After an abysmal 2020-2021 season for the Boston Celtics, the franchise went through a revamp with their players and coaching staff. They promoted Brad Stevens to the President of Basketball Operations, while hiring well-renowned assistant coach Ime Udoka to lead the charge for the Beantown Boys.
They also acquired key additions in Dennis Schroder, Josh Richardson, and Al Horford. Moreover, they expect some of their youngsters to breakout and propel their squad to be a perennial contender in the loaded Eastern conference.
Being a seventh seed and just squeaking it out to the first round of the playoffs, there is the possibility for them to struggle from the onset especially with the COVID concerns of Horford and Jaylen Brown, along with Marcus Smart getting suspended for their preseason match against the Miami Heat.
With that, here are the three reasons on why it'll be tough for Boston to win it all this season:
Boston Celtics Championship Issues
Lack of Offensive Options
Brown and Jayson Tatum are arguably two of the best two-way duos in the association, but a championship contending franchise must have a multitude of options on both ends of the floor. Last season, it was an obvious struggle for the Celtics to manufacture offense when the defense was able to lock-in on both Tatum and Brown. Their offseason was more of a quiet one and adding defensive reliables does not address their struggles on the offensive side of the floor.
Snatching Schroder for $5.9 million for this season was a steal, but it will be tough to rely on him to contribute as third star in a championship contending squad. Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith, Romeo Langford and Grant Williams are instrumental role players, but they won't catapult the Celtics to be in the same tier as the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks, or Miami Heat.
Diehard Celtics fans are pinning their hopes on Robert Williams because of his immense potential and shot blocking prowess, but it has been tough for him to consistently stay on the floor. Richardson was a terrific contributor for the Heat, but he's had two successive disappointing seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers and Dallas Mavericks, respectively.
In a tight-knit seven-game playoff series, it will be a headache for Udoka to search for offensive options to support his star-studded duo.
Shortage of Defenders… Kind Of
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, and Joel Embiid are some of the superstars that the Boston Celtics will eventually face at some of their playoff run. These are all massive individuals that possess a plethora of skills that will bring nightmares to their opponents.
With the current construction of the roster of the Celtics, it seems that Horford will try containing these four players. However, he is already way past his prime making it an atrocious option for Udoka in giving Horford this assignment for a whole series. With Brown being one of the best defenders in the league, he will be able to defend Butler and Durant, but Antetokounmpo and Embiid are too big for Brown. The aforementioned Williams can start on the Greek Freak or Embiid, but he easily gets into foul trouble and he tends to be a better help side defender than an on-ball stopper.
The Celtics bring versatility on the defensive spectrum, but the shortage of options in defending some of the best players in the league will cause a ton of problems. Defending the likes of Trae Young or James Harden will be more doable because they could alternate Smart, Schroder, Richardson, and Brown in defending these quick guards.
Boston could still add a couple of combo forwards or versatile big men in the trade deadline or buyout market to supplement the performance of the Beantown Boys.
Continuity
After beating the Orlando Magic in the first game of the NBA preseason, the Celtics were already not complete for the following games because of Brown unfortunately contacting the COVID-19 virus. Horford is still not a guarantee to begin the season as well because of a similar reason.
Additionally, they added a slew of players who will need to be worked into the fold, namely Schroder, Richardson, Horford, Enes Kanter, Bruno Fernando and Juancho Hernangomez. With a new head coach, it will be an instant challenge to search for the reliable rotation that would unleash their full potential and provide instant success for the Celtics.
Horford and Williams are not expected to play all 82 games as well, which may hinder their depth chart because pinning their hopes on Kanter to handle the big men duties will be a catastrophe for the Celtics. Smart is another player that usually has injury concerns because of his style of play which will cause their defense to suffer, as Smart is arguably the best defender on their squad.
Brown failed to play in the NBA Playoffs last year because of his broken wrist, while Tatum had his own COVID concerns all throughout the regular season. With these slew of reasons, it will be an enormous hurdle for Boston to search for the continuity they dread for, similar to the Milwaukee Bucks or Utah Jazz.
The 2018 and 2020 iterations of the Celtics experienced memorable success because of their excellent team chemistry and unselfish style of play on both ends of the floor, which will be perfect barometer for the Celtics in this upcoming 2021-2022 NBA season.
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