Part one of the Boston Celtics 2024 New Year’s Resolutions

Part one of the Boston Celtics 2024 New Year’s Resolutions

We’ve already put 2023 behind us and are well into the New Year’s Resolution season, having completed almost two weeks of 2024. It’s an optimistic time of year, an opportunity for all of us to push our personal boundaries and aim for personal progress, whether your objective is to read more books or try to work out more frequently.

As we approach the halfway point of an exhausting regular season, professional athletes may find this pattern to be true or not. However, as outsiders, it’s a good idea to evaluate what we’ve seen thus far from the Boston Celtics and make some recommendations for their future. After reviewing the squad, we will determine each player’s objectives or areas for growth in 2024.

To keep things simple, we will only be looking at players who have substantial NBA experience thus far this season or who have full, guaranteed contracts. Now let’s get started.

Jordan Walsh’s rookie season has been going very well, but when it comes to second round draft picks, expectations should always be kept in check. Due to a lack of playing time on a major league team, he has played the majority of the season with the Maine Celtics of the G-League, where he has shown encouraging play through five games of the regular season. In an effort to improve as a scorer, he has added some unexpected deep shooting (41%) at a steady volume (7.2 3PA/G).

Walsh’s start is encouraging, but it won’t be sufficient to get him on the court for this excellent of a Celtics squad. There would be too much talent and a short track record for him to have a significant workload as a scorer. Walsh needs to demonstrate a skill that will provide situational value in order for him to break into the rotation as a young, undeveloped player. That will provide as protection. With a wingspan of 7 feet 2 inches and a height of 6 feet 7 inches, he has the makings of a smothering wing defender that teams will never have enough of.

Walsh is the next man up, in my opinion, if Oshae Brissett gets injured at any point this season. He might very well buy himself a spot in the second half of the season if he shows up and establishes himself as a tough and capable wing defender in the league.

In his 14 games this season, Queta has been a welcome surprise for the Celtics. The 24-year-old, one of the team’s three two-way contract players, has seen action on a few occasions as the Celtics have controlled Al Horford’s minutes and handled Kristaps Porzingis’ injuries. He’s impressive; he’s already recorded two double-doubles and shown himself to be a capable finisher and active defender.

With just 33 NBA games played in his career, Queta is the least experienced non-rookie on the team, thus it should come as no surprise that he is still incredibly raw. His physical prowess and boundless enthusiasm have somewhat made up for his lack of experience playing at the highest level. That’s never been more apparent than on defense, where he’s fouling opponents at an absurdly high rate. If 36 minutes were divided into each game, he would almost certainly foul out with an average of 5.5 personal fouls each contest.

Frontcourt players have a steep learning curve when it comes to NBA defense. It is normal to encounter foul difficulties; it takes time to overcome. But now is the perfect time to learn, and on a team that wants to win a championship, Queta will need to reduce his number of free passes if he wants to be on the floor as the season goes on.

I will confess that in an exercise like this, “stay ready” isn’t the most interesting resolution to propose. We want to help these guys find growth opportunities, so in that situation, it’s not exactly easy to say “just keep doing what you’re doing.”