Could the Boston Celtics locker room issues really be behind them?

All members of the Boston Celtics organization tend to heap praise on the chemistry of their new team makeup. Did the chemistry issues that plagued the team last year finally subside?

The 2018-19 Boston Celtics season was consumed by all of the issues behind the scenes. While 48 wins and advancing to the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs would be celebrated by other franchises, the team was capable of more given the success of the previous year’s team in the 2018 postseason.

Essentially, the locker room infighting made last year’s team a massive “what-if”. The pieces appeared to be there, but no team since the Dwight Howard-Los Angeles Lakers of 2012-13 seemed to disappoint pundits more. Boston was a trendy pick to represent the Eastern Conference after the seeing LeBron James leave the conference for the first time in his career.

We all know the rest when it comes to how the team was torn apart limb-by-limb by free agency. What we don’t know, is whether or not this year’s Boston Celtics roster (who lack the same top tier talent but remain a deep and promising squad) is truly out of the darkness of last year’s toxicity.

If Marcus Smart is to be believed, it seems that they have just gained valuable experience from the FIBA World Cup in China. Speaking about Team USA, Smart said the team’s camaraderie was “ridiculous”. 

His next words should be a beautiful melody to the ear drums of Boston Celtics fans everywhere:

"“And, getting ready to go back to Boston is going to continue to escalate it for us and be successful for us. I think it’s going to help us a lot.”"

This doesn’t mean all of the locker room issues are a thing of the past. Who knows if there will be continued resentment for Brad Stevens’ apparent favoritism for his former Butler player Gordon Hayward. Who knows how Kemba Walker’s aggressive-scoring style of play (which isn’t completely dissimilar to Kyrie Irving’s) will go over with the team’s rising studs in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

All we know is that right now, it’s looking very likely that the team’s experiences in China for Team USA will translate into more camaraderie between four of the Boston Celtics’ most important players.