Kelly Olynyk gets his first shot at revenge, playing against the Boston Celtics for the first time
In an offseason that had the most unprecedented amount of superstars change teams in the history of the NBA, it is quite easy to forget that the Boston Celtics decided to let Kelly Olynyk walk, with him landing on the Miami Heat.
Olynyk did not have the longest career with the Celtics, and most of the time he was coming off the bench, but he was a big part of one of the most endearing eras for the Celtics.
He was crucial to that core of overachievers that helped establish the team in a way that allowed them to go out and get top free agents.
There was also some history with Olynyk. Teams truly despised him, from the Love incident with the Cavaliers, to adding on to the madness with the Wizards rivalry. Olynyk was an essential part of the core, and the time he spent with the Celtics is setting him up for the rest of his career.
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For the neutral fan, this is an irrelevant reunion, but for the Celtics and Olynyk, it will mean something. It will still be weird to see Olynyk suiting up for the opponent, and it has to be an interesting feeling for Olynyk to be going against the team that has had built his career with.
His revenge game also gets a bit of a boost with Hassan Whiteside out. Olynyk is going to have more responsibility in the front court, and he could be the toughest matchup for the Celtics to account for on the court now.
Fortunately, the Celtics are not going to be too worried about Al Horford‘s ability to defend Olynyk. That being said, if anyone on the Heat is going to flip this game on the Celtics, chances are it will be Olynyk and his ability to hit threes and space the floor.
Hopefully Olynyk will be received well by Boston fans, because he served this team well, and gave the fans some great moments. It was also not entirely his choice to leave, the Celtics were not offering him the kind of contract that he could get elsewhere.
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This was a mutual break, and there should not be hard feelings on either side. I would say that it will be nice for Olynyk to get to see his former teammates and catch up. The problem is that there are not many former teammates still on the team for Olynyk to seek out.