FanPost

Some thoughts on the state of the Celtics.

1. Are any of you happy you overreacted to the start of the season yet?

How about now? Obviously, I'm talking to those of you did overreact too early in the season. Well, we seem to be stabilizing and it will only get better in the next few weeks. As I said before, building the chemistry will take time. So will certain players (Hayward) coming back from injury. But it's starting to happen. This will only improve as the season goes along.

2. Did you know that, as I write this, the top 5 teams in the East are ALL 6-4 in their last ten games?

That's right. The Raptors, Bucks, Pacers, Celtics, and 76ers are all 6 of their last 10. And for reference, I'm writing this before the Jazz game tonight and any other games that may kill that. But for now, they are all on a stretch of a game above a .500 recent record. Furthermore, some other teams in the East are also close to a .500 record in their last ten. The 6th place Pistons are 4-6 in their last 10 games. The 7th place Hornets, 8th place Magic, and 9th place Nets are all each 5-5 in their last 10 games. Do you know what this means?

That as I write this, it means the top 9 teams have all been hovering around .500 (within no more or less than a game above or below that) in their last 10 games! This means the entirety of the Eastern Conference is either idling or worse and outright terrible recently. I just found that kind of funny.

3. The Celtics are about to go on a tear.

You heard it here first. How do I know this? Strength of schedule. Look at the schedule for the Celtics after tonight's Jazz game. It's mostly garbage for a good stretch.

4. Stop trying to trade Jaylen Brown!

There are two players on this team that should be untouchable because of what they represent both individually and together. One of them is Jayson Tatum, the other is Jaylen Brown, and they represent a potential championship core of 10+ years. Don't mess with it!

I understand that there is a lot of early season anxiety going around. And while some of it seems unnecessary to me personally, I get that being a fan can be an emotional thing and it is easy to get caught up in the moment. But don't then let the moment take over your thinking.

Brown is 22 and still developing. Even if you are concerned about Brown THIS year, that isn't the only year you should consider. Next year, we will likely be with Morris and Rozier. Brown will have more opportunity than he might have this year.

5. The key to Jaylen Brown's game is defense.

At least as far as I see it, Brown's strengths are as a 2 way wing. And while that seems obvious on the surface, I think he has sort of lost his way from that a little bit. Jaylen looks to me like he is trying a bit too hard to stand out and be a star right now and he should get back to basics a little bit.

Like Brown, Tatum is also a 2 way wing. But he leans more towards offense. Hence it makes more sense for the offense to feature a player as offensively skilled as Tatum over someone like Brown. Brown's strengths traditionally leans more towards defense. When Morris was in the Raptors game late instead of Brown, I'm entirely convinced that was about defense before anything else. Brown needs to improve some things on offense, sure. But I think he should worry less about his offensive numbers this year and more about being a solid 2 way player and expanding from there.

For the record, I think he will figure it out as the season goes along. He is a smart kid.

6. Hayward is finally starting to look somewhat in form.

I don't want to overreact. He still has a ways to go and it's far from perfect. But it finally is starting to feel a bit like the Hayward we were anticipating last year. He looked pretty good lately. This will only improve with time. It is also why we needed time for him to get back into things.

7. I would like to see Kyrie Irving emphasize being more of a passer at times.

I realize this is kind of weird timing considering he just exploded against the Raptors. Kyrie has these game sometimes where he just becomes an unstoppable force on offense. When he has those games, it's fine if he does his thing. But not every game is going to be like that. Considering all the talent on this team, I would like to see more overall playmaking to get it to more people.

Now it is true that Irving currently leads the team in assists per game. But at 5.9 and just under 6, it's slightly troubling how few assists are on this team. Now there are reasons for this. Some of that has been the poor shooting we had to start the year. I also freely admit that assists aren't necessarily the best measure for passing. (John Wall is a good example why.) I can't help but feel like our passing has been part of the reason it hasn't "looked right" early in the year.

All the same, I feel like Kyrie has some untapped potential as a playmaker. In particular, he can use his scoring threat to make him a decoy to drive and dish or whatnot more than he does. Sometimes I watch him and it seems like he is intent on finishing a drive no matter what. In addition, Gordon Hayward and All Horford are both excellent playmakers in the front court for us. I would like to see Kyrie give it up to those two to set things up for us a little more often.

8. We play the Jazz tonight.

Speaking of bad starts to the season, what has happened to the Utah Jazz? Even though they beat us last time, they haven't been very good to start the year. I have lowkey liked the Jazz for awhile now so I am admittedly surprised. But what I really wanted to say is: Can you imagine the fan reaction had we gotten off to a start like the Utah Jazz did? I get the sense there would be people calling for us to blow it up and trade Donovan Mitchell. And no, I wouldn't support it.

9. The Eastern Conference standings are going to change.

Looking around at the competition, no one is really pulling away. As I said in point #2, the top 9 teams in the East have all been hovering at or near .500 in their last 10 games. The Raptors were way out in front, but they have now lost their last 3 games. They are still good, but they are coming back down to Earth a bit. The 76ers have this bizarre and extreme road/home split personality. They are literally undefeated at home with an 8-0 home record, but they are only 2-7 on the road. They can't play on the road. It won't ultimately matter until the playoffs, but it is something to think about and keep an eye on.

So my point is that with no one pulling away in the East, we are in prime position to strike. And we will strike. Considering what I said in point #3, I think we are going to make up some ground over the next stretch of 15ish games or so. We can thank the schedule for balancing things out.

10. Jayson Tatum.

He looks like he is on his way to stardom. He's starting to look really good again and he appears to be establishing himself as a top 2 option in the offense. This is good news. While I tend to preach patience with younger players, it might not be necessary for Tatum. He is just so advanced for his age. It should be noted that Tatum is probably the exception to the rule, not the rule itself.

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