Boston Celtics: Which history will repeat itself for the C’s?
By Nick Alvarez
The Boston Celtics are in an important point in history
There’s an old adage that says, “history is bound to repeat itself.” The Boston Celtics have the most storied history in the NBA. As the Celtics continue to emerge as one of the most dangerous teams in the Eastern Conference, behind their two young, budding stars (Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum), it’s fair to wonder if the history will repeat itself for these Celtics.
Boston has the potential to be the consistently dominant force in the East that the team was when they had Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish leading the way. Executive Danny Ainge tried but ultimately failed to remake the 2008 squad through his acquisition of Kyrie Irving, and failed pursuit of Anthony Davis. Then, of course, there’s a long-shot chance at becoming a dynasty much like the team did with Bill Russell.
The Boston Celtics, are in a delicate spot right now, though. Part of the history I failed to mention above involves a 22-year championship drought where the team consistently had young talent but failed to know how to build with it.
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Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the Celtics had young talented players like Antoine Walker, Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson, Rick Fox, and Chauncey Billups. Those teams never made it to the championship, but with a couple of right moves, they could have.
The Boston Celtics need to tread carefully
Which is to say that as amazing and exciting as the Celtics may seem right now, they could be only one move away from failure. It is this stage in the journey to building a champion that is the toughest.
Great teams like the Steve Nash Suns, the Durant-Westbrook Thunder, and the 1990s Knicks never reached the pinnacle, and most of the time there are regrets that go along with those teams. Should Nash’s Suns have kept Joe Johnson? Should the Thunder have kept Harden? What if the Knicks decided to get a little more offense and sacrifice their defense a bit?
Back to Celtics; at least the bright spot is that this time around executive Danny Ainge and head coach Brad Stevens give the team much more organizational stability than M.L. Carr, Rick Pitino, or Chris Wallace did.
It’s still fair to wonder if Ainge may have already put his team at risk though. Was passing up Brandon Clarke for Romeo Langford and then trading away defensive stud Matisse Thybulle the right move? It may be too soon to tell, but if these Celtics don’t win the championship at some point, many will look to the 2019 NBA Draft.
The “lost years” Celtics made some similarly questionable moves as well. Passing on Hall-of-Fame point guard Tony Parker (subscription required) in the 2001 draft after he allegedly had the cap in his hand. Trading away Joe Johnson to go all in for an Eastern Conference Finals run with Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker when they could have very easily been contenders the next few years with Johnson.
This team even traded Chauncey Billups as a rookie after taking him with the third pick in the draft.
That is why every move the Celtics make from here on out is a delicate one. One move could be the key to a title or the failure to reach one. Many people were critical of Danny Ainge this past trade deadline because he didn’t trade young players like Langford for proven talent, but what if Langford turns into something akin to Joe Johnson?
There should be a reason to feel confident in Ainge, however, because he nailed the picks he needed to. The Nets trade awarded the Celtics two top-3 picks, and Ainge chooses Brown and Tatum over consensus players like Markelle Fultz, Dragan Bender, and Khris Dunn which turned out to be the right move. The jury is still out on this year’s rookie class, and Ainge will enter the 2020 draft loaded with three first-round picks as well.
In free agency, Ainge has gotten the Celtics best free agency signings ever with Al Horford, Gordon Hayward, and Kemba Walker. Not too bad for the city that no one wants to play in.
Lastly, they don’t call him “Trader Danny” for nothing, over the course of his career running the Celtics, there are not many general managers who have been as great in the trade market as Ainge even if he has been dormant lately.
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If this current Celtics team continues on a path for development and making the smart moves then there’s a future where this current Celtics incarnation is wildly successful. A perennial threat in the Eastern Conference for years to come just like the Larry Bird days could be one move away. The Celtics just need to tread carefully.