Two of the brightest young stars in the NBA today are Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics.
But based on how the Celtics seasons have gone the last couple of years, and the way many NBA fans have reacted, you would think they are busts. Why?
It seems like the big stinker behind all of this is the way Boston handled the post-big three era; it seemed like every year they were simply accumulating assets to trade away for another blockbuster superstar that would bring them banner #18, just like they did in 2007. We saw them run it back with Brandon Bass, Jared Sullinger, Avery Bradley, and then adding Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder and Kelly Olynyk to the group between 2013 and 2017, and it was a period of them gradually improving, but still disappointing with a low ceiling. Many thought that the Kyrie Irving trade was the one that would bring them back to the Finals – especially given how they made the conference finals without him that first year. Many thought that that 5 year period was all leading up to this. But the failure of that team in 2019, his departure, and the departure of Al Horford, made the Celtics’ “process”, if you will, feel like a waste of time.
And that disappointment has clouded over Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Some are wondering if this team are just “leftovers” from a failed championship run and wonder if they can actually pull it off, while others feel they are “not the guys”.
It became a meme of sorts, but there’s a reason why during Tatum’s rookie season, people were constantly saying “he’s only 19!” whenever he had a good or bad game: it’s because we still forget that he’s young.
We were anticipating for so long that either Tatum and Brown were either going to be assets for players like Anthony Davis and/or Kawhi Leonard to help Boston win a ring. It’s been pretty long since they’ve gotten back to the Finals, and that expectation hasn’t left. But people forget that Tatum is still 22 and Brown is still only 23.
That matters. Because the truth is, very few players who are the best in the league right now were really that great at 22-23, especially after only 1 year of college ball.
Kawhi Leonard – whom many of you were saying could be an all-timer if he won this year – took a long time to develop into a superstar. He was drafted in 2011 and took until 2016 to be an all-star level player. Gordon Hayward followed a similar path as well. Nikola Jokic has improved year by year and is 25. Devin Booker was drafted and made his first all-star this year.
Take a look at a common, reasonable list of 13 or so NBA players that are considered among the best in the league (in no particular order):
- Kevin Durant
- Kawhi Leonard
- Stephen Curry
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- LeBron James
- Anthony Davis
- Joel Embiid
- James Harden
- Damian Lillard
- Nikola Jokic
- Paul George
- Jimmy Butler
Notice something unique about this list? Not every player on this list was predicted to become an all-star level player, especially in their first two seasons. Some of them, like Giannis, were project players that most people only predicted becoming great around the end of the 2016-2017 season.
Many people were picking Ricky Rubio over Stephen Curry in the 2009 NBA draft (lmao). No one thought Curry was gonna become the greatest shooter ever and get a unanimous MVP, 3x rings, and make 5 straight NBA Finals appearances.
Tatum already made an all-star, and an All-NBA third team now in his 3rd year, and Jaylen Brown was pretty close to making it as well, and is one of the better defenders in the league.
So things need to be put into perspective. The Celtics tried to play both “win now and for the future”, but because Kyrie and Horford didn’t work out, people need to be patient “for the future”. And it’s a bright future that Boston has. If they don’t win this year, this is not an excuse to blow up the team.
You don’t want to be a repeat of the 90’s Magic and the 2010’s Thunder.
