The Boston Celtics come into the 2021-22 season with a status they haven’t had for quite a number of seasons — they’re underdogs.
Over the past several years, thanks to the tremendous development of their young core of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown coupled with the team’s various star acquisitions (Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Kemba Walker, etc.) Boston has constantly been intertwined within the conversation of the league’s elite squads.
Now, despite still having their two All-Star wings in tow, they approach the coming season with lacking buzz surrounding them which, frankly, is a bit odd.
Yes, the Boston Celtics saw several key pieces from their previous campaigns depart this summer, but they also took part in multiple moves and transactions that could wind up benefiting them moving forward and, in turn, make their upcoming campaign more successful than the one they just endured.
The additions they brought on to the roster this offseason should undoubtedly help raise Boston’s level of play from where it was last season, with one area of improvement likely being in the scoring department.
Last year, outside of Tatum, Brown, and Walker points were rather hard to produce.
Now, with Kemba gone and a new regime coming to run the show with Ime Udoka’s coaching staff, scoring could be a much easier feat to accomplish, and we here at the Houdini even believe as many as 5 people could find themselves pushing for averages of 15 points per game by year’s end:
Boston Celtics player who could average 15+ points No. 1) Jayson Tatum
Seeing Jayson Tatum on a list discussing players who could average 15+ points per game by year’s end must come as a bit of a shock for you to see (he says with overflowing amounts of sarcasm), but the Houdini thinks he has a real shot at such a stat line this year.
In all seriousness, however, of course we’re putting the budding superstar atop this list, as he’ll not only be one of the best scoring options for the Boston Celtics in 2021-22 but, likely, one of the best in the entire league.
During just his fourth year with the shamrocks, Tatum wound up finishing off the season averaging 26.4 points per game, ranking him 10th in the association in said category.
With the departure of Kemba Walker this summer, his shot opportunities should only increase which, in turn, should keep his scoring averages about the same as they were last season with the obvious opportunity for this number to rise as well.
Having posted less than 15 points per game just once in his career — his rookie year –, seeing averages north of this number might as well be viewed as a guarantee for JT.