The Boston Celtics are an absolute wagon of a contender by all early appearances, but based on how some projections of regular season hardware winners, the Celtics might be surprisingly bereft of awards for a team that is seen as among if not the favorites to win the 2024 NBA Championship.
One such assessment, put together by Bleacher Report has All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum losing the Most Valuable Player award to Nikola Jokic, and Clutch Player of the Year going to Trae Young over Jrue Holiday. It has Defensive Player of the Year to Evan Mobley instead of Kristaps Porzingis, Sixth Man of the Year to Josh Hart and not Al Horford, and Most Improved Player to Tyrese Maxey over Derrick White.
While these are all defensible takes, there is one award among them all projected to go to a member of the Celtics organization — Brad Stevens taking home the 2024 Executive of the Year award.
Celtics Lab 225: On Boston looking good to start the season and what they can do to get better with Yossi Gozlan https://t.co/AKf0Pa3OF0 pic.twitter.com/2ILO3KHS72
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 28, 2023
Typically, the top basketball decision-maker of the best team will get the most serious consideration for Executive of the Year,” writes Eric Pincus.
“It’s a lot easier to vote with some level of hindsight. Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst will be an early front-runner after his blockbuster trade for Damian Lillard. But the executives of restructuring teams don’t often get enough credit in said voting (notably Michael Winger of the Washington Wizards and Joe Cronin of the Portland Trail Blazers), which is probably the biggest flaw in the award.”
“With all of that said, put down Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens as the winner,” he adds.
2023-24 Boston Celtics roster and coaching staff https://t.co/cqlhSB8IIN pic.twitter.com/dlP7nVxC5R
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 27, 2023
“The Celtics have been dominant for some time, but the acquisitions of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis could push them over the top,” suggests the B/R analyst.
And much will depend on how the regular season shakes out for Boston in terms of record, but the Celtics are off to a solid start and could well have this award sewed up for Brad by the trade deadline with some luck.
Boston Celtics 2023-24 salaries and career earnings for every player https://t.co/0q03JsmwA6 pic.twitter.com/7PGny7Z3CP
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 27, 2023
Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ
