It’s safe to say the Boston Celtics season didn’t go as anticipated. After making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, the Celtics labored through a 36-36 regular season, and were promptly eliminated by the Brooklyn Nets in a quick five game first round series.
While there were some positive developments at times this year, this was pretty much a lost season for the Celtics. Just a year after making a deep run in the playoffs, and with basically the entire team returning, they couldn’t put all the pieces of the puzzle together this time around, and it resulted in a rather disappointing season.
While the blame can’t solely be placed on one player or issue, there are a few players whose struggles personified what this team was going through on the season. With that in mind, let’s take a look at three Celtics players who didn’t live up to their expectations this season.
No. 3: The Boston Celtics bench
It would be wrong to call out just one person off the bench here when the whole unit struggled for the entire season.
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Aside from brief flashes of potential from a couple of the guys off the bench, this unit was easily one of the Celtics biggest letdowns of the season. The lack of production off the bench is a big reason the Celtics are currently on vacation and not playing basketball right now.
Let’s start with the guards.
Payton Pritchard was the only consistent contributor off the bench for this group, and almost immediately passed over Jeff Teague, Carson Edwards, and Tremont Waters on the depth chart.
Teague was a free agent signing who was expected to be able to come off the bench as the sixth man, but he was so bad during his time with Boston that he was traded away at the trade deadline.
Edwards and Waters are more complicated cases. Edwards appears to be nothing more than a volume shooter off the bench who doesn’t hit nearly enough shots to fill that role, while Waters has shown some potential to be a solid bench ballhandler. Neither guy was able to carve out any sort of role off of the bench however, and their time in Boston may be coming to an end sooner rather than later.
The wing rotation was even worse. Grant Williams and Semi Ojeleye are basically the same player at this point, as they have been molded into three-and-d guys who can’t really shoot the ball. Both were in and out of the rotation, and it feels like at least one of these guys won’t be back next season.
Aaron Nesmith and Romeo Langford showed why they were both drafted 14th overall in the NBA draft at times this season, but those moments were fleeting, and often left something to be desired. Both are still young, and should be given time to develop, but it was clear they were in over their heads at times this season.
Jabari Parker also showed some potential down the stretch, but he could be bumped out of the picture depending on how Boston’s offseason goes.
The big man rotation never really felt settled this season either, partially due to injury. Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson never really meshed together, and Theis was promptly dumped at the trade deadline. That basically left Thompson and Rob Williams, but with Williams missing time with injury, it was basically just Thompson at times this season.
The Celtics picked up two bigs at the trade deadline in Mo Wagner and Luke Kornet, but Wagner was so bad in his time in Boston that he almost immediately got cut.
Kornet showed more off the bat and kept his spot over Wagner, but after that he was pretty much unplayable, and lost his spot in the rotation.
Tacko Fall also resides as a reclamation project as sorts, but this spot was a mess all season.
All in all, the bench was a massive letdown whichever way you look at it. It’s now up to Brad Stevens to add some depth to this team to help out his starters, and as we will see in a bit, some of their starters could use some extra help.
No. 2: Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart
Marcus Smart remains an enigma of sorts for the Boston Celtics.
On one hand, you won’t find a guy that plays harder or with more passion than Smart, and that usually translates to a bevy of hustle highlights you can find anywhere on YouTube.
On the other hand, he has a stunning lack of basketball awareness, often firing up ridiculous shots regardless of the context, and his style of play seems to have taken a toll on his teammates.
Statistically speaking, this was one of Smart’s best offensive seasons of his career. He averaged the most points and assists per game in his career, and his overall field goal percentage hovered right around 40 percent.
The stats don’t tell the full story here unfortunately. Smart’s three point shooting regressed after looking like he had finally figured things out in the bubble last season, and his defensive play has clearly taken a step back. Whether it was due to injuries or something else, the main reason why Smart plays is his defense, and if his defensive play isn’t good, he becomes almost unplayable at times.
Smart shows flashes of being the consistent guard the Celtics have been waiting for him to become. When he plays as a pass first ball-handler who helps create open shots for his teammates, while letting his shots to come him, he is arguably Boston’s best guard on the roster. But that doesn’t happen too often, as Smart will often recklessly look for his own shot at the expense of his teammates, and it results in some awful shots and numerous turnovers.
It feels like Smart’s tenure in Boston has come to a head. He is largely considered to be the heart and soul of this team, but at what point does his performance on the court become too much to handle?
Smart’s play this season was barely above the league average, and it becomes more and more difficult to justify Smart’s play with each passing season.
With only one year left on his deal, Smart may be on the move this offseason. Boston’s new front office has to decide if it’s worth holding onto Smart, despite his clear regression in play, just because he represents the team well.
Smart’s poor play this season may have been the final straw, and we may have already witnessed the fiery guard’s last game in action for the Celtics.
No. 1: Boston Celtics point guard Kemba Walker
There really couldn’t be any other answer. Kemba Walker‘s play for the Boston Celtics was far below what the team had been expecting from him, and his time in Boston may be coming to a quick end as a result.
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Reports have already come out that Boston will look to move Walker and his massive contract this offseason after his miserable season, but that may be a tough task after what we saw this season.
Statistically, things don’t look horrible for Kemba. He still averaged 19 points per game on 42 percent from the field, and was typically Boston’s best ball-handler. But when you consider Kemba made upwards of $34 million, and only played in 43 regular seasons games, Kemba clearly isn’t living up to what the Celtics expected from him.
A deeper dive into his stats show more troubling trends.
Walker’s field goal percentage and three point percentage both decreased from last season, including a rather large two percent drop in his three point shooting. Combine that offensive drop off with some poor defensive play, and you have an undersized guard who looked unplayable for large stretches of the season.
All of this is troubling for both Walker and the Celtics. Boston shelled out a max contract to a guy who didn’t look anything like a max contract player in just his second year of the deal. And half of the time, Walker couldn’t even get on the court, due in part of a knee injury he suffered last season and never fully recovered from.
Just two years into his deal, it seems like the Celtics are at crossroads in terms of what to do with Walker. Maybe a full offseason of rest and rehab will help Kemba return to his old form, and he can finally give the Celtics what they were looking for when they signed him.
But Kemba was so bad at times this season that it seems like a stretch of sorts to expect him to be able to reach that level play again, especially considering he’s already entering his age 31 season next year.
That discussion is for another time however. The point is, Kemba Walker fell well short of expectations this season, and he has put the Celtics in quite a precarious situation heading into the offseason. The first big issue that Brad Stevens will now have to deal with is what to do with Kemba Walker, and that decision could have huge repercussions on how the BostonCeltics look in the future.