The West is a tightly contested affair, with teams poking each other and scattering aprons. The East has more superstar divas among its first- and second-round losers than it has 50-win teams. If 2023-24 turns out well, the next few years will see Boston facing off against the rest of the NBA.
For the 2023-24 school year Boston Celtics After wrapping up a historic run of 80 wins in 101 tries, seven more than any other team, a regular season goal differential of +11.4 and a postseason goal differential of +8, the Tigers seem poised to dominate the NBA until Victor Wembanyama finds four intriguing teammates to play with.
Everyone’s Achilles has a weak spot. Boston has only traditional medical solutions for the unicorn leg. At 38, Al Horford is irreplaceable. In the future, opposing centers and forwards may learn not to attempt dunks on 6-foot-4 Derrick White. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum may quarrel over a stock sale of publishing rights to an inspiring story of friendship and playmaking. Boston is otherwise prepared.
Who is to blame for putting the NBA in such a mess? The wise author blames the executives, former C’s coach Danny Ainge, and current C’s chief Brad Stevens. I’d yell at the teams that traded away these great players from Boston.
Take Milwaukee, the team that was supposed to upset the East but was never threatened. By the time Terry Stotts stormed out of his brand new office, Boston knew they had beaten the Bucks. Not because Milwaukee was a mess, but because Boston had just finished its second week of practice with former Bucks player Jrue Holiday, the walking championship ring, the ultimate quintuplets.
Did Milwaukee know Holiday was heading to Boston when they traded with the Trail Blazers for Damian Lillard? Did they care, or were the Bucks too enamoured with Lillard’s 32.2 ppg potential?
Will we be punished for giving Portland the shine it deserves over the Celtics? If the Blazers’ rebuild plans fall apart despite acquiring Golden State’s 2024 draft pick (and Boston’s 2029 unconditional first-round pick) in the Holiday trade in October, will we be scoffing in the future at Portland’s missed opportunity to use Jrue until the end?
No, it’s Brooklyn’s fault.
All the shenanigans that indirectly helped Boston build a Larry Bird-backed championship team in the 1980s, the whole team swap with the Buffalo Braves, drafting Bird while he was still playing college basketball, unfair trades with Detroit and Golden State, who the hell are the Buffalo Braves, and so on and so forth. Brooklyn Nets In 2013, he was traded to the Boston Celtics.
Boston won 41 games in the 2012-13 season and was eliminated in the first round. Brooklyn called Boston on draft night and Hey, the rebuild you didn’t want to be a part of? We’re taking over from here.
Danny Ainge led the C’s down an unpleasant, seemingly inevitable descent into oblivion: Boston traded Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry for first-round picks (from Brooklyn and Atlanta) to acquire Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Collin Sexton, along with James Young.
This trade gave Boston Trade Exceptions The trade also brought in a first-round draft pick and later Isaiah Thomas, who was traded for both Thomas and Sexton’s draft rights in exchange for Kyrie Irving.
Among the salary fodder acquired in the Brooklyn deal was the ongoing contract of Keith Bogans, which Boston eventually traded for Dwight Powell, an asset in the Rajon Rondo trade with Dallas in 2014. The $12.9 million trade exception from the Rondo deal sent Jeff Green to Memphis for a first-round draft pick that became Aaron Nesmith. Nesmith became Malcolm Brogdon, whose allure led Portland to trade Jrue Holiday to Boston.
Brooklyn did not thrive after the acquisition: The former Celtic Nets were eliminated in the second round in 2014 and then fell two games behind a 40-win Boston playoff team in 2015, losing to Atlanta in the opening round, while the Hawks had a strong 2014-15 season despite losing James Young.
of 76ers Let’s do our bit towards a greener future. Philadelphia fans should be angry. Front office executives keep pulling these shenanigans.
