The Boston Celtics have made severe changes to their team and their success will be limited to regular season play. Here’s why the Celtics will do worse next season.
What’s going on within the Boston Celtics organization is unknown to the general public, but recent trades and signings show all signs of the team heading in a different direction. Adding Gordon Hayward came at the cost of Avery Bradley, and the results of that decision will not come to light for awhile.
No player, just because he goes to a good team, is an automatic guarantee to be successful. Roles are changing, the speed of the offense is different and learning new defensive packages and how to communicate with new teammates is a big part of Hayward’s adjustment to joining the Celtics.
Boston needed help when it comes to defensive production. It had the athleticism to run with any team, but lacked the size to slow the league’s most unstoppable scorer, LeBron James. Now that they added size, they are forced to rely on a slightly inexperienced backcourt to help Hayward, Isaiah Thomas, and Al Horford run an efficient offense.
Terry Rozier developed a great deal last year, but after him, the crop is severely limited. Jaylen Brown has the athletic ability, but lacks the composure and consistent scoring that the Celtics are going to immediately need.
Highly touted rookie Jayson Tatum has a very bright future, but hasn’t played in an actual NBA game yet. He played with confidence in Summer League, as he should, but his production is up for debate when looking down the barrel of a Kawhi Leonard, or Andre Roberson.
The youth will have a great chance to learn under superstars, but they are going to need to have more of an impact now that the Celtics’ backcourt is going to be the area of emphasis. The backcourt needs help, and against the Eastern Conference, it is going to show.
It is easy to pick holes in something that has not been tested, but success from the Celtics is not guaranteed and should not be seen that way. Boston got to where it was by playing as a cohesive team that played in-sync on both sides of the ball. Now that that togetherness is gone, expect this next season to highlight the chemistry issues that tend to plague teams learning to play together.
5. Gordon Hayward’s adjustment takes time
This was, by far, the most significant acquisition made by the Celtics. The Celtics shifted their focus to obtaining Gordon Hayward, which included trading Avery Bradley to the Detroit Pistons. Hayward is a great two-way player, but playing in Utah, some of his success can be credited to the system he was surrounded by.
He had weapons around him and the best defensive big man in the league protecting the paint, allowing him to be more aggressive. Without human cheat code Rudy Gobert surrounding the rim on both sides, Hayward is going to see heavier workloads.
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Not to take away from his talent, but the Jazz offense suited his style of play. He is a traditional scorer that can get to the rim, but he will not overpower his matchup. He will undoubtedly be a great supporting piece to Isaiah Thomas, but even a slower Celtics pace is a much faster than what he is used to in Utah.
The past five seasons, the Utah Jazz have been one of the 10 slowest teams when it comes to pace. The Celtics ranked 16th in pace last year, with Utah ranking last. Hayward will be in for a change of scenery and it will take time to get comfortable within the system. Next season might be the buffer period for the Celtics to mesh with each other.
Hayward is a superstar, but he’s still in a much different atmosphere. He will be playing under former head coach Butler coach Brad Stevens, but that does not mean he will automatically be proficient in Boston. Success is not guaranteed just because you got a superstar. Not everyone can be the Golden State Warriors, and not everyone is Kevin Durant.
4. The frontcourt is still missing a defensive piece
Marcus Morris and Aron Baynes were decent additions, but Morris is dealing with legal issues, and Baynes is not a major impact player. Both are defense-first players, but only Baynes fits the rim protecting role that the Celtics need.
The Celtics cannot assume Horford is enough to anchor the defense, and adding players to provide help for their star center was a necessity this offseason. They could have gone in a different direction than signing Hayward, and instead spent that money on a rim-protecting, rebounding power forward.
The Celtics needed frontcourt defense, but Hayward severely limited their financial capabilities, even requiring them to toss away Avery Bradley for arguable scraps. Bradley, in every facet of the game, is a more impactful player than Marcus Morris, but for what it’s worth, Morris will help them in their new ventures.
Boston added size, but the skill is going to be suspect on the offensive end. Neither Morris nor Baynes can carry their own weight on the offensive side of the ball consistently, and the Celtics’ success is banking on Horford, Hayward and Thomas meshing well enough to create a scoring dynamic that affects the whole team.
The frontcourt has gotten better defensively, but the team is still going to take time to get used to playing with each other. If the Celtics are forced to rely on Morris and Baynes for offense each night, it is going to be a long season.
