The Celtics have given the Detroit Pistons a blueprint for success
Detroit Pistons: Find a star and the right complements
The Boston Celtics already had several of their current players when they traded back in the NBA Draft to land Jayson Tatum, which turned out to be one of the great draft day trades of all time.
Once it became clear that Jayson Tatum was the guy they were building around (along with Jaylen Brown) the Celtics just kept adding the right guys around him.
Of course, the Celtics had some bumps along the way with their two-year doomed romance with Kyrie Irving, but seemed to have learned from that mistake and just keep drafting hard working defenders to put around Tatum and Brown.
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The Celtics learned that they don’t really need a lead point guard and would be better off surrounding their two dynamic wings with players who can shoot and defend.
They drafted Robert Williams III and Grant Williams, brought in versatile big man Al Horford and went with more or less a position-less team that is long, athletic and very switchable on defense.
The Pistons hope to do the same thing around dynamic playmaker Cade Cunningham, who is more of a point guard than Tatum but still a big “wing-like” playmaker who is versatile on both ends.
Detroit has Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart, two long switchable defenders and could add another one in the 2022 NBA Draft. The Celtics are showing you don’t need a traditional point guard or center to win in the NBA and that finding the right complementary players is sometimes more important than adding superstars like Kyrie.