2021-22 Boston Celtics Season Preview: The Pieces Are In Place For A Very Much Needed Bounce Back Season

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Alright, the time has come. I tried to hold off as long as I could but it's time to preview and prepare for the 2021-22 Celtics season. In my personal opinion, we're entering one of the more important seasons in recent memory. The two young franchise cornerstone players are growing up before our eyes. They're practically NBA vets at this point. They've proven themselves from a talent standpoint in the league. We know what they are capable of. But after the season from hell that was 2020-2021, it's time to get back to winning and contending. Period. 

A new coach, a new roster, and a new season filled with opportunity. Someone asked me recently what my thoughts were heading into the season and the best way I could describe it was that I'm hoping for glory and preparing for pain. I don't know how else to explain it really. With the improved depth joining the core of Smart/Jaylen/Tatum/Rob, there's no reason to not be hopeful, but at the same time understand that this is the Boston Celtics we're talking about. Things have only worked out how I want them to a total of one (1) time in my total 34 years on this planet. The pain part is probably more likely than the glory part, so you may as well prepare for it now. 

What makes this upcoming season hard to gauge is what a fucked up year 2020 was. When thinking about that season, I think two things are true. First, they played like shit. Underachieved like you read about. The effort was inconsistent, the style of play made you want to claw your eyes out at times, and they were absolutely frustrating to watch. Losing to teams they shouldn't, it was all a disaster. But it's also true we never really got to see what they looked like with their normal rotation. When talking about last season you can't ignore that they main guys played a total of 11 games together. That's it. Of course that's going to impact your record. It doesn't excuse how they played, it doesn't excuse losing to dogshit teams like the Thunder, but it's a factor of why they ended up where they did. It's part of their season story. So is not having 3 starters available in a playoff series. That obviously mattered.

When they did have their guys, that small sample size looked good as hell. They were like 10-3 when Rob became the starter and Kemba was active after the trade deadline. They flashed the potential we know they can play at. Now, they enter the season with much improved depth (on paper). Now they have actual NBA caliber talent on that second unit. Their young guys look like they are continuing to develop. That's why you should feel excited entering this season. The core that has already shown us they are capable of making deep playoff runs when healthy are now paired with more adequate complimentary pieces.

As it stands today, this is what the roster looks like

Let's break this down.

Ball Handlers: Marcus Smart, Payton Pritchard, Dennis Schroder

Wings: Jaylen, Tatum, Richardson, Romeo, Nesmith

Bigs: Rob, Al, Kanter, Bruno, Grant, Juancho

If you trim this down to a 9-10 man rotation, you're looking at 3 ball handlers, 5 wings, and 2 bigs. To me, that's an ideal balance in terms of a shorter rotation which Ime talked about having. Then you add in the fact that both of your bigs are tremendous passers and legit defenders while one of them can stretch the floor from three. It's a good mix of shot creators and facilitators. Compare this list to the balance of the roster we saw last year and on paper it's a clear improvement. How it all fits together in Ime's system is the big question, but from a talent perspective this is probably the deepest team since the 2018-19 season.

Now, as we do on this blog, we have to tell the truth. It's not all positive. The Celts enter this season with just as many questions as ever.

1. How does Ime do in Year 1 since he's never been a head coach before?

2. How quickly can the players adapt to his system and style of play?

3. Can the young guys make tangible leaps after a normal offseason?

4. Will the defense get back to what we're used to seeing?

5. How will they handle adversity?

6. Will not having an All Star caliber #3 option be an issue or will the collective talent make up for it?

7. Will everyone buy into their role as we play through the season, especially if they struggle?

8. Is there another Tatum/Jaylen leap coming and does that need to happen for them to contend?

9. Can they stay relatively healthy?

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10. Will they show up every single night?

The list goes on and on, and that's OK! These are things we simply don't know yet because things are so new. Doesn't mean there can't be positive answers to those questions, but for me, you can't ignore them. When I look at the rest of the East, I think it's fairly obvious that BKN/MIL are in that top tier by themselves. Then there's a drop, and you get the ATL/BOS/MIA/PHI/NYK group. All of those teams have questions heading into the year. Any one of them has the talent to finish 3rd or 8th as far as I'm concerned. 

I view the Celts position like this. They won't and shouldn't be the betting favorites to make the Finals or anything. But they have the talent to make a deep run if things break their way. Sort of like the Bucks last year. A lot of people were picking PHI/BKN to make the Finals, the Bucks were presented an opportunity to take advantage of some injuries and boom, they won a title. The Heat did the same shit in the bubble and made the Finals. If, and it's a big if, the Celts play to their potential and are healthy entering the playoffs, that's what I feel is capable. My own personal expectation is a top 3-4 seed and a deep playoff run. That remains unchanged because I believe in the talent and that's what I expect. I've seen them do it. You don't have to feel the same way and that's fine, but that's where I'm at.

If you look at what we saw in the preseason, it was a mixed bag. The ball movement and the shooting were great. The defense and the turnovers were mostly gross. But the one thing that stood out was this team got back to playing hard on a consistent basis. That alone will win you games in the regular season, just ask the Knicks. If the flashes that Romeo/Nesmith/Pritchard showed all summer and in preseason are real, that elevates the floor of what this team can be. 

Which is what brings me back to why this season is so important. It's pretty crucial that their best players set the tone. We've seen both ends of the spectrum when it comes to Smart/Tatum/Jaylen. We know what it looks like when they are on their game and we know what it looks like when they regress in certain areas. This season is their opportunity to show everyone that last year was the exception and not the rule. That their struggles were to largely due to inconsistent lineups, covid, etc. We know the Jays can have great individual seasons playing next to each other, and we've seen them have team success as well. But we've also seen them be the two best players on what ended up a 7 seed team once they were handed the keys.

What I think I love most about this upcoming year is the Celts now have the ability to get back to their underdog mentality. Look around and all you hear about is the Bucks, Nets, Heat, Hawks and Knicks. Those are the teams that will all make a jump and the Celts will be lucky to be a 6 seed. I love that. We've seen this team be at their best when they are slighted. Almost nobody is giving this team a chance at a top 4 seed it feels like and that's exactly what I want. 

Earn that respect. Show me things will be different from 2020 and let's have ourselves an awesome year. 

Tomorrow cannot come soon enough. LFG.

Official Greenie Prediction: 49 wins