NBA: Celtics-Offseason: The Hunt for the 18th Banner

The Boston Celtics have done their homework after the strong pre-season, but the squad hasn’t been mixed up – in Bean-Town they see themselves strong enough to attack the throne.

The Celtics experienced a rather quiet summer after the successful pre-season. In the draft the No.27 pick was used for Big Man Robert Williams, in the Free Agency only one new player came in ex-Bamberger Brad Wanamaker (1 year, 838.000 Dollar).

More important were the extensions of Aron Baynes (2 years, 10.6 million) and Marcus Smart, who after some waiting was held for four years and 52 million. Greg Monroe (Toronto) was let go and Kadeem Allen was fired. The same was true for Rodney Purvis, who had only a few days earlier been taken out of OKC by trade for Abdel Nader. Shane Larkin (Anadolu Efes), on the other hand, will be playing in Europe again this season.

Last year’s two-way player Jabari Bird was awarded a two-year contract for $2.9 million, whereby only the first year is guaranteed. The most important newcomers, however, were already nominally in the squad last season.

The Celtics got further last season than they thought they could, when first Gordon Hayward and then Kyrie Irving (and Daniel Theis) injured each other and in the end they were only one win away from the NBA finals. Now Boston is fit and wants to fill the gap LeBron James left with his move to Los Angeles. Already in the past season the chances with at least one from Irving and Hayward would have been pretty good.

Danny Ainge held his squad together and spent a little more money on Smart than many had expected. Boston’s squad is now low and top-class in almost all positions and in some cases has almost luxury problems – in the coming season it will therefore also be evaluated who is indispensable and who is not.

It is also clear that Boston will not be able to hold the entire squad together for long for cost reasons. There are currently too many rookie contracts for this, which will soon no longer be so cheap. Already next summer Irving (wants to stay), Terry Rozier (RFA), Theis (RFA) and Marcus Morris (UFA) Free Agents, among others, will be on the team. One year later Jaylen Brown will be on the team as RFA.

Ainge has already kept an eye on Anthony Davis, which is no secret, and Boston is always a team that has at least a chance with potential superstar trades because of his still impressive assets. In the meantime, the Celtics are already considered the top favourite in the Eastern Conference. Nobody should claim that the record champion does not think ambitiously.

The Celtics defence was elitist last season, which is easily proven by the league’s best defensive rating (103.9). The offense, however, and this was not only the case after Irving’s injury, was partly piecemeal and only mediocre over the season. Apart from Kyrie, the constant scoring option was missing for a long time, although Jayson Tatum became exactly that during the season and especially in the playoffs.

In the postseason Boston was still very dependent on the home advantage as well as on the creativity of Brad Stevens, especially with ATOs, which was to change with the return of Hayward and Irving. Irving is defensively not as strong as Rozier, his clutchness and charisma in the most important situations could make Boston stand out from all Eastern teams this season except Toronto (Kawhi Leonard).

Of course, Boston won’t shoot everything up from the start. The new lineup with Irving, Jaylen Brown, Hayward, Tatum and Al Horford (“Five-Leaf Clover”?) has absurd potential, but has barely played a minute together so far. The demands in the team are huge and the squad is so deep that not everyone can always get the playing time they think they deserve.

The list is long, and in the long run Tatum may be the answer to the question of who Boston expects the most from, but in the coming season there is a lot of hope for Hayward. That the Swingman could only play five minutes last season is well known, but what many people have forgotten is his performance before that.

The Celtics don’t get just any player back here, but an All-Star that fits perfectly into their skill set: Hayward is defensive strong and can switch everything just like Brown, Tatum and Horford, his throw is good and in contrast to the younger Celtics wings his passing and ball handling are much further.

Hayward can be an ideal catalyst alongside Horford and Irving, who also knows Stevens from college. Provided, of course, that he’s really fit again – but at least all the signs from Boston at this point indicate it.

To say it with Kyrie: “Even if I thought about going somewhere else, I would say at the same time, ‘Are you crazy? We’re pretty fucking good here. The future in Boston looks very, very good.” These statements from the end of September summarize the Celtics situation well. For a moment, Ainge should also rest on his good work of the last few years.

This year’s off-season was not the most difficult, but Boston once again mastered it more than solidly. The price for Smart was not great, but all right, Baynes’ contract for it was more than adequate for his production. Wanamaker could become a steal under the radar like Theis last year.

So: Everything done right, now Stevens just has to put the puzzle together and lead the team to where they think they belong. Irving has said that this team can also beat Golden State in a series – the Celtics season 18/19 can be measured by these words.

The grade: 2