From the outside, the Boston Celtics look like a team that could win an NBA championship.
They have two players that are all-star caliber and even potentially Superstar talents in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. They have an elite defender in Marcus Smart and newly added Dennis Schroder. Boston adds an impressive front office including executive Brad Stevens and a promising new head coach in Ime Udoka.
Even with all these things that look good for the Celtics they are in a bad spot. Marcus Smart came out and expressed his frustration with playing alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. They lack depth, and their chances to make the playoffs are looking extremely low to start the season.
There's a lack of intensity and focus in the locker room as coach Udoka said last week after a home loss to the Washington Wizards, “For whatever reason they were lacking in intensity and focus this morning, and I told them they’re going to get their ass kicked tonight if you come with that focus in the game and for three quarters we played the same way.”
Let's take a look at some early overreactions for the Celtics team.
1. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum don't work together side-by-side
Brown and Tatum are both ball-heavy offensive players and both of them are much better when the ball's in their hand as opposed to one of them being elite when the ball is not in their hands. It's a major issue for the Celtics offense as their scoring is focused around both of them having the ball for 90% of the game. Tatum and Brown both score at high volumes but having your options only revolve around two players is never going to win you games in the NBA no matter how good they both are.
2. The lack of depth is a major issue
Not having depth in the NBA is a major issue, especially in the regular season. The Celtics were only able to get 24 bench points against the Chicago Bulls in a game that they lost after leading by 19 points. 13 of these 24 came from Dennis Schroder. They don't have a backup center as Enes Kanter has not been playing. This is only going to cause an even bigger issue down the road as they expect Al Horford to play 30 minutes a night.
3. They won't make the playoffs
As shocking as it might sound the Boston Celtics might not make the playoffs. They have some horrible losses this season including a 30-point loss to the Toronto Raptors, a loss to the Washington Wizards, and a loss to the Bulls which they blew a huge lead.
The East has gotten much better this year and they certainly aren't one of the top teams in the conference. They aren't comparable with the Brooklyn Nets or Milwaukee Bucks. Their lack of additions in the offseason is going to severely hurt them. Expect a few of their players to be traded at the deadline, even possibly Jaylen Brown.
The only thing the Celtics did this offseason was adding Dennis Schroder and get a new coach. That's not enough in the NBA after they struggled the previous season. If you want to compete in the NBA you need to spend money and for some reason, Boston's front office did not do that this year. The Celtics are going to be a middle-of-the-pack Eastern Conference team. There's even a high chance that they don't make the playoffs.
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