Eddie House Thinks The Celtics Can Win Championship With Jayson Tatum & Jaylen Brown
Eddie House Thinks The Celtics Can Win Championship With Jayson Tatum & Jaylen Brown
The biggest question the Boston Celtics must decide this offseason is whether to keep Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown together as their standout combo.
The Celtics are at a crossroads with Brown, who will be an unfettered free agent after the upcoming season but is eligible for a $ 295 million supermax deal extension this offseason.
Following a disheartening defeat to the No. 8 seed Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston might give Brown the supermax and double down on the Jays, or they could choose a different course by dealing with the All-Star wing.
In light of yet another season without an NBA championship, are the Jays still a unit, or should they be divided? Eddie House, a former Celtics guard, and 2008 NBA champion, gave his perspective on Tuesday’s Arbella Early Edition of NBC Sports Boston.
“It’s no shame to get to the conference finals.”
“This is a young team. So, for people to be down on them … we’ve enjoyed so much success with this young core, you’re expecting them to finally get over the hump. But eventually, they will. “
“I’m not comparing any of these players to Michael Jordan, but it took Michael Jordan some time to (win a title). It took Steph some time to do it. It took LeBron some time to do it. It takes time, and you have to lose sometimes to understand how to win.”
Eddie House
Brown, who recently ended his seventh season at age 26, has a point; Tatum, who is 25 years old, has played in six. With NBA luminaries like Michael Jordan (first title in seventh season, age 27), Stephen Curry (sixth season, age 26), and LeBron James (ninth season, age 27), if they had won a championship this year, they would have been on track—or even ahead of schedule.
Only Giannis Antetokounmpo (age 26) and Kawhi Leonard (age 2022) were NBA Finals MVPs in the previous 15 years; the other eight Finals MVPs, including Boston’s own Paul Pierce (30) in 2008, were all older than Brown.
In summary, winning an NBA championship while your primary players are young is challenging. The fact that the Jays have advanced to four of the previous six conference finals without winning a title is disheartening.
However, they have still garnered the necessary experience that, in principle, might result in victories in their later 20s.
The Celtics still have a lot of work to do this offseason; head coach Joe Mazzulla needs more seasoned assistants on his staff, and the C’s most likely will have to trade one of their guards from the Marcus Smart, Derrick White, and Malcolm Brogdon trio; but there is precedent for being patient with this team’s young All-Star duo.
