In many ways, New England sports is like New England weather. They say if you don’t like the weather in New England just wait a minute—and like the weather, the Celtics made some big changes. 
The first and arguably the biggest change to the Celtics was not to the roster but to the front office. On June 2, Danny Ainge retired as the Celtics General Manager and promoted Brad Stevens. I think most people were more expecting Brad to be fired rather than promoted, following a disappointing season from the Celtics, but the opposite actually happened. Stevens was then left with the task of finding a replacement head coach and he settled with Ime Udoka. This will be Udoka’s first head coaching job after being an assistant for the Spurs, 76ers, the 2019 USA Basketball World Cup Team and the Nets. I personally can’t wait to see Udoka thrive in this new role, especially when he already has the respect of Tatum, Brown and Smart from playing in the World Cup.
We will see how long it takes for Udoka to flourish in his new role as head coach. In comparison, Brad has gotten right to work. He brought back Enes Kanter and Al Horford as well as bringing in Josh Richardson, Dennis Schroder, and Kris Dunn. Honestly, I don’t hate this. Josh Richardson was once upon a time one of the better young players in the league. Dennis Schroder was in conversations about the Sixth Man of the Year Award just two years ago and we only got him for $5 million. And Kris Dunn is one of the better perimeter defenders in the league. This came with some sacrifice, however. Most notably the Celtics lost Kemba Walker, but they also lost Evan Fournier and Tristan Thompson. 
I predicted that the Celtics would be the first seed this season and I haven’t given up on that prediction. It might sound outlandish that Boston will jump up to the first seed after they were just the seventh seed, but it is possible. After all, the 76er’s were just the first seed after being the sixth seed.
Let’s go over some of the Celtics biggest problems last season. First off, Kemba Walker’s health. Not only is Kemba Walker not on our team anymore, but we brought in multiple players who can play valuable point guard minutes like Kris Dunn, Josh Richardson, and Dennis Schroder. Not to mention that Payton Pritchard will be entering his sophomore year and we can expect to see some improvements, especially after he dropped 92 points in a pro-am game this summer. Our second problem was our lack of rebounding and size. Boston brought back Enes Kanter who consistently averages double digit rebounds, and they brought back Al Horford who is a great defender and leader. I am also extremely excited to see the progression of Robert Williams. Last season Robert William showed glimpses of dominance. If he could add on to that strong finish and we could continue to see him dominate the paint, then I believe we will be in a good position next year.
All in all, I am very excited to see how this team plays. As good of a coach Brad Stevens was, there were times where he struggled to motivate his team. Hopefully Udoka’s reputation in the Celtics locker room can change that and make the Celtics really fun to watch again.