My Genius Plan Was For The Celtics To Tank This Season Without Jayson Tatum And It Was One Of The Worst Takes Of 2025
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Giphy Images."It takes guts and humility to admit mistakes. Admitting we're wrong is courage, not weakness." – Roy T. Bennett
Exactly, Roy. And I'm here to be as courageous as a blogger possibly can by highlighting my worst take of 2025.
Yes, just two games into the Celtics' season, I was ready for the full tank. After the team fell to 0-3, I wrote these words at MutStack.com back in October:
"So what I’m saying is that I’ll be okay if this ends up being a sneaky tank year for the Celtics.
There, I said it out loud."
To be fair, my idiocy stretched back even further than that. I had been thinking about the team tanking, really, since the Jayson Tatum injury was announced as a torn Achilles. You don't come back from those in less than a year. Well, that used to be the rule, anyway.
But Tatum seems hellbent on coming back here in early 2026.
And his former coach, Brad Stevens, is right there with him, helping him prepare for his eventual return.
Tatum's health was the #1 reason for my tank push. I love Tatum. Watching him rip the hearts out of his opponents with the way he scores is one of my favorite things in basketball. Selfish? Maybe, but I didn't want him to jeopardize multiple seasons by trying to get back for a team that might not be very good. Given how competitive he is, it figured he would push to set the record for fastest NBA return from a torn Achilles. Miami's Dru Smith just came back from the same injury in about nine months. That puts Tatum back on the court for Boston in late March.
At this point, you have to have faith that if the team thinks his return could lead to long-term issues, they'll slow him down; that doesn't appear to be the case here on the final day of 2025.
Reason #2 for my tank dreaming…I didn't think Jaylen Brown was this good.
He's been awesome sans Tatum. He's picked up the scoring and leadership slack from his teammate and has been the best player on the court many nights this season. Does he still turn the ball over (3.6 TO/Game, 6th highest in the NBA)? He sure does, but he's also had the ball more without Tatum. He didn't score 30 on Tuesday night, but his 23-6-10 on the road at Utah was as good a game as he's played all season.
Joe Mazzulla? He's had an excellent year on the Celtics' sideline. The team will begin 2026 with the 4th-best NET Rating in the league, with just OKC, Houston, and Denver ahead of them. He's found a way to make it work with no Tatum, no Jrue Holiday, no Al Horford, and no Kristaps Porziņģis. Hell, not even a Luke Kornet!
Players named Josh Minott, Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman, and Hugo Gonzalez have all been key parts for the team. That's a credit to Mazzulla.
I also didn't think the Eastern Conference would be this bad. Woof. Four of the lowest seven NET Ratings teams are in the East. At the top of the conference, you have the Pistons and Knicks. Neither one of them is very scary, and I'd be okay with the Celtics facing either in a seven-game series….and that's without Tatum! The East's sucking has helped the Celtics.
Boston is 20-12, one of just 10 teams in the league with 20+wins. When Tatum returns, there is no reason this team couldn't find itself in an Eastern Conference final. And then eventually, a meeting with OKC in an NBA Final.
There is no more rooting for a Tank Year, obviously.
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"You should never be ashamed to admit you have been wrong. It only proves you are wiser today than yesterday." – Unknown
Well said, Unknown. It was a truly terrible take. If not for Joel Klatt shitting on March Madness, it might be the worst take of 2025. But thanks to Unknown, I'm feeling very wise to end this year. I plan on going undefeated on my takes in 2026, so I'm addressing my atrocious Celtics' opinion head-on in the final hours of 2025.
Because once it hits midnight, you can't bring this up again. Legally. Well, maybe not legally, but since I will have said it last year, it doesn't count anymore. That's Take 101.
Here's to zero takes this bad in the New Year.