Who Can We Blame for the Boston Celtics Getting This Good?
For much of the 2023-24 Boston Celtics' regular and postseason, fans and media were too busy looking for flaws or wondering if Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could coexist to truly grasp just how dominant this team was.
By the end of the regular season, the Celtics had the fifth-best average margin of victory in NBA history. Only the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks, 1995-96 Chicago Bulls and 2016-17 Golden State Warriors had better marks there.
By the end of the playoffs, they were just the 14th team ever to have 80 regular and postseason wins. And their combined winning percentage was better than all but eight teams.
What's truly scary for the rest of today's league is the fact that Tatum, Brown, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porziņģis, Derrick White and Al Horford are all under contract for next season.
All of that begs the question 29 other fanbases might be asking right now: Just who exactly can we blame for this juggernaut and potential dynasty?
Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers
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The 2016 and 2017 drafts combined to give us one of the strangest and most impactful back-to-back classes in NBA history.
Two years in a row, the Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics had the top three picks, in that order (though some trades made it that way in 2017). And two years in a row, Philadelphia and L.A. missed (or at least didn't quite hit) with those top two picks.
It took a little longer to realize this with the 2016 class, but Ben Simmons is now on the verge of being out of the league. Brandon Ingram has made an All-Star team, but his offensive impact is similar to Brown's, and it doesn't look like he'll ever develop into the perimeter defender Brown is.
The 2017 draft has to be even more painful for those teams. Markelle Fultz had negative wins over replacement player with the Sixers before being traded to the Orlando Magic in 2019. Lonzo Ball had a chance to be great, but injuries have derailed his career. Meanwhile, Tatum has scored more playoff points before turning 27 than any other player in league history.
The versatile, two-way wings Boston took with back-to-back No. 3 picks just helped the Celtics win their 18th championship. None of Simmons, Ingram, Fultz and Ball are on the teams that picked them.
Drafting involves a fair bit of luck. There may be alternate timelines on which the Sixers' and Lakers' picks don't look as bad, but having this happen two years in a row means they deserve at least some of the blame for Boston's success (especially with the Celtics trading down for Tatum in 2017).
San Antonio Spurs
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It made plenty of sense at the time, and leaning into a rebuild proved to be wise for the San Antonio Spurs. Trading White led to losses and eventually contributed to the Spurs landing Victor Wembanyama with the top pick in 2023.
But Boston getting White, who led all Celtics in 2024 postseason wins over replacement player, for Romeo Langford, Josh Richardson, a 2022 pick that turned into Blake Wesley and a 2028 first-round pick swap looks like a straight-up steal.
White's versatility, particularly as a defender, is a big part of Boston's dynamism. Being able to attack from four different positions makes the offense unpredictable. And White's ability to guard forwards helps the Celtics switch all over the floor without ever really sacrificing anything.
White has been among the league's most underrated players for the bulk of his career, which may explain why Boston was able to get him at the price it did.
Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies
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Porziņģis is another player who probably wasn't properly valued, though it's for different reasons than White.
Teams may have understandably been scared off by the number of games he's missed due to injury throughout his career, but he averaged 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.1 threes and 1.5 blocks while shooting 38.5 percent from three for the Washington Wizards in 2022-23. He was top 20 in the league in box plus/minus.
Adding that to Tatum, Brown and White had to feel close to a no-brainer for Boston, especially at the cost of the deal that accomplished that.
From an emotional standpoint, it was probably difficult to part with Marcus Smart, but the Celtics got KP and two first-round draft picks in the deal that also included the Memphis Grizzlies.
In hindsight, it's pretty hard to process how this happened.
Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala also went to Washington, but that doesn't make it look much better.
Washington and Memphis facilitating the arrival of Boston's three-and-D big man had a massive impact on this campaign.
Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers
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Most of the pain that may have been lingering over the loss of Smart had to have been eliminated (or at least softened) when the Celtics landed Jrue Holiday, a domino that never would've fallen without the Milwaukee Bucks moving him.
Just two years after Holiday was the missing piece who helped the Bucks win their first title in five decades, pressure from Giannis Antetokounmpo led to the Damian Lillard trade that put Holiday on the rebuilding Portland Trail Blazers.
From there, Boston pounced with an offer of Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams III and two first-round picks.
That deal doesn't look quite as lopsided as the Porziņģis trade, but Brogdon and Williams are both oft-injured (something that continued in Portland) and those draft picks aren't likely to turn into anyone like Holiday.
He's still one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. His selflessness helped to unleash the Jays this regular and postseason.
And now that he's been an integral addition immediately preceding two different championships, Holiday is starting to build a legitimate Hall of Fame case.
Brad Stevens
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It's fun to sprinkle some blame on the Lakers, 76ers and other teams that helped Boston get all these difference-makers. But there is a Celtics side to all of these moves, and their front office deserves credit for pulling them off.
Danny Ainge, of course, was in charge for the 2016 and 2017 drafts. The foresight it took to make both of those picks is impressive. Brown was widely viewed as a project. Fultz was the consensus top pick, and Boston traded down to take someone else. Today, Brown and Tatum are the foundational pieces of a championship team.
The credit for building on that foundation goes to Brad Stevens. He coached Tatum and Brown until 2021 and then took over as the president of basketball operations. At that time, the only current Celtics who were on the roster were Brown, Tatum, Luke Kornet and Payton Pritchard.
All four are in the rotation, but the players acquired by Stevens combined for significantly more wins over replacement player this season.
In 2020-21, Ainge's last with Boston, the Celtics went .500 and got crushed in the first round of the playoffs by the Brooklyn Nets. Three years later, with an overhauled roster, they're champions.
Joe Mazzulla
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Circumstances of a first NBA coaching job don't get much stranger than Joe Mazzulla's.
He's 35 years old, which is younger than Al Horford. He wasn't necessarily first in line to replace Ime Udoka, but Will Hardy left for the Utah Jazz shortly before Udoka was fired. And that move was both sudden and the result of controversy.
Then, after a solid first year on the job, Mazzulla's Celtics were eliminated by a play-in team in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals.
Criticism of him, his approach and the Celtics' decision to promote him was constant and, at times, intense.
But Stevens and the rest of the organization stuck with him (another feather in their collective cap), and Mazzulla rewarded them.
His three-point-heavy attack was a huge part of Boston's success. He adapted his approach to in-game timeouts and adjustments. He pushed the right buttons in terms of when to play small or big. On the way to the championship, he beat both Erik Spoelstra and Rick Carlisle.
After a tumultuous start that generally had nothing to do with him, Mazzulla suddenly appears to have one of the brightest coaching futures in the NBA.
The Celtics
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All of the above was crucial for getting Boston to its current position, but ultimately, most of the blame (or credit) should go to the Celtics themselves.
Draft analysts were right. Brown was a project, but he's put in the work necessary to develop into a worthy Finals MVP. Tatum has quietly become one of the game's consistent winners. Getting Horford's leadership, three-point shooting and ability to defend non-bigs from a 38-year-old is incredible. Porziņģis, White and Holiday being willing to adapt to smaller roles helped Tatum and Brown shine. Even Pritchard and Sam Hauser deserve a shout for developing into backups worthy of being in this star-studded rotation.
Again, there's certainly some blame to be distributed outside of Boston, but the players are the biggest reason the Celtics are 2024 champions and title favorites for 2025.
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