Real Men Wear Green
10-26-2025, 07:44 PM
The Celtics could make a trade or two and make the playoffs. They shouldn't.
The 0-3 isn't all that misleading. The talent level isn't truly worst team in the NBA bad but its nowhere near capable of meeting the Celtics' standard. And that's not even what I want to point out about the team. The problem is the absolute best-case scenario without some kind of miracle trade: Tatum returns before the end of the season in time to get up to 40+ mpg conditioning (unlikely but to his credit he's doing his best to accomplish that), win the play-in, and then push the Cavs or knicks to 6 games. To accomplish this, along with Tatum pulling off a return from an Achilles tear that we've never seen before either Brown will have to play at an MVP level (at least a McGrady in Orlando level impact) or Neemias Queta, whose name I am still not sure I can spell correctly without looking up, is going to haveto figure out how to protect the basket and rebound at an elite level without fouling. I would put Brown elevating like that at a 20% chance (he has great scoring ability but is still lacking as a ballhandler) and Queta getting the necessary maturity in how he thinks the game in just a few months at maybe...10%. So we need to see them hit on these two long shots just to hope Tatum can pull out another Longshot and help them win a play-in game and lose respectably in the first round.
They should be open to dealing some of the excess guard talent for a big that can get the defensive boards (this is actually the biggest area where they miss Tatum). But I would say that the priority is building the team that will play around Tatum and Brown, not figuring out what kind of cast Brown could lead to 43 wins. I suspect that Stevens will use the Tatum injury as the excuse/opportunity to get a high lottery pick, which traded or used correctly could be all the Celtics need to be elite again.
The 0-3 isn't all that misleading. The talent level isn't truly worst team in the NBA bad but its nowhere near capable of meeting the Celtics' standard. And that's not even what I want to point out about the team. The problem is the absolute best-case scenario without some kind of miracle trade: Tatum returns before the end of the season in time to get up to 40+ mpg conditioning (unlikely but to his credit he's doing his best to accomplish that), win the play-in, and then push the Cavs or knicks to 6 games. To accomplish this, along with Tatum pulling off a return from an Achilles tear that we've never seen before either Brown will have to play at an MVP level (at least a McGrady in Orlando level impact) or Neemias Queta, whose name I am still not sure I can spell correctly without looking up, is going to haveto figure out how to protect the basket and rebound at an elite level without fouling. I would put Brown elevating like that at a 20% chance (he has great scoring ability but is still lacking as a ballhandler) and Queta getting the necessary maturity in how he thinks the game in just a few months at maybe...10%. So we need to see them hit on these two long shots just to hope Tatum can pull out another Longshot and help them win a play-in game and lose respectably in the first round.
They should be open to dealing some of the excess guard talent for a big that can get the defensive boards (this is actually the biggest area where they miss Tatum). But I would say that the priority is building the team that will play around Tatum and Brown, not figuring out what kind of cast Brown could lead to 43 wins. I suspect that Stevens will use the Tatum injury as the excuse/opportunity to get a high lottery pick, which traded or used correctly could be all the Celtics need to be elite again.