By Andrew Stefanilo
The Boston Celtics have gone through an interesting offseason to say the least. With the departure of head coach Doc Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers and sure-fire Hall-of-Famers Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett now in Brooklyn, it became clear that this team is in a full-on rebuild.
There are fans out there who still want to see them completely start from scratch and get rid of All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo. Although Rondo’s personality on the court isn’t the best, this is his team to lead if he wants it, and he’s still one of the best pure floor generals in the NBA.
Everyone expects the C’s to get a lottery pick and draft one of the many talented players in what is supposed to be one of the best draft classes in years this spring.
Unfortunately, the Celtics aren’t going to be that bad. If everyone is healthy, they’re likely going to the playoffs as the seven- or eight-seed. It’s kind of a predicament because they aren’t good enough to have a real shot at contending in the Eastern Conference, but at the same time, they aren’t bad enough to secure a top pick in the 2014 draft.
They’re a young team that’s going to run the floor, and although they’re not a championship contender, I look forward to seeing them play what could be a different style of basketball than in years past.
The front court isn’t terrible, with rookie big man Kelly Olynyk out of Gonzaga joining Brandon Bass, Jared Sullinger and Kris Humphries after his promising summer. They won’t lead the league in rebounding, but first year head coach Brad Stevens has proven to be a master of exceeding expectations after his successful tenure in college hoops with mid-major Butler University.
The Celts won’t dominate by any means, but this team isn’t going to be as bad as expected unless they get plagued with injuries or get rid of Rondo.
Although Kevin Garnett is gone, the C’s should still be strong defensively. The biggest struggle for them will likely be scoring. I’m interested to see who picks up what they’ve lost in that department with the departure of Pierce.
They don’t have any true star when it comes to putting the ball in the basket. Jeff Green had some solid games last year bouncing back and forth between the small and power forward spots, and I look for him to take on more of the scoring load this winter. Rondo is going to distribute as he always has, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him call his own number more often, especially on a team that lacks a pure, go-to scorer.
Another key player is going to be Avery Bradley. We all know he’s a great defender but he’s another player on the roster that needs to take more shots. He’s well on his way to being the next great perimeter defender in the NBA, but if he can find a way to knock down the open jumpers that are sure to come as a product of playing alongside Rondo, he could have a breakout year offensively.
No one left on the team averaged more than 14 points per game last year — Rondo leads all returning Celtics with a 13.7 average. However, Green is coming off a solid year and showed he can score when he averaged 20.3 PPG in the playoffs. As a team, the C’s were 18th in PPG and 12th in points allowed.
Besides scoring, the Celtics need to work on rebounding. They were 29th in the NBA in rebounding last year. Behind Garnett’s team-leading 8.2 rebounds per game is Bass with 6.2. Olynyk and Humphries should grab a lot of rebounds and try to fill the void left by Garnett. Boston won’t be terrible defensively, but if they can’t clean up the other teams’ misses, it won’t matter how solid they are on that end of the floor.
With less than a month left until preseason starts, we’ll see how the C’s play and if General Manager Danny Ainge has something up his sleeve this season.
If this new Celtics team progresses over the season they’ll be a formidable opponent for any team. They’ll likely sneak into the playoffs and get a mediocre pick in the draft. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.