Anything Is Possible: The Boston Celtics Are About To Begin One Of Their Most Intriguing Seasons In The Last 10 Years

Adam Glanzman. Getty Images.

While last night's season opening games served as a fantastic appetizer, the time has come to move on to the main course (at least in this house). Finally, our wait is over. The fake games are done, the roster is set, and Celtics basketball has officially returned to our lives. God, did it feel great to type that sentence. I dunno about anyone else, but pretty much everything about my life improves once the Celts return, and this season is no different.

What is different, is the type of Celtics season we're about to have. By my calculations, the Celts stand in a position we haven't experienced as a fanbase since the 2014-15 season. For those like me who may not be great at math, that's a solid 10 years. To understand what I mean, you first have to remind yourself what life was like for this team a decade ago.

While teams around the league seem to always be "rebuilding", the Celts haven't had a "rebuild" or a "reset" season since the first years of Brad Stevens' coaching career. Before those seasons, the expectations for this team were the same as they always are. Win the NBA title. With the Big 3 era, even in their later years every season was the same in terms of what we expected. Tons of wins, deep playoff runs, and a title. That was the standard.

In the post-Big 3 Era, the team transitioned into a position we now find ourselves in today. I want to focus mostly on the 2014-15 season, because when you really look into it, it's like staring at a mirror. That season started off in disastrous fashion. After finishing 25-57 the year before, the 2014-15 Celts got off to a 20-33 start and looked destined for the Lottery, again. But then something changed. Danny Ainge made a move that would effectively change the entire trajectory of this team for the next 10+ years

From that moment on, everything changed. With Isaiah now on board, the Celtics started to win. As the second half of the season went on, there was a growing debate as to whether or not the Celts should push for the playoffs or continue their tank in an effort to get as high as possible in the Lottery.

Sound familiar???

That team finished the season 20-9, made the playoffs (got bounced early) and the entire rebuild was suddenly sped up. From that moment on, the Celts solidified themselves as "contenders". As you can see in the graphic above, outside of the shortened Covid year, they never won fewer than 48 games. They made 6 Conference Finals, 2 NBA Finals, and won 1 championship. It was clear that what they did in that 2014-15 season set the table for their entire future.

Which brings me back to 2025-26.

Given Tatum's injury and the retooling of the roster due to the 2nd apron, the Celts once again enter a season with that same question.

Should they do what they can to get as high as possible in the Lottery, or go for the Playoffs?

It sounds like a simple question, but it's not. Things are complicated. Unlike the 2014-15 roster, this version of the team still has their championship core. This is closer to the 1996-97 Spurs or the 2019-20 Warriors where normally you are title contenders, but you are in this unique position to possibly reset/reload because your franchise player is injured. Once he's back, it's right back to contending for titles. So, when you're given that opportunity combined with how expensive the Celts roster is and how limited they'll be when it comes to building the next iteration of the roster, there's an extreme amount of value in that draft asset, whether you choose to keep it for flip it for a more established "win now" player.

On the other hand, as we saw in 2014-15, there is value in making the playoffs as a young team, even if you get your ass kicked. Those early playoff reps proved to be valuable in terms of the development of their young guys like Smart/Bradley etc. I do think the same can be true of this year's batch of young players, especially if the team will ultimately need them in those moments once Tatum returns. Why not get the reps in now?

To me, there's really no wrong answer to what the Celts should do, and I think that's what makes this season feel different from any other year over the last decade. 

Literally any outcome for this year works. If they overachieve and win more than expected? That means the young players that we need to see be hits, came through. If they struggle? Well, that only helps arm Brad Stevens with all the ammo he needs as we enter next summer to go out and retool the roster. It feels weird to approach a season like this, given the last 10 years have basically been title or bust, but that's where we find ourselves at this moment in time.

For the first time in a long time, so much of the Celts' season will be defined by the "unknown". To me, that's what makes things so exciting. We have never seen a Celts team operate without Jayson Tatum since the moment he was drafted. We have never seen Payton Pritchard and Derrick White with their current elevated roles. We've never seen what it looks like for this era of the Celts to give real rotation minutes to completely unproven young NBA players. The frontcourt could be a disaster, or it could be passable. Nobody knows! 

The preseason gave us a taste, but you have to take those games with a grain of salt. Now that the games count, everything changes. 

You could tell me the Celts go out there and win in the low-mid 40s, and I could see it if things break right. You could tell me they'll struggle and win in the mid-high 30s, and I could see that as well given what their issues appear to be on paper. What I don't think they'll be is bad enough for top 3 Lottery odds, barring some sort of major injury to a key player, but everything else? Anyone who says they know how things will look/go is talking out of their ass. None of us knows. Things we may think to be holes might actually be OK. Other things we might think won't be an issue might end up being a big-time problem. As far as I'm concerned, anything and everything on both ends of the spectrum is on the table.

When was the last time we said that?

Then of course, there's the whole Jayson Tatum potential return. Talk about an "unknown", I'm not sure it gets bigger than that. 

Remember what happened in 2014-15 once Isaiah came aboard. That's what we're about to find out. Is this team the pre-Isaiah trade Celts that were a combined 45-90? Or are they the post-Isaiah trade Celts that went 68-43 before Al Horford eventually joined in free agency and the team was off to the races?

The foundation and the core of this team remain the same, and it's made up of champions. Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard, all they know is competing and winning. I have no doubts they'll have the same approach this season. But ultimately, the success or failure of the 2025-26 Celts will come down to the "others". If they can show up and keep the team afloat until Tatum might be ready to return, that changes things. If they prove not to be good enough, well then that answers your question as to what the Celts should do this season.

Either way, there's no denying that this is about to be one of the weirdest Celtics seasons in recent memory, mostly because it's all based on the unknown. Their situation is unique because it's not your traditional rebuild type season where you are still looking for that championship level talent. We know the Celts have that. So in a way, this is a season about vibes and player development while we wait for Tatum's return, and if you win along the way, then great. 

All I know is I'm just happy to have this team back in my life again for however many months it ends up being. The possibilities of what we're about to experience are endless, and if that doesn't get your juices flowing, I feel sorry for you.

Go Cs. Let's have ourselves a year.