Celtics Struggles

The Boston Celtics are the most dramatic team in the NBA this year, always flipping from one narrative to the other. The first narrative is a young team with a superstar point-guard that’s going to take the league by storm, and the other being a bed of toxicity where every player is an individual and their star point guard hates all of them. Social media loves it, Celtics fans hate it, and everyone else is just enjoying the drama.

Is there really drama? I understand if teams go through turmoil, it happens every year, but I feel like the media has overblown the entire situation. The Celtics haven’t been as good as they should be, that’s fairly obvious, but the situation the Celtics find themselves in is overblown, and is not the only reason why they are struggling.

The Media

The media have been running with this for a long time. Reports of Kyrie being frustrated came out before the All-Star break, and have only escalated since. Kyrie has been reportedly ‘disengaged’ and ‘frustrated’ with the team’s performance and his own tribulations as the leader of the team. Marcus Morris hasn’t been shy, saying that the team is just a bunch of ‘individuals’ and that there aren’t many close relationships, just guys being friendly. Jalen Brown said the Celtics need to fix their ‘toxic’ environment, and the team needs to come together. Kyrie at times seems visibly frustrated, and recently said this,

“The young guys don’t know what it takes to be a championship level team. What it takes every day. And if they think it is hard now, what do they think it will be like when we’re trying to get to the Finals?”

“There were no expectations last year. Everyone played free and easy. Everyone surpassed whatever they expected for themselves. This year? We all have high expectations. The players, the coaches, everyone. And that’s good, but we aren’t doing it yet.”

He ultimately closed by saying he needs to be a better leader, but it shows what he’s really thinking about the team and the situation the Celtics have found themselves in.

I am certainly not helping the situation by fueling the fire even more, but I am doing it a different way, I think the Celtics struggles don’t have everything to do with the mental, i think it has something to do with the actual statistical performance of the team and players.

Statistics

The Celtics are simply worse than last season in certain areas. This season they are better offensively, and they should be, with the ‘additions’ of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, but they are worse defensively. Last season they were the number one rated defensive team in the NBA, compared to this season, in which they are 5th. Last season the Celtics posted an Opp PTS/G (Opponents Points per Game) of 100.4, but this season are posting an Opp PTS/G of 107.3. If we look closer, the team is better in shooting, points per game, steals, free throw percentage, etc. So what is the issue? Could it be the players? Lets explore that too.

Player Statistics

Last season was a very interesting one for the Celtics. Once Hayward went down, expectations for the season dropped, and once Kyrie opted for surgery late in the season, fans didn’t expect much. But the young guns stepped up, with legendary performances from Tatum and Rozier, driving the Celtics to a game 7 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Conference Finals. Great right? It is and it isn’t, because now the players have returned to Earth and are playing like they should be. For example, Jayson Tatum shot 43% from three last year, but is shooting 36% this year. Al Horford shot 42% from three last year, and averaged over 7 rebounds a game, but this year is shooting 35% and is averaging less than 7 rebounds. Key players have come back down to Earth after the incredible season, and have learned what its like to grind out a real season with shooting struggles, injuries, and tougher competition.

The Celtics struggles do seem to be a lot of mental and locker room instability. Their statistics aren’t that bad. They are playing better offensively, but worse defensively, which is actually a huge issue in today’s NBA with the offensive superstars stacked up in the West. What that old adage? ‘Offensive wins games, but defensive wins championships?’ That couldn’t be a better way to sum up the Celtics statistical struggles, and Isaiah Thomas said it perfectly when he said,

All in all, the Celtics would probably be top of the East if they weren’t going through the trials and tribulations of a young team, but this should’ve been expected, with such a young core, and Kyrie Irving being a new leader, these struggles were inevitable.

Hopefully the Celtics can figure it out before the playoffs