With the way things are going, the Boston Celtics are in the middle of a rebuild, right?
No, if you ask Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck.
Despite making a slew of roster changes in the offseason, plus promoting former coach Brad Stevens as president of basketball operations, Grousbeck denied the team is undergoing a facelift after a string of unsuccessful seasons. Instead, he said the Celtics are just simply moving forward (via NESN.com).
“Last year was too up-and-down. We all saw it, we all lived through it. I’m not afraid of any words, basically. I’ve been on this show a lot and I’ve said a bunch of words. You can go back in the archives. Not afraid of any words, but it doesn’t feel like a rebuild when we’ve got two young All-Stars last year and we still have them this year. We have Marcus Smart and Rob Williams playing well and we extended them.”
As Grousbeck noted, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will still be at the forefront for the Celtics next season. The roster looks pretty different though with the returning Al Horford and additions Dennis Schroder, Josh Richardson, Kris Dunn, and Bruno Fernando.
While they didn't make blockbuster moves like other teams, Grousbeck said the Celtics are headed in the right direction,
“It doesn’t feel like a classic rebuild. It feels like let’s take a step forward. So, we’ve made some changes including a new team president stepping up, a new coach, and five or six players coming in. It feels like definitely a change.”
The exit of Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier could hurt the Celtics, but surely, new coach Ime Udoka has enough talent at his disposal to steer the team into a deep run in the NBA Playoffs.
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