With a fairly early exit in the second round of last year’s 2018-2019 NBA Playoffs to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, the Boston Celtics, like many other teams around the league, have made drastic changes to their roster for the upcoming season. The organization has shifted its focus from the Kyrie Irving era to a new, and hopefully improved, route in notable acquisitions in Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter as well as shifting sights toward continuing to develop the young core the team already has. The team has also found some luck regarding their draft this season with names like Carsen Edwards out of Purdue and the biggest name coming from Central Florida in Tacko Fall. There were many questions raised throughout the course of last season, and with the new roster perhaps many of said questions may be answered.

With the Kyrie Irving era of Celtics’ basketball has come to a conclusion, a new chapter opens with Kemba Walker at the helm of it all at the point guard position. Walker has always been a solid point guard throughout his time with the Hornets. He averaged 25.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game last season, just barely making the NBA Playoffs as the 9th seed with a record of 39-43. This should serve as a solid testament for Walker, for over the course of his time with the Hornets, the roster he was surrounded by was adequate at best. He has always been most known for his ability to score the ball, which although is obviously a very important aspect of the game, is something he won’t have to potentially worry about alone as opposed to before. But the one thing Walker really needed was more reliable scoring from his team, which he can now get from a multitude of different options on this Celtics roster.

Although Irving may have been the biggest name in Free Agency for the Celtics, fans also learned that Center Al Horford would be signing to Eastern Conference rival in the Philidelphia 76ers. Despite such a loss, the organization have found themselves acquiring notable big Enes Kanter of the Portland Trailblazers. Kanter has really come into his own form these past few seasons, being known for the effort he plays with inside the paint, averaging 13.1 points and 8.6 rebounds. There is, however, a blatant disparity between Horford and Kanter. Horford has been more of a stretch big for the Celtics with a 3-PT percentage of 36% last season while Kanter doesn’t share the same play style, shooting a mere 25% from 3-PT last season. However, Kanter may potentially be a better fit within this system now with the way the roster is set up, playing as a more true big rather than today’s common stretch big.

With the rookie signings coming to its conclusions, teams have selected who they’ll be choosing to further develop alongside the rest of their rosters. The Celtics have chosen to sign Carsen Edwards, a point guard who made a strong case for himself in the NBA Summer League this year alongside 7’7″ Center Tacko Fall, the tallest NBA player in the league ahead of recently acquire Dallas Center in Boban Marjanovic listed at 7′ 3.5″.

Despite all the signings the Celtics made this offseason, the young core that the team has is brings much excitement to Celtics fans worldwide. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, and Marcus Smart are big names that still remain in Boston, which within itself is an impressive group. Smart finds himself being the one point guard remaining of the three last season in Rozier and Irving, where there was a lot of questions of how they were balancing play time between all of them. With Smart having his role solidified as a spark off the bench behind Kemba, his focus has fully shifted to just that. Tatum, Brown, and Hayward have been a core to be reckoned with since they’ve come together. They’re each interchangeable providing for their team all in different ways, as well as being able to be shifted from a multitude of positions, relieving any minutes issues that may arise. The more time they get time to develop, the scarier it becomes for the rest of the league.