What's Next for the Celtics?

 (NBA on TNT/ @andthefoul on Twitter)

First of all, what a horrible way to bring in the new NBA season. 

There was so much hype and excitement surrounding the Boston Celtics coming into this season with their new acquisitions and Gordon Hayward's reunion with college coach Brad Stevens. For that to last just 5 minutes and 15 seconds before being ripped away is a bittersweet (mostly bitter) way to welcome another year of NBA.

I thought stretching out the season and starting it earlier was supposed to help prevent injuries? (I know Hayward's injury was a freak accident, but still) Here's hoping Hayward makes a speedy recovery.

That being said, NBA life must go on, so, where do the Celtics go from here?

They'll play like last season's Celtics

Not much was made of it considering what Boston picked up in the offseason, but the Celtics lost A LOT from last year, with only four players (Horford, Smart, Brown, and Rozier) remaining from their 53-win Eastern Conference Finalist squad. That being said, I think the Celtics can find success with a familiar style.

Boston obviously expected with Hayward in the fold they could play a more balanced style this season rather than the Isaiah Thomas-focused offense that they employed last season, but they may have to go back to the well with Hayward out. 

Kyrie Irving can definitely handle (and will probably relish) a role similar to Thomas's last year, where he can finally be the number one guy. Irving brings a lot of the same stuff to the table as Thomas (albeit in a longer, more athletic package), and he'll excel in the off-the-dribble shooting game and in pick-and-rolls with Horford.

Horford was obviously an important player last year, and he'll have to pick up his game to keep the Celts at the top of the East.

 Their young wings will have to step up

A big reason the Celtics were able to find so much success over the last few years is the defensive ability and versatility that Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder provided. 

When Danny Ainge made the trades that shipped those players out of Boston, he was counting on Hayward, who is a great defensive player in his own right, to be in the mix and help make up for those losses.

After Hayward's injury, The Celtics will have to turn to their back-to-back 3rd overall picks to fill the void.

Jaylen Brown flashed a little toward the end of his rookie year, and  now he'll be counted on in a much larger fashion for the Celtics not only on defense, but also to provide more of a scoring punch. He did a great job after Hayward went down against Cleveland on opening night, scoring 25 and picking up 6 rebounds.

Brown is nowhere near the perimeter shooter that Hayward is, and Boston may run into some spacing issues if Brown can't knock down enough open shots to force defenses to respect him.

Jayson Tatum had a bit of a rocky start in his debut (that might have had a little something to do with being guarded by LeBron James), but recovered nicely and caught fire a little in the third quarter, finishing with 14 and 10.

The duo is still super young (Tatum is 19; Brown 20), but the Celtics now have no other choice but to put their faith in the budding stars.

They're still going to be really good

It's got to be an extremely tough thing, seeing your new All-Star teammate going down literally minutes into the season, but the Celtics' response shows they're nothing if not full of heart and fight. Overcoming an 18-point deficit against LeBron's Cavs and having a chance to tie at the buzzer is no small task, and the Celts managed to do it after all the events of opening night.

And let's face it, they're still in the East.

Without Hayward, they may not be the East's 1b. to the Cavs' 1a. (or at least a clear number 2), but the East is just not that great. 

They'll be somewhere in the morass of Raptors-Wizards-Bucks group competing for that second spot.

Cavs-Celtics was super fun (absent the injury) even without Hayward on the floor. 

If Hayward truly is out for the season, it sucks that we were robbed of what might have been a great rivalry before it even began.

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