Why Did Everyone Misevaluate the Celtics?

There is no real explanation in my mind for why this Celtics is such a surprise. I did not and do not claim to be a league pass, all 82 game-watching NBA fan. That said, I am very good at using hindsight to determine that certain things should have been obvious. This Celtics playoff run is a place where I can utilize that skill. I get that the injuries are legitimate and definitely diminish their talent, but this team is crazy-talented with a ton of former lottery picks. To name a few: Tatum, Brown, Horford, Smart, Morris, Monroe, as well as Rozier being just outside the lottery. The Celtics were the “talent deficient team” in a series where (my favorite team) the Sixers had Marco Belinelli and Robert Covington as key contributors. I love Marco and Covington (not as much Covington but I need to say that for effect) but they would not touch the floor for the Celtics. When you actually look at it, this Celtics roster is absolutely stacked.

We do not look at this Celtics team the same way we look at other teams with a “star” but that is simply because everyone undervalued their stars. Brown, Tatum, and Horford are legit stars no matter what the league pass die-hard NBA fan tries to say; they just are. Unlike the Sixers and Cavs, there is no drop-off after them either. Rozier and Morris are very good, Baynes is… ok. The only other teams in the league that can confidently say they have six guys that play really well on both ends are the Warriors and maybe the Rockets. Every player in the top six for the Celtics can legitimately be a threat to go off and is not a liability on defense. That does not even mention the future which features a 2019 lottery pick and two former all-stars. There is a legitimate argument that the 2019-20 Celtics roster could feature six players that will at some point be all-stars and will be in the primes of their careers (Kyrie, Tatum, Brown, Horford, Hayward, 2019 lottery pick). I got off topic a bit, but it is a serious question to wonder whether this team can be in something like eight of the next ten championships.

Back to my actual point, how is it possible that this was a surprise run for the Celtics? This is not to discredit how well they have played and the job Brad Stevens has done. In fact, it is actually a credit to Stevens’ player development that he was able to get his young players to progress so quickly. However, he did do that and we all knew, even those of use that watched like fifteen Celtics games this season, that Brown and Tatum were awesome and could carry a team despite their age. The wildcard is probably that Rozier is better than expected this playoffs, but his play does not make up the gap for what the national NBA media expected of this team. I guess my final point is not really even an actual point beyond what I have already said. I just have no idea why a team with six players who range from solid to excellent two-way players was ever not expected to be a really tough out in the playoffs.