Jaylen Brown was Boston’s No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 draft (along with Brooklyn’s pick) and won the Eastern Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP in 2024. Ben Simmons was Philadelphia’s No. 1 overall pick in the NBA in 2016, a token reward after a few seasons of processing, but hasn’t played any significant basketball in the last three years. Jaylen Brown won the 2024 dunk contest with an off-handed dunk, but it remains to be seen whether Ben Simmons uses the right hand when shooting.
Brown was named to the All-Rookie Team when Boston reached the Eastern Finals in 2017, while Simmons missed his entire rookie season with a broken foot, giving Philadelphia the third pick in the 2017 draft. Boston owned the top pick from Brooklyn, and Philadelphia general manager Bryan Colangelo put together a trade package for their division rival. Boston acquired a future first-round pick and dropped down to third to select Jayson Tatum. Newly leaning towards the top pick, Philadelphia selected Markelle Fultz, then later traded for Tyrese Maxey, who wasn’t Jayson Tatum.
Boston used the pick sent by Philadelphia (Romeo Langford, 14th overall in the 2019 draft) in a package to acquire Derrick White.
Yes, it’s the Spurs’ fault.
Romeo Langford had a rough two-and-a-half seasons in Boston, playing 94 games of “what the heck” basketball, before the Spurs traded him, Josh Richardson, and a future first-round pick (from the Celtics, so not a big deal) for Derrick White, who was a big shot-smasher at every opportunity.
White blocked the same number of shots for the Spurs, but with big men like Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis running astride Derrick, it should be easier to beat him. The finger of blame shifted back to the Spurs.
In 2019, the 66ers acquired Al Horford from the Celtics, which was a real underhanded, great job and something they should have done to a division rival (instead of trading draft picks). Whether Al worked with Joel Embiid or was his backup, he did whatever he could to hurt the Celtics.
Of course, the Celtics swept the Sixers with Horford’s hands full in Al’s only postseason with Philadelphia. The 76ers lost steam a month into the following season and traded Horford and what would likely be Philadelphia’s 2025 first-round draft pick to Oklahoma City for Danny Green.
Boston got Horford back in exchange for a 2021 first-round draft pick (Alperen Shengung), was willing to pay $53.5 million on the final leg of Al’s contract with Philadelphia, and the tag gave Boston the Bird rights to keep Horford through 2025 for under $10 million per season.
Horford could have stayed with the Sixers and filled in for Embiid. Not with the Celtics.
Also, why did Washington trade Kristaps Porzingis to Boston? As if Washington got Marcus Smart and a first-round draft pick in the deal. The Wizards got neither and lost their unicorn to the Celtics. Boston took Golden State’s 2024 draft pick out of the deal and used it to sweeten the deal for Holiday.
Want more sugar? Lakers Meanwhile, they’re languishing in a Beverly Hills restaurant, paying an obnoxiously high bill and under-offering another head coaching candidate.
In the 2016 NBA Draft, the Lakers selected Brandon Ingram with Jaylen Brown available, and in 2017, they selected Lonzo Ball with Jayson Tatum available. Both choices made sense and played the biggest role in securing Anthony Davis’ move to El Rey, but neither was better than the Jaylen Brown-Jayson Tatum duo.
The Celtics gave everyone a chance, and while they were rightly criticized for their postseason losses, they were mostly doing well. Boston suffered the usual string of injuries and free agent misfortunes, missed some veterans, lost a few playoff games at home, was a trade risk this season that was “always injured, so be careful,” and even Porzingis, who saved the regular season, missed a crucial half of the playoffs with injury.
The Celtics have been overwhelmingly strong in 2023-24 after a decade of disrupting the Big Three’s sole championship streak.
But they are to blame for what happens next – the implementation of Daryl Morey’s three-point-first philosophy and the emergence of 29 other NBA teams ready to attempt 49 three-point shots per game by 2024-25.
This should not be the C’s legacy. This team is just too much fun to watch. Eight or nine NBA teams have proven that.
Kelly Dwyer covers the NBA. Second Arrangement And he believes the NBA should limit three-point attempts to 33 per team per game, Larry Bird’s number.
