The Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics could help each other find their identity
Like Portland, the Boston Celtics were a team expecting to take the next step in 2021-2022. Also like Portland, the Cs have had their fair share of struggles so far, despite having a roster with a respectable amount of talent. Both squads also happen to have the exact same record at 9-8.
What’s been intriguing about Boston is the fact that they seem to be playing better with Jaylen Brown, their two-way, All-Star-level second banana, sidelined with injury.
With Brown this season, the Cs have a record of 3-5. Without him, they’re 6-3. Since Brown went down with a strained hamstring, Jayson Tatum has put Boston on his back, averaging 28.6 points on 45/42/83 shooting splits in his last eight games.
When Brown was healthy, Tatum was putting up 22.7 points, shooting 37 percent from the field, 27 from deep, and 75 from the stripe, according to statmuse.
It was believed that Boston hit the jackpot when they put together the tandem of Tatum and Brown; two young, interchangeable wings who could dominate on both ends of the floor.
As the Celtics trudged through this early part of the season, though, on top of their disappointment of a year in 2020-2021, a school of thought began forming that perhaps Tatum and Brown were too redundant, and maybe even too selfish to co-exist on the same team.
Of course, there’s a chance that with Tatum’s resurgence, Brown will come back and slowly return to form, easing in as the second option. This will naturally allow the pecking order to form.
But, if the Celtics regress upon Brown’s return, those whispers to blow it up will grow louder and louder.
Tatum is obviously new General Manager Brad Stevens’s golden boy, so if Brown is made available, the Trail Blazers should be willing to pay whatever it takes.