For the third time in the last four seasons, the Boston Celtics found themselves a few wins away from the NBA Finals. Even though they have come up short in recent years, there is optimism this team is close to raising banner No. 18.
Coming into the 2019-2020 NBA season the expectations for the Boston Celtics were much lower than the previous year.
After the losses of Kyrie Irving & Al Horford in free agency, the failed attempt to trade for “superstar” Anthony Davis, and the additions of Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter, the shamrocks were considered by most to finish somewhere in the middle of the Eastern Conference standing.
Nick Wright of Fox Sports even went as far as to say the C’s 2019 offseason was a complete disaster.
"“The Boston Celtics plan was Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Al Horford. That has turned into Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, Enes Kanter. That’s a disaster.” — @getnickwright"
What the “experts” didn’t account for, however, was how the addition of Kemba was going to allow guys such as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to flourish. JT and Kemba were both named All-Stars and, let’s be honest, Brown should have also been in that game as well.
Gordon Hayward, when healthy, showed flashes of why he got his max contract and as always Marcus Smart was making “winning plays” all over the court while earning a spot on the NBA’s All-Defensive First-Team.
As we know now all this led to Boston getting bounced in the Eastern Conference Finals for the third time in four years. Some say they overachieved, while others say they should be competing against the Los Angeles Lakers to stop them from tying there all-time NBA Finals win record.
One thing I do know is that this team is close to where they ultimately want to be and banner 18 is not far away. Let’s take a look at 3 things the Boston Celtics need to do this offseason to vault them over the top to compete for an NBA title: