The preseason now over, DNA of Sports continues its traditional presentation, team by team, of the upcoming NBA season. This takes, as every year, the form of a countdown, from the worst record in the league to our favorite for the title of champion.
As the 2022/23 regular season begins tomorrow evening, we are today interested in the team best placed in our eyes to dominate the East: the Boston Celtics. It must be said that by being finalists in title, with a taste of unfinished business in the mouth and after having clearly strengthened during the off-season, the franchise has solid arguments.
Maintaining the momentum of the second half of the season
The first argument is of course that the duo Jayson Tatum – Jaylen Brown had figured out how to work together from last January, and that the face of the team had changed. In the first half of the 2021/22 campaign, the Celtics seemed on the verge of implosion, however, and many wondered if the Tatum / Brown tandem should not be separated. With 18 wins for 21 losses, the 8th defense but the 22nd attack, Boston looked like the sick team of the previous season.
And then things fell into place, Boston finished the second half of the season with 33 wins in 43 games, the 2nd best offense and the best defense (by far).
In this second phase, the Celtics also posted an incredible “Net Rating” (difference between points scored and conceded, out of 100 possessions) of +13.5, far from the Suns (+7.2), second over the period, and above all very far from the “Net Rating” of their first part of the season, which was only +0.7!
The defensive power of the duo Marcus Smart – Robert WilliamsIIIperfectly supported by Al HorfordJaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in the five, but also the first rotations Grant Williams and Derrick White, which arrived during the campaign, thus hurt very badly during the calendar year 2022, with an attack which was also taking place. Enough to reach the Finals, probably complicating life against the Bucks and the Heat, to finally lose to the Warriors.
Did Ime Udoka’s men pay for their physical efforts in the second half of the season, as Marcus Smart thinks in particular, in the home stretch, like a diminished Robert Williams III and a Jayson Tatum clearly on the kneecaps? Did they rather pay for their lack of experience of the most important moments? The lack of an additional creator? In any case, they had enough to motivate themselves for this new season.
A momentum already cut off?
Now leader, Brad Stevens also quickly wanted to build on this positive momentum, despite the final defeat. The Celtics president thus seemed to achieve the perfect summer, recovering the solid Malcolm Brogdon to bring one more creator out of the bench, capable of defending as hard as most members of the major five, to bring one more option in the “money time” at the knife.
With Danilo Gallinarithe club also got their hands on a very experienced winger / winger capable of dismissing the game. In short, everything seemed perfect in Massachusetts, before it went off the rails…
Because the Italian was the victim of a new tear in a cruciate ligament in the knee during the preparation for the EuroBasket, and it is not sure that we will see him again this season, even if he will do everything for. And then there was the episode Ime Udoka, suspended for a year for his relationship outside marriage with a member of his staff.
It is his assistant Joe Mazzulla who takes over on the team bench. A welcome continuity, even if the group will still have to adapt to another voice, which also begins as “head coach”.
SUMMER MOVEMENTS
— Arrivals Danilo Gallinari (Spurs), Malcolm Brogdon (Pacers)
— Departures : Aaron Nesmith, Daniel Theis, Nik Stauskas, Juwan Morgan and Malik Fitts (Pacers)
PLAYER TO WATCH: Jaylen Brown
The return of Robert Williams III and his effectiveness in his return from injury will undoubtedly be essential for the Celtics, but Jaylen Brown remains the key element to Celtic success.
Jayson Tatum asserted himself last season as one of the very best players in the league, joining the first All-NBA Team and finishing in 6th place in the MVP votes. He has everything to confirm this season and remain the offensive spearhead of the group, capable of catching fire and making the difference on his own.
For Jaylen Brown, there is still a step to take. Selected only once in the All-Star Game, in 2021, he missed the All-Star Game last season, because of Boston’s poor first half of the season. But if the Celtics still show the same level as at the start of the calendar year, he should be present in Salt Lake City in February, and above all assert himself, like his teammate, as one of the very best NBA players.
For this, however, he will have to ignore the fact that his name was mentioned between the Celtics and the Nets, when Kevin Durant wanted to leave Brooklyn.
Average age: 27.5 years old
Payroll: $175.6 million (9th)
THE IDEAL SCENARIO
The replacement of Ime Udoka by Joe Mazzulla has no impact on the team. The former assistant, propelled coach, is a real leader of men, who knows how to get the best out of his group.
A group extremely motivated after the defeat in the Finals, and who do not want to have to whip in the second half of the season. Even without Robert Williams III for the start of the campaign, the Celtics dominate on both sides of the floor, with Malcolm Brogdon doing good in managing hot moments.
The pivot returned quickly, playing his role as a second-curtain bully, and Danilo Gallinari also managed to find the pitch in the second half of the season. Suffocating defensively, even more solid and collective offensively, the Celtics roll on the East and win their 18th banner of champion thanks to this rotation of 9/10 players which shows few weaknesses, in season but also in playoffs.
WORST SCENARIO
The momentum is well cut in Boston, Joe Mazzulla groping logically as “head coach” at the head of such an ambitious group. The start of the season is much more complicated than expected, the Celtics remaining generally in balance, even if the frustrating defeats begin to affect optimism on this group.
We also find the signs of nervousness of the first part of last season, with a duo Jayson Tatum – Jaylen Brown who replays in turn, and who forgets his comrades at the end of the match.
In addition, Robert Williams III is slow to return and when he does, it is clearly with much less explosiveness. Without its second curtain wall, Boston’s defense is clearly less impressive, and that forces Al Horford to do a lot (too much). The Dominican in turn pays for his efforts, and his age, especially after a heavy 2021/22 season, and his round trips to the infirmary still unbalance the whole.
The Celtics failed to capitalize on their last run in the playoffs and their recruitment, being again overtaken in the hierarchy of the East by the Bucks, the Sixers, the Heat or the Nets.
The team certainly reaches the playoffs, but there will be no 18th banner at the end of this 2022/23 season.
