There was no way the Boston Celtics could trade for Anthony Davis this season due to a quirky rule prohibiting him and Kyrie Irving from playing together, at least until next season, that is. The goal is to win the championship this year and in the years to come and Davis would have put that within their reach immediately had he been on the roster.
Nonetheless, the Celtics have as good a shot as any Eastern Conference team at making it to the Finals and hopefully putting the clamps on the defending champion Golden State Warriors. But the road has been rocky to say the least with plenty of hiccups along the way.
What does the future hold for this storied franchise? Here are my five bold predictions for the remaining months of the Boston Celtics’ season:
5. Jayson Tatum will take his game up a notch
Among the young players on the squad, their youngest member is the one behaving professionally when it comes to the trade rumors. According to sources via ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Tatum doesn’t mind being the new face of the Pelicans should he be traded in the offseason.
The 20-year old forward is averaging 17.8 points in February, up 1.4 points from his 16.4-point season average, and 7.8 rebounds, which is better than his 6.3 for the year. In last year’s playoffs, he scored 20 or more points 10 times including a team-high 24 points in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. That performance included an in-your-face dunk on LeBron James in the fourth quarter that pumped up the crowd.
The kid just got better and better as the season wore on. Don’t forget that he was just a rookie back then.
If anything, Tatum appears ready to take his place as the team’s second-best player despite the lack of a clear hierarchy on the roster. Gordon Hayward seems to have broken out of his shell after last night’s 26-point performance versus the Sixers but Tatum has already overtaken him in Boston’s pecking order. Don’t be surprised to see the second-year Duke alum score 20 points on a consistent basis from here on.
4. Danny Ainge’s plan to trade for Anthony Davis will backfire on the court
Their gutsy win last night against the Sixers notwithstanding, we’ve already seen issues on the court in their previous two games against the Lakers and the rebuilding Clippers who came back from 18 and 28 points down, respectively, to win. The Celtics will get their act together, eventually, but the fact that there is that lingering thought that some of them are due to be traded to the New Orleans Pelicans for Davis in the summer (at least that’s the plan) will weigh heavily on their minds. That’s going to cost them a few games in both in the regular season and the playoffs.
Though the Celtics are a resilient bunch with a number of strong-willed individuals, the young players may be quite sensitive to the idea of being traded away after bringing Boston to the brink of the Finals a season ago. And that’s with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward in street clothes, mind you.
Davis is a generational talent and though the kiddie Celtics players understand the gap between them, it’s still hard for them to wrap their heads around the idea that they are expendable. Perhaps they should have seen it coming after GM Danny Ainge traded away Isiah Thomas, the team’s heart and soul two seasons ago, in exchange for their incumbent point guard.
3. The Celtics will take Robin Lopez from the buyout market
If there is anything that the Celtics have an abundance of its talent at every position. Injuries, however, are the ultimate equalizer and should center Aron Baynes continue to have lingering health issues, Ainge would do well to find a suitable substitute.
Robin Lopez should be his main target if he wants to ensure that they have bodies to throw at opponents who would dare venture into the paint and he should be a handful for most teams’ centers on the defensive end as well. In his last five games, Lopez has been averaging 13.0 points per game even if his name has been mentioned a lot as a buyout candidate. The only question is whether Lopez or the Bulls will actually go out and initiate the buyout process at all. If they agree to terms, there’s no question that the Celtics will come calling.
2. Celtics will end up with the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference standings
Prior to the start of the season, pundits had the Celtics atop the conference as the new Beast of the East after the Cleveland Cavaliers surrendered their title unwillingly last summer. But the emergence of the Milwaukee Bucks, the sustained excellence of the Toronto Raptors, the new-look Philadelphia 76ers and the gritty performances of the Indiana Pacers have relegated Boston to fifth place. It’s hard to imagine the fourth-place Pacers enduring the loss of franchise player Victor Oladipo for long and it is likely that they’ll slip to the lower tier of playoff contenders soon enough.
In their slot will be where the Celtics will land at the end of the season. They’re good enough not to slip down but they’re not stable enough to move much higher. Right now, with team chemistry issues and news reports of offseason trades surrounding the team, it’s difficult to imagine them living up to the lofty expectations placed on them.
1. Kyrie and LeBron will hit it off so well at the All-Star Game…
…that they’ll team up in L.A. this summer.
That’s right. After James picked his former Cavaliers teammate to play with him on his team for the All-Star Game, the two are going to feel nostalgic about playing with one another. For the second straight year, you’ll see the two have a great time laughing on the bench and on the floor. Just like old times.
Don’t dismiss the valuable lessons Irving received from the 16-year veteran as he was having difficulty trying to lead his Celtics teammates. My take on that phone call he made to James early this year regarding the young players is that he doesn’t like having to teach and train this group into becoming champions. Not that he doesn’t have the ability. Irving just doesn’t have the patience for it and LeBron does.
Going to the Lakers this summer will relieve him of that responsibility. Irving just wants to play ball and that’s it. Let James handle the babysitting job. If there’s anything that this last year and a half that the 6-foot-3 dribbling wizard has learned, it’s that he was born to ball and not lead except by example.
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