Like many Celtics fans, I find myself getting more and more frustrated with this year’s version of the team. I’ve never seen anything like it. They can pull out a gutty win one night - the type of win that would turn an entire season around for other teams - then they go out the next night and drop a huge turd right on Lucky’s chest and lose by 20. And now with Jaylen Brown out for the rest of the season, and we have no shot at going anywhere in the playoffs, it’s time to figure out WHO is to blame for all of this so we can fix it.
I know a lot of C’s fans are pointing fingers at Brad Stevens. I can tell you that it isn’t his fault. And it’s not Danny Ainge’s fault, either. Heck, I’m not even pointing my Blame Finger at any of the players. Now, this might come as a surprise to most, but the person at the center of all of this frustration isn’t even a part of the Celtics organization. I can officially say without a doubt in my mind that it is 100% Bill Belichick’s fault that we are all so frustrated with the Celtics right now.
Think about it – are the Celtics really that good? Outside of Tatum and Brown, what else do we have? 60% of Kemba Walker? A few young guys that are still learning as they go? We’re talking about a team that is at the top of the league for games missed due to injury/covid. I’ve heard people getting on Marcus Smart for launching too many shots. He takes 10.6 shots per game, good for 70th in the league. That seems about right to me. Maybe he takes a few too many 3’s, but that isn’t the reason we’re losing games by 20 + points.
Bill Belichick’s “Next Man Up” philosophy works great for the Patriots. Your starting right tackle goes down for a few games? No worries, the next guy on the depth chart will step in and do his job, and the team won’t skip a beat. We’ve become so accustomed to this that we’ve started to expect it from our other teams in this town. But that isn’t how it works. When Jayson Tatum missed a few weeks with Covid, Grant Williams was starting in his place. Now, I know it’s almost impossible to throw someone else in to replace Jayson Tatum and expect to have similar numbers, but come on. Really? Grant Williams? There is no player in the league that I trust less to make a simple free throw in a tight game than Grant Williams. He’s averaging 4 points a game. Yet, we as fans somehow expect the Celtics to just keep cruising along with the likes of Grant Williams and Jeff Teague and Semi Ojeleye and Luke Kornet. The Patriots can do it, why can’t they??
So thanks a lot, Bill, for setting our expectations too high. We’ve become too used to seeing a certain local team continue to win games over the past 20 years, regardless of who is in the lineup. Sure, the Celtics are one of only 6 teams in the league with at least two All-Stars this season. But having two all-star caliber players does not mean you automatically get to skip ahead to the 2nd round of the playoffs. You can’t just walk in to a Fortnite battle with two really cool weapons and declare yourself the winner.
The Celtics are not a “Next Man Up” type of team this year. Now, if we just had our whole team together, no injuries, no Covid….we would easily be a top team. Of the few times the Celtics have actually been able to put out a starting lineup of Kemba, Smart, Brown, Tatum, and Robert Williams, they are 7-1. But that lineup will have only started 11% of their games once the season is all over. When we asked the next man to step up that other 89% of the time, things haven’t gone quite so well. But should we have really expected things to just keep rolling? Just because Bill Belichick’s teams can do it, it doesn’t mean that all other teams can. These Celtics are proof of that.
Comments