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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Friday, March 29, 2024

Keeping up with the 617: Assessing the state of the Celtics

Matth-Goguen-Keeping-up-with-the-617

Despite the coronavirus pandemic that is overshadowing this season, the NBA has had enough drama and storylines to vault basketball into the sports spotlight in 2021. Teams with young talent have entered playoff contention, NBA superstars have been traded and new rookies are exceeding expectations. The Celtics, however, have been nothing short of a disappointment. Entering the All-Star break at 19–17 and fourth in the East, the Celtics have been depleted for much of the first half of the season. Although they've won four straight, dating back to Feb. 26, they've had many questionable losses, including two to the bottom-feeder Detroit Pistons. What has gone wrong?

Fans were quick to blame Brad Stevens for the Celtics' most recent struggles. Although Stevens has made questionable decisions late in games that cost the Celtics some victories, he is not entirely to blame for this disastrous slump. The Celtics have been without Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for significant chunks of the season, and Stevens was still able to scrape the bottom of the barrel and produce a slightly efficient lineup. He's brought the best out of a few rookies, particularly Payton Pritchard, and is still hoping to develop players such as Robert Williams III and Grant Williams.

Recently, Tatum stated that he is still feeling the residual effects of COVID-19. He said he's sluggish while moving up and down the court and was getting fatigued more quickly than normal. His stat lines tell the same story; since coming back from his bout with coronavirus, Tatum's PPG have dropped 2.7 points and his 3-point percentage is down almost seven percentage points

Although the Celtics tend to rely heavily on Tatum to pull off incredible shots, the Celtics bench still has a large impact on the team. This offseason, Danny Ainge set out to trade Gordon Hayward and acquire efficient role players — he succeeded in only one of those goals. The signings of veterans such as Tristan Thompson and Jeff Teague have not panned out; Thompson is averaging only 7.9 PPG while Teague's PPG is 6.4, which is his lowest per game total since 2010

The slump that the Celtics endured toward the end of the first half of the season seemed to be caused mostly by inefficient offensive numbers, particularly from All-NBA player Tatum and the bench veterans. This current situation exemplifies the weak depth of the Celtics; if Tatum isn't able to consistently produce north of 25 PPG, the team is in trouble. Yet, as the Celtics climbed out of their slump by firing up four straight wins, it seems like they've gelled as a team once again.

I am absolutely not writing off the Celtics. Not yet. They've seemed to figure out how to efficiently score again and the starting lineup has played effective minutes. However, their bench is atrocious — I truly believe Pritchard is the only player that can give the Celtics good minutes down the stretch. If the Celtics want to inch their way into the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference, they need to trade for either a big man or an effective role player that can be plugged into any lineup. If the C's have another long slump, Boston fans might be calling for Stevens’ job.