The Boston Celtics are a very, very good NBA team, and in some estimations, so good they could conceivably have as many as four players from their roster on the NBA’s 2024 Eastern Conference All-Star team.
And while such an outcome is very much an unlikely possibility, it is almost as unlikely that the best team in the NBA would have just one player in the league’s annual testament to mediocre basketball and a near-total absence of basketball. But the sacrifices the individual Celtics players are making may be playing a role in depressing the typically gaudy numbers that have put most players into the All-Star game.
If any Celtics player were to make this year’s All-Star squad, it’s probably going to be Jayson Tatum — and that is the only Boston player on Bleacher Report’s recent projections of who will be on this year’s All-Star team.
Boston's Jayson Tatum comes in NINTH in new analysis of 2024 MVP race https://t.co/0KyogFav9r pic.twitter.com/m03141qgmX
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) December 27, 2023
“This case can write itself in seven words: best player on perhaps the best team,” writes B/R.
“Though Tatum’s efficiency has ebbed from deep, and he’s getting to the line a hair less, he’s burying a career-high 57-plus percent of his twos and reaching the rim a dab more than last season. His overall 3-point accuracy will recover when—yes, when—he starts converting more than sub-30 percent of his pull-up treys.”
“Tatum is also far more of a mission-critical offensive lifeline than his playmaking numbers suggest and despite what some of the on-off splits imply,” they add.
Three Boston Celtics make 2024 All-Star (and one more makes alternate) in new assessment https://t.co/qfvNd4NXUr pic.twitter.com/oqbH0n8DOc
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) December 27, 2023
“Boston only recently started looking like a more coherent team when he’s not on the floor,” suggests B/R. “Like always, his defensive workload pales in comparison to that of his frontcourt running mates, Giannis and Embiid. But also like always, he wears a more disruptive hat than most other All-Stars, period.”
For our part, we think one All-Star is almost as unlikely four, with the difference in-between far more like. Whether that’s two or three Celtics taking part in All-Star Week ends up the reality remains to be seen.
But we are as certain as Bleacher Report is that Tatum will be among them, for all the reasons noted above.
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Airing our NBA grievances on our annual Festivus episode with @Max_Lederman
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