The Celtics have made their intentions plain, and that may be the biggest thing working in their favor. This is Joe Mazzulla’s team, built around Jayson Tatum, and the style is not a mystery anymore.
Night after night, Boston is going to push possessions, attack the offensive glass, fight for the turnover edge, spread the floor and let it fly from deep. That formula has already shown it can work, and after last season’s success, the Celtics are doubling down on it even harder.
The moves they made only sharpen that picture. Swapping Jaylen Brown for Paul George and adding Mitchell Robinson tells you exactly what this roster is supposed to look like and how each piece is meant to fit. Whether that adds up to a championship contender is still an open question, but the direction is unmistakable.
Philadelphia is taking the opposite road.
While teams like Boston are trimming down long-term money that doesn’t match the modern NBA’s financial realities, the Sixers are betting big on a collection of stars that doesn’t fit any clean template. They’ve got talent, no question. What they don’t have yet is a clear identity.
Is this Tyrese Maxey’s team, with everyone else adjusting around him? Are they going to slow things down and run the offense through Joel Embiid from the high post?
Is JB the main option, with the ball in his hands most of the time? Or does this somehow become another LeBron James team?
Those are all fair questions, and right now there isn’t an obvious answer. The Sixers will probably sort through it as they go, mixing and matching until something clicks, but that kind of process is easier to describe than it is to pull off.
That’s what makes the contrast so stark. In a league where so many teams are chasing the same trends, Philadelphia is moving in the other direction while the Celtics, Thunder and others are planning for both now and later. Boston and Oklahoma City are building with an eye on sustained success, not just the next few months.
The Sixers, meanwhile, are loading up on three massive contracts and adding one of the biggest stars in the world to the mix. It’s an awkward construction, and it doesn’t exactly come with a safety net.
The upside is obvious. So is the risk.
In Other News...
Al Horfords Celtics Exit Suddenly Looks Even Worse
Al Horfords decision to leave Boston for Golden State already carried some risk, but the context around it has only gotten harsher for the Celtics. The Warriors were trying to keep their championship window open with an aging core, and even with Draymond Green expected back, the path to another title looks narrow. Boston, meanwhile, has stayed positioned as the steadier contender, which only sharpens the contrast with Horfords move.
Golden States recent season did little to ease those concerns, especially compared with where the Celtics stood. Injuries around the league helped shape the way the year played out, but the bigger issue for the Warriors was how quickly their margin for error disappeared once the roster started leaning on older players. For Horford, the exit now looks less like a clean chase for one last ring and more like a bet on a team whose best days may already be behind it. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Cannot Afford To Wait On Payton Pritchard Much Longer
Boston has already taken care of some of its younger pieces, handing out contract extensions to Neemias Queta, Ron Harper Jr. and Jordan Walsh, but Payton Pritchard is the next name that matters. He becomes extension-eligible on Oct. 1, and unlike some of the other roster decisions the Celtics have made, this one has a little more urgency attached to it because Pritchard is still on a team-friendly deal with two years left.
Pritchard also looks positioned for a much bigger role next season, with the Celtics expecting him to be a key offensive contributor. That is the kind of internal growth Boston can plan around, but it also raises the stakes on timing, since a player who may be headed for the biggest opportunity of his career is not someone the team can really afford to leave hanging for long. [Read more 🡒]