Seven Celtics Storylines We're Locked Into For Second Half Of Season
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- The All-Star break is over, and now it's time for the Boston Celtics to get back to business. And they have a lot of business to tend to in the second half of the season if they want to make any sort of noise come playoff time.
The first 36 games of the season were a real test of patience for Celtics fans. The team would look amazing one night and then zombified the next. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown provided some superstar gusto to the squad, but the roster overall is pretty pitiful, especially given the injury issues that have plagued the team. Hopefully the depth improves greatly over the next two weeks, both by way of players coming back and Danny Ainge getting off his tuchus and doing something at the trade deadline.
The All-Star break hopefully gave the non-stars a much-needed breather, Brad Stevens some time to hit the lab, and Ainge a chance to mastermind some plan to rejuvenate this team over the coming weeks. No one wants to see a repeat of that frustrating and inconsistent first half.
There is some hope that things will be better over the next 36 games, but a lot needs to happen. Here's what we'll be focused on over the next two months, which will hopefully lead up to another lengthy postseason run by the Boston Celtics.
The TPE
Here comes the great TPE debate. Use it now or use it later? Ainge has hinted that he may hang on to it until this summer, but he'd probably be better served using it sooner rather than later.
With the Celtics up against the cap this season, the value of the TPE is currently around $20 million. It jumps up to $28.5 million this offseason, and could be Boston's only real avenue to add some quality bodies to the roster. But that is also something he could take care of now, helping this current Celtics team in the process. If Ainge waits, the pressure will just mount to use the TPE before it expires, and opposing teams will take full advantage of that to make Ainge squirm. Waiting will just drive up the asking price, and the longer the waiting game goes, the more likely that TPE simply disappears and the Celtics are left with nothing to show for it.
But if Ainge goes all-in and picks up just one player with it, he better make sure it's a piece that can contribute to Boston's core for the next few years. There are some big delusions of grandeur over what the Celtics could get, but one thing that is certain is they will not be adding a real superstar to the mix with the exception. Sacramento's Harrison Barnes is among the most appealing options, but with the Kings and about 85 percent of the league in the playoff mix (albeit for the play-in spots), teams may not be willing to sell off such talent this year. And adding Barnes' contract to the mix going forward will likely mean Boston has to deal either Marcus Smart or Kemba Walker in the offseason.
Boston could always break up the TPE and add some solid role players at the deadline, but they need to do anyways. Using the TPE for that would feel like a missed opportunity to build up both the present and the immediate future.
The Deadline
The Celtics shouldn't make a move just to make a move, and that isn't how Ainge operates anyways. But he has to do something. The Celtics still don't really know what they are this season, but they cannot waste another year of Tatum and Brown playing at such a high level. If Ainge can somehow turn offseason whiffs Tristan Thompson and Jeff Teague into anything -- even if it's just a trip out of town for Teague -- he's gotta do it. Dealing Robert Williams would lead to riots on Causeway Street, but if Ainge is thinking of a real needle-moving upgrade, Bob is likely the only appealing piece that Boston can offer up -- unless you're willing to say goodbye to Marcus.
If nothing else, Boston needs to make some minor movies to solidify its bench and depth. Something along the lines of Miami's deadline pickups of Andre Iguodala and Jae Crowder last season. It wasn't sexy, but it helped Miami reach the NBA Finals. How does Ainge saving P.J. Tucker from Houston sound?
The Nets just added Blake Griffin to their superteam and the first-place 76ers are in line to make a move or two to improve themselves as well. The Celtics cannot just stand pat; they need to be aggressive this year and end Ainge's six-year run of not making an in-season trade.
"We like our players and we like our team" will not be an acceptable response come 3:05 p.m. on March 25. Not after Danny has made it clear that he doesn't believe this current mix can win a title.
The Jays
Of course, Boston's success depends on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown keeping up their All-Star caliber play. Now that they've had their fun at the league's annual exhibition, the focus can swing solely to making Boston a contender again. Others up and down the roster will need to step up to do so, but Tatum and Brown will have to keep up their absurd levels of play for it to be a real possibility.
