I don’t know why we picked a day in the middle of the winter to start the clock on earth’s path around the sun. Who feels like celebrating when the sun goes down before dinner and it’s 25 degrees outside?
Certainly not Celtics fans, who don’t have much to feel good about right now. We’re all crabby and bitter during New England winters as it is, but C’s fans have hair triggers on their emotional distress right now.
So let’s end the year right. Let’s actually take a positive view of this team as we head into 2022 … or at least as positive as we can get it. Here are three optimistic views of the Celtics for the new year.
1. We still haven't seen this team whole, but we should soon.
The Celtics are still one of two NBA teams to not have a lineup play 100 minutes together yet this season. That's not normal. Let’s compare and contrast with the Utah Jazz, who have not had a positive COVID-19 test yet.
Jazz top lineups by minutes: 412, 186, 125, 118, 113.
Celtics top lineups by minutes: 97, 87, 87, 54, 45.
The most-used Celtics lineup is 43rd in the NBA minutes-wise. Boston’s top minutes lineup is Al Horford, Dennis Schröder, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, and Robert Williams. Jaylen Brown is in two of the most used lineups while Tatum is in all five. One of the 87 minute lineups is Boston’s preferred lineup of Smart, Tatum, Brown, Horford and Williams.
You get it. Boston has been crushed by COVID and injuries. Only the Lakers have had worse luck (their top lineup has logged 53 minutes). Slowly, though, we’re starting to see guys return. There are five guys left in Health and Safety protocols. Soon, they will start to filter out, and the Celtics -- theoretically -- will have a fully healthy team for once.*
IF the Celtics can maintain a decent stretch of good health where Ime Udoka has his actual options available to him and his stars can play normal minutes, then we can start to really see who these guys are.
No matter how much we scream and kick and swear, we still don’t know what this year’s team is truly capable of. Sure, they're not a championship contender, but I also feel good about them not being a lottery team … at least not when whole.
*This is not a jinx as jinxes aren’t a real thing and injuries aren’t determined by words I type.
2. The January schedule is the opposite of December’s grind.
I know, I know. There is no reason to think the schedule easing up makes any difference right now. I don’t blame you for having that reaction. But I’m trying to get everyone to relax here. Roll with me on this one.
Here are Boston’s opponents this month: Orlando, San Antonio, New York Knicks twice, Indiana twice, Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans twice, Charlotte, Portland, Washington, Sacramento, Atlanta, and Miami.
That's 16 games. Only five of those are against teams with current winning records (and a couple of them are perilously close to .500, so that could change as the month goes on).
No, I don’t expect them to go 11-5 in that stretch, but if the team inches closer to whole and they start getting a full roster against lesser competition, then maybe they start piling up a couple of winning streaks here.
Boston hasn’t won more than three games in a row this season. The Pelicans just won four in a row. The Rockets had a seven-game win streak. Why can’t Boston finally get some good luck against some lesser competition and put a five-gamer together?
3. There are plenty of moves to make to improve the team.
Some things have shown themselves to be true this season.
For instance, the Celtics need to find appropriate playing time for Payton Pritchard -- oh, somewhere between zero and 44 minutes would be nice. Also, Grant Williams should be considered for a starting spot in place of one of Boston’s bigs.
Brad Stevens has tools at his disposal. Here’s one loose road map that I can see playing out.
- Trade Schröder for a couple of second-round picks.
- Find a place to dump Juancho Hernangomez.
- Put out feelers for a trade package that includes Josh Richardson & Romeo Langford (could potentially get a guy making into the low/mid $20 million range)
- Contact teams like Philadelphia, Portland, Indiana, and others who could be making big moves and let them know the Celtics are open for business involving their $17 million Evan Fournier TPE.
The Celtics can clear some money and roster space to let some of the current bench guys play a little more and, maybe, sneak their way into a useful player as part of a multi-team deal. If the Cavs can snag Jarrett Allen that way, it's possible Boston can stumble into a useful bench player.
However it goes, the Celtics have room to move. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, but something is going to happen.
I don’t know how much is actually going to change, but I don’t want to end the year on a sour note. So maybe the Celtics can jump on a tired Phoenix Suns team playing at what would normally be 11 AM their time and end the season on an uptick. In case that doesn’t happen, here’s something to maybe give you a ray of hope heading into 2022.
Happy New Year.