Shamrock and Roller

 When I was covering the Celtics several years ago on the "Celtics Reboot", we had a few players that remain on the roster now. Let's go over them. Jaylen Brown Marcus Smart Jason Tatum Al Horford* Horford, as many know, signed with Philly 2 years ago, was traded after one season to OKC, where he was put aside to develop younger players (AKA: Tank). Nobody wanted Al's services in a trade at the deadline, but in the offseason, Boston jumped at the chance, and got the veteran Center back in exchange for Kemba Walker and a first round pick. Kemba turned out to be damaged goods, and huge questions loomed about his durability moving forward. Smart was looking more and more like a starting point guard, and Walker's max contract was going to limit Boston in improving their roster. The team clearly missed Al's services, and emerging big man Robert Williams III will have an increased role at Center in the future. Al might come off the bench, or he may start, depending ...

 8 years ago, I started a blog detailing the ups and downs of the Boston Celtics during the Brad Stevens era. I was mostly focusing on how the team was going to rebuild itself after trading away their Hall of Fame core players of KG, Paul Pierce, plus Rajon Rondo (Ray Allen had already departed). After a few seasons the team became contenders again, with Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart (and short flashes made by Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford). The team had gone from underdogs to nearly the same elite team that previously existed with the Doc Rivers era. But not quite. After I stopped covering them (and deleted the blog) the team went through an odd phase. Covid hit, the players went into a bubble, and the following year fell to a mediocre .500 record. Danny Ainge resigned, and Brad Stevens left as coach to become head of Basketball operations. Basically, the team was starting over much like they did 8 years ago.  So what the hell? I thou...