On October 14, discussion began about who should be the Boston Celtics’ second-best player for the 2023–24 season. Jared Weiss stated on the “Celtics Beat” podcast that rookie Jrue Holiday is currently the team’s third-best player but has the potential to overtake Jaylen Brown as the No. 2 player.
“I would want to maximize Jrue Holiday’s time on the floor,” Weiss said. “I think Jrue Holiday is the third-best player on this team right now and honestly could give Jaylen Brown a run for second-best player on this team.”
Dan Greenberg responded to this by refuting the claim that anything would have “dramatically gone wrong” for Brown and Kristaps Porzingis if Holiday had ended up being the Celtics’ No. 2 option behind Jayson Tatum.
As outstanding a player as Holiday is and as crucial to the Celtics’ chances of winning the championship he will be, Greenberg said, “if he ends up being their 2nd best player things have gone drastically wrong with both Jaylen and Porzingis.”
If Jayson Tatum lacks a superstar leap, the Boston Celtics will not win the championship.
To be perfectly honest, in NBA parlance, the title “superstar” is arbitrary. Even though the new CBA contains some contractual incentives that do define what makes one, the narrative among the general public still leaves out some players who fall short when it counts.
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Due to his glaring failures in the 2022 NBA Finals and Game 7 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, Tatum isn’t yet hailed as a star by the majority. Tatum did sustain an ankle injury during the decisive game against the Miami Heat this past May, but it shouldn’t have ever come to that.
Finding the C’s second-best player, according to Greenberg, is a pointless exercise because Tatum’s position will ultimately determine whether Banner 18 is reachable for Boston going forward.
Greenberg began, “Honestly, pick anybody you want to be the Celts’ 2nd/3rd/4th best player because unless Tatum takes the leap into the Kawhi/Giannis/Steph/Jokic God level in the playoffs/Finals it won’t really matter,” before adding, “As we’ve seen, when Tatum takes the leap into the Kawhi/Giannis/Steph level in the playoffs/Finals it won’
Joe Mazzulla needs to establish a pecking order, but at No. 1 is Tatum, who must act as the team’s unifying force or the Celtics’ all-star roster might disintegrate spectacularly.
