Zach Lowe

All of their staff and coaches know that I was down on them.

I just can't believe how good they are.

And a number of things happen.

Number one, Jalen Brown leveled way up, like way up.

It didn't just like go up a notch.

You went up like four notches in one year.

The other thing that I sort of factored into my Celtics pessimism, other than the lack of depth on the front line, the inexperience, all the questions that people like Nimi Keita and Baylor Shireman and Hugo Gonzalez and on and on have answered was just in the typical run of a season, Derek White almost 15 games or Peyton Pritchard or miss 20 games.

And that just hasn't happened.

Their core guys have been healthy all year.

And more than anything else,

Jalen Brown just came out and set the tone from the beginning of the year that I am a rock of stability.

I am a floor.

Okay.

Our ceiling is going to get higher than you think, but like, I am going to keep us base level competent on every single possession on both ends of the floor.

And especially on offense, I'm going to be able to get us a decent shot

Every time I have the ball on offense that I don't turn it over and people are going to come back in this and throw the on off numbers in my face in jail and Brown's face that the Celtics are quote unquote better with jail and Brown off the floor.

The last time I checked, they were like plus 11 with jail and Brown off the floor plus six or something with him on the floor.

And I just don't really care because the plus six is a pretty impressive figure in its own right.

He's going against all the best opposing lineups.

He is on the floor all the time that the other team is in the bonus because of his rotation patterns.