lack good options to remedy them.
So, with two games left before the All-Star break and less than four weeks until the trading deadline, the Celtics are still looking for their identity.
“I feel like our group is pretty much together,” Celtics general manager Danny Ainge told ESPN. “The boys are still working hard and I feel we still don’t know who this team is.”
TATUM AND BROWN will head to Atlanta this weekend not only as All-Stars, but as the first Celtics duo with an average of 25 points per game from Larry Bird and Kevin McHale in 1986-87.
Add Kemba Walker, an All-Star a season ago, and Marcus Smart, a two-time All-Defensive selection, and Boston should have a championship contender, not a team fighting in the bottom half. of the Eastern Conference playoff image.
“We have a lot of work to do to separate as well as where we are,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. – And that’s the reality.
An exodus of veterans who have contributed over the past two years has left Boston dangerously thin behind the big four. And, due to a series of injuries for each of these players, the group started only two games together this season and shared the field for a total of 28 minutes.
“The wounds and everything else, I think, worked against them, for sure,” said an Eastern Conference executive, “and especially if Kemba is not Kemba.”
Scouts and directors across the league have had the same opinion of the Celtics: If Walker can’t return to an All-Star level, Boston’s hopes of being a threat in the East will fade.
“He can continue to add value,” said a Western Conference executive. “But is it worth $ 35 million? Is it worth it? It’s hard [to build around] if it is not. “
When he was named All-Star last season, Walker averaged 21.8 points per game before the break, shooting nearly 39% of the 3-point range. Then his knee started to act upwards, causing him to miss all but the 10 games in the second half of the season.
And while there have been recent signs of Walker’s return to form – he dropped 32 points on the Pacers last week, part of a stretch that saw him average 23.2 PPG in his last five games – still shooting 38, 5% overall and 35.7% depth, numbers that are more like her early Charlotte Bobcats days than her All-Star credentials with the Hornets.
“You would have thought after the play-off that he would have come out and had a very good start to the year,” the executive said. “That [he hasn’t] It surprised me. “
Walker’s inconsistent contribution also revealed the lack of depth behind him. Jeff Teague, one of the few veteran reserves on Boston’s list, gains 34.2% of the field. The other Celtics goalie options are mostly rookie and sophomore players.
This is a problem that exists in almost every position for Boston, which stems from the decisions made in the last two off-seasons. Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Morris Sr. and Terry Rozier all left for free agency in 2019, only Rozier’s departure bringing back any help (as part of a signing and trading agreement for Walker). Gordon Hayward followed suit last summer, when the Celtics decided that the strong offer they received from the Hornets (four years, $ 120 million) was out of the price range.
Boston had previously turned down the Indiana Pacers overdrafts that could have produced Myles Turner and Doug McDermott in a Hayward sign and trade. Once the former All-Star struck a deal with Charlotte, Boston managed to negotiate a sign and trade with the Hornets, which created a $ 28.6 million trade exception, the largest in NBA history.
This exception could be a useful asset that helps Boston improve either before the trading deadline or in this offseason. But so far, the inability to replace Hayward has hurt the Celtics on the pitch.
The two Boston veterans signed this off-season, Teague and center Tristan Thompson, fought, shining a stronger spotlight on Boston’s decision to rely on the group of young players they have drafted in the last three. years, from freshmen Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard to sophomore guards Romeo Langford and Carsen Edwards and advancing Grant Williams to third-grader Robert Williams III.
“Everyone had the chance to play and everyone had a good time,” Ainge said. “What is difficult this year is just the roles we intended to play, especially as young players, it is not one of the main scorers. When you lose [starters], everyone needs to move and play a bigger role. That’s when I had some inconsistencies this year. “
Pritchard, 26th in Oregon, settled firmly in rotation, averaging 7.4 PPG and shooting 38% of the depth. 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 rookie and two-year-old brigade offered very little; Langford hasn’t played any seasons yet.
This led to Boston being stuck around .500, despite Tatum remaining All-Star and Brown joining him at that level, in what was the best player-of-season season to date. now.
“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 if they fought, but not as well as those guys played. It’s surprising. “
FOR THE PAST For several years, the Celtics have struggled to accomplish the most difficult balancing act an NBA team can attempt: to win today, while remaining well positioned to win tomorrow. It almost worked. The Celtics reached the final of the Eastern Conference in 2017, 2018 and 2020. They have won 35 playoff matches in the last four years. Only the Golden State Warriors (46) won more.
But the Warriors hung two championship banners during this time, which Boston has not done since 2008.
This season’s Celtics record would indicate that the drought is likely to continue, but Ainge does not see the title window closing for Tatum and Brown, citing the names of players such as LeBron James and Michael Jordan, who have struggled to win titles. at the beginning of their career.
“You have to keep things in perspective,” he said. “These guys are 22 and 24 right now. If you put all those guys I just mentioned at the same age, a lot of them weren’t who they became. [at that age]. All great players, it only takes time for them to play as well as possible. “
However, those inside the league do not believe that the Celtics can resist and lose a year from the first of the two young blocks that play at the elite level.
“There comes a time when you have to do something to keep your stars covered and show that you are trying, especially when they are young and starting with their first,” said the Eastern executive. “You have to make that commitment.”
Ainge has been reluctant to do so in the past. The last time Boston acquired a player in a season-long deal was six years ago, when the team landed Isaiah Thomas of Phoenix. Only the San Antonio Spur has a longer drought.
“They will only do something,” said the Western executive, “if I think they will bury.”
The Celts no longer have the deep cache of asset projects from other teams to be included in a business. They still have all their own future options in the first round, as well as the massive trade exception, which puts them in a better trading position than most other teams in the fight. Rival executives believe they are on the hunt for a player who can either play on the spot before and offer a punch – exactly the kind of player they lost when Hayward left.
And, although the team’s salary is currently low, the property has spent the luxury tax in the past, and Ainge has expressed a desire to do so this season.
“If there are players we can get, who can turn our heads and keep us under the heavy cover, we will make a business that falls into that category,” he said. “But we’re not going to do it for a band-aid, or for someone who can, maybe, help us in a game or two.”