What new-look Celtics must do to exceed expectations this season

You ve heard all of the different descriptions of this upcoming Celtics season reset year gap year step back etc You know that Boston the NBA s winningest association over the last decade is expected to be nowhere near championship contention after losing half of its rotation this offseason You might have seen that Joe Mazzulla s squad is a long shot to win the title teams have better odds with its over under wins total pegged at That would be the franchise s fewest victories in a non-COVID-shortened season since - It s the trade-off the Celtics accepted when they nuked their roster this summer to escape the dreaded second apron Banner is a pipe dream at least for this season But that doesn t mean this Celtics gang is guaranteed to be lottery-bound They still are capable of being a relevant playoff association in the watered-down Eastern Conference though their margin for error is far lower than it was in previous years Here is a roadmap for Boston to surpass expectations this season Jaylen Brown looks like a legit No Brown has waited his entire career for this opportunity Boston s longtime B has noted in the past that he has the talent to be the best on the floor on offense or defense on any given night and he ll have a chance to prove it while Jayson Tatum works his way back from Achilles surgery Boston s clearest path to competitiveness involves Brown playing at an All-NBA level a status he s reached just once in his nine NBA seasons a second-team nod in - without resorting to hero ball and chucking up shots on a nightly basis Think something resembling the numbers Brown posted in the games in which he played and Tatum didn t over the last three seasons points rebounds assists field-goal percentage on -pointers Brown got off to a promising start against weak competition in Wednesday s preseason opener scoring first-half points against Memphis backups on a mix of outside shots elbow jumpers makes at the rim and drawn fouls Importantly he demonstrated no ill effects from his offseason meniscus surgery Which brings us to The the bulk pivotal players stay healthy If rotation holdovers Brown Derrick White Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser all perform at or above their previous levels the Celtics will still have a solid nucleus of playoff-tested veterans What they no longer boast however is that depth that was vital to their current success Though last year s gang eventually wilted in the playoffs it won regular-season games despite having its full starting five avaiable for just Boston went - without Brown and - without Tatum The - championship squads went - postseason included when at least one starter sat Those teams had enough trusted reliable reinforcements in players like Pritchard Hauser Al Horford and Luke Kornet to both withstand injuries and allow Mazzulla to dole out more rest days without the on-court product cratering This current Celtics roster does not have that luxury Losing a key member like Brown or White for any essential length of time could tank their season Anfernee Simons becomes a playable defender Simons can sum Everyone knows that He can also put up the kind of -point volume that s defined Mazzulla s offenses Over his three seasons as a full-time starter in Portland Simons was one of just NBA players to average at least points and eight -point attempts per competition and the only member of that group without an All-Star nod on his resume But can he be at least respectable on the defensive end That s the big question facing the -year-old guard If the answer is yes he has a chance to be a real weapon for Boston as either a starter or more likely a high-impact sixth man If he s a turnstile as he often was with the Trail Blazers it s hard to see Mazzulla trusting him enough for Simons to make a meaningful impact Coming into a beliefs like this you have to be able to adapt or you re not going to be in the position that you want to be in whether it s playing or not playing Simons mentioned before training camp To me it s really that simple That s the honest conversations we ve had about it The frontcourt exceeds its low expectations The move from Kristaps Porzingis Al Horford and Luke Kornet to Neemias Queta Luka Garza Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman is an enormous downgrade on paper The Celtics will need career years from at least one of these big men to field even a league-average frontcourt Queta the projected starting center necessities to realize the foreseen he flashed at times over the last two seasons smoothing out the inconsistency that often drew Mazzulla s ire Garza who boasted after signing that he can shoot it with the best of them has to help replace Porzingis and Horford s -point production since majority of Queta s contributions likely will come in the paint Boucher can chip in there too combined he and Garza averaged -point attempts per minutes last season Tillman who says his troublesome knee is certainly healed rediscovering his prior form after a dreadful - season would give this group another much-needed boost Multiple depth wings become reliable rotation players Jordan Walsh Baylor Scheierman Josh Minott Hugo Gonzalez With no proven depth on the wing behind Brown and Hauser the Celtics will need at least half of those inexperienced backups to play real roles this season If they can and Minott and Gonzalez in particular looked like good fits for Boston s new up-tempo style in Wednesday s preseason opener this roster would become much less top-heavy than it at this moment appears The East is as wide-open as expected Any argument for the Celtics remaining competitive this season should start with the quality of their conference The reigning East champion Pacers lost their best player Tyrese Haliburton for the season The Knicks changed coaches The Cavaliers were exposed in the playoffs The Magic are unproven Giannis Antetokounmpo might be angling for a midseason commerce out of Milwaukee The ers could be the best squad in the East or one of the worst depending on the availability of Joel Embiid At least three teams already look like lottery locks If the Celtics were playing in the much more formidable Western Conference their odds of being relevant this season would be far lower But if the East is a crapshoot the C s can hang around until Jayson Tatum returns for the stretch run and looks like himself Tatum has made clear that he wants to return at specific point this season and by all accounts his rehab is progressing wonderfully He appears to be well ahead of where majority players are five months removed from Achilles surgery to the point that a spring comeback now seems like a realistic possibility It would make little sense for Boston to reactivate Tatum and menace further injury if the Celtics are a non-competitive company at the All-Star break But if Brown and Co can scrap their way into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race they couldn t ask for a more helpful midseason addition than a healthy Tatum