As the regular season gets closer, the Celtics are starting to get back to a place they know well: the center of the championship conversation.
The latest example came Monday in Michael Pina’s column for The Ringer, where he ranked and tiered the league by regular-season finish and title chances. Pina put Boston at No. 4 overall, alone at the top of a tier called “Title Contenders With a Puncher’s Chance.”
Only the Spurs, Knicks, and Thunder were ranked ahead of them, and those three were grouped in the top tier, “If You Aren’t Picking One of These Teams to Win It All, God Bless You.” After that, the Celtics were the next team on the board, ahead of West powers like the Nuggets, Rockets, Timberwolves, and Lakers, and also ahead of every other East team that has been treated as if it has a higher ceiling: the Raptors, 76ers, Pistons, Cavaliers, and Pacers.
That kind of placement is a noticeable shift from the way Boston has been discussed since the Jaylen Brown trade. Early on, the reaction around the league was that the Celtics had been fleeced and had blown up their championship window. Then the tone softened into a more modest view: Boston would be a strong regular-season team, but not much more.
Now the pendulum has swung again.
The case for Boston is pretty straightforward. Jayson Tatum is fully healthy and still the engine.
The roster around him is deep. The coach is a championship coach.
And unlike some of the teams being pushed ahead of them in the East, the Celtics have already done the thing everyone else is still trying to prove they can do.
That matters. A lot.
The Ringer is owned by Bill Simmons, one of the most recognizable Celtics fans anywhere, but this staff has not exactly been shy about being hard on Boston or the Brown trade. That makes Pina’s ranking stand out even more.
It’s not just blind loyalty carrying the argument. It’s a recognition that the league may have gotten too comfortable dismissing a team that actually has the hardware to back up its case.
And the criticism of the other East contenders is pretty direct. Why, exactly, should a Raptors team with no playoff success be treated as more dangerous?
Why should a 76ers group that hasn’t made a conference finals since Allen Iverson be given the edge? Why is there so much faith in a Heat team lacking shooting and depth, or in a Pacers team with Tyrese Haliburton coming off a torn Achilles?
A Pistons team that lost Isaiah Stewart and Tobias Harris and may lose Jalen Duren? A Cavs team that relies on James Harden?
The answer, from this perspective, is that none of them have earned that kind of benefit of the doubt.
Boston has. The Celtics won a title just two years ago with the same coach and many of the same players, and Brad Stevens believes this group can be better.
They still may not end up right at the top of the East, and they’re understandably behind the Knicks in this conversation. But the idea that Boston should be written off as a playoff team without real championship equity is looking weaker by the day.
In Other News...
Celtics Have A Low-Risk Point Guard Option Worth Watching
Ryan Nembhard has popped onto the Celtics radar as a possible low-risk point guard addition, the kind of move that often surfaces around this part of the roster cycle. The 23-year-old was recently traded to the Charlotte Hornets and is expected to be waived, which could open the door for Boston to take a closer look at a player who already has some NBA experience and a track record as a distributor.
Nembhard spent time with the Dallas Mavericks on a two-way contract and made enough of an impression to set a rookie assist record, a useful calling card for a team that could use added depth at point guard behind its main group. Boston already has several players tied up on two-way deals, so any decision here would have to fit the teams flexibility and its appetite for another developmental guard worth monitoring. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Face A Costly Payton Pritchard Decision Soon
Payton Pritchard is entering a stretch that could shape both his future and Bostons rotation planning, with the guard eligible to sign an extension starting Oct. 1. After a breakout season that stood as the best of his NBA career, Pritchard has become a far more important piece for the Celtics, and the price of keeping him around has moved well beyond the bargain-bin range.
Boston has already extended contracts to other players recently, and there is an expectation around the team that Pritchard will get serious consideration as well. The question now is whether the Celtics are ready to commit to a deal that could reach roughly three years and $67 million, a costly number for a player they clearly view as part of the next stretch of their roster. [Read more 🡒]
Jayson Tatum Put On Blast As Celtics Loyalty Debate Heats Up
The Celtics long-running image as a tight-knit core has taken a small but messy hit in the court of opinion, with DeMarcus Cousins taking aim at Jayson Tatum on a podcast over what he sees as a lapse in loyalty toward Jaylen Brown. Cousins criticism centered on the idea that Tatum did not contact Brown after Brown was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, a move that naturally marked a difficult stretch in Browns career and put their relationship under the microscope.
Tatum has publicly spoken highly of Brown, but Cousins suggested those comments came off more like polished public relations than a reflection of real support. For Boston, the debate lands in familiar territory: the franchise has spent years selling the strength of its stars' bond, and any hint of distance between the faces of the team tends to draw outsized attention, especially when it comes from a former NBA veteran willing to say the quiet part out loud. [Read more 🡒]