The Boston Celtics had a nice 48-win season in 2015-16, but they’ve seemed to have hit their finite ceiling. Is it time for Danny Ainge to blow up the team?
The 2015-16 Boston Celtics had themselves a nice, respectable 48-win season as the No. 5 seed in the 2016 Eastern Conference Playoffs. They saw starting point guard Isaiah Thomas become an All-Star and a certain top 25 player in the league.
Boston was able to take the No. 4 seeded Atlanta Hawks to six games in the first round before hitting their finite ceiling this season. While Boston could realistically return their entire team for another go-around in 2016-17, ESPN’s Chris Forsberg writes that “more pure talent is needed for the Celtics to make the true leap forward” and “things probably have to change.”
Forsberg points out the “We’re one superstar” mantra of the team’s second best player in small forward Jae Crowder as somewhat of a rallying point this past season, but even with players like Thomas, Crowder, and injured wing Avery Bradley, the Celtics will certainly need to mix things up if they want to orchestrate a deep playoff run in 2017.
The Celtics already have the best young head coach in the game in Brad Stevens and a general manager in Danny Ainge that stockpiles assets like no other. Boston will return nine of its 15 players from the 2015-16 team and has three first-round draft picks coming their way in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Key free agents that Ainge must make tough decisions on include center Jared Sullinger and shooting guard Evan Turner. Players like forwards Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko are on non-guaranteed deals.
In short, Boston has the roster to at least hover around 45-50 wins in 2016-17, but and any more than a team with an Eastern Conference Semifinals ceiling, assuming the Celtics get a solid matchup in the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs.
While Boston’s current group plays some fantastic basketball and are definitely exciting to watch, it is time for Ainge to pull the trigger and land the superstar player that the Celtics need to get over the top. He has a choice to make: continue on as is and yield similar results again next year or drastically alter the team by acquiring a star player to challenge the juggernaut Cleveland Cavaliers in the East.
Either scenario is justifiable for Ainge, but Boston is the most storied franchise in the NBA. It’s only a matter of time before the Garden faithful will want to see a championship caliber team on the hardwood. This current group is good, but definitely not championship caliber. It’s truly up to Ainge, as he holds all the cards entering the 2016 NBA Draft and the upcoming free agency period.
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