The Boston Celtics just went out badly to the Heat. Naturally, people are going to wonder if big changes should be made to the team. Should they trade one of the two Jays? Get rid of Smart? Making the Finals last year seems to not matter to some. What should they do?
Well the answer is that they shouldn’t really do anything. They should just run it back.
They Are Still Young…
LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Isaiah Thomas, Shaquille O’Neal, Steph Curry, Dirk Nowitzki, Kawhi Leonard (if you don’t count his Spurs title where he was still closer to a role player than lead guy), etc. only won rings around the ages of 27-29. Even Kevin Durant only won in his 9th season in the league when he joined Golden State.
More importantly, many of them had their fair share of unglamorous playoff exits. Dirk had plenty of disappointing playoff exits which led to him being called a choker. Shaquille O’Neal was swept 5 times before winning his first ring. LeBron lost two Finals before getting his first – including the infamous 2011 series. Jordan lost to the Pistons 3 straight years before winning.
The few who did win young, usually had established veteran co-stars that were elite themselves. For instance, a 22 year old Kobe won with a veteran Shaquille O’Neal by his said. Similar, a 23 year old Tim Duncan won with a veteran David Robinson (who at the time, still had something left in the tank following his injury) in 1999.
Who Else is Going to be Better?
Let’s be honest: anyone else that’s available in the league isn’t going to really move the needle. There is a reason why they are available.
Who else can the Celtics get will actually improve their chances of winning the finals? All the players that actually would (Butler, Jokic, Curry, a healthy LeBron), are not going to be traded by their teams at all.
The reality is that all the guys you can feasibly get in a trade – Damian Lillard, Domantas Sabonis, Kevin Huerter, Karl Anthony-Towns, etc. – all of them have their own bad playoff exits, and aren’t particularly great playoff performers (or are not any better than what we have), and so they won’t really change anything for the Celtics. This is not to mention that genuine flaws those players have from a skillset perspective (defense, shooting) which will make them a bad fit for the Celtics.
And again, you would have to give up some key players. Jaylen Brown, probably Marcus Smart – who are good defenders that fit within our scheme. The team you may be building in return will probably perform worse.
Not to mention, you run the risk of alienating Jayson Tatum, who likes Jaylen Brown. Will Tatum like it if you trade Brown for a bunch of players that didn’t accomplish much in their teams? If you trade for a pick to draft some 20 year old who will need at least 3-4 players?
The reality is that Tatum and Brown are 25 and 26 years old, respectively. That is still relatively young. And they are both wings that can shoot, defend, rebound, drive, etc. which is the gold standard player every team wants.
The Celtics should give this core another 3 years. That’s when you will know for sure. Even the great Michael Jordan only won his first chip at age 28.
