featured-image

Judging the Celtics Now Would Be a Mistake

Marc D'Amico
Team Reporter and Analyst

addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico");

BOSTON – How much talk has there been about the Celtics underachieving so far this season?

Too much.

I’ve been saying for weeks that no one will know what this team really is until mid- to late-December. It’s true.

How can anyone know what the Celtics are until they’ve had time to become a team?

Boston couldn’t truly become a team during training camp, when it was missing one of its top rotational players in Kelly Olynyk.

Boston couldn’t truly become a team during the opening three weeks of the season, when Olynyk, Al Horford, Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart, arguably four of the team’s top six players, all missed time.

You see, a team needs time to mesh, and the Celtics are in the process of doing so right now.

The team became whole again Nov. 19, when Horford and Crowder returned to the lineup after lengthy absences due to a concussion and a sprained ankle, respectively. The Celtics have slowly been becoming a team and improving since then.

Boston has gone 7-3 during the three weeks since. During those 10 games, they have ranked eighth in the league in offensive rating (108.9) and 10th in the league in defensive rating (103.0).

Oh, and by the way, the team played one of those games without Isaiah Thomas (strained groin), and another without Horford (birth of child).

Most pundits said before this season that the Celtics were set up to compete with the Toronto Raptors for the second seed in the Eastern Conference. The team has not only lived up to that billing, but it is in position to compete at an even higher level.

As we sit here today, on Dec. 9, the Celtics are tied with the Hornets for the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, at 13-9. They’re two games back of the second-seed Raptors, and they can make it one game with a win tonight over Toronto.

And those Cavaliers, who are the defending champions and have been viewed as the runaway top seed in the East? They’re only three games ahead of the Celtics.

Let’s take it to an even deeper level.

Cleveland has largely been whole all season, as none of its top players have been out for more than three straight games and its starting unit has been intact basically all season. The Cavs have an average scoring differential of plus-6.6.

Since the day Boston became whole for the first time, on Nov. 19, the day during which it could finally begin its process of meshing as a full team, it has a scoring differential of plus-5.7.

Not too shabby compared to the vaunted defending champs, huh?

Listen, it’s Dec. 9. There’s a long way to go. In regard to the Boston Celtics, there’s nothing to fret about, and there’s nothing to celebrate. Heck, the same can be said for every team around the league.

But let’s have realistic expectations here. The Celtics struggled out of the gates, when they weren’t whole, and they’ve gotten better and better since.

Boston hasn’t lost consecutive games in a month, and they’re right where they’re supposed to be.

And the thing is, they’re probably going to get even better as they continue to mesh as a team.

We’re only three weeks into this team being whole. Wait until the team has logged four to six weeks as a full team to judge it.

In other words, while many broadcast personalities and writers try to stir the pot and question why the Celtics are underachieving, you should sit back and laugh.

They’re not underachieving at all, and in reality, they’re just getting started.