After years of contending for a championship, things are expected to be different for the Boston Celtics in the upcoming season. Brad Stevens has begun to retool the current rotation, as he maximizes a potential “gap year” following Jayson Tatum’s Achilles tendon tear. As such, the Celtics roster is full of young and unproven talent, with the hope that some of them can either prove themselves and stick, or increase their trade value.

For the first time in his head coaching career, Mazzulla will be tasked with developing talent and getting them up to speed with the Celtics’ systems. He must also find a way of keeping Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard engaged, as that trio will come into the season with hopes of proving the team’s doubters wrong. Mazzulla is certainly facing a balancing act.

And, it’s for those reasons that Boston could find itself struggling to qualify for the 2026 NBA Playoffs. Bob Ryan and Gary Tanguay recently debated whether the Celtics could finish in the top-8 of the Eastern Conference, or make the play-in tournament as the ninth or the 10th seed. Of course, the hope is that the Celtics can outplay current expectations, but there are no guarantees.

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