The Milwaukee Bucks made a blockbuster move by acquiring Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers last summer, but that allowed the Boston Celtics to make a pivotal move as well by acquiring Jrue Holiday after they had already added Kristaps Porzingis. Jayson Tatum was recently on The Old Man & The Three podcast alongside A’ja Wilson, and he had a blunt explanation of his reaction when the Celtics acquired Jrue Holiday, saying that I couldn’t believe it The Bucks allowed that to happen.
“At first I was like, ‘I can’t believe Milwaukee let this happen,’” Jayson Tatum said on The Old Man & The Three podcast. “So credit to the Bucks. But yeah, in a way. I knew we had a really good chance. To win a championship, a lot of things have to go right. You have to stay healthy, you have to be on the same page. You have to get along. It’s a little bit of luck that’s involved. But knowing that Jrue had championship DNA and I won a gold medal with him, I knew, you know, the type of player and person he was. I knew he was going to make our team better. And we already had KP. And we already had a really good team, so yeah, when we got Jrue, I was pretty confident in what we could accomplish.”
The addition of Kristaps Porzingis and Holiday turned the Celtics into a juggernaut. They were already a strong team that had come close to winning an NBA championship in the past but couldn’t get over the hump. Last year, everything went right as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had a supporting cast that was able to help them get over the hump.
In Year 1, the Bucks might regret signing Damian Lillard, but they hope they can turn things around in Year 2. It didn’t help that Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo were injured in the Bucks’ first-round series against the Indiana Pacers. Milwaukee lost in six games to the Pacers. Next year, the Bucks hope to reestablish themselves as a top contender in the Eastern Conference, not only beating the Celtics, but also teams like the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and even the young Orlando Magic.
The Celtics look to build a dynasty
The Celtics have had Tatum and Brown as their centerpieces for a long time, and both are young and not going anywhere. The supporting pieces are also not going anywhere for the most part, leading many to believe the Celtics could form a dynasty. They will likely enter next season as the favorites to win the championship again.
It’s hard to repeat as champion, and the Denver Nuggets were an example of that last season. They were eliminated in the second round despite still having arguably the best player in the league, Nikola Jokic. Still, the Celtics have depth and the ability to repeat.
