The 2020 Celts ended on a disappointing note.
That shouldn't obscure the fact that what they achieved this season is pretty close to the reasonable best case scenario you could have laid out for them prior to the start of the 2019-2020 season.
The key point is that Jayson Tatum demonstrated that he has the ability to be the focal point of a top 5-10 offense while also playing elite defense. Jaylen Brown showed that he can be a consistent, efficient secondary scoring option while also playing very good defense.
In other words, the blueprint for contention is here. The Celts have two very good, still quite young star players who will be under contract for the near future.
They also have a team leader and culture setter in Marcus Smart, as well as a very good coach in Brad Stevens (even though he isn't perfect).
That places the Celts in a very good position moving forward. They've done the hardest part of team building, which is put together a core of talent around which a top 5 offense and top 5 defense can be built (i.e. a contender).
What comes next for Ainge and co. is to figure out how to put in place and maintain the best possible supporting cast. There's a lot of strategy required there; lots of room for big successes and major failures. However, the biggest issue has been taken care of: we know what the basic premise of this team is and will be moving forward.
This all occurred to me the other day when I was thinking back on the last half decade or so of Celtics teams. Even as the Celts were enjoying relative success, there was a lot of uncertainty about what moves Danny might make next. Jimmy Butler? Kawhi Leonard? Anthony Davis? What will that Clippers pick turn into? What about that Grizzlies pick? For a while we were waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The shoes have dropped. There's not much reason at this point to speculate about blockbuster trades or franchise altering moves. We know who the main guys are. All we can do now is argue about the minor moves, the little things that can nonetheless make or break a title run.
In other words, we're back in a similar spot to where we were in 2009-2012, when the major debates surrounded the best big men that might be available on the buyout market to bolster the depth behind Garnett and Perk. Sheldon Williams, anyone? Mikki Moore? How about giving Sean Williams a try? He got a lot of blocks in college!
Weirdly I think it's kind of hard, in some respects, to transition to this as a fan. We can't spend an off season holding our breath about a major free agent signing, or whether Danny is gonna put all of his chips in the center of the table to go after the next big name to want out of his current situation. Instead, we kind of have to just trust in our guys.
Still: this is exactly where we should want to be. I don't think the Celtics are ever going to be the favorite to win the title anytime in the next 5 years. That said, I think they should be in a good position to have a top 5 offense and a top 5 defense in any given year. That's going to give them a chance to make a deep playoff run every single season. They, and we, have to hope that in at least one of those years, everything breaks in their favor. There are no guarantees, but I'm optimistic that they will have a really good chance to win a title at some point.
The short version of all of this is:
We just have to sit back, strap in, and try to enjoy every moment of the ride.
The legend of Tatum and Brown is only just starting to be written. The legend of Marcus Smart, and the saga of Brad Stevens, are ongoing. I'm excited to see what happens, even if there's less in the way of fodder for fantastical trade idea threads and less reason to endlessly refresh Twitter on the first day of the free agency moratorium.
Topic: For better or worse - time to just enjoy the ride (Read 3305 times)