Five pressing questions for the Celtics in 2020-21

As the Celtics' regular season kicks off on Wednesday night, let's look at a few key storylines that will shape how this group performs during the 2020-21 season. 

1. How long does Danny Ainge wait to find help with his $28.5 million trade exception? The Celtics have a full 15-man roster right now but there is no questioning there is some dead weight at the bottom of this roster. After committing so much draft capital to this team in the last few years though, Danny Ainge seems intent on finding out what his younger non-lottery talent can grow into before making any bigger decisions with what to put around his young talented core.

“I hope that all the players out there can appreciate when they really get in the league, because there are good players that don't have jobs in the NBA, right now,” Ainge said earlier this month. “Very good players. And listen, I'd like to see what I'd like to see what we have. I want to see some guys given an opportunity first, before we make a judgement. We don't have enough scoring off the bench. We have a couple guys that didn't get a chance to play much last year and I think can provide us some scoring punch. So time will tell.”

With Kemba Walker and Romeo Langford sidelined and no experienced replacement for Gordon Hayward on the wing in place, Boston will quickly find out what they have in meaningful bench depth and it may not go well if the preseason was any indication. Given that the Celtics may be playing in the most challenging division in the NBA this season, regular season wins will be tougher to come by. Officially, trade season begins this year on Feb. 6 (free agents signed this offseason can be traded then) and the trade deadline has been set for March 25. If the Celtics want to get serious about contending in the East this season, a move will need to be made with the exception, potentially sooner rather than later based on how this undermanned group comes together out of the gate.

2. Can Jaylen Brown flourish as a No. 2 option next to Jayson Tatum on a nightly basis? Gordon Hayward clearly wanted a bigger role in Boston but there were no serious discussions about opening that up for him in Boston at the expense of others before his departure to Charlotte this fall. Jaylen Brown’s impressive leap in year four was a big part of that equation. He provided All-Star level production for much of the year and raised his game during a deep run in the Eastern Conference postseason for the second time in his career. Given his age and potential, moving him to create more opportunities for Hayward was a non-starter alongside Jayson Tatum. With that said, Brown still has work to do to prove that was the right long-term decision. Hayward and Kemba Walker handled a lot of attention from defenders on a nightly basis, opening the door for Brown to be a secondary option that could feast on preoccupied defenses. Brown maximized his efficiency in this role but the Celtics are going to be asking him to do much more than that this year. Without Tatum on the court, the C’s are going to be asking him to carry the offense in stretches and to do so with an inferior supporting cast compared to last year (at least for the first couple of months). Brown is certainly capable of meeting those demands but it’s reasonable to think that there could be some growing pains along the way. The fewer of those we see, the better odds the C’s have of staying afloat in the East until Walker returns.

3. Will the Celtics commitment to stockpiling young talent in the draft begin to pay off? Boston’s current roster is stocked with more of their own draft picks (10) than perhaps any other playoff team in the NBA. While there is some top-notch lottery talent in that group, six of those names are largely unknown commodities from the last three drafts. Part of the mystery has been due to injuries (Langford) while others can be attributed to limited opportunities (Robert Williams, this year’s rookies) or just a lack of production so far. Finding good talent in the back half of NBA first round or the second round is a crapshoot but taking those gambles time and time again on a team that’s trying to win right away is risky business. Playing time and development can be tough to come by for these players, especially for a coach like Brad Stevens that puts a premium on defense. Beyond Grant Williams, no one in this group has shown a lot of reliability on that front early. Ainge has constructed a roster where Stevens will be forced to give at least a couple of these guys extended runs on a regular basis if he wants to manage minutes well among his core during this compressed schedule. However, there’s a distinct possibility that those opportunities may come at the expense of some wins unless Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard acclimate quickly. For the C’s to remain competitive in the East playoff picture, they are going to need a couple of these guys to become reliable role players sooner rather than later. Otherwise, a few could turn into movable pieces without much value.

4. Will the long wait for Kemba Walker’s ailing knee pay off? A stem cell injection for the All-Star guard in October combined with an extended strengthening plan looks to be the Celtics training staff trying to put together a maintenance plan for Walker that can sustain through the postseason grind. Years and years of playing through pain in Charlotte came back to bite Walker in the second half of last season in a grind that extended all the way back to the FIBA World Cup in the summer of 2019. As the preseason showed, the Celtics are going to need what Walker can bring to the table but the long-term outlook for this team will change based on how well Walker responds to this treatment and strengthening plan. While stem cell treatment is common among athletes, there is no guarantee it works as Dr. Flynn noted on BSJ weeks ago. The long-term alternatives for this team if Walker doesn’t regain his old form (surgery? Trade?) are not appealing at all, making this year a potential make or break year for Walker when it comes to remaining a critical portion of this core. The Celtics best hope is to remain patient in the present with the hope that Walker can get close to the All-Star level we saw in the first half of last season. If he can’t get there after what will essentially be close to a full offseason of time off (assuming he doesn’t play until February), the road back towards contention gets a lot trickier for the front office.

5. What is the ceiling for Jayson Tatum? Fresh off the biggest rookie extension in NBA history, the keys to the car have been handed to the 22-year-old ahead of schedule. He’s set up well to reach All-NBA honors and secure the supermax level (30 percent of cap) in his next contract with added responsibility. Still, putting up big numbers won’t mean a ton if he doesn’t continually improve on making the talent around him better. Tatum took huge strides on that front in the bubble with his assist rate ticking up but his passing and vision still have a long way to grow. There will be plenty of temptation to do it himself at times (the C’s will need him to in spots) but the better odds of success from a team perspective for Boston will be Tatum getting better at lifting up others. He needs to become a well-rounded player night in and night out, bringing top-notch defense nightly on top of steady points and assists. Some nights, taking 30 shots will be the best chance for the team to win. Other nights, it will be taking 15 shots while dishing out 10 assists. Balancing that feel based on the defensive gameplan will be crucial for Tatum ith a C’s roster that has some holes in the depth chart this year.

“He's going to draw the attention where he's going to have to do that and I think part of his continued growth is all the great players can kill you in a variety of ways,” Stevens said. “Making the right read on a pass is a big part of that.”

If Tatum can pull this off, he could push his way into the top-10 or top-5 of NBA talent this year, which will put the Celtics into the contending conversation by default. On paper, this looks like it could be a stepback year for Boston given the rest of their depth chart and injuries, but one more leap from Tatum could change that thinking in a hurry.