3. Backcourt defense not suited for Eastern Conference opponents
The Celtics had one of the most overshadowed, yet most talented backcourts in the league. Bradley and Thomas were not only friends, but a dangerous duo that helped propel the Celtics to where they are now.
Bradley complemented Thomas. What Thomas lacked in size and defense, he made up with attitude, scoring, late-game scoring, and more scoring. Bradley on the other hand, was the well-rounded, keep-your-mouth-shut-and-ball type of impact player. Now that he is gone, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Terry Rozier are going to see dramatic increases in their roles.
When facing tandems like John Wall and Bradley Beal, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, and even Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith, the Celtics are at a disadvantage. This is where Celtics’ fans realize that Kyrie is now an even more unguardable matchup against Boston. Bradley may not have stopped Irving every time, but he was notorious for limiting him. The options are restricted, but they still have a strong defensive player in Marcus Smart.
Smart is the clear-cut first option, but his scoring could be an easy weakness for other teams to target. In the playoffs, Smart had one of his best offensive performances, but consistent scoring is not his strong suit.
Rozier can score from anywhere and has the potential to capitalize on Bradley being traded, but still needs work on defense. Jaylen Brown will see more minutes as well because of his defense, but is still finding his rhythm when it comes to outside scoring.
Both are athletic enough to assume to heavier workload, but will have to prove themselves as two-way players before they become to option over Smart. What Smart brings on defense is unmatchable, and until someone manages to score better than he defends, he should be in the starting five alongside Isaiah Thomas.
Unfortunately, that still puts the Celtics as a disadvantage when facing other Easter Conference opponents like the Wizard, Raptors and Cavaliers.
2. Chemistry is thrown off
The Boston Celtics were an emotional, scrappy team. They played with tenacity and they may not have been confrontational, but they were the next closest thing. What made last season’s team so successful was the personnel. The entire team played like a well-oiled machine, even in losses.
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Their defense was undersized, but played with a certain hostility that made them a feared opponent. They won together, lost together and played like a team that enjoyed sharing the court. Al Horford was never considered a trash talker in Atlanta, but this past season, he jawed at opponents and seemed to enjoy it.
Every Celtic had his role on the team and it got them to a first seed, regardless of the Cavaliers’ regular season efforts. In the playoffs though, the Cavs dominated the Celtics. That is not being debated.
What is up for debate is whether the Celtics’ core could have been supported, rather than revamped for a superstar. The team played in-sync and that chemistry is now in jeopardy. Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, Amir Johnson, Jonas Jerebko and Tyler Zeller are gone. Not all those players were important, but Olynyk and Jerebko brought length and toughness of the bench, even if their defense tended to revolve around fouls.
The Celtics will need some time to get used to each other and this next season might focus on this new team playing together, rather than immediate results. Hayward is a young player with a high ceiling, along with Morrs, Smart and especially incoming rookie Jayson Tatum.
Tatum is going to a project that should get plenty of exposure this season, but Summer League isn’t the best indicator of how a player will perform at the next level. Brown and Tatum have bright futures, but assuming they have an forceful impact this season is highly unlikely.
1. They fixed what wasn’t technically broken
The Celtics didn’t get to the first seed, to the Eastern Conference Finals with Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris or Aron Baynes. This most recent team was the most successful it’s been this side of the 2010s, and they chunked it for a superstar.
The entire team has not been dissembled, but veteran leadership, defense and depth were all sacrificed in the process. Last year’s Celtics were run over by the Cavaliers, but this new team doesn’t look that much better suited for a championship run.
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Hayward will add scoring, but will he or Morris be enough to stop a player like LeBron James or Kevin Durant? It’s easy to say that the Celtics lack the firepower to compete with teams like the Warriors, especially after watching the team that dominated the Celtics get beat handily in the Finals.
The front office may not have thought its roster could win a championship, but this is also with plenty of Celtics playing out of their normal roles. Amir Johnson looked like a shell of his former self in a defense-first role, Horford was asked to play a position he does not prefer, and Jae Crowder was pushed into an undersized 4 position at times.
These might just be excuses for the Celtics’ recent acquisitions, but it needed to be said. They may have made a mistake and it should not be a surprise. They are taking a gamble, even though it involves a low-risk superstar in Hayward. The Celtics have made moves to solve one problem, but other issues still linger. They have options, but assuming immediate results is needless.
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Even with Hayward, the Boston Celtics have created a weird dynamic that is a mix between pushing for a championship and preparing for the future. Next season will be interesting, but expect them to spend most of the time finding the perfect balance rather than winning.