Boston Celtics Ceiling is Dependent on Their Youth

With the Boston Celtics’ young stars receiving a bigger role than ever, the teams’ present and future hangs on what they can make of their opportunity.

With free agency in full swing for the Boston Celtics and the league at large, the hierarchy of the league for the upcoming season has already started to take shape. The fate of Kawhi Leonard is the only domino that has yet to fall, though rumblings throughout the league are suggesting the Los Angeles Lakers are emerging out of the pack.

Taking Leonard and the Toronto Raptors out of the equation, both the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers made moves to keep themselves at the top of the Eastern Conference.

While losing Malcolm Brogdon to the Indiana Pacers hurts, Milwaukee maintained their other two key starters in Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez on five and four-year deals, respectively. They’re also rumored to be re-upping George Hill for a few more seasons as well as solidifying their floor with the additions of Robin Lopez and Wesley Matthews.

Brogdon’s defense and absurd efficiency often made him the Bucks second best player in the playoffs. Their ceiling may be ultimately damaged with this departure, but bringing in grizzled vets and staying under the luxury tax was a good save by the front office.

Meanwhile, Philly’s offseason priorities were bringing back Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler. Two wing players that played pivotal roles in the Sixers playoff run, and who they invested a lot of assets in.

Harris chose to re-up with the Sixers on a five-year max deal worth $180M. Butler, on the other hand, was reportedly not offered the contract he was looking for. Instead, being signed and traded to the Miami Heat on a four-year max contract worth approximately $140M.

Philadelphia used the Butler trade as well as some newly found cap space to bring in Josh Richardson and Al Horford. The Sixers can roll out a starting lineup of Ben Simmons, Richardson, Harris, Al Horford, and Joel Embiid. The shortest player being Richardson at 6-foot-6.

There’s far too much basketball left to be played to anoint Philly the title favorites, but there’s no denying that either them or Milwaukee will be the top seed in the Eastern Conference barring any significant developments.

Where does that leave the Boston Celtics?

Losing Horford to the Sixers and Kyrie Irving to the Brooklyn Nets hurts their title odds even after Kemba Walker made his surprise decision to come to Beantown.

Walker has elected to play for a coach Brad Stevens who made Isaiah Thomas an MVP candidate, allowed Irving to have his best season statistically, and helped Terry Rozier flourish in the playoffs in his offensive system. Walker will put big numbers up in Boston.

Adding Enes Kanter as well as any fringe roster additions put the Celtics above some of the other teams in the east. Yes, the Nets brought in two superstars, but Kevin Durant won’t see the floor at all in 2019-2020 while recovering from a ruptured Achilles. That leaves Irving alone to lead a group of young players, who ultimately have less talent than the Celtics.

The Indiana Pacers were on pace to finish third in the conference before their star, Victor Oladipo ruptured his quad tendon around the middle of the season. Oladipo’s return date is still up in the air with no guarantees he’s back to start the season.

It’s still unclear if Indiana’s new players will all mesh right away, and then how quickly can they rally around their stars’ return?

Other than the Miami Heat recently trading for Jimmy Butler, no other Eastern Conference teams seem like a lock to make the playoffs. That leaves Boston in a weird middle ground where they’re clearly above 80% of the conference, but maybe not quite in the mix for the top spot.

The theme of this summer’s roster building exercises for Boston has been bringing in talented, high character guys. This is no doubt in response to the face of last year’s team being mood swings and a lack of togetherness with no chemistry to show.

People all around the league rave about what a great leader Walker is and how he’s been vital in the growth of young players drafted to the Charlotte Hornets over the years.

The Celtics have implied this summer that they’re going all in on their young guys. Brad Stevens, Kemba Walker, a healthy Gordon Hayward, and the familiarity of this system will establish the floor of this team. However, it is the growth of players like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown that will determine how far this team can go.

After being restricted to smaller roles last season, there is no question that Brown and Tatum will get their shots after four of the teams top seven players in shot attempts are no longer on the roster.

Should the young duo take the respective leaps those close to the team believe they can, this would give Boston the opportunity to roll our their own quartet of stars to compete with Philadelphia and Milwaukee.

Were Tatum’s 2018 playoffs real or just a fluke? Can Brown handle starting again with three other shot creators in the lineup? What about Robert Williams?

At times he showed flashes of brilliance with his ability to block shots but failed to crack Stevens’ rotation in his rookie season consistently. Newly acquired Kanter is known for rebounding and a solid low post game but lacks the defensive capabilities to stay on the floor.

This could be Williams’ opportunity to receive big-time minutes, and perhaps even the starting gig.

Danny Ainge refused to include Tatum in an Anthony Davis trade, a decision that would have determined the future of this franchise one way or another. This is the path he’s chosen, will his gamble on the youth pay off?