The Boston Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals this year, and they looked like they belong in spite of the loss.
The Boston Celtics are an interesting team. Of course, their franchise’s history is drenched in glory, and they’re on their way back up with a talented roster. Thanks to new and bright stars like Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart, the door is open for the Celtics, and the young core walked right through it this season.
The Celtics opened that door for themselves in 2018 when they made the playoffs and advanced following a first-round victory against the Milwaukee Bucks. This series wasn’t the team’s big-ticket, which was a totally different team then with the exception of a few of the current stars, however, what it did was show off the potential star power of Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart.
Smart was expected to be a reliable part of the Celtics franchise since being drafted by the team in 2014, but he had been up and down in the beginning. Brown possessed what the Celtics were looking for in Smart, an edge on offense and solid defense. Pairing the two was better and would surely get the team closer to the playoffs.
The Boston Celtics expounded on this rebuild when they drafted Jayson Tatum and signed point guard Kemba Walker immediately following the departure of their then-star point guard Kyrie Irving to the Brooklyn Nets, whom they brought in for a rebuild attempt along with Gordon Hayward before both were sidelined with injuries.
The pairing of these new stars is currently comparable to John Wall and Bradley Beal from the Wizards, another likely playoff contender in the East next season. They are similar as a whole team to their foe, the Milwaukee Bucks. As far as an all-time similarity, the 2008 Celtics team of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo come to mind.
The Celtics look like the golden child. The chosen one. The dynamic of the Walker-Tatum-Brown-Smart experiment is not to be undermined. The Celtics finished third in the East with this group. This group has proven that they can win and furthermore without conventional aspects. The Celtics choose to think outside of the box.
They made a bold move in making a starting lineup out of these guys all but one, their center, Daniel Theis. Walker, Tatum, Brown, and Smart are considered relatively small guys who play in the backcourt, so you would think that they would be limited to a small-ball style of play. Walker is 6’0″, Tatum 6’8″, Brown 6’7″, and Smart 6’3″. Theis is only 6’8” himself and plays at the center position instead of power forward.
The supporting cast consists of 6’5″-6’8″ shooting guards and wings in Grant Williams, Brad Wanamaker, Semi Ojeleye, and Romeo Langford and a slew of big men in Enes Kanter, Robert Williams III, and Tacko Fall. The team made this combination work with a range and versatile style of play. They made it work so well that no one has a choice but to watch the Celtics play and see that it is the pure talent they use to propel them to success.
Of course, it is pure talent. The four plus five including what they have on the bench and how head coach Brad Stevens lets them show off what they each do freelance and stick to him according to plan is brilliant. All four of the guys possess a superior scoring ability along with a readiness on defense, especially in Smart.
In Tatum, they have their main star, the favored draftee who can get a bucket in clutch time, but in the others lies superstardom also. The culmination of this coming at you all at once is the main idea here, and they displayed this in the playoffs first against the Philadelphia 76ers.