After the Los Angeles Lakers won their seventeenth NBA championship in October, much attention turned to the season ahead and who would be hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy the next time around. A lot of attention has turned teams led by superstars such as the Lakers with LeBron James, the Los Angeles Clippers with Kawhi Leonard and the Milwaukee Bucks with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Meanwhile, a team up in the northeast seems primed to make a chase for a title with youth and defensive mastery.

The Boston Celtics have made three of the last four Eastern Conference Finals, ultimately getting outmanned by James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017 and 2018 along with losing to a red-hot Miami Heat squad this past season. However, heading into the start of a new season on Dec. 22, the NBA should be on notice about the potential of this Eastern Conference powerhouse.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two major reasons why this team looks to be going places. The third overall picks in back-to-back NBA drafts have flashed signs of greatness, and both showed massive improvement this past season. Tatum’s scoring increased from 15.7 points per game to 23.4 as he earned his first All Star Game appearance while Brown’s scoring numbers soared from 13.0 to 20.3. These two players have begun to emerge into playmakers on offense who play off or each other nicely.

Perhaps the best thing about this tandem is the fact that they are practically infants in the NBA. Tatum is just 22 years old while Brown is only 24. Even veteran players on the Celtics like Gordon Hayward are just now entering the backside of their primes. Of the teams that made the 2020 NBA Playoffs, the Celtics bolstered the youngest roster with 10 players under the age of 26. This just means that we should only expect this team to get better over time.

One of the strengths of the Celtics this past season was their prowess on both ends of the floor. Offensive and defensive ratings estimate the points scored or allowed per 100 possessions. The Celtics excelled in both fields finishing fourth in the league in both statistics giving the team a great balance of offensive and defensive production. This team’s well-rounded nature has been a major key to their success.

In their previous runs to the Eastern Conference Finals, the point guard position was a big point of contention for the Celtics in their recent success. From Isaiah Thomas to Kyrie Irving to Terry Rozier, the starting spot had been a revolving door in their recent quests for a championship. However, it now seems like the Celtics have found their man in Kemba Walker. The four-time All Star point guard is coming off of a stellar first season in which he gelled nicely with the young players on the team. His scoring numbers slipped a little bit, but much of that was due to him taking less shots than he did when he was on the Charlotte Hornets with little help surrounding him. Now with proven scoring options, Walker has been allowed to shoot more selectively and act as a floor general while playing more efficiently.

The Celtics most recent championship pursuit showed just how good this team can be. In the 2020 postseason, the Celtics ramped up their defensive efforts and put on a clinic through three rounds. They allowed the least points per game of any team in the playoffs (104.4) and held their opponents to the lowest effective field goal percentage, which weighs a team’s shooting percentage with respect to two-pointers and three-pointers. Massive contributions from key role players helped buoy much of the team’s success before their eventual exit from the playoffs.

Those aforementioned role players have greatly helped form the team’s identity as tenacious defensive unit. Veteran players such as Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart along with proven big men like Daniel Theis and Enes Kanter gave the team valuable minutes in the postseason and provide great support for the young superstars on the team. The Celtics also appear to not be done trying to improve their roster as rumor has it that the team is interested in a few All-Star frontcourt players, particularly LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Gobert. Both players would tremendously improve this squad with Aldridge providing another valuable scoring option while Gobert would fortify an already sound defensive team.

Even without one of those players, this team looks primed to win NBA championships in the coming years and dominate the Eastern Conference. Teams like the Bucks, Heat and Brooklyn Nets and will have something to say about this, but the balance of the Celtics on offense and defense along with the youth and potential the team bolsters seems primed to take on any challengers. The continued emergence of Tatum and Brown along with the continued contributions of Walker and Hayward should bring home another title to New England this year.