With last season firmly in the rearview and training camp on the horizon, the Boston Celtics are a young team trying out a new identity: NBA darlings.
And head coach Ime Udoka wants them to expect to play with a big ol' target painted on their backs.
"We're being hunted now. That's the message. Last year, we were the younger, hungry team that had to try to achieve some things, and we've gotten to that level. But [we] know that we have to take another step, and teams are going to be coming after us," he said during an appearance on WEEI's Merloni, Fauria, and Mego Tuesday.
Multiple sportsbooks have the Celtics as the betting favorites to win the 2023 NBA title, barely edging out the team they lost to int the 2022 Finals, Golden State.
But outside expectations can be a dangerous game, and nobody knows that better than Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens. As head coach of the 2018 Celtics, Stevens took the same core of players Udoka is coaching on a Cinderella run to the Eastern Conference Finals while both Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward were out for the postseason. But once both stars returned the following season and the Celtics' profile rose, the team's chemistry spoiled.
"This October, November, and December are going to be a lot harder than last year. And that's just the way it goes," Stevens said during an appearance on WEEI's Merloni, Fauria, and Mego Tuesday.
It's easy to picture this mantra being echoed around Los Angeles, where Udoka is spending time with his core players in California gyms, shaking off the disappointment of coming up two games shy of an NBA title: it's going to be harder. It's going to be harder.
Because now every other team in the league knows not only how good Jayson Tatum can be, but how good (and bad) the players around him can play. They know Rob Williams is a one-of-one big, Grant Williams can drain 3's from the corner office, Jaylen will challenge triple-teams, and any other number of intricacies in Boston's nightly game.
And they'll want to knock out the favorites.
The Celtics will be on other teams' radar, and it will be a position they'll need to embrace by October to redeem last year's silver medal season.
"That's the plan, to get back and finish the deal this time," Udoka said.
