Chemistry has been a crucial component of the Boston Celtics turnaround in 2019-20, and the arrival of former UConn standout Kemba Walker has been no small factor in that change of culture.
While there are questions about whether the Celtics will be able to tap back into that lightning in a bottle after a near-four month layoff due to the coronavirus, at least one prominent analyst thinks it may be possible.
TNT analyst Jared Greenberg recently appeared on the “Scoop B Radio” podcast, and that particular engine of the Celtics came up in conversation.
“I think that there is a genuine love for one another,” offered Greenberg as he ventured a guess as to what was different about this version of the team.
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“I think that there’s more trust in that locker room than there has been in recent years. It seems like they’re having more fun; and it’s like they’re almost more free flowing,” he added.
“The one thing that I have got from the Celtics this year is that Kemba is so aware of what is going on with his teammates on the court … In the past, and this is not to take shots at anybody — but in the past, it was kind of like a caste system … certain guys had to get certain shots at certain times.”
Without mentioning those certain guys, what is true about the 2019-20 version of Boston is how Walker’s leadership-by-example has created a much more horizontal and less partisan style of play that should replicable once play restarts given little else basketball-wise has changed.
Of course, even Greenberg recognizes there’s been at least a little bit of a hierarchy in the Celtics’ offense, at least since the latter half of the season.
“Now, if it’s Jayson Tatum that is going off, then Jayson Tatum has got to get the ball,” said the TNT analyst.
He quickly qualified his statement, though; “[But if] Kemba Walker’s going off, then Kemba’s got to get the ball.”
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“It’s just more awareness of what is going on and that builds confidence and it builds camaraderie, the chemistry is there, and it seems like they got back to having a little more fun than they had been in the previous years,” he explained.
It’s possible the stress of being away from family in a pandemic, concern over the burgeoning civil right movement sparked by the killing of George Floyd, or the risk an injury might present to a looming contract extension, we could very well see the Celtics pick right back up where they left off.
The camaraderie and single-minded focus on winning together appears to be intact — and in just a few short weeks, we’ll get our first live-action tests of that premise.
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