The Otter Rabbit is recovering from injuries! The Celtics demolition team cuts spending. What is Brown + White + Simmons in the East?

The new season is 16 days. Looking back on last season, how do you evaluate the defending champion Celtics who stopped in the second round?

The Celtics continued their outstanding performance since the championship season (first offensive efficiency, third and 64 wins). They played casually in the regular season and achieved 60+ wins for two consecutive years, with offensive efficiency and 5th defensive efficiency - both offensive and defensive efficiency ranked among the top five in the league for two consecutive years, and are undoubtedly the first championship team in the league.

The Celtics followed the playing style and rotation strategy since the championship season, averaging 48.2 three-pointers per game and 17.8 three-pointers per game. They ranked first in the league in both data, with pick-and-roll or singles breaking three-pointers, taking the ultimate magic ball route.

Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, White, Prichard and Holiday averaged in double digits, with eight players averaging more than 8.0 points and having many attacking points. They easily scored 61 wins in the regular season in a paddling posture.

The Celtics beat the Magic 4-1 in the first round of this year's playoffs, limiting their opponent's scores of ≤100 points in five consecutive games, and advanced to the second round without any suspense.

The Celtics led the Knicks by 20 points in the first two home games of the second round, but were both turned over by their opponents, which also became the turning point in the series. Tatum scored 42 points in the semi-finals and still lost, and suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon. The Celtics were eliminated in six games and stopped in the second round.

Considering the future total salary and luxury tax of the Celtics core lineup, the 2024-25 season was originally their best chance to achieve two consecutive championships. The salary explosion in the future, "I will never have this store after passing this village." I'm sorry I couldn't grasp it.

Tatum suffered a major injury in the playoffs, which determined the Celtics' offseason operation.

In the 2025-26 season, Tatum's 5-year super maximum salary of US$315 million began to take effect, and his salary increased from 34.84 million in the 2024-25 season to 54.12 million.

Except for Tatum, all other core members of the Celtics have big contracts: Brown has 304 million in 5 years (4 years left), White has 125.9 million in 4 years (execution starts next season), Holiday has 135 million in 4 years (2+1 player options left), Porzingis has 60 million in 2 years (30.73 million in 1 year) - If the original team continues to maintain the original team, the Celtics' total salary + luxury tax expenditure in 2025-26 season will exceed $500 million!

With Tatum's Achilles tendon rupture, there is no hope of competing for the championship, so there is naturally no need to maintain this high-paying lineup.

In August this year, the Celtics officially completed a major equity change, and the former team owner Grosbeck sold the team to Bill Chisholm for $6.1 billion. The new boss takes financial control as his primary goal and refuses to bear huge luxury taxes, which fundamentally determines the Celtics' team building ideas for the new season.

Stevens completed god-level transactions continuously, and the Celtics successfully achieved salary and weight loss.

Holiday fell significantly, averaging only 9.3 points per game in the second round of the playoffs this year, with a three-point shooting percentage falling to 31.6%, with three years left in a four-year, 135 million contract, and he is 35 years old, becoming the primary goal of the Celtics' cleanup.

Celtics sent Holiday to the Trail Blazers for Anthony Simmons' expiration contract (27.67 million) + two second round picks. Stevens not only got rid of Holiday's long contract, but also got the young combat power. He didn't use the draft pick and even won two second rounds, which was almost impossible to achieve in 2K games, and the shock level is no longer described in words.

Celtics also sent Porzingis' expiration contract of 30.73 million next season to the Hawks, in exchange for Nion's expiration contract of 8.2 million + second round pick. After that, the Celtics sent Nian+ to the Jazz again in exchange for two-way contract player RJ Luis, which was equivalent to completely clearing the salary space occupied by Porzingis.

The Celtics reduced the total spending of US$540 million next season to US$239 million through a series of transactions, saving more than 300 million in 51 days! And the total salary was kept below the second tyrant line of $7.8 million, getting rid of the dilemma of future salary explosion, streamlining expenses, and achieving salary loss. Although the Celtics split the championship lineup, the current lineup still has hope of hitting the playoffs in the new season.

The Celtics did not choose to save money at the limit. Based on the nine contracts of Tatum, Brown, White, Simmons, Tillman, Prichard, Kota, Hauser and Walsh, they also signed Minot with 5 million in two years, 5.5 million in two years, and 3.3 million in one year, to ensure rotation and combat effectiveness. By the way, they also scrapped Minot and Garza, and played to see the effect.

In the new season, the Celtics have basically determined the "double swing system" of Brown and Simmons, with two scoring points that can digest the ball. They are matched with a number of rotation puzzles such as White, Tillman, Prichard, Hauser, and Cota. Considering the relatively relaxed competitive environment in the East, Brown + Simmons + White guarantees the lower limit of the Celtics' record.

The Celtics' new season is not difficult to make the playoffs. Generally speaking, as a strategic transition season, entering the playoffs is a big profit, waiting for Tatum to recover from injury before making plans - after all, Simmons is an expiring contract, and the Celtics have completely escaped the passive situation of salary explosion through this offseason operation.

In the new season, Brown + Simmons + White's bottom-up ability will be built around Tatum + Brown + White in the future. Tatum is 27 years old, Brown is 28 years old, and White is 31 years old. The Celtics' championship window has not been completely closed yet!