The NBA season is almost a quarter way through, and the Celtics are atop the league. They have formed a three-headed monster centered around Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis, with Tatum leading the fold. When you talk about the Celtics, you can’t leave out Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, though. Holiday and White are two guys who will perform good on offense, and even better on defense. 

There are two things that could hold the Celtics back from contending: the bench, and close scoring in games. The bench is fine right now with Horford, Hauser and Pritchard as the main guys off the bench, but the rest is rather questionable. Luke Kornet is serviceable, but will not be a viable option to guard players like Giannis Antentokumpo, Bam Adebayo or Joel Embid, players the Celtics could see in the playoffs.The trade deadline is months away, but the Celtics should look towards building up their bench or bringing in some players from the Maine Red Claws, their G-League affiliated team. 

A consistent issue that can be seen with the Celtics is their ability to either blow teams out of the water, or to make the games too close for comfort, with the latter happening more often than not. Take last Friday’s game for instance, where the Celtics beat the 76ers 125-119: The 76ers were out two starters in Joel Embid and Tyreese Maxey, but they still made it too close for comfort, especially at home. It did not help that Tatum got ejected from the game in the third quarter, but that still should not matter as this has become a recurring theme for the Celtics. 

The Celtics pull ahead in games, give their starters some rest, and the bench underperforms–these issues could cost the Celtics a chance at Banner 18.

But, what should they do? To address these issues, the Celtics can do two things. The first is to wait for quality-proven players to be released by teams, and pick them up. This would solidify the bench with those who have proven themselves, and provide some veteran leadership to help bolster the team. 

The second and more common option is to trade. As GM so far, Brad Stevens has completely turned the team around. He knows how important the bench is and when it fails– do not be surprised if he starts making some calls. Stevens did this the last couple of years when he traded for Derrick White, who became a key piece in the Celtics’ finals run where they lost to the Warriors. He did this last season when he traded for Malcolm Brogdon, too,  who became the sixth Man Of The Year.

 Stevens knows how important the bench is, so it would not be surprising to see him make a couple of trades or signings in the next couple of months to bolster it up. 

The East is far more competitive this year than it was last year: there are a lot of teams that are vying for spots in the top eight. At the time of writing, the Celtics are 15-4 leading the NBA and the East, with The Magic, Bucks, 76ers, Knicks, Pacers, Heat and Cavs following suit. 

There are only four games separating the first spot and the eighth spot, which means that losing games could hurt more than in the past. Luckily, the Celtics have no sense of stopping now and are moving forward. Their next game is part of the In-Season Tournament against the Pacers which looks to be an exciting matchup.