Can the two Jay’s bring the C’s back?
Three Eastern Conference Finals appearances in five seasons for the Boston Celtics.
Three in five seasons for Jaylen Brown. Two in four seasons for Jayson Tatum.
Three NBA All-Star appearances combined and a singular All-NBA selection between them as well, going to Tatum at the end of the 2019–20 season as he was named to the third team.
This has already been what one of the best young duos in the NBA have achieved with so much of their career still to go, hopefully as teammates.
But even with both players still being under the age of 25, is it fair to say that fans of the C’s should be unhappy with the way ownership and management have dealt with the roster now that the two Jay’s are faces of the franchise? Or will the arrival of a new head coach help to smooth over some roster imbalance?
Let’s rewind back to the past couple of years as I discuss the shortcomings of the Boston Celtics before finally looking to the present day roster to see whether they can become a true threat to make it out of the East for the first time since 2010.
Before Tatum had become a Celtic, it was the 2016–17 squad featuring a then 20-year-old Brown that were four wins away from the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012 going up against a familiar foe in LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a match-up that wasn’t close.
Boston would lose their leading scorer, Isaiah Thomas, just two games into the series due to a hip injury which still haunts his NBA career even to this day. The team, led by Brad Stevens, would have to rely on scoring by committee: zero players would average 20 PPG (Avery Bradley led the team in series with 19.2!) and nine players averaged over 9 PPG.
Brown was used sparingly, averaging only 17 minutes a night but still averaged 9 PPG on 58.6% shooting from the field, as the reigning champs defeated Boston in five games, winning by a average of 20(!) points to set up a rematch with the Golden State Warriors.
It didn’t take long for Celtics fans to get to see their two young wings in action under the bright lights, as in the 2017–18 season, after besting the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers in previous rounds, Boston yet again faced the Cavaliers, this time equipped with 20-year-old rookie Jayson Tatum but undermanned as Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving were out injured. Boston fought valiantly but once again LeBron James was the bane of Boston’s existence: averaging 34, 9 and 8 on 52.4% from the field and 40.9% from 3.
Nonetheless, it was here where we saw the huge potential of Brown and Tatum as they would seek to put the league on notice by trying to take down James and reach the finals at 21 and 20-years old, respectively.
Brown would average almost 20 a game during that series on 44/36/76 splits, showcasing the new found confidence in his jumper after a regular season which saw him average 39.5% from 3 on almost 4.5 attempts a game.
And as for Tatum, it was the series that many had already linked his stardom to: averaging almost 18 a night on 50/35/87 splits. Playing downhill, thriving in isolation, attacking mismatches whenever the Cavs switched screens and being able to hold his own on defense; he looked like a polished veteran during this 7-game series.
Oh, and he had a dunk that you’ve probably seen before:
After a bitterly underachieving 2018–19 campaign filled with controversy and drama, which would see the Celtics bounced in the ECSF by the Bucks, Boston hoped to bounce back with the addition of Kemba Walker replacing Kyrie Irving, who headed to Brooklyn.
Even though heading into the season, Walker was billed as being the ‘robin’ to Jayson Tatum after his performances on his old squad, the Hornets, it was Jaylen Brown who stepped up his game: STILL improving on that jumper of his, developing a big part of his game while in the bubble (going to touch on that in a bit, same with Tatum too) and almost being named to his first All-Star game.
As for his running mate, Tatum would ascend into the star that he showcased in 2018; averaging 23/7/3 on 45/40/81 shooting splits, ditching a majority of his long mid-ranges in exchange for sidestep and step-back three-pointers, as evidenced by his 7.1(!) attempts a game, almost doubling his output from the previous season.
Heading back to what I alluded to earlier, the two Jay’s made huge improvements on their game during the second round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors, which didn’t involve shooting the ball. Let’s start with Tatum.
The Raptors were one of the best defensive teams in the 2019–20 regular season, ranking 2nd in defensive efficiency, per NBA.com. A big reason why was the schemes that coach Nick Nurse would employ on star players, such as Kawhi Leonard for example, (Leonard made a season low 2 FG on a season-low 11 FGA in the November 2019 match-up with Nurse’s squad).
So heading into the series, it was clear what defense Toronto would play on Boston: take the ball out of Tatum’s hands, make him uncomfortable playing in the pick-and-roll through double teams and force the other Celtics’ to create offense for themselves. After all, this was the first (competitive) series that he was billed as being the undisputed #1 option. And boy, did he deliver.
Tatum would average 24 & 10 on 42/40/80 splits in a hard fought seven-game series win but the playmaking strides he had made were clear for all to see. He would average 5.3 assists a game with the likes of Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby draped all over him, and with Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka looking to swarm him whenever he turned the corner to drive.
This video showcases the variety that Tatum showed during the series: whether it was dishing off to a big under the basket or to a wide open shooter in the corner, the then 22-year-old had developed a big part of his game that will serve him well going forward.
