Boston Celtics: 3 reasons Cs fans should be optimistic about next season

Reason for Boston Celtics fans to be optimistic No. 3) Their recent track record

Once again, Boston Celtics fans may not want to hear this, but this year was just one down season.

They’ve made the playoffs the last six seasons (seven if you include this year’s play-in) including a top-four seed the three seasons prior to this one which is impressive, especially considering the roster turmoil and many rotating pieces they’ve gone through the past few seasons.

Yes, they underachieved this season based on the talent they had, but this past offseason was the tamest they’ve had in quite some time.

Boston didn’t change the team a lot from last year in terms of veterans other than the signings of Tristan Thompson and Jeff Teague — Thompson has been replaced in the starting lineup by Rob Williams while Jeff Teague is no longer on the team.

They also lost Gordon Hayward who, despite not playing a lot last year, significantly contributed when healthy.

The combination of those two things led the Celtics being surpassed by other Eastern Conference teams.

However, as mentioned previously, they will certainly make moves this offseason.

Along with the salary cap situation, this year’s struggles should serve as a wake-up call for Danny Ainge during the offseason, and for Brad Stevens next season.

If Ainge is able to do a better job and put together a great offseason, he will help set up Stevens for success, who, in turn, should be more motivated to do a better job as well.

All in all, this year’s Boston Celtics team should be viewed more as an outlier rather than the norm.