Ranking season may be far behind us as the month of December arrives in force in the NBA calendar, but that won’t stop league analysts from updating their player rankings for where the Boston Celtics’ players and the rest of the league stand so far in the 2023-24 season.
Such is the case with Bleacher Report’s Adam Fromal, who graced us with a comprehensive re-ranking of his top 50 NBA players for the 2023-24 season based on the Rolling Player Rating (RPR) MVP score (see his methodology section in the original article for more details) after a full month and change behind us to evaluate where players are early in their current campaign.
A number of Celtics made the cut, including a surprise inversion between two Boston starters compared to the start of the season; let’s take a look at where each landed.
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No. 49. Jrue Holiday
B/R Staff Preseason Ranking: No. 37
B/R Community Preseason Ranking: No. 42
“Holiday has taken more of a tertiary role than the one he filled with the Milwaukee Bucks over the last three seasons, but the new Boston Celtics point guard has still played high-quality basketball for the ever-dangerous Cs,” writes Fromal.
No. 31. Jaylen Brown
B/R Staff Preseason Ranking: No. 19
B/R Community Preseason Ranking: No. 17
“Brown has had outings that justify the preseason rankings and leave little doubt he was worth the $304 million contract extension he signed … But he’s also had a few disastrous performances, and his … inability to dial things back has sometimes dragged the team down,” relates the B/R analyst.
No. 26. Kristaps Porzingis
B/R Staff Preseason Ranking: No. 43
B/R Community Preseason Ranking: No. 49
“Were it not for the calf injury that knocked him out of the lineup against the Orlando Magic … Porzingis would be knocking on the door of the top 20 even more firmly. During his first season with the Boston Celtics, the 7-footer has performed admirably, blending in seamlessly alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown,” notes Fromal.
No. 7. Jayson Tatum
B/R Staff Preseason Ranking: No. 5
B/R Community Preseason Ranking: No. 5
“Even though Jayson Tatum already enjoys a lofty spot in this individual hierarchy, the best may be yet to come. The Duke (alum) has had some uncharacteristic turnover struggles, and he’s abandoned some of the basket-attacking aggression that helped him earn 8.4 trips per game to the free-throw stripe last year,” writes the B/R analyst.
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