After falling just one game shy of a trip to the NBA Finals in 2018 with neither Kyrie Irving nor Gordon Hayward in the lineup, the common consensus heading into last season was that the Boston Celtics would be a juggernaut with those two healthy. Instead, their return only caused other issues, and the team never found its stride. Their immense talent carried them to 49 wins and the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, but they were embarrassed in the second round by the Milwaukee Bucks.
This season, they’re off to a terrific start, and at 12-4 are just a game and a half behind those Bucks for the top spot in the East. Much of the success has been credited to the roster turnover that occurred in the summer. Kyrie Irving left for the Brooklyn Nets, while Al Horford departed for the Philadelphia 76ers. In addition, Aron Baynes, Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier are all gone.
Meanwhile, Kemba Walker has arrived — and is expected to play Wednesday after suffering a scary neck injury against the Denver Nuggets last week — along with Enes Kanter and a mob of rookies, and the whole vibe is different. It’s obvious the team is more together, having fun and guys are fitting in to their roles.
The way they’ve started the season, it’s hard not to think about what could have happened if those changes had come earlier. As it turns out, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has been having the same thoughts. In a recent interview with Rachel Nichols of ESPN, Ainge expressed regret about not making more moves last season. In addition, he refused to single out Irving for the way things went last season.
“I think that in hindsight, we should have cleaned out the roster a little bit to make it easier for [coach] Brad [Stevens], more joy for him to coach,” Ainge told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in an interview that was released Tuesday.
“It just didn’t mesh,” Ainge said. “You know, it just didn’t, and I knew, and we talked about it.”
“I think it’s silly that Kyrie is targeted as the guy just because he’s not with us this year,” said Ainge, who thinks he was also part of the problem. “I’ll blame all the players and I’ll blame myself, and we’ll go from there.”
The comparisons between this season’s Celtics and last season’s team are never going to go away, especially if they continue to play well. And, of course, this discussion is only heating up ahead of the Celtics’ first matchup with Irving’s Nets on Wednesday night — though Irving will not play due to a shoulder injury.
It’s not surprising that Ainge didn’t single out Irving, but at the same time the star point guard does deserve a large share of blame. From backing out of his pledge to re-sign in Boston, to his no-show in the second round against the Bucks and just his general demeanor last season, he was a main cause for the team not living up to expectations. Talent-wise, he may be ahead of Walker, but teams take on the personalities of their leaders, and that’s never been more obvious than in the distinction between the two Celtics teams.
Perhaps the most interesting comment from Ainge, though, is about making life easier for Stevens. While it’s always important to have depth, the Celtics may have had too much of it last season. Most of those players failed to live up to expectations, but at the very least they had too many players who believed they deserved a bigger role. That creates a difficult dynamic within the team, and for the head coach. While they may not be as talented from top to bottom this season, the roster fits better, and that’s a big reason for the Celtics’ improvement.