As for Jaylen Brown, who was often the beneficiary for Tatum’s playmaking, the defense that he had played on Siakam had interested me the most. Throughout Brown’s career, while he has been noted as a solid defender (off-ball defense is another story), I was intrigued during Game 1 of the series to see him being the primary defender on Siakam and was interested to see how that would play out for the remainder of the series, especially considering the great year that Pascal just had.
It was a rounding success. Siakam would look a shell of himself, averaging only 15 PPG in the series on 38/13/73 splits and just looked uncomfortable whenever he would matchup with Brown; whether it was off the dribble, in the pick and roll and or even in the post.
After the gruelling series, Boston would then match-up with the gritty Miami Heat who were coming off of an impressive five-game series win over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Celtics would be overwhelmed by the Heat’s zone defense, as well as being unable to contain Bam Adebayo’s dives to the rim, leading to quality looks for himself and shooters around him such as Duncan Robinson, Goran Dragic and Jae Crowder.
Both Brown and Tatum would average 20+ a night in the series as the C’s were took down in six games.
Heading into the 2020–21 regular season, the Celtics were billed as one of the outsiders for the Eastern Conference crown, considering what Miami had just achieved, the Bucks acquiring Jrue Holiday and the Nets being able to get Kevin Durant healthy for the season. Still, there was optimism that with another year of experience under the belts of Brown and Tatum, it would help the squad to gain some cohesion and try to make some noise in the East.
It didn’t work out that way.
Boston finished the year in 7th place in the Eastern Conference with a 36–36 record, needing a win over the Washington Wizards in the play-in tournament to make the playoffs. Their prize? Losing in the first round against the Nets big 3 of James Harden, Kevin Durant and former Celtic Kyrie Irving. So where did it all go wrong?
It was tough for the Celtics to make up ground in the race in the Eastern Conference standings purely because they didn’t stand out on either side of the floor in comparison to the teams above them. The Sixers, Nets, Bucks, Knicks, Hawks and Heat would rank in the top 10 league-wide in either offensive or defensive efficiency, per NBA.com.
However, if there was one silver lining in the playoffs, it was the performance of Jayson Tatum. With Brown out for the entire series, Tatum did all he could to try and keep the series as competitive as possible, averaging 31/6/5 on 42/39/92 shooting splits, including a 50-piece in a Game 3 victory in Boston.
JT would take full advantage of Brooklyn’s switch-heavy defense and proceed to torch the Nets in isolation, whether it was down low in the post, in the mid-range or even behind the arc.
And now, we head into the upcoming 2021–22 season. I think it would be fair to say that Boston are in a similar position to last year: not considered one of the top teams in their conference, but still can’t be counted out. The biggest news in the off-season for the C’s was Brad Stevens stepping down from his role as coach and was instead named the new president of basketball operations, replacing Danny Ainge.
Replacing Stevens was 44 year-old and former 7-year NBA veteran Ime Udoka. While this is Udoka’s first head coaching job in the league, it won’t be his first time being a part of a coaching staff in the NBA with him having stops in San Antonio, Philadelphia and most recently, Brooklyn.
Due to Udoka being a part of Gregg Popovich’s Olympic coaching staff and Tatum electing to represent his country, the two have already been able to get into the gym.
It will be interesting to see how he gets the best out of this team, as I’m still not totally convinced by the roster construction.
It feels like it has been far too long since the Celtics have had a 6'7/6'8 veteran role player (Nic Batum, Jae Crowder, PJ Tucker, Jeff Green etc. type players) that can guard multiple positions while also being able to shoot (Semi Ojeleye does not count). Pairing that kind of player alongside Smart, Brown and Tatum could have offered Udoka the chance to match-up against some of the elite perimeter teams (Brooklyn), while also spacing the floor for Jaylen and Jayson to give them more room to operate.
Some more quick notes about Boston’s roster:
- Enes Kanter as a third string center should be fine, he is serviceable and provides cover for Al Horford & Robert Williams (who needs to stay healthy)!
- The Horford-Kemba trade was pretty lateral to me; writing was on the wall for Walker in Boston, and the Celtics hope Horford gets back to his form years back wearing green.
- Dennis Schroder has a great chance to get back to his OKC days by being a sixth man once again, getting downhill and creating offense for a Celtic bench that desperately needs it.
- But where does that leave Payton Pritchard? 3rd string PG? Or two guard bench line-ups with Schroder and one of either Brown/Tatum?
- Newest Celtic Josh Richardson had a underwhelming end to last season, but if he can regain confidence in his game, he and Marcus Smart can become a terror on opposing guards.
At the end of the day, Boston will only go as far as Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum take them. And while, in my opinion, they fall just short of the powerhouses in the East, a revamped roster and new head coach brings some much-needed optimism to Beantown.
