Jayson Tatum is excited to be back with his team after the offseason. He spoke with Chris Forsberg about the Celtics team chemistry on media day.
We’re not here to brag, but this writer might truly be clairvoyant. We might just put the Chris in crystal ball. When it comes to preseason predictions, we’re basically more successful than a Jrue Holiday corner 3-pointer and everyone knows Holiday basically can’t miss from that spot.
Need proof? We knew you were going to ask (see, clairvoyant). So here’s a quick recap on our seven bold predictions from before the 2023-24 season:
1. Kristaps Porzingis will be an All-Star
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A rare miss, but just barely. Porzingis sitting out 10 of Boston’s first 37 games made it tough to muscle him onto the All-Star roster as the third Celtic after Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. But his stat line through those first 27 games was All-Star worthy: 19.8 points, 7 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and 1.9 assists over 30 minutes per game.
2. Celtics lead the NBA in offensive rating … and set new league record
Nailed it. Boston’s 122.2 offensive rating was 1.7 points better than second-place Indiana, who also would have set a new NBA record (Kings, 118.6 in 2022-23).
3. Celtics trade for a third big … in early January
The Celtics traded for Xavier Tillman in early February. No need to split hairs.
4. Brad Stevens wins Executive of the Year
5. Derrick White leads the NBA in net rating
Technically, we nailed this one for high-volume players. White’s +12.5 net rating was the best among any player who logged at least 24 minutes per game with at least 40 appearances. But technically teammates Sam Hauser (+14.2) and Payton Pritchard (+13.6) both finished ahead of him overall.
6. Celtics win inaugural NBA Cup in Las Vegas
Whoops, our crystal ball meant this season. More on that later.
7. Al Horford retires after winning an NBA title
Another slight crystal ball malfunction. We meant to say he’d retire after winning another title this season. Or maybe the crystal ball meant after the 2028-29 season, given the way Horford keeps stiff-arming Father Time.
In that same article, we picked the Celtics to finish first in the East and win the NBA title. So basically we told you everything that was going to happen last season before it did. Did we get some minor details wrong? Sure. Again, let's not split hairs.
Instead, let me tell you seven more things that will probably, definitely happen for Boston during the 2024-25 season. A hint: One year after the Celtics got denied some fancy award hardware, the NBA makes up for its missteps this time around.
MORE CELTICS COVERAGE
1. Jaylen Brown lands on All-NBA, All-Defense teams
Brown already used missing out on those honors last season as motivation to fuel his runs to Eastern Conference and NBA Finals MVP. Instead of taking a moment to celebrate this offseason, he jumped into a pool with 60-pound weights and, as he told us in our Media Day sit-down, added muscles in places he didn’t know he could add muscle.
Good luck, NBA. The Brown revenge tour has just begun.
2. Celtics raise the NBA Cup in Las Vegas
The Celtics should want to send an early-season message to the rest of the league, and the NBA Cup games will offer the perfect opportunity to crank up the intensity on sleepy November and December nights.
What’s more, after guys like Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman agreed to come back to the Celtics on bargain-basement minimum-contract deals, the well-compensated members of the Celtics can help put a little extra money in their pockets by winning the Cup.
3. Celtics set an NBA record for most 3-pointers made in a season
Boston finished 12 shy of the 2022-23 Warriors' record while making 1,351 3-pointers last year. That’s 16.5 makes per game. It doesn’t feel outrageous to wonder if they’ll be the first team to pass the 1,400 makes mark this year.
Is 1,500 out of the question? They made 19.4 3-pointers per game in the five-game preseason slate, a pace of nearly 1,600 3-pointers.
4. Payton Pritchard wins Sixth Man of the Year
You know the saying that sometimes the best moves that a GM makes are the one he doesn't make? That’s how we should feel about Brad Stevens holding onto Payton Pritchard even when Pritchard was frustrated about his playing time and openly yearned for a new situation two years ago. Stevens thinned out the guard depth chart last summer and Pritchard was spectacular as part of the title run.
With Porzingis out to start the year and the Celtics poised to pace their more veteran players, there’s a real opportunity for Pritchard to log big minutes and leave his Positive P stamp on everything.
5. Joe Mazzulla wins Coach of the Year
Rarely does this award go to a team that simply meets ridiculously lofty expectations. But the Celtics will be such a regular-season steamroller, even in a beefed-up East, that voters will look back on his fourth-place finish last season and right their wrongs.
6. Celtics don’t lose more than two games in a row … for second straight season
Of all the incredible things the Celtics did last season, avoiding any sort of prolonged losing streak was one of the more remarkable. It didn’t matter if they were slumping or if there were injuries; the Celtics always found a way to dust themselves off after some of those rare disappointing efforts and get back to winning basketball.
They’ll need that same mental toughness this season in a league where everyone is going to come in looking to land a haymaker against the champs.
7. Celtics win 62 games and repeat as NBA champions
Recent history suggests that winning in consecutive years is no easy feat in the modern NBA. The Celtics are no average NBA team, though. There’s a real chance for this group to slot itself alongside some of the most historic teams in league history with another dominant campaign.
The win total slips ever so slightly, but Boston still dominates the league. And, after two titles and three Finals appearances in four years, the “dynasty” word gets thrown around next June.
