The Future Looks Bright for the Celtics
November 11, 2020
The Boston Celtics fell in game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which ended an impressive season for the young Boston Celtics. Led by the 3- year player in Jason Tatum and 9- year veteran in Kemba Walker, they put on an impressive record of 48-24, coming in 3rd place in the East behind the Bucks and Raptors.
Celtics fans will be the first to tell you the future is bright for the Boston Celtics, but in my opinion, the future looks dim for the young bunch in green. Jayson Tatum has been under contract for four years on a 30 million dollar contract, and with his averages of 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists, he will definitely be asking for a substantial amount of money come 2021 when he is a Restricted Free Agent.
The Celtics young star has mentioned staying in Boston, but in my opinion, nothing is keeping him here. Tatum is a very important piece on the Celtics, and every team in the league will be looking to grab this young star to build a future for their teams. His high efficiency and low injury rate make him a prime target with a team that is beginning the rebuilding phase in their franchise.
In the upcoming years, I do not see Tatum staying unless the Celtics star-studded roster makes ends meet and wins the finals. In the future, the Celtics will prioritize Tatum as a long term signing, but he will not prioritize the Celtics.
Another young piece on the Celtics team is Jaylen Brown–a fourth-year player being picked 3rd by the Celtics–will also want more money, as he is the 2nd most efficient player on the team. When the time comes, I see the Celtics trying to keep Tatum and letting the very talented Brown seek more money on a worse team. The question for Brown is if he will want to stay with his duo Tatum and stay on a contending team, or go to a failing team for a large sum of money.
In my opinion, the Celtics really only have a lock on a few players. The heart and soul of the team, Marcus Smart, will stay and thrive with the Celtics. He has shown his love for Boston, and the Celtics value him highly, as he is a huge part of the locker room culture of the C’s. In the next few years, I think we will see the re-signing of Jayson Tatum on a short term deal with the Celtics and the loss of Jaylen Brown. The only thing I can see the Celtics needing next year is a large rebounding center as they start Daniel Theis, who is a huge part of the offensive side of the court but runs into foul problems and low rebound numbers.
In the coming seasons, I would like the Celtics to get rid of the bulky contract they have on the injury-prone Gordon Hayward and collect one of the cheap big men in the league. In short, I think the next three years are the most imperative for the Celtics: right now with young players in their prime getting together, we will continue to be a championship contender. Five years from now, depending on how the Celtics play, I would not be surprised to see us losing Tatum to a team looking for a soul superstar, Jaylen Brown to a team who values him better as a scorer, and Kemba Walker at 30 will go past his prime on the court.