Where Do The Boston Celtics Go From Here?

By: Steve Atkinson

The Boston Celtics game seven loss to the Miami Heat was embarrassing. How they even got to that point was also embarrassing. That series against the Heat should’ve been over in five games. There was no excuse for them to be down 3-0 to the 8th-seed Heat who really only had Jimmy Butler. The Celtics the entire playoffs took games off. It took the owner to chew them out after the game three loss to get their heads out of their ass.

They’ve been doing this for years regardless of the coach. The Heat had with the Celtics didn’t have which is mental toughness. On paper, the Celtics are better but when they start playing Miami showed they were tougher and willing to fight.

The Boston Celtics Were Built To Win Now

After the game six win in Miami, the Celtics thought and many people thought they would win game 7 in Boston. Nope, once Tatum got hurt within five minutes of the game it all crashed for them. Jaylen Brown had eight turnovers sounds like he’s no number one player on a team. And all the Celtics did was shoot threes all night. Where do the Celtics go from here?

The Boston Celtics Need A Major Offseason Change To The Roster

They need a major shakeup. Coach Marcus Smart needs to go holding clipboards at shootarounds and thinking he’s the best player on the team. The only way Jaylen Brown can sign the supermax is with Boston I don’t think Boston is going to offer him $290 million when he just didn’t show up against an 8th-seed Heat team in game seven. Also, Brown hates it in Boston anyway so why keep him around?

Brown said this back in January of this year if he wanted to be in Boston

“I don’t know,” Brown originally told The Ringer’s Logan Murdock. “As long as I’m needed. It’s not up to me. We’ll see how they feel about me over time and I feel about them over time. Hopefully, whatever it is, it makes sense. But I will stay where I’m wanted. I will stay where I’m needed and treated correct.”

I read that as he doesn’t want to be here and wants to be number one somewhere. Maybe he will join Ime Udoka in Houston since he liked Udoka so much and thought the Celtics’ punishment of him was too harsh. He along with James Harden can be a duo in Houston. Brad Stevens had a different approach when it came to Brown at his season-ending press conference today.

“I’ve had nothing but great conversations with Jaylen, We want Jaylen to be here, and he’s a big part of us. We believe in him. I’m really thankful for, when those guys have success, they come back to work. And when they get beat, they own it, and they come back to work. So, I know that’s what they’re about. And that’s hard to find…Those qualities, they aren’t for everybody. Jaylen had a great year, (an) All-NBA year, and he’s a big part of us moving forward in our eyes.” 

Stevens also gave his support for Joe Mazzulla saying he was put in a tough spot. Maybe they’ll hire a veteran to help him on the bench for the 2023-2024 season. Also, some of the assistants on the Boston Celtics are leaving to join Udoka in Houston.

“I thought he did a really good job with this group,” Stevens said. “Everybody is going to overreact to the best players and coaches after every game. That’s always the way it is. We know that going in. So, we have to be able to judge things on the whole. He’s a terrific leader “He’ll only get better at anything that he can learn from this year because he’s constantly trying to learn. And he’s accountable. Those leadership qualities are hard to find. I know they’re easy to talk about, but when you can show all those through the expectations and the microscope that he was under, that’s hard to do.”