The Boston Celtics have undergone a big change affecting their internal structure.
But it’s not a change of a coach. It wasn’t the change of a general manager or even the selling of the team, and subsequently the changing of a team governor or governing group.
No, the Boston Celtics made a change at point guard.
The changing of the guard-quite literally-was well documented. When current New York Nets guard Kyrie Irving left the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017 to join the Celtics. It was with the idea that he would be able to lead his own team and compete in the East with LeBron James’s Cavaliers.
Unfortunately, the locker room clashed, tensions boiled, and the Celtics fell out of the playoffs in the second round. In the 2019 offseason, the Kyrie Irving experiment ended. Irving left in free agency, and in response, Boston signed his successor; Kemba Walker.
Unlike Irving, who had come to the Celtics from a favorable situation, in which he was the second star behind James and the likely East favorites with the Cavaliers, Walker’s story is different. Drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats in 2012, he played through a rebranding and was named to the All-Star game three times before going to Boston. However, he was often the lone star on Charlotte’s roster and, between the years of 2012 and 2019, only made the playoffs twice.
However, Walker’s fortunes have changed in Boston. When he signed the four-year, 141 million deal to go to Boston last June, he joined a team that was much more talented roster-wise than the Hornets. He joined a team with players such as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart. While all of these players may be talented, another thing similar about them is that they are all young. None of these players are above the age of 25, and as such, most of their NBA experience has been under the leadership of either Kyrie Irving or Kemba Walker.
The difference in Point Guards helped in many ways. Although Kemba may be averaging fewer points (21.8 to Irving’s 23.8) and assists (5.0 to Irving’s 6.9), the team overall is doing better with Walker bringing the ball up the court. Their offensive rating per 100 possessions is 113.1, compared to being 112.2 last year, and their defensive rating per 100 possessions is 106.2, compared to 107.8 in 2018-19. These may be incremental improvements, but several players are contributing to this increase in numbers by playing far better than last year. For example, Jayson Tatum has gone from averaging 15.7 points last season to 22.4 this year; and that has only come with a three-minute increase in MPG. Marcus Smart, who plays guard right next to Walker, has averaged 12.5 points-per-game this season as opposed to a less impressive 8.9 last year, in only a four-minute increase in minutes.
However, there is an increase in another category that does not go on the stat sheet; morale. The morale of players is very important, and many factors go into it.
However, one such factor is the attitude of other players. It’s fairly simple to understand; you spend practice, flights, and games with this group of guys. Because you spend so much time around them, their attitude can influence yours. If that attitude is negative, then the whole team feels slightly more negative and suffers because of it. However, if you are positive and uplifting, the other players on your team might feel that as well.
It seems that Walker’s teammates feel comfortable with him around. In an article from NBC Sports from Oct. 25, one of the leading scorers for the team with 25 points, Jaylen Brown, said that he was glad to have Walker on the team after Walker himself encouraged Brown after taking a poor shot.
The Celtics guard was quoted saying; “It’s great for me just to know that he has your back because you don’t always have that case or that scenario.”
While it is unclear if his statement that a player wouldn’t always have that scenario is an allusion to the poor situation during the Irving Celtics era, something that is clear is that Walker being on the Celtics is positively affecting them.
What does all of this add up to? Well, if you’re the Boston Celtics, it’s all positive. This team is now projected to finish with 55.5 wins, which is up from their 49-33 record last year.
Entering Wednesday, they were third in the East with a 38-16 record.
Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving’s Brooklyn Nets are not doing as well. They are sitting at 25-28, and in seventh in the East. This trend will likely not change anytime soon, as the other superstar the Nets acquired in free agency, Kevin Durant, is sidelined for the season with an Achilles injury. Meanwhile, while Walker has managed to play in 46 out of the 54 Celtics games, Irving has only managed to play in 20 Nets games due to a shoulder injury and, according to ESPN, is going to see a specialist to deal with the nagging ailment.
Based on the way the playoff projections entering Wednesday, the Nets and Celtics would match up in the first round of the playoffs. If that were to happen, it appears that the advantage would very much be with the Celtics, due to the culture change they went through.
