First 10 Games 6-4 Before All-Star Break 32-24 After All-Star Break 21-5 (Tatum Returns)

Final Record 53-29 (2nd in East)

Awards Neemias Queta MIP Jaylen Brown 2nd Team All-NBA Jaylen Brown All-Star Derrick White All-Star

Scoring Leaders Jaylen Brown 27.8 Payton Prichard 19.7 Derrick White 17.2 Anfernee Simons 14.5 Neemias Queta 12.7 Chris Boucher 8.2 Luka Garza 6.5 Al Horford 4.8

*Jayson Tatum 26.1 (19 Games Played)

Playoffs

First Round (vs Bulls) W 4-2 Second Round (vs Knicks) W 4-3 Conference Finals (vs Cavaliers) L 2-4

Both Brown and Prichard take a huge jump due to Tatum not being present for the majority of the season.

Queta got MIP not only because his PPG jump, but also because of his rebounding boost and defensive presence, he has proved that he deserves his role on the Celtics rotation.

Derrick White got All-Star for the first time due to his defensive production, and his increase in scoring.

Jaylen Brown really shined without Tatum, putting up 29.2 PPG before Tatum came back with 19 games left in the season which took his average down to 27.8. Not only did it prove that Brown could be a star on his own, it also proved that Jaylen could lead a team.

In the end, the Celtics just got tired. Coming off a game 7 against the 3 seeded Knicks, it was hard to face the first seeded Cavs and come out on top.

BleedGreen4Boston

30 | 5 days ago

Liking this post because Al Horford

alright_alex | Mike Gorman

28 | 5 days ago

gif

RegentCupid | Justin Jackson // KornDawg

27 | 5 days ago

I wish I could have the drugs the average home fan has. I simply am not enough of a homer it seems. I’m not hating or whatever, I respect how much you guys believe in your team in players. I hope I get some of that hope.

nibbinoo8

2 | 4 days ago

OP is probably 12

WeHave200Couches

6 | 5 days ago

PP prob doesn’t outscore White with Tate off the floor

GhostOfJiriWelsch | Smart

7 | 5 days ago

Why do we talk about Queta like he’s a 20 year old with tons of untapped upside?

He kind of is what he is at this point. Good as a change of pace big off the bench who can bring some energy and easy offense but there’s nights where he’s a fucking disaster on both ends lol

He has a hard time not fouling, he tends to get lost in rotation, and he’s too slow footed to contend with mismatches outside of the paint.

I’m a fan of him and I’m excited to see what he can do with a longer leash but he’s been a deep bench guy for a reason. It’s gonna be rough at times.

King_Of_Pants | Sam Howitzer!

6 | 4 days ago

Stars aren’t the only guys who need time to come into their own.

Daniel Theis was 25 when he entered the league, and 27 when he went from 3rd string to starting.
Aron Baynes was 26 when he entered the league, and at 31 he went from bench player on a lottery team to starting on a top seeded team.
PJ Tucker was 27 when he came back from playing in Europe.
Yabusele will turn 30 at the end of the year.
Torrey Craig didn’t enter the league until he was 27.

And that Theis/Queta comparison is interesting because their situations were very similar.

Theis was a 26-year-old 3rd-string C playing 13.8mpg (66 games). After a disappointing season where Horford and Baynes left, everyone expected Boston to tank the season away. Theis was talked about as the worst starting C in the league before the season began. To supplement the big man rotation, we brought in an all-offence / no defence big man in Kanter/Freedom. We also drafted a raw passing big man in Robert Williams III.

Queta is a 25-year-old 3rd-string C playing 13.9mpg (62 games). After a disappointing season where Horford and Kornet left, everyone is expecting Boston to tank the season away. Queta is being talked about as the worst starting C in the league before the season begins. To supplement the big man rotation, we brought in an all-offence / no defence big man in Garza. We also drafted a raw passing big man in Amari Williams.

It obviously doesn’t have to work out the same way as before, but I think the 2019 offseason did show we should temper our disappointment, until we see the team play.

chivestheconqueror | Bill

2 | 4 days ago

Better yet, why do we talk about Queta like we didn’t just get Chris Boucher? Boucher is a solid rotation player who will certainly get more play than Queta.

