In the NBA, inactivity is a death knell. If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse. Counterintuitively enough, sometimes to get better, you have to get worse. The Boston Celtics are a great example of this, especially after they traded away both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis over the last week.
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The Celtics won the title just a year ago, and they looked poised to continue their success as they retained the same core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Holiday, and Porzingis. Fortunes can change quickly, though, especially with injuries coming into play.
Holiday and Porzingis were banged up and not the same players for most of this year, and Tatum ruptured his Achilles in the second round of the playoffs, effectively ending Boston’s season.
That injury also loomed large for next year, as Tatum isn’t expected to return until the very end of the regular season, if at all. Compounding that is the fact that the Celtics were facing a massive luxury tax bill and second-round penalties. Without their biggest star, they lost any realistic hope of competing for a championship, so they pivoted into a short-term rebuild.
Celtics legend Paul Pierce addressed the state of the team on FS1’s Speak last night, and though he conceded that while Boston definitely got worse in the short term, the move was deemed necessary to ensure they’ll be ready to compete once Tatum is healthy again.
“We all understand what’s going on in Boston,” Pierce said. “They’re at a position to where there’s new ownership, they’re cutting costs, they’re playing the long game for a year from now after Jayson Tatum gets fully healthy and recovers.”
The Celtics have been one of the more smartly run teams in the league for a long time, courtesy of being proactive to ensure continued success, and as harsh as it may have been, it all adds to the long game.
Meanwhile, noted Lakers fan Keyshawn Johnson interjected that his Lakers are looking more competitive than the Celtics next year.
In response, Pierce shot back, “The Lakers gotta get in shape first,” a reference to Luka Doncic’s ongoing struggles with his conditioning and LeBron James’ advanced age. Still, Keyshawn is probably right, because at least the Lakers are healthy.
Pierce went back to the ownership situation, which has actually been a shared storyline for both longtime rivals. The Buss family just sold the Lakers to Dodgers owner Mark Walter last week, and back in March, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck signed a deal to sell the team to Bill Chisholm.
“It’s like that in all sports, even in business,” Pierce said. “We’re gonna do it our way. Hey, I wanna make my imprint on what this team is gonna be, and when it’s time for us to get to a championship, I can say that I had my DNA all over that.”
Pierce recalled how the Celtics changed hands early in his career, and the new owners traded away the foundational pieces of a team that had just gone to the Eastern Conference Finals. “We was a piece away. Sold the team, traded everybody. This normally happens when new ownership comes in,” he said.
Regardless of the reason, it was a smart move for the Celtics not to double down on a team that wouldn’t have realistic title hopes without its best player next year. Trading Holiday and Porzingis, two guys who were integral to Boston’s 18th banner, wasn’t an easy decision, but it was the right one.
Even without some of their core pieces, the Celtics should still be competitive in the East next year. And when Tatum gets back, they’ll again be among the favorites.
