The Boston Celtics wrapped up a disappointing preseason slate with a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, finishing 1-3 in their first four contests and showing essentially every warning sign a team that expects to play deep into the postseason can show in four meaningless games.

With the caveat that all of these takeaways could be proven silly after a few regular-season contests, here are 15 takeaways from the first four games of the 2018-19 season.

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1. Gordon Hayward is not 100 percent.

This much was evident from the opening tip against Charlotte: Hayward is going to need some more time -- and maybe a significant amount of time -- to return from the ankle injury that ended his season on Opening Night last year.

Hayward doesn't look hobbled, necessarily, and Brad Stevens said his repaired ankle has been great. But it takes a while to get back into game shape at the NBA level, and Hayward is yet to reach that point.

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How long it takes Hayward to return to full health could determine how successful the Celtics are, at least in the early going. The Celtics' rotations will be built around cycling their stars through the second unit, and Hayward -- with his play-making off the bounce and 3-point marksmanship -- was expected to be a key part of that.

Hayward will continue to get better and better as the season goes on -- he won't shoot 25-percent from the floor and 10-percent from behind the 3-point line for the entirety of the season, obviously. But returning from traumatic injuries takes time, and Hayward has a ways to go.

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2. There is some natural malaise.

At media day and throughout training camp, Brad Stevens preached the importance of not skipping steps.

Throughout the preseason, the Celtics looked like they desperately wanted to skip this specific step and get to the regular season, when games start counting.

That was to be expected. The last time Boston took the court was Game 7 against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers -- some of the highest stakes that exist on a basketball court. On Saturday, the only thing at stake was bragging rights against a decimated Eastern Conference squad who at best might scrape their way into the seventh or eighth seed.

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Whether skipping a step comes back to haunt the Celtics remains to be seen. There is some value to be gained in continuity, which the Celtics may have improved by taking their preseason seriously, but four games can only do so much anyway, and Boston has 82 regular season games to tune up for the postseason.

This is a long way of saying "It's preseason, everyone calm down," but it IS only preseason.

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3. The Celtics look like a make-or-miss team.

The Celtics look a whole lot different when the threes they launch are falling. Just compare the difference between the first quarter of the preseason opener and ... well, every other quarter of the preseason.

Stevens said the Celtics need to focus on taking better shots, and you can bet they will once they work through some of the offensive kinks. But there may be some really ugly stretches if the Celtics continue to launch 3-pointers at a higher rate than last year.

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4. Robert Williams might force his way into the rotation.

If you watched Robert Williams at Texas A&M, you saw glimpses of high-level NBA potential a handful of times every game, but you never saw him in an ideal situation to put it all together.

That's because Williams is a five. It could not be clearer where he's best utilized, and it's at the top of the key initiating high screen-and-roll action and diving to the basket, or facilitating the types of hand-off sets Stevens has always favored. He's a good passer, and he has solid basketball instincts. Given his athleticism and physical profile, that's a start.

But Williams will make his money on the defensive end, and that's where he could force his way into the rotation. The Celtics simply don't have a defender like Williams -- a freak athlete who can switch everything, protect the rim and close out hard to shooters. He needs to improve within the Celtics' system, but his athleticism gives him the potential to do everything in a way even Al Horford can't.

Of course, Horford has turned himself into one of the 10-15 best defenders in the league with an elite understanding of angles and positioning, and there's a lot Williams could take from Horford's game.

But a Celtics source said Williams has been a model citizen ever since his early slip ups garnered all the attention. He's expected to spend a significant amount of time in Maine, but his flashes in the preseason helped make a case for the big leagues.

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5. We didn't really learn anything about Kyrie Irving.

Folks, Kyrie Irving is an elite scorer who can get his shot whenever and wherever he wants it. He's also a smart basketball player who can run the offense at a high level when he's tasked to facilitate as well.

We saw all of that at times during the preseason, and we expected to see it. How the Celtics will mesh around Irving remains a little unclear.

*Addendum: We did learn Irving plans to re-sign with the Celtics this summer. So there's that.

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6. We didn't really learn anything about Jayson Tatum.

Tatum shot 33.3 percent from both the field and the 3-point line during the preseason. He didn't look particularly engaged on the defensive end, and he took some really questionable shots on the other.

We can probably safely presume none of those trends will continue.

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7. We didn't really learn anything about Al Horford.

But to be fair, if you were expecting to learn something about Al Horford from the 2018-19 preseason, your expectations were never reasonable.

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8. The defense needs a lot of attention.

Without trying to make too much out of predictable early struggles, it's probably fair to note that Boston's defense might not be as strong as it was last year. Irving is a minus defender (his offense is so strong, it more than balances out), and fewer minutes will be available for Terry Rozier.

The Celtics also won't have the added motivation of trying to prove everyone wrong. The Golden State Warriors are still the favorites to win the championship, but the Celtics are second, and from a talent perspective, there's little doubt they belong in the conversation.

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So much of last year's team seemed to be built around the identity of being The Disrespected Team. Rozier and others repeatedly said before the playoffs that opponents would have to go through the Boston to get to the Finals, and the Celtics were incredibly hard to kill -- it took LeBron James' brilliance and an epic cold stretch to finish them off, and even that almost wasn't enough to keep them out of the Finals.

