2017-18 Boston Celtics Preview(Do-Over)

I made a post about a week ago on my Boston Celtics preview for the 2017-18 season. But then, a trade happened. A trade with the best player on the Celtics and one of the best players on the Cavaliers. I waited for today to post it because of the fact that the trade has been finalized. Before today you might of heard about the concern of Isaiah Thomas’s injure. With this in mind, I will be redoing the 2017-18 Boston Celtics Preview. This post has the same format as the last Preview, so let’s get right into it!

 

Additions:

  1. Kyrie Irving
  2. Gordon Hayward
  3. Marcus Morris
  4. Aron Baynes
  5. Shane Larkin
  6. Daniel Theis
  7. Jayson Tatum
  8. Semi Ojeleye

Lost:

  1. Isaiah Thomas
  2. Jae Crowder
  3. Avery Bradley
  4. Kelly Olynyk
  5. Amir Johnson
  6. Jonas Jerebko
  7. Tyler Zeller
  8. Jordan Mickey
  9. James Young

Retained: 

Didn’t Retain Anyone

Depth Chart:

PG:

  1. Kyrie Irving
  2. Terry Rozier
  3. Shane Larkin

SG:

  1. Jaylen Brown
  2. Marcus Smart
  3. Abdel Nader

SF:

  1. Gordon Hayward
  2. Jayson Tatum

PF:

  1. Marcus Morris
  2. Semi Ojeleye
  3. Guerschon Yabusele

C:

  1. Al Horford
  2. Aron Baynes
  3. Daniel Theis

 

Overview:

This offseason, the Celtics have not just prepared for next season by getting Hayward and Irving, they have also set up the future when it comes to 3 years from today. Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris, and Al Horford are the obvious starters. But I want to talk a little about Jaylen Brown. Here is my quote from the first Boston Celtics preview that I wrote, “Jaylen Brown just isn’t ready to become a regular starter.” I put this is quote into today’s blog because of the fact that Jaylen Brown didn’t have a great first season in the NBA. My problem with this is that you are counting on a unproven second year player or the second option, an unproven rookie in Tatum.

Next we can talk a little about Kyrie Irving. The last time Kyrie Irving was leading a team was when Lebron James was playing for the Heat. The 3 seasons where Kyrie Irving wasn’t playing with Lebron James, he averaged 20.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.6 assists. Those number are his first 3 years in the NBA, meaning that those include numbers from his rookie year. Just imagine now having NBA experience what it means for the Celtics going forward. For now, let’s get in to my predictions for the Celtics 2017-18 season.

 

Predictions:

For my predictions, I will be showing you only the record. I will also compare that to the record if the Celtics had Isaiah Thomas.

Record: 57 – 25

Record  Before Trade: 54 – 28

The record I have made show that the Celtics will have a better season then if they had Isaiah Thomas, including a win against the toughest team in the league. By that I mean that the Celtics do end up winning their meeting against the Golden State Warriors. Kyrie Irving is the type of guy in the league people consider unguardable. On the Bill Simmons Podcast, Kevin Durant was talking about the trade and he said that Irving was one of the toughest players to defend and that every day he went out and practiced his game. Players do believe that guarding one player is a lot tougher then guarding another.

Then you have Isaiah Thomas, you might not guard him in the 4th quarter, however you can definitely score on him in that 4th quarter. What I mean by that is he is one of the best scorers in the 4th quarter, however he can’t defend. When they face teams like the Warriors, Kyrie Irving is much more valuable to their team.

However, what happens when they face tough teams in the playoffs? If you remember last year, the Bulls dominated the Celtics in the first few games however later in the series Rajon Rondo got injured. What if Rondo wasn’t injured? Would Gordon Hayward have gone to the Celtics? Would Kyrie Irving been traded to the Celtics? Pretty crazy to think a player who isn’t even an all-star affected a series that much. More then that he affected the NBA’s future.

Going back to that tough series against the Bulls, they struggled against an 8th seed. They now have Kyrie Irving, however they lost important depth on their team. Jae Crowder was a very important player in the series and in total was an important player to the team. In game 2 and 3, Crowder had 16 points while playing great defense against Jimmy Butler and Dwayne Wade. They have lost depth on their team, and while they may do better in the season they will play a lot worse during the playoffs.

 

Thank you for reading today’s post, and incase you didn’t know or you have a hard time accessing my videos on NBA topics, here is a link to my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBM8MxUfKUF34gzTQr2BQiA

Have a great rest of your day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture – Michael Tipton  https://www.flickr.com/photos/rmtip21/albums/72157621761964689

Published by fourfootnuttin

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