Finished last season with a 49-33 record and seeded 4th in the Eastern Conference before being knocked out by the Bucks

Lost Kyrie Irving and Al Horford in free agency

Horford was replaced by Enes Kanter – a defensive liability and one of the worst defenders in the NBA

Acquired Kemba Walker, the all-time leading scorer in Charlotte Hornet’s history with 12,009 points.

The Squad

The Celtics have had an extremely busy offseason, losing their two best players in Kyrie Irving and Al Horford. They have recovered well to replace the pair with Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter.

The futures of the franchise, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, will make the Celtics a legitimate force this year if they can take their game to the next level. Gordon Hayward has had a retched run with injuries and it’ll be hoped that he can replicate his form from his time at the Utah Jazz.

Options on the bench are limited outside of the talented Marcus Smart. Robert Williams as well as rookies Romeo Langford and Grant Williams will be hoping to limit the impact of off-season departures Aron Baynes and Terry Rozier, who provided roster depth last season.

Likely Boston Celtics starting lineup for the 2019-20 season.

Kemba Walker

As devastating as it was for Boston to lose Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker may be seen as a more reliable version. Walker has played all eight seasons of his career in Charlotte where he grew into one of their best players in franchise history.

He leaves the Hornets following a career year, to a much bigger market and a better team. Walker has said “As a pro, I haven’t won consistently. I just want to get a taste of that.” The move to Boston should make that happen.

The Hornets loss is the Celtics gain. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the futures of the franchise, both 21 and 22 respectively. Irving eluded an alpha dog status at the Celtics whereas Walker will be the perfect role model. For somebody who held up the entire Hornets franchise, he has had nothing but adulation toward him.

Impacts of Losing Irving & Horford

Offensively the Celtics will still be productive with Walker and Kanter on the team, limiting the impact of losing Irving and Horford. They will miss Irving’s scoring ability, shot creating ability and off-the-ball threat that came with Irving. Irving was top 6% for points per shot attempt, compared to Walker in the top 25%.

Walker and Kanter however are significant defensive downgrades. Walker is inferior to Irving largely because of his smaller stature and Horford’s intelligence and positional versatility is a devastating loss for the Celtics.

Horford has been the only person in the league who has continually shutdown Joel Embiid and has been able to limit Antetokounmpo. Despite the defensive deficiencies of the pair, there’ll be a helluva difference with team chemistry, as Irving and Rozier have had a toxic impact in the past.

If Brown and Tatum are the future of he franchise, then Walker’s personality and positive attitude may provide just the difference for the Celtics core and the entire franchise to take their game even further.