Part 6 of the offseason guide leads us to two teams in the Eastern Conference, who matched up against each other in the 2017 East semi-finals, but have gone different ways since that series 8 years ago, the Washington Wizards and the Boston Celtics.
Boston Celtics
The Celtics set out this season to defend their NBA championship title from the 2023-2024 season, and for most of the season, looked the part. However, injuries to Jrue Holiday limited his availability throughout the season, and Kristaps Porzingis dealt with a weird illness that limited him towards the end of the season. However, come postseason time, the Celtics still had Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Derick White healthy and ready to go. They outlasted a feisty Orlando Magic team in 5 games, setting up a matchup against the Knicks. They dominated the regular-season match-ups against the Knicks. They looked as though the series was going in a similar direction, but until a 20-point comeback in games 1 and 2 for the Knicks dimmed the Celtics' outlook on the series, the door was officially shut when they lost not only game 4, but Jayson Tatum, who suffered a torn achilles. The Knicks dominated the Celtics in game 6 with a commanding 30-point win, ending the Celtics' bid at being the first repeat champion since the 17-18 Warriors. So what’s next for Boston?
The Celtics have been surrounded by shedding salary and getting under the luxury tax. They’ve been able to do this with trades of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. They have gained some interesting assets back in these trades in the form of Anfernee Simons from the Blazers and Georges Niang from the Hawks. They locked up Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and the Jay’s in Tatum and Brown for the foreseeable future, but were left with little cap room to sign Al Horford and Luke Kornet. Kornet has already signed with the Spurs, and it is likely Horford will leave for another team in free agency. The Celtics' payroll looks a lot smaller now than what people believe it would at this point last year. As the first $500 million roster is now headed for being under the tax. Much of this season will be a rebound as they are without a Superstar and first-team All-NBA player in Jayson Tatum, as he will rehab for the entire year. Ultimately, the Celtics are stuck in a holding pattern until 2026-2027, as the team will look to compete in the depleted Eastern Conference, but making roster decisions regarding Tatum, Brown, and White, it would be out of touch for Brad Stevens to pull the trigger on a trade involving those guys.
From a player development perspective, Payton Pritchard will likely see an uptick in his on-ball play, and former draft picks Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman will likely need to fill some roles for the upcoming season. Filling out the roster with another center will likely happen if it doesn’t come from their past players. Pritchard had a stellar season this past season, and I think he’ll take another big leap with the ball in his hands a little more. I’m saying Pritchard needs to be taking 15-20 shots a game, but the Celtics' offense could also benefit from this. Putting Simons, who can play a similar role to Pritchard, and adding in the spacing from Niang around Brown and White, the Celtics aren’t the worst thing in the East. They’re a long way from where they were this time last year, but 28th overall pick Hugo Gonzalez has looked good in the summer league so far, and Joe Mazzulla has shown to be an elite head coach in the NBA. Maybe the Celtics will make a wild run at the East without Tatum; crazier things have happened.
Washington Wizards
Hello, Wizards fans, it’s the time of the year when I write about how The Wizards are making incremental progress in hopes of being a competent team, which they have. In all honesty, the Wizards have made some solid moves on the margin. This past season wasn’t pretty on the eyes, as the on-court product only managed to win 18 games, and at times it was rough or maybe all the time, but playing 3 rookies in Kyshawn George, Bub Carrington and the #2 overall pick in the draft in Alex Sarr over 26 minutes a game will do that, but that’s the idea. The Wizards are building towards the future. They got off the Kyle Kuzma money for AJ Johnson, who is a freak athlete, and Bilal Coulibaly took some nice steps forward in his jump shot at the beginning of the season before coming back down to earth and suffering a hamstring injury that ended his season last year. They were able to get a great shooting season from Jordan Poole before flipping him into an expiring plus some draft assets, and having an exciting rookie core is always fun. So what do the Wizards do now? Pretty the same thing as last year.
Much of the offseason so far for the Wizards has been creating cap space for free agency in the next offseason or making room for the potential rookie extensions they’ll shell out to Coulibaly and other draft classes in the future. They traded away Jordan Poole, who had a very nice shooting season for the Wizards. I had wished they kept Poole, but offloading him to the Pelicans got them an expiring contract in CJ McCollum and opened some backcourt minutes for Bub Carrington and new draft pick Tre Johnson. They also traded for Cam Whitmore from the Rockets, and Blake Wesley and Malachi Branham from the Spurs for Kelly Olynyk. The Wizards have a lot of young guys mixed with older players in Marcus Smart and Khris Middleton, both have shown a willingness to help the younger guys and be part of the rebuild. All three of McCollum, Smart, and Middleton are on expiring deals, upwards of $80 million, that will open up cap space for them in 2026-2027. They also have 8 first-round picks available for them through 2032. They have a first-round pick that is protected 1-8 next season that they need to keep, but they have all their picks in those years as well.
From a player development perspective, this is the aspect that matters the most for the Wizards next season. Bub Carrington showed he’s one of the best pull-up jump shooters in the NBA this past year as he shot 49.4% on mid-range pull-ups and 35.4% on pull-up 3s. Turning him into a nice pick-and-roll player could lead to the Wizards having a very effective player at his size run the offense. Bilal Coulibaly is probably the most intriguing player on the Wizards to me. They experimented with Coulibaly as the ball-handler and turned him into a potential front-court playmaker, if the jump shot pops (28% on 3s last season) paired with his driving ability and eventual counter moves it will round out a nice offensive player along with the defensive prowess he has. Kyshawn George has already shown flashes of this in the summer league, but the shooting has the potential to be a real asset for him. It’s a nice compact stroke, and it allows him to get it off over his defenders with ease. His defense and overall edge showed that he's not scared of anyone in front of him on either side of the ball. Overall, the speed of the game should slow down for the rookies, Carrington, and George. The final player that needs to see their development improve is the number 2 overall pick, Alex Sarr. While the Wizards have been keen on Sarr playing the center position, if he does, he will need to show some progress in putting up one weight as well as inviting physicality on rebounding. He has some short-role play-making potential as he sees over everyone on the floor at 7’. His height and fluidity allow the Wizards to play some 5-out. The shot also saw an increase in percentage towards the end of the season, and is an area I think is solid for him right now. He’s the biggest asset right now for the Wizards, and if he can hit for them like the front office believes, the Wizards will have a nice anchor to the defense on top of the offense. All of this, and I haven’t mentioned the 6th overall pick in Tre Johnson. I think he has a good chance to make an All-Rookie team this upcoming season with how well he scores the ball. Overall, the Wizards' season is pretty simple: lose a lot and hope the lottery gods don’t screw you over like last season. Cheers, Wizards fans.
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