The Boston Celtics ended 2019 with a win and here are three New Year’s resolutions the team needs to make to continue winning in 2020 and beyond.
Everything that went wrong for the Boston Celtics at the beginning of 2019 went right in 2020.
Following the disappointment of not getting out of the second round of the 2018-19 NBA playoffs, Brad Stevens and his team had a bit of a facelift. But, after losing out on the Anthony Davis sweepstakes and watching both Kyrie Irving and Al Horford walk out the door, it looked like a re-tooling trending on the side of a rebuild.
Well, in adding Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter to a core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart, the 2019-20 Boston Celtics have gone from a possible rebuilding situation to a team that is contending the way they should’ve been the season prior.
Not only has the team infused the leadership of Walker into the team, there has been a re-emergence in Gordon Hayward when healthy and a rise to stardom from both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
In finishing 2019 with a 23-8 record, this version of the Boston Celtics is just starting to scratch the surface of a team that is showing they are for real. But, how far they go will depend on these three New Year’s resolutions for 2020.
Resolution No. 1: Stay healthy
The first resolution is a promise or goal we all set for ourselves.
Good health takes you a long way both physically and mentally in accomplishing your goals. For the Boston Celtics, health has been just about the only thing in the way of the team having an even better record than the 23-8 start.
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Of course, this all starts with Gordon Hayward.
When healthy, Hayward has been close to a 20-point a game scorer. Combine that to the seasons Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are having and the Celtics have a four-headed monster that is hard for any team to stop.
After missing time due to a fractured hand, Gordon Hayward has also been dealing with a sore foot that could result in some load management moving forward. That’s why the depth of the Boston Celtics has been so valuable this season.
Not only has Hayward missed time, but Jaylen Brown has missed games due to illness, Kemba Walker missed a game due to a very scary neck injury and Marcus Smart has missed numerous games due to a mysterious eye infection.
To add to that, promising young big man Robert Williams continues to miss time due to injury.
With all of this, the team is still 23-8 with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. It is scary to think how good this team actually is when all of their core players are healthy and on the court at the same time.
That has been very rare to end 2019. Hopefully, in 2020 we see a lot more of Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart on the court together.
Resolution No. 2: Get a big man
As good as the Boston Celtics are, the current roster will have a tough time matching up to teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks due to their lack of size down low.
Yes, Enes Kanter is a rebounding machine, Daniel Theis has been solid, and Robert Williams can leap out of any gym once he is healthy, but neither of those players can really bang downlow with a Joel Embiid or even stop a Giannis Antetokounmpo from dominating the paint.
There are some trade candidates out there and possibly available like Kevin Love, Steven Adams and possibly Karl-Anthony Towns, but those players won’t be attainable without Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge having to part ways with either or a combination of Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum.
Except for possibly Hayward (due to his potential opt-out at the end of the season), Ainge isn’t messing with the core and quite frankly, the team doesn’t need an All-Star level big man to get where they want to go.
They just need someone who can complement the big 3 or 4 of Kemba, Brown, Tatum and Hayward.
One player that comes to mind is Tristan Thompson who give the Celtics a nice big man rotation of rebounding and rim protection.
The buyout market should also provide some affordable bigs for the Boston Celtics to go after. Thompson could be one of those players.
In summary, stay patient Danny Ainge and also be smart. Adding another big man is one resolution that will make Celtics fans happy. Adding the right big man could transcend this team into a championship contender.
Resolution No. 3: Continue to develop the rookies
Over the past few games, the Boston Celtics have seen some promise from their rookie class of Romeo Langford, Grant Williams and Carsen Edwards.
With extended playing time, both Langford and Williams have provided the type of versatility the team envisioned when they drafted them and that is mostly at the defensive side of the court.
While each is not tearing it up offensively (and they don’t need to), they both have showed they can provide some offense. Now that Grant Williams is knocking down 3’s, he is giving the team another scoring option off the bench.
Langford, on the other hand, has shown his ability to drive to the hope as well as score from the outside. This gives the team more depth and players who can step in at the wing position due to injury.
As far as 2020 and beyond goes, the Boston Celtics need to see more out of those two players and also get Carsen Edwards going.
We haven’t even mentioned Tremont Waters and Tacko Fall, who both continue to shine with the Maine Red Claws.
In all, Brad Stevens will have a tough time finding minutes for the rookies when everyone is healthy, but in recognizing that, he is assigning them to Maine to get minutes on the court in real basketball games.
That experience will help the Boston Celtics as a team moving forward as each of the players mentioned above have the ability to help the big team when depth is challenge. Of course, resolution No. 1 should settle that.