Did the Boston Celtics get better this offseason? One Athletic analyst thinks so

The Boston Celtics have had perhaps the most active offseason in the league after a disappointing 2020-21 NBA season, and have by and large received mostly good assessments of their efforts to improve the team.

So is the case with the grade given them by The Athletic’s Zach Harper, who rates the Celtics’ busy offseason a solid “B” overall. But Harper gives us a fine-grained analysis in his assessment worth a closer look, so to that end, we’ve extracted some of the more pertinent observations given by the Athletic analyst stretched over the positional framework he provided us for it.

Let’s take a look at Harper’s impressions, beginning with the guard rotation.

Guards

(AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

Changes: Swapped Kemba Walker for Marcus Smart, and Smart for Dennis Schroder; moved on from Carsen Edwards, Tremont Waters Did Boston improve here? "Their lead guard talent went down, but the consistency of this lead guard group will hopefully improve without having to worry about Walker’s knee."

Wings

Ashley Landis-USA TODAY Sports

Changes: Swapped Evan Fournier for Josh Richardson; added and then moved on from Kris Dunn Did Boston improve here? "I think they did, slightly ... I’ve never been a big Evan Fournier fan ... [h]e isn’t nearly as bad and inconsistent as he played in Boston, but I do like the fit of Richardson with the team a little more."

Forwards

(AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King)

Changes: Added Juancho Hernangomez and Sam Hauser, moved on from Semi Ojeleye Did Boston improve here? "With a late offseason trade, they slightly upgraded their forward group."

Bigs

(AP Photo/David Banks)

Changes: Moved on from Tristan Thompson, Tacko Fall; brought back Al Horford, Enes Kanter; added Bruno Fernando Did Boston improve here? "The Celtics definitely improved here, even if you’re not a big believer in Horford at this point. It’s unlikely he’ll perform worse than the inconsistency Boston received from Tristan Thompson last season."

Front office/coaching

Boston Celtics/Twitter

Changes: Replaced Danny Ainge with Brad Stevens, Stevens with Ime Udoka Did Boston improve here? "The Celtics had a lead executive change and a coaching change on top of that ... it’s still a big change with some risk involved."

Overall

Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

"The firepower might have lessened a bit from the team’s ceiling, but I also think the floor was raised quite a bit. "More consistency means the Celtics have a chance to get back to proving they belong in the discussion for the top four in the East ... The Celtics want to prove their success in the NBA bubble wasn’t fluky." This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook! [lawrence-related id=57891,57865,57861,57857] [listicle id=57883]

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