Your Boston Celtics just won Banner 18. We will celebrate that for quite some time, but the drive to Banner 19 has already started. So let’s talk about the Celtics chances of repeating.
First the good news: Boston will bring back their entire core next year. That’s a luxury that most title teams haven’t enjoyed. That continuity will only make this team (which was already lapping the field) even more formidable. They have a proven formula on both sides of the ball and now they’ll be entering the season as proven champions. The collective weight falling off their shoulders will give them added confidence and swagger. Hey, it might even loosen them up a bit during those dry offensive stretches that people like to complain about so much. They should enter the season as favorites to win it all again.
With all that said, the road won’t be easy: For one thing the competition is going to get better. In the East we can’t count on the other team’s injury woes again and out West the Nuggets, Wolves, or Thunder could prove to be a harder matchup than the Mavericks. Speaking of injury woes, the Celtics will be monitoring Kristaps Porzingis’ health all summer. Al Horford is seemingly ageless, but at some point Father Time catches up with all men. Down the line Brad Stevens is going to have to navigate ever tightening restrictions from the CBA, so tweaks around the edges will be harder and harder to hit on.
So how are you guys feeling about the road to repeating?
Mark Aboyoun
I’m confident that the team can repeat. All last season I was very confident that we’d make the Finals and when the injury bug hit the other teams, I was certain we’d get through the East. However, there’s a good chance all of these teams won’t be as injured next year. Philly should be stronger behind Embiid and Maxey and with their cap space they can acquire another star. The Bucks didn’t have a healthy Giannis so they’ll be a threat too, in addition to the Knicks, Pacers, and Heat.
This postseason showed that matchups matter. In the West no one saw the Mavs getting to the Finals, but they matched up well against most teams, until they ran into Boston. Similarly with the Nuggets, they faced a Wolves team that was a bad matchup for them.
If Boston can stay healthy, especially KP, there aren’t many teams that provide a bad matchup for us. The road to the Finals will be harder because other teams will be healthier and I don’t see Boston losing only three games across the entire playoffs.
Sam LaFrance
I feel like this team has as good of a chance as any to repeat. They won’t be losing any core pieces (maybe Luke, hopefully not) and have all of the main guys locked up, not only through next season, but long enough to where their impending deal won’t be looming above the team all year.
My largest concern has to be health. The most obvious angle here is Kristaps’ unique injury. He’s going to need surgery and will have a “months-long” recovery process, according to Tim Bontemps. On top of that, Boston is looking at at least two guys who will be playing for Team USA at the Olympics. Jrue Holiday and Jayson Tatum are going to have their durability tested this summer. The Olympics don’t wrap up until early August, so they’ll have, what, a month off before training camp? Not to mention that Derrick White may be joining them if Kawhi Leonard drops out.
This core has spent the past several seasons playing deep into the spring. I’m not rooting for it, but eventually, fatigue does catch up. Hopefully Tatum and Jaylen Brown are still young enough where that won’t be felt as much.
Rich Jensen
Repeating is hard… Unless you played with Bill Russell, you probably lost the last game of the season more often than you won it.
But the C’s have as good a chance as any team recently. In a league that is drawing talent from all over the world, two of the C’s assets, chemistry and coaching are so important. Raw talent alone just doesn’t cut it anymore.
That said, these guys have to understand they’re going to get everybody’s best shot every night. They were the best team in the East before their playoff foes suffered injuries, so health of the rest of the East isn’t a big concern for me.
They need to realize that the next one will be as challenging in its way as this one was.
Ben Vallis
One of the most stressful aspects of the ‘23-’24 season was keeping Kristaps Porzingis healthy. The Celtics managed to achieve that, and then promptly un-achieved it as soon as the playoff started. Kristaps will now have offseason surgery, and his health will be a lingering concern throughout the season. Furthermore, Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday, who have just played well into the month of June, will now undertake a full Olympic Basketball campaign. They’ll begin the ‘24-’25 season with little time to rest and recover, while the Celtics are adorned with yet another target on their backs, this time that of defending champs.
Repeating is difficult under the best of circumstances, and the Celtics have no shortage of restraints pulling them downward heading into 2025.
That said, this is an exceptionally talented roster with exponentially potent team chemistry. In that sense, the championship criteria remains as it was last year; If healthy, this team should be playing in June.
Mike Dynon
Before the opening game last October, I pinned a tweet with my predictions: 61 wins, top seed, Banner 18. And, even better with 64 wins, it all came true. I simply had full confidence that 2024 was the Celtics’ year – and they proved that it was.
Repeating is a bit different. Others have described several factors that could sabotage the chase for back-to-back banners, but the biggest obstacle is likely to be: Can the Celtics again motivate themselves to win?
As soon as the confetti started to fly, Jayson Tatum let loose the refrain, “What they gonna say now?” He definitely heard and was fed up with the criticism that grew louder every year that the Celtics failed to win. Jaylen Brown certainly felt it too. They and all their teammates knew that they had to win the gold trophy. They were desperate, and it showed in their dominant season. A 16-3, mostly stress-free playoff run is pretty special. But now that they have the trophy, will they still be desperate? It’s human nature to relax a bit.
Joe Mazzulla has excelled in motivating these players and extracting from them their best performances. Joe needs to do it again, and the Jays need to set the tone that they will not accept failure. Whatever it takes, because winning again is even tougher than winning the first time.
So, how confident am I? Slightly less confident than a year ago, but nevertheless keeping my calendar open for another duck boat parade next June.
Steve Hooper
This title run should highlight the fact that becoming the number one seed is truly the upper hand in the East, from a matchup perspective, the talent drop off is real.
Boston was 14 wins ahead of the second place New York Knicks in 2023-24. Even if Boston fall short of the epic win differential and lodge perhaps 58 or 59 wins next season, that should still position them in the box seat to take the number 1 seed.
Sure the road through the East will likely be less injury fraught for those closer tiered conference opponents: Philly, Milwaukee and New York. However, Boston’s ability to defend at a supremely high level and get good & great looks from beyond the three-point line night in and night out, should once again give them the edge over all their Eastern Conference counterparts.
We get to the Finals again and it comes down to a best of seven series, I like our chances.
