Boston Celtics Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The suffering of Boston Celtics fans has continued in 2021 with recent losses to the Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards knocking the Cs down to .500 on the season.
2020-21 has not been kind to the Celtics, but that’s mostly because of the actions of Danny Ainge back in November 2020. Instead of adding significant firepower–which he was equipped to do with the signed-and-traded contract of Gordon Hayward–, he decided to be conservative on the trade market.
That didn’t mean he didn’t spend money, though. Dishing out the full mid-level exception to Tristan Thompson (just under $10 million) and a $195 million super-max to Jayson Tatum, Ainge maintained the status quo from a veteran standpoint (losing out on Hayward and Brad Wanamaker for Thompson and Jeff Teague) but got younger along the fringes.