Last season, the Boston Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals before eventually being eliminated by the Miami Heat. Behind Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Gordon Hayward, the team was among the most exciting to watch, and their success earned them a status as one of the best up-and-coming teams in the NBA.
This campaign, however, things haven’t gone according to plan. After Sunday night’s blowout loss to the Wizards, the Celtics stand at just 13-13 on the year, 5th in the East.
No doubt, it’s not the place they want to be, and even Danny Ainge can’t help but admit change might be necessary to get this team out of its funk.
“Just changing faces doesn’t always change things,” Ainge said, via Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe, “but it may have to come to that.”
Ainge’s warning is exactly right: new faces don’t always lead to the desired results. Sometimes, other factors are at play.
But for Boston, it’s clear their roster just isn’t good enough to contend at a high level right now. After Tatum, Brown, and Smart, it seems everyone on the roster is expendable. With the trade deadline approaching, it’s certainly plausible that Ainge makes a sizeable move.
But if the past is any indication, he could stick to his guns and wait for the offseason.
Whatever the case, we can expect the C’s to turn things around eventually. Whether now or later, we all know better than to think they’re going to be down for a long time. The only question now is, which player(s) will still be given up in the process?
