The Boston Celtics Are Officially Back Tonight So Here's What I Want To See

Madison Quisenberry. Getty Images.

I'll be honest with you, seeing all these other teams play their preseason games these last few days while I've waited for today has been absolute torture. Jealousy like you read about. But finally, our wait ends today. We made it. It's been 79 days since we last saw this team play, you may remember that series against the Heat where they pooped their pants in disastrous fashion. A big pile of poop. It was rather unfortunate in my opinion, but there's no sense in denying it. They choked. Am I over them losing 3 games by 5 points or less including two huge blown leads? Nope. Not even close. That'll be with me until my last breath. But I am ready to once again go through the rollercoaster that is Celtics basketball.

After an offseason that brought some roster change with Gordon Hayward, Enes Kanter, and Brad Wanamaker finding new basketball homes, the Celts will look somewhat different this season. That's even more true tonight. Shit hasn't even started yet and we're already deep into Hospital Celtics mode

but given that these are fake games, I wouldn't stress too much. Remember the rules when it comes to these games. Anything positive you see will 100% translate to the regular season and should be celebrated. Anything negative we can completely ignore because these games are fake. That's how it works. 

So with that in mind, here's a list of things I'm going to be looking out for/am excited to see from the roster tonight.

1. Development of the Jays

This is only the most important piece of the whole puzzle for this season. Last year we saw both of the Jays take big time leaps in their development. Tatum played his way into a top 15 player while Jaylen had himself an All Star-ish caliber efficient season. Not only are they going to have to repeat that, but they are going to have to take it up a notch. So what do I want to see?

I want to see the advancements in the playmaking of both of these guys. With Tatum I want to see if his P&R playmaking we saw in the bubble is here to stay. With Jaylen I want to see if he's able to keep his head up when he attacks the rim and is able to read the defense and make quick decisions in terms of creating for others. With no Hayward, the advancement of their playmaking is ridiculously important. 

2. The Rookies

When it comes to rookies getting their first taste of NBA action, it's important to be patient. Having said that, I want to see signs that both Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard can back up everything I heard about them at the draft. I want to see Nesmith come off screens and knock down threes. I want to see if that shooting is legit. At the very least signs that it could be something thats translates. I don't need him to drop 30, I just need him to make his open looks. 

With Pritchard, I want to see whatever Ainge saw that led him to taking him earlier than most pundits thought. You tell me he's basically Marcus Smart 2.0 only he can shoot? You have my attention. I want to see him get in that ass defensively and be the pest all the reports say he is. If he can knock down some open threes that'd be ideal as well.

3. Real Timelord minutes

If Thompson is out and Theis ends up being held out, I want Rob to play like 30+ minutes. We need to see it. A matchup with Joel Embiid is one hell of a way to get things started, but it's also a great opportunity for Rob to show Brad that he can trust him. I want to see his progress defensively, if he understands where to be and when to rotate and if he can defend without fouling. I know he can catch lobs. I know he can pass. But I want to see if he has the ability to not be a disaster defensively. Being a good defender is more than just highlight blocks. It's having good position in the P&R, it's knowing when to rotate as the help, it's doing the small things that help you get stops. I'm not saying this is a make of break preseason for Rob, but it's pretty damn important that he shows real signs of progress. 

4. Brad's Small Ball lineup

The Sixers are big. Given who is available that's not exactly easy to match up with. So let's see Brad get nuts and go small as hell and run them out of the gym. Give me this lineup at times tonight

Teague/Smart/Jaylen/Tatum/Grant

and let's see what happens. If Brad wants to swap Pritchard in there for Teague for certain stretches I'm all for that as well. I want to see if Grant's three-point shooting will look more like the regular season where it was dogshit or more like the bubble where he turned into the greatest shooter in NBA history. Somewhere in the middle will work for me. 

5. Second Year Guys

Remember the last preseason where Carsen Edwards made 8 3PMs? That was awesome. What wasn't so awesome was how he looked in the regular season in games that mattered. This is a big opportunity to show Brad that he's a real NBA player. There are minutes to be had at the backup point guard spot, so I want to see if Carsen can snag them.

The same is true for Tremont Waters. He's small, but man are his hands quick. He's also maybe the best pure passing point guard the bench has. Much like Carsen though, the man could not shoot at the NBA level. I'm curious to see if that improved.

Then there's Tacko. Big night tonight for Tacko if Brad gives the people what they want. I want to see Tacko vs Tacko-Lite so goddamn bad. No player has shown the ability to stop Tacko when he's on the floor. He's too massive. What better time than tonight to unleash the man and do nothing but dunk on every Sixers big man.

6. Does Brad know what a timeout is

Chances are we're going to see the Sixers go on some sort of run tonight. I want to see if anyone has told Brad he can call a timeout to stop a run. It's true, this is something you can do that is well within the rules. You don't have to let things balloon to a 20-2 run.

But I also want to see if he's able to create any sort of offensive strategy in big time pressure moments. If things get close, based on what I saw in the bubble there was no strategy in the clutch. That can't be a thing anymore. 

7. Marcus Smart's role

As a starter, I want to see what version of Smart we get. Will he play within himself and not force things? I know there's going to be a need to make up for the Hayward/Kemba production, but I want to see Smart go about it the right way. Use his size to attack the rim instead of settling for threes. I don't care if Smart takes threes, as long as they are good threes that come within the flow of the offense. 

I've said it before, but I love the fact that the Celts are kicking things off with the Sixers and Nets. I want to see this team play against a contender and the Sixers. You're going to have to deal with both of these teams in your division so we may as well get things started in the preseason. You know the Sixers are going to come out motivated given the fact that their ass got swept in the first round. This is apparently the version of The Process that will finally get them over the hump. Well to do that, they are going to have to first get past the Celts. The overreactions will be something after tonight on either end of the spectrum, but I'm just glad we finally have the Celts back in our lives. 

LFG.