The Boston Celtics have enough talent to make people look foolish for doubting them. That much is clear. But if you’re asking whether this group is built to survive the playoff grind and get all the way back to the top, the answer is still complicated.
Boston’s reshaped roster has plenty to like. Paul George is in after the Jaylen Brown trade, Mitchell Robinson is a strong addition, and Jayson Tatum is set to operate as the No. 1 option for the first time. There’s also room for a leap from Payton Pritchard, Baylor Scheierman, and Hugo Gonzalez, which gives the Celtics more paths to improvement than a lot of people seem willing to admit.
That’s why this team can absolutely surprise people. A top-six finish in the Eastern Conference is on the table, which would let Boston avoid the Play-In entirely.
The coaching is strong, the system is established, and the depth is solid. On paper, there’s a real case that the Celtics can be one of the better regular-season teams in the league.
Still, the playoff question hangs over everything.
George and Robinson both come with injury concerns, and both matter a lot to what Boston is trying to do. If Tatum misses time, or if his shot goes cold at the wrong moment, the backup plan isn’t exactly comforting. Even with the 2024 title on the résumé, "Mazzulla Ball" has a limit when the shots stop falling, and it would take a near-perfect run for Boston to win it all again.
The other problem is simple: the East is loaded. The New York Knicks are the reigning NBA champions.
The 76ers look like a juggernaut, even if there are still reasons to hesitate. The Indiana Pacers were one win away from a title the last time Tyrese Haliburton was healthy.
The Cleveland Cavaliers reached the conference finals and added Peyton Watson, who should help their rotation. The Toronto Raptors, already one of the better defensive teams, brought back Kawhi Leonard.
So yes, Boston can still be dangerous. The roster has enough talent to make a run and enough familiarity to get rolling quickly. But the concerns are real, and if the Celtics want to reclaim their place as the NBA’s top dog, they’ll have to solve them.
In Other News...
Neemias Queta Could Give Celtics A New Option They May Need
Neemias Quetas next step with the Celtics is less about simply holding down the paint and more about stretching what Boston can ask of him. He said he wants to become more versatile and improve his mobility entering the season, with an eye toward taking advantage of favorable matchups as a kind of mismatch killer. For a team that is always looking for another dependable wrinkle, that sort of growth could matter.
Joe Mazzulla has already noticed signs of progress in Quetas confidence with the ball and his decision-making, and that gives Boston a reason to keep watching closely. Training camp will be the test case, the first real chance to see how much of that expanded role Queta can handle and whether it turns into a usable offensive option for a team that values versatility at every spot. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics New Duo Could Become An Awkward Clippers Reminder
Paul Georges arrival gives Boston a new kind of wing-heavy look, and it also invites an uncomfortable comparison to the franchise that once leaned into that same blueprint with great confidence. The Celtics have built around Jayson Tatum for years, but adding another proven perimeter star changes the conversation from simple depth to whether Boston now has the kind of two-wing core that can dictate playoff matchups the way the best modern contenders do.
There is a twist in the background, though, because the Clippers own history with that approach is part of the lens here. If Tatum and George click, it would only reinforce the idea that pairing elite wings was the right bet all along, even if Los Angeles never got the clean version of it to fully cash in. Georges age and the possibility of minutes limitations make the fit worth watching closely, and for Boston, the upside is obvious enough to keep the comparison lingering in the background. [Read more 🡒]
Bill Simmons Just Reopened A Celtics Debate Fans Never Escaped
Bill Simmons has a way of dragging old Celtics arguments back into the light, and his latest podcast comments did exactly that. He said Jayson Tatum should have been the 2024 NBA Finals MVP over Jaylen Brown, who took home seven of the 11 votes, then softened the phrasing a bit while still pointing back to Tatums Game 5 performance as the reason he felt the honor should have gone the other way.
Browns Finals case was always going to be measured against the bigger picture of Bostons title run, which is why the debate never really disappeared. It has only gotten stranger since the offseason trade that sent Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers, turning what used to be an internal Celtics conversation into one of those what-if discussions that still hangs around long after the confetti is gone. [Read more 🡒]