The Celtics transition season: Is Brown s single-core leadership worth looking forward to? Do you want to compete for the playoffs or compete for the No. 1 pick?

1. Review of last season

As the defending champion last season, the Boston Celtics played ease in the regular season in the 2024-25 season and easily won 61 wins and 21 losses. It was regarded as another team that is expected to achieve the title defense since the Warriors in 2018. However, the past five championship teams have not been able to defend their titles, and there is obviously still a gap in grade between this Celtics and the Universe. In the Eastern Conference semi-finals, the Celtics lost 20 points in a row to lead in an incredible way and were eliminated by the Knicks.

This loss was not accidental, but exposed the team's fatal shortcomings in many aspects: the tactical drawbacks of over-reliance on three-pointers were infinitely amplified in the playoffs; the injury and state decline of core players were even worse. Tatum suffered a torn Achilles tendon in G4, Jaylen Brown insisted on fighting with a meniscus tear, while the inside core Porzingis averaged only 7.7 points per game in the playoffs, and his condition was seriously deteriorated; in addition, when facing high-intensity defense, the coach fell into dogmatism, and the core players lacked the ability to solve the problem, which also made the team repeatedly fall into a passive position at critical moments.

2. Offseason operation

The dismal exit of the playoffs and the potential huge luxury tax pressure, coupled with the change of the boss, prompted the Celtics to carry out a large-scale lineup restructuring during the offseason. Stevens cut the mess quickly and sent away two major contracts, Holiday and Porzingis, at the beginning of the offseason. Although this has made the Celtics' lineup strategically take a step back next season, with the help of Tatum's recovery period, it has also won the team's flexibility in future operations.

He traded the defensive core Ju Holiday to the Trail Blazers for Anthony Simmons. Holiday is 35 years old and has a three-year contract of 105 million yuan, and Simmons will become a free agent after the end of next season. At present, the Celtics has not decided whether Simmons will stay or not, but Simmons' contract status and instant combat power level give the Celtics the initiative. They can either exchange Simmons for a smaller contract to continue tax reduction, or they can keep him in the transition period of this year.

Super, Stevens sent away Porzingis, whose condition had declined sharply through a three-party transaction, in exchange for George Nian, and then sent Nian to the Jazz to further release his salary space. Two free agent centers Horford and Connett both left the team directly after the contract expired. The new season can only allow Portuguese striker Kota to support the inside alone.

In terms of strengthening and draft, the team signed Raptors forward Chris Boucher, who averaged 10 points and 4.5 rebounds per game last season with a basic salary of $3 million, and selected defender Gonzalez with a 28th pick in the first round at the 2025 draft. It can be said that there was basically no reinforcement, and it relied on internal mining next season.

3. Current lineup: point guards: White, Prichard, point guards: Anthony Simmons, Sherman, Gonzalez, small forward: Jaylen Brown, Hauser, Walsh: Boucher, Garza Center: Kota, Tillman, Celtics' lineup is now like this. If there were all first-round teams like the Timberwolves and the Suns in the trading market, they would give Jaylen Brown and White crazy quotes, Stevens might not have refused. However, after the new labor-capital agreement came into effect, the logic of each team's transaction is becoming more and more rational, and it is expected that the probability of this situation will occur.

4. New season outlook

No matter what, next season, the Celtics will definitely say goodbye to the championship. But if this lineup really wants to play, it is not impossible to make a playoff spot when the Eastern Conference plays a lot of teams - the question is whether it makes sense to do so. The Celtics can completely imitate the Warriors who have been in the 20-year-old and completely dive and change to a high-level sign. Of course, although the Warriors won the championship again after this, their bad results Wiseman's current development is also a negative case of the Celtics' current decision. At the same time, don’t forget that the No. 1 picks in 24 and 25 years have fallen into the hands of the play-off team. It’s hard to say that it’s not Xiao Hua’s intention. Besides, there have been rumors that Tatum's recovery is progressing well. If he can really catch the last train of this season, then everything will be possible in the playoffs.

Of course these are just the craziest assumptions. The biggest highlight of the Celtics this season is what kind of answers they can deliver after Jaylen Brown and White assume greater responsibilities. Especially Jaylen Brown, who is about to become the No. 1 player for the first time, can he improve his operational control and field control capabilities to a higher level. If this season's training can sublimate Brown, the Celtics' future will still be bright. Their team-building core Tatum is 27 years old, Brown is 28 years old, White is 31 years old, and Stevens' first-class operational ability, it is completely affordable for them to take a rest for a year and then start again.

New season forecast: 36-44 wins in the regular season, playoffs out/playoff round.

5. Summary

The Boston Celtics in the 2025-26 season are in the pain of reconstruction, and the aura of the defending champion has been disintegrated by salary pressure and core injuries. The new season is both a challenge and an opportunity for the team - short-term performance fluctuations are inevitable, but rational operations in the offseason have retained the spark of long-term competitiveness for the team. The team's future direction will be highly dependent on Tatum's recovery progress and Jaylen Brown's growth and breakthroughs in leading the team alone.