Celtics have been teasing the NBA for years; if they don’t win the title this year with this group, will they ever?

The Boston Celtics are BACK in the NBA Finals! They’ll take on the Dallas Mavericks starting June 6th, in an interesting matchup that the Celtics are the clear favorite. Per ESPN:

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks have gone from long shots to Western Conference champs, but they are underdogs against the Boston Celtics in a star-studded NBA Finals matchup.

The Celtics opened as -225 favorites Thursday at ESPN BET. The Mavericks were listed as +185 underdogs after their clinching Game 5 blowout of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals. The Celtics opened as 6-point favorites over the Mavericks in Game 1, which will be played in Boston.

But can you trust these Celts? Maybe the Jrue Holiday addition has changed them for the better (and I believe it has), but ultimately we’ve seen All-Star point guards join the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown tag team before for years, and it always ends in a very green shade of dissapointment.

These guys have been contenders since LeBron James was still in Cleveland! They held a 2-1 lead in the 2022 NBA Finals over the Golden State Warriors! And yet they have no championships to show for all that work. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane with the season previews of Boston since 2019 and then look at how it’s always ended...in defeat.

2018-19 Season Preview Extravaganza | How In The World Do The Celtics Have So Much Depth?

Why is everyone freaking out about how Brad Stevens will distribute minutes? First off, Stevens is a genius. And depth, more than ever, is such a valuable asset in the NBA.

With a starting five of Irving, Hayward, Brown, Tatum and Horford, Stevens will have players like Rozier, Smart and Marcus Morris coming off the bench. That’s about as good of an eight-man rotation as you’ll find in the league.

I have the Celtics as the No. 1 team in the East, right above the Raptors and 76ers, respectively. This is the team to beat in the East as long as it keeps its core intact. And if Brown and/or Tatum can emerge as All-Star caliber players, this could be the team of the decade. If the Celtics win a championship, it feels like they should send at least a picture of a ring to the Nets.

Welcome to the 2019-2020 Celtics season

The last two seasons were supposed to be a grand realization of this master plan and it just didn’t happen. Blame team chemistry. Blame timing. Blame injuries. All the coulda woulda shoulda’s didn’t materialize and now we’re here.

A single regular season game hasn’t even been played yet, but there’s a sense that this team is building something in Boston. Maybe it’s because the foundation of the franchise is built around homegrown players. Marcus Smart signed long term last summer, Jaylen Brown got his deal this week, and all signs point to Jayson Tatum being another cornerstone, too.

Maybe it’s because of the circuitous path that Kemba Walker and Gordon Hayward have taken in the basketball careers to end up together in Boston. After meeting in the 2011 NCAA Final Four, they nearly teamed up in Charlotte three years later, but had to wait another five seasons to finally unite. Maybe it’s because of the youth infusion of guys like Grant Williams, Carsen Edwards, Romeo Langford, Tremont Waters, Javonte Green, and Tacko Fall this summer. They’ve brought with them a camaraderie and joy that was sorely missing over the last two years.

Welcome to the 2019-2020 season. Let’s go, Celtics!

2020-21 NBA Season Preview: Do the Boston Celtics have the pieces in place to contend for a title?

Prior to the start of the 2019-20 season, the Celtics signed Jaylen Brown to a four-year, $114 million contract extension to assure the star wing remained in Boston until 2024. Just this past weekend, the Celtics locked up their other franchise cornerstone, reportedly signing Jayson Tatum to a five-year, $195 million max contract extension. With one year remaining on his rookie contract, Tatum’s extension will not kick in until 2021-22, keeping the All-Star forward in Boston until 2025 at the minimum with a player option worth $37 million for the 2025-26 season.

In plain terms: the Celtics will be title contenders for years to come with two of the most talented young players in the league under contract long-term.

Celtics’ Complete 2021-22 Season Preview and Predictions

The Celtics probably aren’t catching the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks this season. Assuming the Brooklyn Nets find some solution to the Kyrie Irving situation, they’ll probably have a leg up on Boston, too.

Beyond that, though, there aren’t insurmountable roadblocks to deny this team a No. 3 seed in the East if Udoka can maximize the roster. Tatum and Brown should keep climbing up the NBA ladder. Schroder could cement himself as the offseason’s biggest steal (by a mile). Williams could put himself in the Most Improved Player award running. Smart could too if he really takes to this new ball-moving role.

2022-23 Season Preview: Boston Celtics

Even with the last-minute coaching change, the Celtics should be on the same page more than they were at the start of last season. We can also expect them to be better in close games this year. But we can’t expect them to ever be as dominant as they were over the last 32 games of ’21-22, when they ranked first on both ends of the floor and outscored their opponents by 14.8 points per 100 possessions. There’s no doubt that they’re one of the three best teams in the Eastern Conference, but their ultimate level of success could be determined by Williams’ health and Mazzulla’s ability to steer the ship. Projection: Playoffs.