Okay, no one's expecting much from the Boston Celtics this year. They might be mediocre, they might outright stink. With Jayson Tatum out for much (most? all?) of the season with a torn Achilles tendon, and with the loss of Holiday, Porziņģis, Horford, and Kornet, it certainly won't be the same team as the past several seasons. The Celtics front office kept the nucleus of the team that won the 2024 championship team together for as long as they could, but that strategy didn't produce a winner in '25, and now the team is without much in the way of new talent.
The burden of carrying the team will fall squarely on the shoulders of Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. Payton Pritchard was spectacular off the bench last season and should be another leader as a starter this season.
Chris Boucher, who joined the team this year from the Raptors, plays hard and may become a fans' favorite in the Marcus Smart/Rajon Rondo mold. Anfernee Simons, who came to Boston from the Trailblazers in the trade for Jrue Holiday, could be an asset on defense.
As is our way here, we threw the I Ching for consultation on this year's team. Our hexagram, the 31st, is Hsien (Attraction). The lake above, the mountain below. The joyous lake cradled by the tranquil mountain. The oracle interprets the hexagram to indicate that the superior person takes great satisfaction in encouraging others along their journey. He draws them to him with his welcoming nature and genuine interest. It's an auspicious prophesy of supreme success.
I'm not buying that last part. The 2025-26 Celtics may have their successes this season, but I highly doubt people will look back at this coming season - which starts tonight with a game against Philly - as "supreme success." Let's look a little deeper.
There is no greater natural law in the cosmos than attraction. From the electronic pull of an atom's nucleus to the gravitational forces that holds galaxies together, the whole universe is governed by attraction. On a human scale, attraction is what fuels procreation and perpetuates our species. Yet attraction can also spawn greed and covetousness, threatening us with extinction.
Attraction will be the underlying force of this year's team. They will succeed or fail on the basis of attraction. What gravitational forces will guide them this season? Around what sphere of influence will they orbit? The key to success, the I Ching is suggesting, is for the veterans, Mr. Brown and Mr. White, to lead the team not by hogging the ball or stealing all the oxygen on the court, but by encouraging their teammates throughout the season, drawing them in with a welcoming nature and genuine interest. Leadership by attraction, not intimidation.
The moving line in the hexagram, the first, provides a cryptic warning: "He skillfully hides his excitement, but is betrayed by the twitching of his big toe."
No comments:
Post a Comment