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ESPN basketball analyst Brian Windhorst opened some eyes with some 2024 Paris Olympics talk. When speaking about whether or not the Boston Celtics should be called “world champions” after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the 2024 NBA Finals, he had a pretty strong take.
Windhorst said he had no problem with Boston being labeled the champions of the world, but he went a step further. He said he believed if the 2023-24 Celtics team was in the 2024 Summer Olympics, he believes they would have a “very good chance to win it.” It’s a bold statement that needs some clarification.
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Would the Boston Celtics Be Replacing the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team?
Windhorst’s comment was his way to prove just how good the Celtics were this season in winning their NBA-best 18th championship. The team went 16-3 in the postseason after cruising to a 64-18 record in the regular season.
Boston surrounded their two stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown with a pair of talented veterans in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, whom they brought in via separate offseason trades. Those moves helped give the Celtics arguably the best starting five in the league, and it showed as they clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a month left in the regular season.
“If the Boston Celtics were in (the Olympics), I think they’d have a very good chance to win it,” Windhorst said, per NBA on ESPN. “Obviously, they would be pulling some players off Team USA… but coming together, I think they’d have a great chance to win. So I’m not going to back down from the Celtics calling themselves world champs.”
Windhorst’s comment is interesting. The Celtics could certainly make plenty of noise against most of the Olympic basketball opponents, but does Windhorst mean the Celtics would take the place of the U.S. men’s team? Three Celtics players — Tatum, Brown, and Derrick White — are on the Olympic team. If the Celtics had to face the current U.S. team (minus Tatum, Holiday, and White, of course), they’re not beating them.
As good as the Celtics are, playing a team that includes LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Joel Embiid, among others, would be a tough task.
The Celtics are good, but they’re not U.S. Men’s Olympic Team good.
The Celtics Are Set Up Nicely for Another Title Run
After coming close to winning a title for many years, Tatum and Brown finally got their ring. The two stars have been playing together in Boston since the 2017-18 season. The Celtics selected Brown with the third pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. They snagged Tatum with the third pick the following season. The two had been to the conference finals five times before capturing their first championship. It was Boston’s first title since 2008.
They way things are set up, it may just be the beginning of a Boston championship run.
All eight of Boston’s rotation players are locked up for next season. Seven are under contract for at least the next two seasons. According to ESPN, the Celtics are headed toward having the NBA’s first $500 million roster.
Finances certainly will be an issue for the Celtics down the road. Team governor Wyc Grousbeck and his family have put their stake in the team up for sale. Changes will be made, but that talk is for another day.
As long as the team wins, nobody is going to care about team finances. Having their top eight players back from a championship bodes well for the Celtics. The Celtics are good. For the foreseeable future, they will continue to be good. That still doesn’t mean they’re good enough to keep up with the loaded 2024 U.S. men’s Olympic squad.
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