Welcome to basketball’s summer doldrums.
We were spoiled with basically 10+ months of nonstop Celtics news spanning from the Jrue Holiday acquisition in late September 2023 to Boston’s Team USA trio securing gold in Paris. Now we’ll likely see a 45-day downshift (though the sale of the team will continue to be a talking point until a new owner is determined) before the Celtics reconvene for a title defense.
Before we start looking ahead, a few quick thoughts on how things played out for Boston’s Olympic trio:
- We expected Jayson Tatum to have a diminished role compared to 2021 given the veteran star power on the 2024 squad, but obviously it had to be a frustrating experience for him with two DNPs and a limited overall role. Steve Kerr might have taken the Villain No. 1 baton from Kyrie Irving this summer and will get an earful when the Golden State Warriors visit TD Garden this season. But the bottom line is this: Tatum is now a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and when they talk about his resume, no one is going to sit there and nitpick his role on the 2024 squad.
- That said, if Team USA disrespect fuels both Tatum and teammate Jaylen Brown as Boston launches into its title defense, then maybe some good can come of both players’ summer frustrations. Team USA may have inadvertently poked a pair of champions and the rest of the NBA might suffer because of it.
- It’s nice that a universal stage got to see why Derrick White and Jrue Holiday are so important to the Celtics’ success. Boston is so very lucky to have two unselfish, defense-first guards who simply yearn to win and make all the right plays. Now they’ve both got gold medals and a shiny gold trophy to prove it.
Before the Celtics headed into this very brief hibernation, we were asked to compile a list of the biggest challenges the team will face next season. This isn’t meant to be a negative task. We expect the Celtics to be back in the Finals next season. But we decided to rank the biggest potential pitfalls on the quest back to that title stage.
Here’s what tops our summer concerns:
1. Health
The Celtics showcased their depth throughout the 2023-24 season and are well-stocked to navigate potential absences again this season. What’s more, Boston is well-versed in patching holes, and in bringing back their entire top nine from last season, the team has trustworthy depth that should limit the pain points when key players are sidelined.
That said, Kristaps Porzingis is recovering from leg surgery and his projected recovery timeline suggests we might not see him until 2025 (a Christmas Day return, though, would be an incredible holiday moment). Veterans like Al Horford and Holiday will be paced over the course of an 82-game regular season.
Even durable players like Tatum and White have logged a lot of basketball miles over the past year, including the Olympic voyage.
The Celtics thrive in large part because of their depth and versatility, but their biggest advantage over opponents is the pure talent of their core group. The key is making sure that group is upright by the time the playoffs roll around in April.
Getting Porzingis healthy — and keeping him healthy — should be a top priority for a team that can’t accomplish its ultimate goal any earlier than June.
2. Complacency
So often in the NBA we see teams coming off championships that simply don’t operate with the same level of intensity or focus the following season. Usually these teams can still get by on talent, but some steps seem to get skipped along the way.
It’s human nature. And the Celtics will fight that all season long. When you’ve been to the mountain top, the slow climb back up can be boring.
Here’s the good news: The Celtics know all about keeping the focus on the day-to-day after navigating the last expectation-filled season. Boston didn’t downshift even when it had a healthy lead on the rest of the Eastern Conference. The team never took its foot off the accelerator long enough to endure a sustained losing streak.
Even in the playoffs, the Celtics were ruthless in putting teams away quickly to avoid adding stress to their title journey.
Perhaps most importantly, avoiding complacency seems like the area where head coach Joe Mazzulla will thrive. He loves prodding his team to avoid mental hurdles. We were going to suggest it would be a talking point from Day 1 of camp, but we suspect that Mazzulla was stressing the mental approach to the championship defense before confetti even stopped falling from the Garden rafters.
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3. Beefed-up East
The Eastern Conference is better. The Knicks took a big swing in adding Mikal Bridges to their Villanova alumni squad. The 76ers picked up Paul George and an intriguing cast of role players to pair with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. The Pacers already made a statement last season by advancing to the East Finals and pushing the Celtics as hard as they did (even in a five-game series).
Which is to suggest that Boston probably won’t have the luxury of finishing 14 games ahead of the pack this season. The path back to the No. 1 seed almost certainly will be more prickly.
It seems fair to suggest that, even with the upgrades that rivals made, the Celtics are still the best team in the East. Yes, there’s a danger in simply bringing back the same roster as others load up, but alas, Boston is so flush with talent and chemistry that it made all the sense to keep this group intact (especially with a new CBA that doesn’t offer many avenues to tweak).
Have rivals truly made up ground? On paper, yes, but we’ll need to see just how much it translates on the court.
4. Becoming the hunted
Not only did rivals improve, but every single game over the course of Boston’s 82-game season will be a Super Bowl for the team on the other side. The defending champs can expect everyone’s best shot on a night-to-night basis. Teams are rarely going to downshift or sit key players when the Celtics are in town.
It just adds another layer of complexity to maintaining last year’s success. And in a way, it revolves back to the complacency conversation. The Celtics have to find ways to bring energy every night, even when their ultimate goal cannot truly be accomplished until June.
If there wasn’t one already, the Celtics have a target on the back. Maybe it just got a little bigger after all the success this team and its players enjoyed the past 10 months.
Such are the perils when you win a title. And Olympic gold. Jealousy is a stinky cologne. Rivals want what the Celtics have.
The Celtics can revel in their accomplishments for a few more weeks. New challenges await when the title defense starts in earnest this September.