The dumb narrative about the Celtics that everyone believed — and why it’s dead wrong originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Boston Celtics were supposed to be bad this season. Jayson Tatum was going to miss most of the campaign after his torn Achilles. They got rid of size in the offseason.
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Well, two of those sentences are true. But the first one was a bad narrative to begin with. There wasn't actually evidence that the Celtics would be bad.
Now, Jaylen Brown is calling out the doubters, and that's fair. There were a lot of them. Some wondered whether the Celtics should just chase draft positioning and try again next year.
And yes, it's easy to say now, but genuinely: Those doubts were silly in the first place.
This is a team that still had JB, and Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard.
Anyone who watched Neemias Queta play last year knew he could contribute inside if given the minutes.
Sam Hauser had already proven himself as a high-level shooter.
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The pieces really did fit together just fine, and the Celtics got rid of an aging Al Horford, an aging Jrue Holiday and a battling-illness Kristaps Porzingis. Was that actually guaranteed to make Boston worse?
Yes, Tatum's absence was always going to be a major difference. Boston didn't have world-beater potential without him.
But the chance to win a lot of games in an Eastern Conference that still features a terrible bottom half? That was always present.
If Brown and White stayed healthy, the Celtics were never going to miss the playoffs.
Now, they're chasing the top spot in the East. And Tatum is back.
So much for the doubters. Maybe it's worth considering the whole picture before making any sweeping judgements like that again.