-
Tim BontempsESPN
THERE ARE TWO versions of the Boston Celtics.
One is run by two All-Stars under the age of 25 and is expected to have reached 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 have failed to earn a place consistent in the team’s rotation.
The split between these two realities hints at why the Celtics get into tonight’s dispute against the .500 Los Clippers, in a mess of teams struggling to get to the back half of the box. Eastern playoffs.
“That’s shocking,” an Eastern Conference explorer said during the Boston record weekend. “They have more talent than their record would indicate.”
Despite developing two All-Stars to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, Boston’s momentum has cratered. A series of free agent defections, misspent draft selections and payroll cuts has resulted in a team that is far from the stated goal of hanging an 18th championship banner on the beams of the TD Garden. Their weaknesses have been exposed and they do not have good options to address them.
So when two games are left for the All-Star Break and less than four weeks for the trade deadline, the Celtics continue to look for their identity.
“I think our group is pretty close,” Celtics GM Danny Ainge told ESPN. “The guys are still working hard and I think we still don’t know who this team is.”
TATUM AND BROWN will go to Atlanta this weekend not only as an All-Stars, but as the Celtics ’first duo with 25 points per game on average since Larry Bird and Kevin McHale in 1986-87.
Add Kemba Walker, an All-Star a season ago, and Marcus Smart, twice selected by defensive teams, and Boston should play the role of a championship contender, not a team to play in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference. playoff image.
“We have a lot of work to do to separate better than where we are,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “And that’s the reality.”
An exodus of veteran collaborators over the past two years has left Boston dangerously thin behind its big four. And, thanks to a series of injuries from each of these players, this group has started just two games together this season and has shared the court for a total of 28 minutes.
“I think the wounds and everything else have worked against them,” said an Eastern Conference executive, “and especially if Kemba is not Kemba.”
Explorers and executives across the league had the same opinion about the Celtics: if Walker can’t return to an All-Star level, Boston’s hopes of being a threat to the East will fade.
“It can still add value,” a Western Conference executive said. “But is it worth $ 35 million? Is that figure 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% from a 3-point distance. Then the knee started to act upwards, causing him to miss all but 10 games in the second half of the season.
And, although there have been recent signs that Walker was re-forming (last week he dropped 32 points over the Pacers, part of a stretch that averaged him 23.2 PPG in his last five games), he’s still shooting 38.5% overall and 35.7% of the deepest figures, which look more like his early Charlotte Bobcats days than his All-Star credentials with the Hornets .
“After the qualifiers, you would have thought he would have come out and started the year very well,” the executive said. “That [he hasn’t] it surprised me. “
Walker’s inconsistent contribution has also exposed the lack of depth behind it. Jeff Teague, one of the few veteran reserves on the Boston roster, is shooting 34.2% from the field of play. The Celtics ’other guard options are mostly unplayed rookies and sophomores.
This is a problem that exists in almost every Boston position, stemming from decisions made in the last two seasons. Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Morris Sr. and Terry Rozier left for the free agency in 2019, with only Rozier leaving to return aid (as part of a signing and trade deal for Walker). Gordon Hayward followed last summer, when the Celtics decided the strong offer he received from the Hornets (four years, $ 120 million) was out of their price range.
Boston had previously rejected the Indiana Pacers openings that could have yielded Myles Turner and Doug McDermott in a Hayward sign and trade. Once the former All-Star reached an agreement with Charlotte, Boston was able to negotiate a sign and exchange with the Hornets that created a $ 28.6 million trade exception, the largest in the history of Charlotte. the NBA.
This exception could end up being a useful asset, which would help Boston improve before the trade deadline or this off-season. But so far, the inability to replace Hayward has hurt the Celtics on the court.
The two Boston veterans signed this offseason, Teague and center Tristan Thompson, have struggled, putting a brighter spotlight on Boston’s decision to rely on the training of young players they have drafted over the past three years. , from rookies Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard to sophomores Romeo Langford and Carsen Edwards and forward Grant Williams to sophomore center Robert Williams III.
“Everyone has had a chance to play and everyone has had a good time,” Ainge said. “What is difficult this year are just the roles we wanted them to play, especially as young players, not being one of the top scorers. When you lose [starters], everyone has to come up and play a bigger role. That’s when we had some inconsistencies this year. “
Pritchard, the No. 26 pick in the Oregon team, has been firmly established in the rotation, averaging 7.4 PPG and 38% depth. Now, for the third year in a row, Robert Williams has become a trusted member of Stevens ’three-headed monster. But the rest of Boston’s rookie and sophomore brigade has contributed very little; Langford hasn’t played that season yet.
This caused Boston to get stuck around .500 even though Tatum remained an All-Star and Brown joined him at that level, in what has so far been a season with the best player level.
“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 see if they had fought but not as well as those guys have played. That’s amazing. “
FOR THE PAST for several years now, the Celtics have been trying to strike the most complicated balance an NBA team can make: winning today, maintaining a good position 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 last four years. Only the Golden State Warriors (46) have won more.
But the Warriors have hung two championship banners in this period, something Boston has not 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 closed for Tatum and Brown, citing names of players like LeBron James and Michael Jordan, who struggled to win titles. . at the beginning of his 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 ages, a lot of them weren’t who they became. [at that age]. All the big players just need to play their best. “
Still, the league’s researchers don’t believe the Celtics could suffer and potentially lose for a year the first of their two young blocks that are playing at an elite level.
“There comes a time when you have to do something to keep your stars calm and show that you are trying, especially when they are young and early,” the Eastern executive said. “You have to make that commitment to them.”
This is something Ainge has been reluctant to do in the past. The last time Boston acquired a player in a season job was six years ago, when the team landed Isaiah Thomas of Phoenix. Only the San Antonio Spurs have a longer drought.
“They’ll just do something,” the Western executive said, “if they think they’ll bury you.”
The Celtics no longer have the deep cache of draft assets from other teams to potentially include them in a deal. They still have all their own future first-round options, as well as the massive trading exception, which puts them in a better trading position than most other competing teams. Rival executives believe they are looking for a player who can play anywhere forward and provide a punch, exactly the kind of player they lost when Hayward left.
And while the team’s salary is currently low, the property has been spent on luxury tax in the past and Ainge indicated his willingness to do so this season.
“If there are players we can get who can beat us and keep us below the hard limit, we will make a deal that belongs to that category,” he said. “But we won’t do it for a dressing table or someone who might help us play a game or two.”