How will the Celtics defend if they aren't The Disrespected Team any more, scrapping on every single possession? It's a little unclear, and Stevens' comments throughout the preseason have made it obvious he's a little concerned about it too.

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9. Marcus Smart's emotions may still be incredibly raw.

Marcus Smart has been through hell the last few weeks (and months). His mother was diagnosed with cancer, and she faded over the summer -- passing away in mid-September, shortly before the start of training camp. The funeral was on the Saturday before Media Day.

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How do you carry on in an incredibly public setting after a traumatic personal event? Smart is an incredibly stoic man, but his emotions appeared to bubble to the surface on Saturday when an altercation with J.R. Smith appeared to be one missed tackle by Tatum and Rozier away from turning ugly.

This isn't supposed to be some exoneration of Smart, who has been known for getting into scraps throughout his career. Just ... remember what the guy is going through. This is perhaps the toughest stretch of Smart's entire life -- a life that has seen some pretty tough stretches.

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10. The Celtics seemed weirdly hesitant (and also trigger-happy).

Asked about his team's offense at one point during the preseason, Stevens said the Celtics are encouraged (obviously) to take 3-pointers, but that layups are always preferable.

That seems obvious, but it's probably worth noting given the context of Boston's shot selection during the preseason. The Celtics have been settling a lot -- firing up deep jumpers early in the shot clock and failing to move the ball around. Other times, Boston moves the ball a little too much -- probing when someone should attack the paint.

In other words, the entire team is feeling each other out, and the results have been herky-jerky at best. The offense should come around -- everyone is too talented for it to continue looking this tough -- but the growing pains have been real.

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11. Jaylen Brown's handle does seem to have improved.

At Media Day, Jaylen Brown told reporters he's "interested" to see how his critics respond to his improved handle and play-making.

Brown's play-making does appear to have taken a notable uptick. He's getting into the paint more consistently, and when he gets there, he's more patient -- Brown told MassLive the game has slowed down significantly for him, and he's starting to really feel comfortable as a ball-handler instead of just as a glorified 3-and-D option.

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That handle is sort of the last frontier for Brown. He can already shoot (he was near 40 percent last year), and his athleticism is nearly as outlier as Robert Williams. His IQ is high both on and off the court, and his defense has been a calling card throughout his career.

Brown has real star potential. Whether he has an opportunity to show it off on this team full of stars remains to be seen.

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12. Terry Rozier looks good.

Just a quick note to acknowledge how much starting in the Eastern Conference Finals seems to have helped Terry Rozier. If Irving re-signs in Boston, Rozier's future with the team feels really unsteady, but he is a no-questions-asked starter in the NBA. The Celtics have some tough, tough choices approaching.

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Terry Rozier III gets in the lane and finishes the acrobatic layup.



📺: @NBATV pic.twitter.com/ETPZkXQ1VR — NBA (@NBA) October 7, 2018

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13. The guard rotation could be fascinating.

The top of the pecking order is clear: Irving will start, while Rozier backs him up. Smart will play a little one and also a little two and also a little three, four and five. That much has been established.

But who relieves Rozier as the primary ball-handler if Smart is otherwise occupied and Irving is either out or in need of a breather? That still appears up in the air. Brad Wanamaker can definitely play, although he isn't an elite athlete. Walt Lemon Jr. is on a two-way deal, and he looked good enough in preseason to warrant some chatter about Jabari Bird's likely soon-to-be-open roster spot. Marcus Georges-Hunt is a favorite of Brad Stevens and will probably be in the mix.

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The Celtics have a lot of options at the guard position, and that will probably benefit them. Toward the end of last year, they dropped a game in Milwaukee in which Irving, Rozier, Smart and Shane Larkin were all sitting out. Kadeem Allen started, but for the most part, Tatum and Brown split ball-handling duties. Both are competent ball-handlers, but neither are natural play makers.

This year's team has a ton of play makers. They may not get consistent minutes, but the battle for third-string play maker will be an interesting one throughout the season.

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14. The concerns are real but could be assuaged quickly.

Celtics fans shouldn't kid themselves: Boston looked awful in the preseason, and there were aspects of both the offense and the defense that appeared genuinely concerning. Most notable were Hayward's continued struggles, and how that squeezed the life out of the offense at times, but the lack of defensive energy and focus weren't great signs, and for some reason, everyone appears to have forgotten how to shoot threes.

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Here's the thing: If the Celtics come out on October 16 and blow Philadelphia's doors off, everything is fine. The conversation will revert directly back to whether the Celtics can beat Golden State and how Danny Ainge built a title-contender out of seemingly thin air.

Preseason struggles can be easily forgotten, because -- and this is the dirty secret Brad Stevens probably wishes his team didn't know -- the preseason doesn't actually matter. Whatever happens as soon as the regular season tips off will erase it from everyone's collective memory.

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15. The regular season can't come soon enough.

Real basketball is coming -- games with actual meaning and bearing on what happens this season. Whether or not the preseason concerns are real, a real sample size with games and stats that matter would be helpful.