Draymond Green explained why the Celtics had to win the Finals, and Green shared a non-buzzing opinion about the Celtics on his podcast.
After years of losing in crunch time, the Boston Celtics have no excuses. The team now has the strongest roster since the start of the Jayson Tatum era, and there's no room for failure.
Golden State Warriors forward and parttime basketball commentator Draymond Green doesn't have the slightest sympathy for the Celtics if they don't lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy this summer, he said in "The Draymond Green Show."
"[ESPN analyst] Tim Leegler says the season will be a failure if the Celtics don't win the championship," Green said.
"I don't usually agree with that. It's usually a sensationalism, something like ahhh Tim Legler is absolutely right on this point. Because you have Jaylen Brown and take more than $300 million. Soon Jayson Tatum will also take more than $300 million. Celtic is a failure if they don't win the title. ”
Tatum and Brown have had another successful season as the Celtics' "Batman and Robin," with Tatum averaging 26.9 points per game on 47.1 percent shooting from the field and 8.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game on the three-time All-NBA team, ranking seventh in scoring average this season.
Brown was similar, averaging 23 points per game while shooting 49.9 percent from the field and 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. The duo led Boston through another successful regular season, finishing with a 64-18 record and seven games ahead of the next most recent team (Denver and Minnesota).
However, Tatum and Brown have been excelling since 2018, and what sets this Celtics apart from past years is the depth of its roster.
"You've won more than 60 games, you've built your team. You went and signed Jrue Holiday, you went and signed (Kristaps) Porzingis, and the season went as you expected," Green continued.
"Because the season is as you want, you extend Jrue Holiday because he has proven all the reasons why you want to continue moving forward with him. So guess what? It's time to win, and it's now. Yes, we don't care about how many divisional finals there are anymore. It's not enough to make it to the finals. You have to win them all. ”
Is Green right, or is it an overreaction?
If the Celtics don't win a championship this year, they probably never do it with this core lineup.
Green is known for saying and doing crazy things that make headlines, but not this time, and the four-time champion couldn't be more accurate on that point.
From top to bottom, Boston has the best roster in the league on paper.
Tatum is the core, a top-10 player in the league and a perennial All-Star. Brown is a fringe All-Star, while Porzingis, Derrick White, and Holiday are excellent supporting characters. Porzingis is averaging 20.1 points per game, shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 108.6 on the defensive end, and White and Holiday are among the best perimeter two-way players in the league.
Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Al Horford are all reliable substitutes, with the latter having been outstanding recently with Porzingis injured. Horford had 22 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and one steal against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
While Porzingis could have injured for most of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics are lucky not to have any major injuries.
If they don't win this year, they can only blame themselves.