The Boston Celtics open up their season on Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers, a team the Celtics have notoriously dominated over the past four seasons.
However, there’s a lot of roster turnover on this Celtics team: Kyrie Irving took his polarizing ego to the city that never sleeps, Al Horford jumped ship from Title Town to the City of Brotherly Love, while Aron Baynes and Marcus Morris both found themselves out of Boston’s future plans as well.
With this new roster comes a change in everyone’s role with the team, and here are the top five Celtics with the most to prove in 2019.
5. Jayson Tatum
Tatum has blossomed into a young phenom at the NBA level. But even with all of that comes a certain level of doubt as he goes from young gun to seasoned talent. After an impressive rookie campaign, Tatum came down to earth shooting the ball, posting just 37.3 percent from behind the line.
While that is still above the league average (35.5 percent), it’s a far cry from the 43.4 percent Tatum exhibited in his inaugural campaign. With Irving and Horford out of the fold, there’s an opportunity for more shots for the Duke product. However, how he responds to the increased role remains to be seen.
4. Kemba Walker
The Celtics were able to get something in return for the services of Terry Rozier by acquiring Kemba Walker in a sign-and-trade deal that was agreed upon in principle on Jul 1. While the three-time All-Star is coming off a career-high 25.6 points per game, he achieved that on a team that went 39-43 (ninth in the conference).
Walker is an elite scorer of the basketball, but there’s no real proof that he can remain effective in an offense that far and away exceeds any of the teams Walker has played on in the past.
3. Brad Stevens
After a season like last year, a lot of criticism went in the direction of the Celtics head coach. Does his college-like philosophy work in the NBA? Is he only able to coach a roster of underdog players? Can he not handle a complicated mix of egos?
A lot of these questions can be answered in 2019. But the fact of the matter is the Celtics improved every season under Brad Stevens, at least until they gave him his most talented roster to work with. He has a lot to prove this season, and if he underachieves again, Boston could be on the hunt for a new coach again next summer.
2. Jaylen Brown
Brown agreed to a four-year extension worth up to $115 million on Monday afternoon. It’s an extension that came as a shock to many, both from a money standpoint as well as the overall fact they came to an agreement.
Brown turned down a reported four-year, $80 million contract extension just last week, saying that he was “betting on himself” to reach the All-Star level he’s shown flashes of in his first three seasons. Danny Ainge accommodated his soon-to-be 24-year-old winger by paying him an average of $28.5 million in average annual value. The rest is up to Brown as to whether he is worth the dollar figure he so greatly coveted.
1. Gordon Hayward
This one shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Gordon Hayward is already in the third year of his four-year max contract, a contract that has proved to be a failure for the Celtics. In fairness, the failure is to nobody’s fault in particular. Hayward broke his ankle in Year 1, had to try and overcome serious mental hurdles in Year 2, but saw his performance teeter between a star and a replacement-level player.
In 2019, Hayward has no more excuses; he quite simply has to play at an All-Star level, or at least close to it. If he repeats his 2018 season, this could go down as one of the worst contracts in team history, if not the NBA. This team goes as far as Gordon Hayward can take them, and if he’s a 12 points-per-game scorer again, it’s going to be a long year for the Green & White.
