The Boston Celtics have had a near-perfect offseason. They didn't add any game-changers (unless Lonnie Walker IV is considered one), but they didn't have to.
Boston brought back all the core elements of the winning formula that brought them Banner 18. And they lost... Oshae Brissett? Svi Mykhailiuk? Sure, those two came in handy when the Celtics needed them, but they were part of the "Stay Ready" Celtics, and those assets are replaceable. Holding that against them is like criticizing an Avengers movie for not having enough Hawkeye in it.
It's not like the Celtics had a lot of ground to cover going into next season. They still had the most crucial ingredients coming back anyway, but Stevens went above and beyond this summer.
He got rid of problems before they could even become problems, like extending Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Sam Hauser. He brought back guys that the Celtics were better off keeping, like Xavier Tillman and Luke Kornet. And did we mention Lonnie Walker IV?
Sure, a tropical storm nicknamed "Hurricane Luxury Tax Aprons" could come to Boston shortly, especially knowing the future ownership situation, but the headline reads, "Boston did well this summer" after winning Banner 18.
That's important because they didn't have such luck in the offseason following Banner 17.
The 2024 Celtics succeeded where the 2008 Celtics failed
For all the praise that Danny Ainge deserves for building the 2008 title team (and his fingerprints are all over the 2024 title team, too), the following year served as one of his worst as an executive.
This came from the Celtics failing to retain James Posey that offseason because New Orleans outbid them and losing PJ Brown to retirement. During their title run, those were the Celtics' fourth and sixth-best players, respectively.
There's a reasonable excuse for why they lost both of them. Brown's is self-explanatory. It's a miracle that they convinced him to play one last half-season.
In Posey's case, the Celtics didn't want to commit to him for as long as New Orleans did. So, good for him for getting the bag, but if you look at his production post-2009, you can see why the Celtics didn't want to offer him the four-year contract he received from the then-Hornets.
At the same time, it's worth noting that the Celtics didn't have a long window, so maybe paying up for Posey would have strengthened their chances of winning at least one more title.
Another problem stemmed from failing to adequately those two guys. They rolled the dice that Tony Allen would take a leap—and he did, but not until the next season—and tried to replace them with low-risk, no-reward replacements like Patrick O'Bryant and Darius Miles.
In all fairness, it didn't hurt the Celtics much that season. The ascensions of Rajon Rondo (especially), Glen Davis, and Leon Powe helped compensate for what was lost, but losing frontcourt size and wing depth created holes in a roster trying to repeat.
The Celtics persevered because they had an extremely talented roster regardless, but they still lost the guys who did the little things to help them win a title with no solid replacements.
Everyone attributes the Celtics' failure to repeat in 2009 to Kevin Garnett's career-altering knee injury, and they're right. Still, that overshadows the fact their prior offseason was a disaster.
That's why 2024 has been special for the Celtics
The Celtics didn't have a James Posey-type to lose in 2024, but they left no stone unturned during the summer. Stevens went out of his way to ensure this team would stay intact down to the minute details.
It didn't phase him that the Celtics are well into the luxury tax, which could be a problem in the near future. He doesn't care because there's a window for the Celtics to win multiple titles that he knows can't go to waste.
The modern Big 3 Celtics era gets lambasted for winning just one title when they were together. No one should fault Ainge alone for what happened because he created a championship-caliber team for five seasons, but Stevens is doing what Ainge didn't want to do - pulling out all the stops to keep the Celtics at the top.
Even if the Celtics don't win another title under Stevens, they'll know he went down swinging. Ainge can swing for the fences, but he went down looking in 2008.