The Boston Celtics were a mediocre team in the 2020-21 season, finishing 7th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 36-36 and bowing out of the playoffs in the first round to the Brooklyn Nets. Jayson Tatum led the way for the Celtics averaging 26.4 points per game. There were not many positives to take away from a rather forgettable season for Boston in what turned out to be Brad Steven’s last one as head coach.
Reasons to Buy
The Celtics’ price on the simbull market is $32.72 right now, the 7th highest price on the market in the NBA. It was evident the moment Boston’s season came to an end that they were going to need to have a big offseason. The Celtics wasted no time in beginning their restructuring process as Danny Ainge stepped down as president of basketball operations. As a result, Brad Stevens was promoted to take over Ainge’s role. Ime Udoka was then hired as the new head coach. Stevens immediately got to work in his new role, trading Kemba Walker and multiple draft picks to Oklahoma City for Al Horford, Moses Brown and a draft pick. All of this is reason for optimism. A shakeup of some sort was necessary and changes needed to be made in order for this team to head back in the right direction. The fact that Jayson Tatum is reportedly “extremely happy” about the Ime Udoka hiring is great news as well because it seemed like many players were tuning out Brad Stevens throughout the course of this past season. Having a new coach that most players appear to be on board with should go a long way in establishing a true winning culture that is needed for this team. In regards to the the team on the floor, the Kemba Walker trade will hopefully solve Boston’s big man problem and more offseason moves should improve the team overall heading into next season.
Reasons to Sell
Although Boston have made moves right away to begin the offseason, there is still more work to do. They likely won’t get much value from the NBA draft since their first-round pick was included in the Walker trade package. Although change is needed, there is no guarantee that all will go well since it could take a little time for the Celtics to fulfill their full potential with a considerable amount of new pieces. This is a team that needs to drastically improve if they want to even be in the conversation of challenging for an NBA title. A big reason the Celtics struggled greatly last season was due to the selfishness of many players including the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The team will need to be more unselfish or they won’t get anywhere next year. While a change in coach could change such tendencies of certain players, I am still unsure if this team will have the necessary chemistry to perform well on a consistent basis and contend in the East.
Final Word
The offseason has only just begun and there are likely more moves to come that will inevitably improve the team. It will also be interesting to see how Ime Udoka does in his first season as a head coach. I think we will see an improved team and Udoka will do well next season. With that being said, I still believe that the Celtics are a bit too high on the market at the moment. I don’t quite see them being a top 7 team in the league next season. The Celtics had so many flaws last season, so no matter what else happens this offseason, I still don’t see this team being one of the top teams in the conference. While there is certainly a chance I could be proven wrong, I would sell at this moment in time.
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