The Boston Celtics have had a puzzling offseason. By trading away Jaylen Brown, one of their franchise cornerstones, to a long-time conference and division rival in the Philadelphia 76ers, it appears they opened up a can of worms.
In a vacuum, Brad Stevens helped to steer the team in the right direction with the latest moves this summer. Signing veterans Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley Jr., locking in extensions for Ron Harper Jr., Jordan Walsh, and Neemias Queta, and drafting Chris Cenac Jr. and Dillon
Mitchell were all hits.
Though controversial, swapping JB for Paul George and picks could be seen as a small win too, finding a player who could be a slightly better fit next to Jayson Tatum, while also giving the team more flexibility for the future.
If we leave the vacuum and look to the rest of the league, Boston’s situation might not look as appealing. By sending Brown to the Sixers, it seems they turned Philly into the hottest destination of the offseason. Dean Wade, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Anfernee Simons – oh, and LeBron James all decided to join JB, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and VJ Edgecombe to help fill out the roster in pursuit of a ring.
The Miami Heat took a swing of their own, beating out Boston in the race for Giannis Antetokounmpo that later prompted the Brown trade. They haven’t had much financial flexibility to improve the roster around him and Bam Adebayo, but they’re a team that constantly overachieves under the coaching of Erik Spoelstra, so they can’t be taken lightly.
The Charlotte Hornets sent out LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges in favor of more veteran players as they look to make their first return to the post-season since Kemba Walker was on the team. The Toronto Raptors went all-in for Kawhi Leonard as well, though we’ll have to see how the league handles that one…
The Indiana Pacers made their push last season when they gave up a haul for Ivica Zubac, giving Tyrese Haliburton a solid starting center to work with and round out the team as he returns from rehabbing his torn Achilles. The New York Knicks, reigning champs, are bringing back nearly the same roster that won it all, the main change being the loss of Mitchell Robinson, who they now replaced with Andre Drummond.
Long story short, the Eastern Conference got a whole lot better, and a whole lot more competitive. Several teams made big moves to win now, so why didn’t Boston? Why favor “optionality” over a proven super star like Giannis?
It’s a fair question fans have been asking all offseason. Sorry to say, I’m not sure I have the answer, if there is one at all.
Only one team brings home the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the end. Is a high chance of winning the championship this season worth more than maybe having a potentially high chance of winning one or more championships in the future?
As we’ve learned in the past, even “super teams” aren’t guaranteed to win every year. If the Celtics traded Jaylen, Hugo Gonzalez, and Baylor Scheierman for Giannis, a package that Boston was rumored to have been unwilling to offer, instead of trading Brown for PG, would they be closer to winning a championship this year? I would bet on it. Would they be head-and-shoulders over the rest of the league, or even the rest of the East? Not to the point where a ring would be guaranteed, especially given Giannis’ injury history.
Keep in mind, Giannis is also on the final guaranteed year of his contract, with a player option in the following season. Boston would be faced with either extending him for another four years at around $275 million, or potentially seeing him walk in free agency. If he continues to have health issues, would extending him make sense?
It’s hard to say what the “right” answer is. So much of sports is left up to chance. If things go according to plan, it’s a no-brainer to always go all-in, but it’s incredibly rare for that to happen. Injuries can strike at any time, even after perfect preparation, as Celtics fans already saw with Jayson Tatum.
For my fellow Red Sox fans, we gave up a haul of top prospects at the trade deadline in a win-now move, acquiring Adley Rutschman from the Baltimore Orioles. Rutschman is a great player at a position of need coming from an in-division team, and was also being pursued by Boston’s rivals as well.
This comes in a season where the Red Sox were playing terribly to start and sitting well outside of the playoff picture for quite some time. Their climb back into a wildcard spot for the playoffs has felt magical at times, and the front office decided it was as good a time as any to make a real push for a ring.
Boston is dealing with some injuries to key players at the moment, and now with five straight losses, it feels like their improbable comeback is starting to lose steam. If they don’t win it all, was it a bad idea for them to make the trade? Could one or more of those prospects have brought Boston a ring somewhere down the line?
Again, there’s no right answer.
Jeff Passan, ESPN’s lead MLB insider, said on the Pardon My Take podcast that fans have been “conditioned to accept that now is not as important as the future,” going on to say that he hates that as a fan. He made that comment while saying that the Red Sox “comically overpaid” for Rutschman, though praising them for actually “going for it.” He wants “executives and owners to treat this year like it’s the last year that’s going to be played… We don’t know what the future is going to look like. We don’t know when our franchise player is going to suffer a catastrophic injury … So why wouldn’t we throw all of our resources at what we’ve got right now, and try to steal a championship.”
It’s a very fair assessment to make, and incredibly hard to argue with as a fan. In my heart, I share the same sentiment, though it is noteworthy that the MLB and NBA operate very differently in terms of salaries, roster spots, and the ability to have and develop prospects. The stakes are a bit higher on a player-to-player basis in the NBA when playoff rotation can shrink to as small as 6-7 players.
Maybe you trade DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard, and immediately win your first championship in franchise history. Maybe you trade Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a boatload of picks for Paul George and end up with at least half a decade of mediocrity, if not more.
Regardless, I think everything Celtics fans have felt this offseason has been justified, and I say that knowing how hard it is to find two Celtics fans who agree on anything more than loving the team. The pain, the joy, the confusion, the anger – all of it is justified.
Unfortunately — or maybe fortunately — we aren’t in those executive offices making the tough decisions. We don’t get to dictate the makeup of the team. We just get to feel what we feel, and if so inclined, share it with the world as we all watch along.
No one knows the future. Maybe this current iteration of the team is still enough to get it done. The only way to find out is to wait and see how everything plays out. It may be frustrating at times, but I for one would like to sit back and enjoy the ride, wherever it may take us.
