For the first time in almost a year, the Boston Celtics feel whole. They have their two best players, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, together again and look like one of the scariest teams in the NBA.
Their supporting cast is considerably different this year, however. Gone are Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford, replaced by Neemias Queta, Hugo Gonzalez, Luka Garza and Baylor Scheierman.
They've all been terrific, giving the Celtics one of their deepest rosters in years. In fact, Bill Simmons believes it's Boston's deepest team since the 2008 NBA champions, surpassing even the 2024 NBA champs.
"I think this might be the deepest Celtics team since the '08 team," Simmons said on Monday's episode of "The Bill Simmons Podcast." "They probably go 11 deep for real now with Tatum."
New BS Podcast w/ @ZachLowe_NBA
—Tatum’s stunning return
—The East is getting WONKY
—Wemby’s big weekend
—We love Dylan Harper
—Holy Bucks mess
—NBA Stock purchases
—Deep Dive: the 2011 MVP Vote
—A random book review
Watch/listen on Spotify/Netflixhttps://t.co/FSyPTqbPZZ
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 9, 2026
Simmons added that he's excited to see how the rest of the regular season plays out with Tatum back, as Joe Mazzulla can experiment with different lineups and give his players some rest before the playoffs.
After seeing Boston dismantle the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, Simmons believes they're good enough to make the NBA Finals.
"They might make the Finals. I wasn't even considering it until the second half of the Cleveland game," Simmons said.
Zach Lowe agreed.
"Queta's a real guy now," Lowe added. "You put a real guy who does all the center dirty work stuff around those four dudes on offense, that's a scary lineup...They've looked awesome."
Even the sportsbooks agree. The Celtics entered the weekend with +900 title odds at DraftKings, the fourth shortest in the NBA. As of Monday morning, they now have the second-best odds at +550.
Time will tell if Tatum and everyone else can stay healthy, but Boston has the pieces in place for a deep postseason run and potentially a championship.
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