The Return Of Marcus
The Celtics have gone 9-9 without Marcus Smart in the lineup, allowing an average of 112.4 points over that span. It's only three points worse than when Smart was in the lineup, but it's easy to wonder how Smart's presence would have helped the team's defense as the opposition casually had a 30-point scorer every darn night over the last five weeks. And how big would it have been having the team's defensive tone-setter as the Celtics let game after game slip away? Having Smart back should help Boston regain its mojo on that end of the floor.
But we also can't discount Smart's impact on the offensive side. He was having a tremendous season as a play-maker before getting hurt, which made up for his rough go from downtown (shooting just 31 percent from three-point range). Brown and Smart had a wonderful two-man game going before Smart went down, and Brown's scoring decreased after Smart went down, so it'd be great to see that pick back up upon his return. Where Smart will help the most is he'll let Brad Stevens employ a lot more smallball, so we won't see that two-big lineup as much when Smart returns.
Boston will be getting its glue guy back in the next few weeks, which is great news for the Celtics.
Center Of Attention
If anything was clear during the first half of the season, especially closer to the break, it's that Stevens needs to take the training wheels off Robert Williams and let the big man loose. The Celtics have been essentially had him in bubble wrap for fear that his hip will start acting up again, but it's time to unleash their young big man. He's averaging just a tick over 16 minutes per game this season -- let's see that jump up to over 20 in the second half.
Thompson has been playing better and Daniel Theis is doing his usual Daniel Theis things, but Williams is finally showing all that upside that we've heard so much about since he was drafted at the end of the first round in 2018. And he's doing so on a consistent basis. He has the ability to shut down the paint on defense, and he's a good alley oop security blanket on offense (perhaps a little bit too much as of late).
Center minutes will be at a premium when Smart returns, so maybe one of Thompson or Theis will be dealt at the deadline. That would both clear up some cap space and the logjam at the five.
Beating Good Teams (And Not Losing To Bad Ones)
First and foremost, the Celtics have to stop losing to bad teams. Just cut it out, because it's making a lot of people upset. Stop dropping games to the Wizards and Pistons because you think you've got a W by just showing up to the arena. It doesn't work that way anymore, not with this roster.
Good? Great.
The Celtics did have some impressive wins over "good" teams in the first half, including victories over the Bucks (opening night, which seems soooooo long ago), a pair of wins over the Pacers, an impressive win over the Nuggets in Boston, and wins in both games against the Clippers.
But... the C's also dropped both of their games to the 76ers, lost an extremely winnable game against the Lakers on national TV the night Smart went down, and finished their five-game West Coast trip with a loss to the Jazz. And we can't forget about that horrid blowout loss to the Nets on Christmas Day.
First up for Boston in the second half -- a tilt with the Nets in Brooklyn. It's one of two showdowns with the new title favorites in the second half. The C's also have showdowns with Philly and Utah at home, two more games against the Bucks in Milwaukee, a trip to L.A. to face the Lakers and a dance with the Nuggets in Denver.
If the Celtics want to show that they can be considered an outside contender to do something in the playoffs, not to mention climb up the standings a bit, they're going to have to win a handful of those games.
Fans At The Gahden
Hey, homecourt advantage may have some actual meaning in the second half!
The TD Garden will open up to 12 percent of its capacity at the end of the month, and the Celtics will start welcoming roughly 2,300 fans to games beginning with a March 29 tilt against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Celtics will play 14 home games after limited fans are allowed back, including a wild seven-game homestand starting with the Pels. That is going to be a major stretch as the team attempts to secure a spot in the Eastern Conference's Top 4.
It'll be nice to have fans back in the building for the stretch run, and hopefully those numbers can increase (safely, of course) by the playoffs. If nothing else, at least we'll probably overhear some overzealous fans unleashing some pent-up angst at officials.
