The Celtics open this season looking up at two teams in their own division. That is the assessment of Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, who writes that LeBron James‘s decision to sign in Philadelphia leaves Boston “no better than the third-best team” in the Atlantic, behind the defending champion Knicks and the rebuilt Sixers.
The arithmetic behind that judgment is hard to argue. Philadelphia’s summer haul includes former Celtics cornerstone Jaylen Brown by trade, plus James, Dean Wade and Anfernee Simons in free agency. Boston’s counter was the return in the Brown deal — Paul George and four draft picks — alongside a healthy Jayson Tatum. Any Celtics fan who has watched banners accumulate for 80 years knows the franchise has answered from third position before, but the honest reading of this roster is that the front office chose a different currency this summer: picks, cap flexibility, and youth rather than a second max wing.
Washburn’s reporting also covers where that youth stands. Second-round pick Dillon Mitchell was one of Boston’s Las Vegas standouts, and 19-year-old first-rounder Chris Cenac Jr. made what Washburn calls a positive impression despite rough shooting — 8.0 rebounds and 2.8 blocks in 23.3 minutes per game across four Summer League appearances. Those are the profiles a team develops when it is building its next contender rather than squeezing the last season out of its previous one.
That is the context for October 10, when Brown makes his scheduled return to TD Garden in a preseason home-and-home already on the books. The division now runs through New York and Philadelphia, and Boston’s path back to the top of it depends on how quickly Tatum, George and the young frontcourt cohere — my read, and I would rather hold this hand than Philadelphia’s injury risk, even if the Globe’s ranking is fair today.
On the fantasy side, Tatum is the clear beneficiary of Brown’s departure: more usage, more late-clock possessions, top-five upside in points leagues. George profiles as a discounted mid-round pick whose value hinges on games played, and Cenac and Mitchell are dynasty-only names for now — worth a late rookie-draft flier, not a redraft pick.
