How will Kemba Walker stack up to the Boston Celtics point guards of the 2010’s?

With just eight days left until the tip off of the 2019-20 NBA season, the Houdini takes a look at #8 and how he may end up stacking up to the point guards of year’s past for the Boston Celtics.

With three preseason games in the books, you could make some fair points about the 2019-20 Boston Celtics. Individual stats and overall player performance are not going to be easy to decipher until the games begin to actually count. Now, you can also make educated guesses on what the season will entail based on how teams are executing.

Boston has showcased pinpoint execution this preseason, going undefeated in three games (with two of them being routs). The most hopeful part of the equation for Celtics fans should be how to spread out wealth seems to be. After 15 and 20 point outbursts from Jayson Tatum in his first two games, he took a backseat to new point guard Kemba Walker last night. Even Daniel Theis, the team’s likely starting center, scored in double digits in 11 minutes.

Walker scored 12 points in 16 minutes and showcased the off-the-dribble creativity that landed him on the All-NBA Third team in 2019. His 3-point shot was smooth, and assuming he remains healthy, playing alongside potential and former All-Stars in their primes could mean career-bests in efficiency.

That could mean not being the All-NBA star he was while playing on a Charlotte Hornets team that didn’t enjoy much success during his 8-year career. Essentially, Walker could rewrite his legacy with winning for a franchise that expects it–sacrificing All-NBA honors in the process.

The point guard position for the Boston Celtics has been one that has seen men excel in the past decade…but the championship legacy established in Boston was never off the backs of great point guard play. In fact, the team’s best playoff run of the last decade was when Kyrie Irving went down with injury and the team had to rally around its collective cohesiveness as opposed to a one-man offense.

Now, the point guard spot has obviously seen men like Isaiah Thomas become the stuff of legend. No one is discrediting his brilliant 2016-17 MVP-Caliber season for the #1 seed Boston Celtics. But Rajon Rondo was living proof that playing your part alongside a talented (in their case Hall of Fame) cast of characters could lead to greatness.

While Rondo’s regular season stats were relatively modest outside of the assist category, he will always be revered for managing the workload of the “Big 3” of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Somehow, the team always seemed to get the right shot, and there was never a question as to whether or not it was the right shot.

Last season, Irving tarnished his Boston Celtics legacy by undermining the very rookies he was supposed to help build up. It seemed all too obvious Irving had no interest in the Celtics’ future and had eyes on superstar teammates elsewhere. Rumors persisted about Anthony Davis teaming with Irving in Boston (at the expense of Tatum and/ or Jaylen Brown at minimum) but he ultimately joined his Team USA pals Kevin Durant and DeAndre Jordan in Brooklyn.

Walker simply has to show interest in the Celtics’ core, and if he can maximize their talents while avoiding mistakes on the floor, not trying to stand out on the court could lead to him standing out in the hearts of Boston Celtics fans forever.

Banners live forever. All-NBA honors are forgotten. I’m sure if you ask Tyson Chandler whether he enjoyed his New York Knicks stint (where he was an All-NBA team honoree) over his championship run with the Dallas Mavericks, he’d probably answer with a simple one syllable, two letter retort — no.  And even though he spent