Why The Boston Celtics Will Win The NBA Championship In 2023-24
This is the year. Banner 18 is coming this year and I’m going to tell you why the Boston Celtics will lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2023-24. After being so close for so many years, the C’s should absolutely be considered the favorites to win it all this year.
Go ahead, call me a homer. I just don’t know how that’s true. I did nothing but bash this team a year ago for the idiotic mistakes they made. I never believed in this team during the Isaiah Thomas years. I haven’t believed in this team that they will trot out on the floor to this level since the Big 3 was formed in 2008. That’s the real truth.
The only question mark is coaching. That’s it. I wish Will Hardy was the coach of this team but I guess we can’t have everything we desire. The positive is that the Celtics have totally beefed up the staff around Joe Mazzulla. It was criminal what the Celtics did on that end a season ago. We’re not positive Mazzulla is the right guy but at least this staff is beefed up with real assistants like Sam Cassell.
The actual on-court team is by far the best in the league and I’m not sure it’s arguable. Nobody has more talent than this Celtics team. If you were building a team from scratch based on the new rules, you would want what the Celtics have. Two wings (Jaylen Brown & Jayson Tatum) that finished in the top two All-NBA teams that are in their prime and still have room to grow. For the first time ever, the Celtics have put the finishing pieces around them.
Al Horford still exists (unfortunately) but his role now makes more sense than ever. Horford was over 30 minutes per game last year. That’s coming way down with the addition of Kristaps Porzingis. Horford is nothing more than a catch and shoot guy right now. Any time the Celtics caught a switch, Horford could never take advantage offensively. It’s something that limited Boston’s true ceiling. The C’s have now added a total uniform to the mix.
I have begged, prayed, pleaded, etc to get Porzingis on this team and it actually happened. He’s absolutely perfect to pair with the two star wings. The C’s have a pick and roll element they didn’t have a year ago. They actually have front court offense. Rim protection, rebounding, 3-point shooting, defense, etc. Porzingis checks so many boxes that this team just didn’t have before him. Unlike in years past, Porzingis will make teams pay when he gets a mismatch.
The Porzingis addition wasn’t enough by itself. Not when you lost all of the grit on the team with Marcus Smart and Grant Williams departing. Frankly, Brad Stevens got lucky on this one. The C’s weren’t winning anything with bum Malcolm Brogdon returning. The Jrue Holiday trade was a stroke of genius and luck all at the same time.
Thanks to the Bucks, the C’s got Marcus Smart back except with a higher level of offense. I don’t know how they pulled it off but it should be considered the piece that takes Boston over the top. Nobody has a better defensive backcourt than the Celtics. It’s not even arguable. Both Derrick White and Holiday made the All-Defense team and rightfully so. Holiday is a master pick pocket artist and White continues to lead all guards in block shots. This is where dreams are made.
This is the best one through five in the entire league. Horford can now go back to playing defense and stretching the floor over limited minutes. The rest of the bench is underrated. Payton Pritchard is getting better and is a perfect spark plug as the third guard. Sam Hauser is a bit of an X-Factor. Still, Boston basically has all of their picks and a trade exception to use on a bench piece midseason.
Words can’t describe how excited I am for this season. It’s championship or bust and this team is built to absolute perfection. Some of it luck. Some of it thanks to Danny Ainge. When the C’s clinch Banner 18, let’s just make sure that Ainge gets his credit too, please.
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