Jaylen Brown is putting together the kind of season that demands attention - not just from fans in Boston, but from the entire league. He’s playing like a legitimate MVP candidate, and his recent selection as an All-Star Game starter only reinforces what Celtics fans have been watching all year: Brown is the engine driving one of the NBA’s most complete teams.
But Brown isn’t doing it alone. One of the more surprising - and impactful - developments in Boston this season has been the emergence of Neemias Queta.
The big man has gone from a fringe rotation player to a legitimate Most Improved Player candidate. His physical presence in the paint and growing confidence on both ends of the floor have given Boston a reliable interior option off the bench, something they’ve lacked in recent years.
And the award buzz doesn’t stop there.
With the season now past the halfway mark, the Celtics are in the thick of the conversation for multiple end-of-season honors. Joe Mazzulla, in just his second full year as head coach, is making a strong case for Coach of the Year.
He was recently named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for December - his fourth such honor in as many seasons - and his team currently sits in second place with the league’s second-best offense. That’s not a coincidence.
According to one NBA executive whose team recently faced the Celtics, Boston is an “absolute buzz saw.” That’s not just praise - that’s a warning shot to the rest of the league. Under Mazzulla’s leadership, the Celtics are playing with precision, pace, and a level of cohesion that’s rare this early in a team’s development cycle.
Then there’s Derrick White, who’s quietly making a Defensive Player of the Year push. While he may not be the betting favorite, his case is rock-solid.
White has become the kind of defender who shows up everywhere - in passing lanes, contesting shots at the rim, switching onto bigger players, and blowing up actions before they even get going. He’s the connective tissue of Boston’s defense, and this year, he’s taken it up a notch.
White currently ranks third in the league in combined steals and blocks - a stat known as “stocks” - with 114. That’s a strong indicator of his impact, but it only tells part of the story.
Watch any Celtics game, and you’ll see White doing the little things that don’t show up in the box score: tagging rollers, rotating on time, stunting at ball-handlers, and recovering to shooters. He’s a defensive Swiss Army knife, and he’s making life miserable for opposing guards and wings on a nightly basis.
Now, there is a caveat in the DPOY race: Victor Wembanyama. If the Spurs’ rookie phenom meets the 65-game minimum to qualify for the award, he’ll likely vault to the top of the list.
But with 14 games already missed, Wemby has very little margin for error the rest of the way. That opens the door for players like White to stay in the mix.
Put it all together, and the Celtics aren’t just winning games - they’re building a résumé that could bring home multiple pieces of hardware by season’s end. Brown is playing like a superstar.
Queta is blossoming into a legitimate rotation piece. White is anchoring the defense.
And Mazzulla has the entire group humming.
It’s early, sure. But if this is what Boston looks like in January, the rest of the league should be paying close attention to what might be coming in June.