Jpgamerguy90

4 | 5 days ago

They’re more than likely a 40ish win mid seed but I like this level of hopium

L4ZERDT | Bll Russell

4 | 5 days ago

Neemias Queta is unironically my sleeper pick for MIP but this post is hilarious 😭 there’s no way Jayson Tatum returns after all star break, and if he does, he won’t be good enough after so little recovery time to lead us to a conference finals

HeftyIsTheCrown

4 | 5 days ago

OP behind the scenes

https://preview.redd.it/0tb07lzyoalf1.jpeg?width=783&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2647dc7fbffef45773636473bfdeccea5cbdbab7

Unlucky-Cover-9896

3 | 5 days ago

I mean I hope so. But I don’t think Jaylen is making a significant jump at this point, I don’t think Tatum will return at all, and even if he did I definitely don’t think he’d be averaging 26 out the gate. Also I don’t think Neemias will win MIP, maybe PP if anyone.

King_Of_Pants | Sam Howitzer!

2 | 4 days ago

I’m becoming more and more curious about our 8th - 10th men.

Right now (assuming no more trades) we can comfortably say these guys will make the regular rotation:

Brown
White
Pritchard
Hauser
Simons
Queta
Boucher

We’re not going to play 12-13 deep. We realistically only have 1-2 more places left in our rotation to fill.

And it might not seem like a big deal, but the choice we make will have some pretty big impacts on the structure of the team.

Playing Gonzalez and Scheierman would mean we’re a pretty undersized team, similar to the semi-recent Miami rosters.

Garza or Williams would give us a lot of size and means we’re committing to double big lineups.

Walsh or Minnot would give us a lot of defensive length, and we’d still be pretty switchable.

downeastsun

1 | 3 days ago

I bet Garza or Tillman will have a rotation spot to start the year. Boucher’s too skinny to really play 5 and Mazzulla’s never been a fan of small ball, although perhaps he’ll be forced to go that way given the roster this year.

Garza especially I think will get a lot of opportunities since he was given a fully guaranteed two year deal. Stevens must see something in him. It’s easy to forget now, but Tillman was solidly in the rotation to start last season after he signed a similar contract before Queta took his minutes

Evoken00

1 | 5 days ago

I would be very happy if you are right!

DarkGift78

1 | 5 days ago

With the current roster, the only way they win 53 games would be if Tatum and Brown both were healthy and played 75+ games. I definitely don’t think they’ll be as bad as I’ve seen some people say, I’ve seen people say 35 wins. I think they’ll win at least 41 and go .500, maybe maxing out at 42-40 or 43-39. But Tatum isn’t coming back this year,nor do I want him risking further injury in a year where they can’t win even if he’s healthy.

Like your optimism but I fear for you when reality sets in, namely our defense will have gone from nearly the best to bottom third in the league most likely. Tatum, Horford,KP(when healthy), Jrue,and Kornet is just such a massive blow to the defense. I do think Queta can replace Kornets shot blocking and rebounding, but he seems awkward and lacks fluidity. Kornet wasn’t The Unicorn but he moved pretty well for his size.

clement-mcmanus

1 | 5 days ago

Dawg we aren’t beating the Knicks

TheJaylenBrownNote

1 | 5 days ago

Hahahahaha

One-Suspect5105 | THE TRUTH

1 | 5 days ago

I think the big gap with Celtics fans is that they view Jaylen as a t20 guy who could look like a t10 guy with the ball, when he’s probably a fringe t40 guy who forces the ball enough to look like a t30 guy with atrocious on/off numbers.

I think Jaylen also has that same issue which is why he runs his mouth about “sacrificing” when he probably takes too many shots if anything.

My guess is like 40 wins max and I’m praying that Jaylen doesn’t go from albatross to “John wall tier” contract and that hopefully we decide to tank early on for a t3 pick.

aloysiusthird

1 | 5 days ago

Simons is scoring 20 as a 6th man

BadEyedEar

1 | 4 days ago

Bulls in the first round? Yeah ok

TheRealRatBastard

1 | 4 days ago

All that imagination and yet you didn’t have them beating the Cavs in the finals…

ajh_iii

1 | 4 days ago

No way you think PP is averaging 19 American points in a game next year lol

My Celtics 2025-2026 Season Predictions