Any trip to the Eastern Conference Finals is huge, but this Game 7 win means much more than just an appearance in the conference finals.
Monday night’s Game 7 win was big, sending the Boston Celtics to their first Eastern Conference Finals since 2012 (which isn’t long at all). They will get a shot at LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.
It’s only been 4 years since the Celtics completely blew up their team, trading Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets in a trade that is doing wonders for Boston.
This quick rebuild is all thanks to Danny Ainge and his ability to acquire some pretty good players for a pretty low price. Not to mention the brilliance of Brad Stevens, who has led his team to the conference finals in just 4 years of him being named head coach.
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Isaiah Thomas, who has been the heart and soul of this team ever since he was traded to Boston, has done what not even Ainge thought he could do. Coming from the last pick in the draft to constantly getting traded, then to the runner-up for 6th man of the year award and now all the way to the MVP conversation.
The wonderful thing about all of this is that the Celtics still aren’t done rebuilding. With the draft lottery tonight, we find out if the ping-pong balls are pleasant enough to award Boston with the top pick in this years NBA Draft.
The Celtics are in the Eastern Conference Finals and they have the firepower to sign a big name free agent at a max contract or possibly trade for just about whoever they want. This is practically unheard of and very dangerous for the rest of the league.
With the upcoming offseason, the Celtics will be looking at the free agent market to juice up their roster. With big names like Gordon Hayward, Blake Griffin, and maybe even Danilo Gallinari, the Celtics have the cap space to offer a max deal to whoever they like.
Free agents tend to look for a place where they fit into their system. With Stevens, it’s very easy for a player to find an effective role in his system, especially a player like Hayward, who actually played for Stevens when they were at Butler.
Winning is obviously a big factor in where free agents land. Before the season, there were doubts about whether or not this Celtics team could make it past the first round, which in some ways, must have hurt them when trying to bring in players last offseason. Nobody wants to play for a team that struggles in the first round every year and can’t advance.
In this year’s NBA Playoffs, Boston indeed got by the first round, and then found themselves in a tough series against the Washington Wizards. In Game 7, the Celtics proved that they can finish out a series in big time moments, which is huge in terms of attracting free agents.
Next: Celtics Defeat Wizards in Epic Game 7
The Celtics, whether they can compete with the Cavs in this series or not, have definitely made themselves an even bigger attraction this season. But just imagine what it would be like if the Celtics were to beat the Cavaliers and reach the NBA Finals.