End of the course of the current champions of the East in the NBA Playoffs 2023. Boston Celtics completed his participation in a season of high expectations, with problems but that expected more from the green team. The Miami Heat got rid of his men Joe Majula in seven games and now comes the moment of reflection.

What’s next for the Celtics? What are the keys that will mark your future? It’s time to analyze Boston’s present and future.

Time to reshape the project or keep calm?

The Celtics are at a critical point in their career.

Objectively they have what it takes to be a competitive team and contend for the championship year after year. Two rising young stars, two perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidates, veterans and high-profile secondaries… If only there was a recipe to build a winning team probably Boston would already have most of the ingredients to make it happen. However, success is not so easy and the last two green seasons prove it.

When they didn’t expect they could accomplish something, they did. And when it was more powerful and tangible to reach the top, they have fallen short.

This is a critical point because this is usually the time when franchises rush, make a decision, and dismantle the project in search of a 180-degree change. The question lies in, Is a drastic change or patience necessary?

In retrospect, the fate of the Celtics last season could have been very different and ended the same way it did. 2023is eliminated in a seventh game (Bucks and Heat). This is the very essence of the NBA Playoffs, and knowing how to react, how to measure your own expectations and analyze reality is what differentiates good organizations from sports management reports.

In the last eight years the greens have reached the Conference Finals in five times, more than anyone in the entire East and second only to the Warriors in overall NBA scoring. This data serves to show how complicated it is to maintain a project for such a long time and the need to be permanently able to fight instead of constantly reformulating it.

Boston Celtics Heading into 2023-2024 Season: Free Agents, Contracts and Salaries

• By contract: Jayson Tatum (32.6M), Jaylen Brown (30M), Malcolm Brogdon (22.5M), Marcus Smart (18.5M), Derrick White (18M), Robert Williams (11.8M), Danilo Gallinari (6.8M ), Payton Pritchard (4M), Luke Kornet (2.4M), Sam Hauser (1.9M)
• Equipment selection: Mike Muscala ($3.5 million)
• Free Agents: Grant Williams (restricted), Blake Griffin, J. Davison, Fiondu Kampengele, Justin Shabani
• Draft options: selection of the 32nd or 33rd pick of the Second Round

The outlook for the future for the Boston Celtics would have been as uncertain as the champions or they would have been eliminated early as it happened. This is because, although they have secured much of their hard core for several more years, renovations Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams were to be the main green concerns in the out of season.

In the case of the latter, it may have been a wise move on the part of management to wait until the end of the march to deal with the negotiations. Williams He had a great 2022, peaking individually and with stats that showed he was one of the best secondary players in the NBA. However, in this campaign it was terribly irregular, in such a way that now its market has shrunk significantlywho plays for the Celtics.

While, with Jaylen Brown things are a bit more complicated. The forward is eligible for a contract extension of $295 million over five seasons, which due to the change in the collective bargaining agreement would make him one of the highest paid in the league. The situation works in favor of a Brown who, in any other place, could have a bigger role and whose loss would doom Boston to complete decline. Joining one of the NBA’s best quintets, Jaylen will be looking to sign a new extension even though he still has a year left on his contract and could get more money next year. The Celtics will try to trade down and Brown up, all with the team’s future up in the air.

Although the result of the season did not meet the expectations, the work is reliable and guaranteed. The Greens already made all the necessary changes last year and “just” need to fit the pieces better, perform more consistently and be lucky with injuries. Sometimes the best change is to change nothing.

The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the NBA or its organizations.