Eras Tour: Al Horford as Marc Gasol? The Jays as Joe Dumars and Kobe Bryant?

Is it possible that we didn’t know how good we had it? We’re three months removed from clinching Banner 18 in Game 5 against the Mavericks. Kristaps Porzingis made a comeback cameo. Payton Pritchard hit that half court Hail Mary that seemed to win the game at halftime. Jayson Tatum put together a near triple-double with 31-8-11 in his best game of the Finals. And Jaylen Brown lifted the MVP (again).

All that’s left is Ring Night on October 22nd and then last season’s championship gets put in the trophy case for posterity. That 80-21 record will become just a page in NBA history books, but it’s hard to ignore just how dominant that was. There will be detractors that say that injuries plagued the Eastern Conference and/or that Dallas was not the best representative coming out of the West.

While comparison may be the thief of joy, it serves as a good way to contextualize the 2023-2024 Celtics with other championships squads. But instead of pitting teams from different eras against the modern NBA, let’s pay homage. Instead of saying, “Derrick White could take Andre Iguodala,” let’s go with “DWhite was our Iggy glue guy.” In that celebratory spirit, let’s find our guys in other guys from championship past.

Jaylen Brown is Joe Dumars: For much of the year and his career, Brown has been viewed as the 1B to Tatum’s alpha, not unlike the relationship between Bad Boys Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. However, in the Pistons front end of their back-to-back run in 1989 and 1990, it was Dumars that not only carried the defensive load on Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, he did his fair share of scoring, too. Brown backed up his Eastern Conference Finals MVP performance by stifling Luka Doncic and earning Finals MVP, too.

Jayson Tatum is Kobe Bryant: Tatum’s idol didn’t secure Finals MVP playing next to Shaquille O’Neal during the Lakers’ three-peat. We can let Lakers fans argue the debate of whether Kobe was more valuable than Shaq, but for us Celtics fans, there’s no doubt that JT was our MVP throughout the season. In Game 5 against the Mavericks, he put together a near triple-double with 31 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists. Had the series returned to Dallas or stretched to a Game 7, it could have easily been Tatum raising the Bill O’Russell trophy.

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Derrick White is Manu Ginobili: The pair of follicley-challenged Spurs play to the beat of a different drum. Manu’s unconventional approach to the offense is the perfect complement to DWhite’s unexpected defensive dominance as a shot-blocking guard. Buried behind the franchise cornerstones, they could easily be top options on other teams. On a contender, they gave what the team needed and more.

Jrue Holiday is Dennis Johnson: Blur your eyes a little bit and tell me you don’t see a little #3 in #4. Holiday is the only current Celtic that bridges to a Celtic great in this exercise. Both came to Boston later in their All-Star careers after earning rings in other cities as veteran point guards. Both were plus-defenders at the point of attack.

Kristaps Porzingis is Chris Bosh: There are players that just make everything run. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James were always going to lay waste to the NBA landscape, but with Bosh in tow, they became back-to-back champs. That’s the Porzingis effect on the Jays. And consider this: in their second run to the Finals, Bosh was injured in Game 1 of the second round and returned for Games 5-7 of the ECF against the Celtics and a gentleman’s sweep of the Thunder. That was a similar path that Porzingis took after initially getting hurt against the Heat in Round 1 and triumphantly returning against Dallas.

Al Horford is Marc Gasol: The deal for Kawhi Leonard the summer prior will always be considered the key transaction to Toronto’s only title 2019, but the trade deadline trade that brought in then 34-year-old Marc Gasol might have been the final puzzle piece. It gave the Raptors a heady big man as their defensive anchor and a grown up in the locker room. Sound familiar? After 185 playoff games without a ring (second most to only Karl Malone at the time), Horford raised the Larry O’Brien.

Celtics bench is the Bulls bench: A reliable back-up center. Clutch shooters. All seamless fits. Whether you’re talking about John Paxson, Craig Hodges, and Will Perdue or Steve Kerr, Jud Buechler, and Bill Wennington, Phil Jackson could always rely on his bench to support his starting five. From the start of training camp, Joe Mazzulla had faith in his second unit. Payton Pritchard was going to have to fill the shoes of Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon. Sam Hauser had shown flashes, but wasn’t exactly a reliable player yet. Luke Kornet’s value was higher off the floor than on. In the end, all three had their moments in the playoffs.

Could the 2024 world champion Celtics take down a team featuring a bevy of Hall of Famers with DJ and Dumars in the backcourt, Kobe and Manu on the wings, and Gasol and Bosh in the middle? We’ll leave that for sports radio and hot take artists. However, seeing Team #78 through this historical prism might just give us an appreciation of last season.

We didn’t know how good we had it. But thankfully, we’re running it back.