The Boston Celtics Have Become America’s Team

When a team has four players on a 12-man roster for international play, it is fair to say that team is the main representation of that country. The Boston Celtics are that (and America’s) team.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the NBA, which is perfectly reasonable given it is August, four Boston Celtics players (Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart) made the team USA roster for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. With 33% of team USA comprised of Celtics players, it’s time we as basketball fans recognize the Boston Celtics as America’s team.

That title has become synonymous with the Dallas Cowboys given the franchise’s popularity on a national level. Being America’s team comes with the expectation of being liked and rooted for by a large fan base.

By now, there’s a high chance that you’ve either closed out of this article or are just hate-reading it because you can’t believe that someone actually said a Boston sports team should be referred to as America’s team. Boston professional sports franchises are some of the most despised in the country.

This hatred for Boston sports teams generally stems from jealousness of the city’s incredible success (12 championships) in the 21st century. However, there are reasons why you should support America’s team/the Boston Celtics if you’re a basketball fan without a favorite team.

This summer there has been countless players (Landry Shamet and Julius Randle withdrew for crying out loud) that have turned down the opportunity of playing for team USA in the World Cup. It’s understandable why certain players would want to sit out as their focus might be more on the upcoming NBA season or even the 2020 Olympics, and they shouldn’t be faulted for that.

That being said, the players who are headed to the World Cup in China should get some credit for representing their nation. Who isn’t a fan of players that are on the court playing for their country? Besides the fact that they’re playing for team USA, the four Boston Celtics players who are suiting up in the red, white, and blue this summer all have something about them that adds on to the likability level of the new “America’s team”.

Here’s a warning because my next sentence is going to sound like an overused sports cliché. There are two types of players: those that tough it out and those that don’t last. It’s safe to say we know which one Smart is. The way he plays has a certain level of physical toughness to it whether it’s diving for a loose ball, backing down a smaller guard, or taking a charge in a key moment. He also doesn’t talk bad about teammates or even a former teammate who ruined team chemistry and had a horrendous playoff performance after being touted as a number one option.

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Last month on The Jump Smart said, “Let me make this be clear: We, not just me, the world, even Kyrie knows that he didn’t play up to the standard that he wanted to, but there’s four other guys out there with him, there’s a coach out there, we’re all supposed to be one team.”

These comments are vastly different and much more positive than the words “Scary” Terry Rozier used to describe last season. After hearing Smart’s comments on a season that was a bigger let down than True Detective season two, how could you not want to cheer for this man?

At this point, it’s commonly known that Jaylen Brown is an intelligent man. Jaylen has some impressive accomplishments to his name such as attending Berkeley, learning to speak in Spanish, and he has given speeches at both Harvard and MIT. In addition to all that, he’s an athletic and young two-way wing for the Boston Celtics.

Brown has helped play a part in dispelling this idiotic notion that because someone is an athlete they can’t have other interests or be good at things besides the sport they participate in. Jaylen is one of the most talented and unique players in the league today and is without a question a player that someone should want on their team.

Right now, the two best players on the Celtics are Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum. The reason why someone should like and support them is not a reason that you might have guessed. It does not have to do with their on-court production. It does not have to do with their personality either. It has to do with the simple fact that they are both sponsored by Jordan brand.

There is just something inherently special about a pair of Jordans. It’s common for people to have stories about their first pair of Jordans or a pair that they had to bend over backwards to get. Maybe it’s a personal thing, but the Jordan brand is still at the top in my eyes. A franchise with one player who is sponsored by the best athletic brand already gives the team a high ceiling when it comes to likability. But when you have two, that ceiling is as high as the roof.

Having four players from your franchise on team USA alone does not qualify you as being America’s team. Those four players have to have specific elements about them that would make them likable to neutral fans. Those two factors are why from this day forward the Boston Celtics should be known as America’s team and be supported by NBA fans around the country.

I’m hopeful that the Celtics become more beloved as basketball fans learn more about the players on the team and watch them perform as members of team USA. If that doesn’t end up happening, the good news for the Boston Celtics is at least they have seventeen NBA championships to hang their hat on.