Ceiling, floor for Boston Celtics: Will aggressive offseason acquisitions pay off?
After falling short in another deep playoff run, the Boston Celtics are all-in to capture banner No. 18. Nevertheless, whether their high-profile offseason moves will be enough to accomplish the goal is yet to be determined.
Here’s our prediction of the best- and worst-case scenarios for the Celtics this season:
Ceiling: 58-24 and NBA champions
Boston missed out on a second consecutive trip to the NBA Finals after Jayson Tatum suffered an ankle injury in the opening moments of its eventual Game 7 loss to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. As a result, the Celtics shuffled their roster quite a bit this offseason but further committed to building around Tatum and Jaylen Brown, signing the latter to a historic five-year, $303.7 million deal.
Although the Celtics notably parted with Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, Robert Williams and Malcolm Brogdon, they added two marquee acquisitions in former Wizard Kristaps Porziņģis and ex-Buck Jrue Holiday. Porziņģis is quietly coming off a stellar season, where he averaged a career-high 23.2 points and 8.4 rebounds, while Holiday posted 19.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 7.4 assists en route to earning his second career All-Star nod.
Despite roster turnover and factoring in the time this new core will need to gel, Boston will benefit from having one of the most favorable schedules in the NBA. According to Positive Residual, Boston is projected to have the easiest strength of schedule in the Eastern Conference. Assuming that the revamped lineup lives up to expectations, the Celtics should cruise through the regular season and will be firmly in the mix for their first championship since 2008.
Floor: 52-30 and second-round playoff exit
While Porziņģis and Holiday’s arrivals are intriguing, they come with glaring downsides. Boston lost a substantial amount of depth to execute those deals, including a well-respected locker room presence in Smart. Yet, the most impactful loss may prove to be the defensive-minded center, Williams, especially considering it will force Boston to increase 37-year-old Al Horford’s workload.
Additionally, Porziņģis’ 65 games played last season were the most he has logged since 2016-17, which suggests he’ll miss extended time at some point; the Celtics can only hope it’s not during the playoffs. Aside from that, Holiday’s latest postseason performance raises concerns, given that he was a primary defender against Heat forward Jimmy Butler, who averaged 37.6 points during Milwaukee’s loss to Miami in the first round.
Brown’s erratic play in the postseason cannot be ignored either, as he is averaging 3.2 turnovers per game over Boston’s last two playoff runs, and a recent video indicates he’s still struggling to dribble with his left hand. Even so, with as much talent as the Celtics have, their floor is one of the highest in the NBA, and they should have little difficulty reaching the Eastern Conference semifinals.
