One area where the Celtics have struggled in since way back in their glory days of the 1980's is having an MVP talent on their team. Len Bias was supposed to take the mantle from Larry Bird, but he tragically passed. So for the past few decades the Celtics have been absent from MVP and All-NBA 1st Team conversations.
When the Celtics traded for Kevin Garnett they finally had an MVP talent on their team and KG did in fact make that All-NBA 1st Team his first year in Boston. Sadly he tore his knee up in his second season and that was it for the peak of KG's career.