Celtics’ rare revenge, Paul George’s Philly fit and more Eastern Conference storylines to watch

The Boston Celtics were the last Eastern Conference team standing a season ago, almost literally.

The eventual NBA champions, who dealt with significant injuries of their own, watched as their challengers lost player after player to injury. The Milwaukee Bucks didn’t emerge from the first round, nor did the Philadelphia 76ers. The New York Knicks stacked medical bills, as did Boston’s second-round opponent, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Come the conference finals, the Indiana Pacers were missing their top talent by the end.

A dominant regular season meant the Celtics were the heavy favorites to win the conference, no matter health elsewhere. They enter 2024-25 with the same label, even with Kristaps Porziņģis sidelined to begin the year. But a new season means new storylines — and the East is not lacking them.

Will the Bucks return to contender form? Will Paul George be the missing piece in Philadelphia? What will the Knicks do at center?

With the start of training camp less than a week away, Sam Amick and Fred Katz got together to break down five Eastern Conference storylines they are looking forward to covering this season:

Was last season a blip for the Bucks or the new norm?

Katz: Whatever could go wrong for the Bucks a season ago did go wrong.

Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo never developed the chemistry many believed they would. Milwaukee fired its coach, hired a new one, then fired the new one halfway into the season. They began autumn deploying an overly aggressive defensive strategy, a change under the new coaching regime, then flipped back to their previous schemes only four games into the schedule, rendering much of their work during training camp irrelevant. Antetokounmpo and Lillard got hurt during the first round of the playoffs, when the Bucks fell to the Pacers.

The defense never looked clean, whether because other teams bull-rushed the Bucks in transition, especially early in the season, or because they lacked staunch perimeter defenders after trading away Jrue Holiday.

And yet, with Murphy’s Law dominating the vibes, they still won 49 games.

The Bucks don’t need everything to go right for them to return to form this season. A return to contention may be only a few tweaks away.

They entered the offseason without many resources, thanks to the punitive rules that limit the types of transactions expensive teams can make, yet they added talent in needed areas.

Gary Trent Jr., a fiery shooter and binge scorer, is worth more than the minimum deal that Milwaukee will pay him. Delon Wright has sneakily maintained as one of the league’s peskiest defensive point guards for years. Taurean Prince can hit a 3 and is a veteran presence on the wing.

The Bucks turned Malik Beasley, who’s now in Detroit, into their go-to on-ball perimeter defender last season. There’s an argument to be made that all three of those aforementioned signings fit better in that role than Beasley. The roster isn’t perfect, but it makes more sense than it did when dribblers strutted to the paint unperturbed.

Maybe Lillard and Antetokounmpo find their chemistry in Year 2, running more pick-and-rolls from the start. Maybe a productive training camp with head coach Doc Rivers yields more cohesion in autumn. This team is overflowing with talent — and employs the arguable best player in the conference.

Of course, not all is going right for the Bucks. If the goal is to win a title, they need Antetokounmpo’s longtime partner Khris Middleton, who underwent double ankle surgery this summer.

The Bucks could dominate. Or, with the top of the East getting stronger and without any tangible evidence that they are bound to fix any of last season’s issues, they could continue to crumble.

Is Paul George the … Answer in Philly?

Amick: George doesn’t have to be the second coming of Allen Iverson for the Sixers to be title contenders, but he does need to be elite. And while George’s free-agency addition in early July was the NBA coup of the summer, with the nine-time All-Star signing a four-year, $212 million deal to join Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey and form one of the league’s best (on-paper) star player trios, it’s still fair to wonder whether this will work as seamlessly and quickly as the Sixers hope.

Let’s start with George’s age. At 34, he’s in that late-career chapter where you know the end is nearing but you’re not quite sure how the book is going to finish. LeBron James’ ability to remain dominant as his 40th birthday nears is amazing, but the fact remains the vast majority of mid-to-late 30s players — even the best ones — will face a serious decline long before they reach that point.

George’s production and durability last season is definitely encouraging for the Sixers, though, as he was one of just 22 players to average at least 22 points, five rebounds and three assists while playing in 74 games. His shooting was incredible — no matter the age — as he was one of just six players to shoot 40 percent or higher from 3-point range while taking at least seven attempts per game (joining Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, CJ McCollum, D’Angelo Russell and Donte DiVincenzo). The playmaking aspect should work well, too, as the Sixers now boast a triple threat on that front (George had a team-leading 26.4 usage rate on the LA Clippers last season, while Embiid led the Sixers at 38.7 and Maxey was second at 27.3). Considering Embiid’s sordid health history, having another player who can serve as an offensive hub on all those nights when he’ll (likely) be out is huge.

But as we’ve learned so many times before, the star player pairings don’t always live up to the preseason hype. The Bucks (see Fred’s note above) and Phoenix Suns (Bradley Beal addition) became the latest proof of this truth last season, just as the Dallas Mavericks (Kyrie Irving) and Minnesota Timberwolves (Rudy Gobert) had the season prior. This might take some time, even if lead executive Daryl Morey, second-year coach Nick Nurse and the rest of the Sixers wish that wasn’t the case.

In terms of internal pressure, it certainly helps that the 30-year-old Embiid signed a massive extension that pushed his possible free agency from 2026 to 2028. Ditto for Maxey, the 23-year-old All-Star guard who signed a five-year, $204 million extension in July. But there is a fair amount of urgency for this to work sooner rather than later, if only because their prospects will inevitably diminish over (Father) time.

Can Jonathan Isaac become the East’s best defender?

Katz: Isaac’s issue has never been ability.

He can guard centers. He can hang around the weak side, waiting for dribblers to infiltrate the paint, then skip over with one step to smack away a layup. He’s quick enough to shut down smaller skill players before they begin to attack. He suffocates wings.

Isaac is a 6-foot-10 tower with arms that reach to both sidelines who has become a steal and block hound. He suffocates anyone who comes near him. During last spring’s playoffs, he guarded a maniacal small scoring guard, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell. In that same series, he stuck to quick-footed All-Star Darius Garland. You could return a few possessions later, and he would be on the 7-foot rim-diver Jarrett Allen.

The credit that someone “can guard one through five” is overused in the NBA, often misrepresented to describe a player who can switch onto all five positions but won’t actually begin possessions on them. Isaac is one of the handful who can defend anyone at an elite level.

Jonathan Isaac defends Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen during last year’s playoffs. (David Richard / USA Today)

There is no more versatile defender in the East. At the beginning of last season, when Isaac was working his way back from injuries, the Magic matched him up more with big men. By midseason, they were freer to throw him on smalls. Orlando’s already top-notch defense was eight points per 100 possessions better when he was on the court a season ago.

Yet, the court is a land Isaac has rarely visited.

He played more last season, getting into 58 games, yet averaged just under 16 minutes with the Magic easing him back in after a series of injuries. Coming into 2023, he had played just 45 games over the previous four seasons.

But there’s a chance Isaac is on the verge of something special. The Magic revved up his minutes by the spring and started him to begin their first-round playoff series against the Cavaliers. He’s coming off his first healthy summer in years.

Orlando will always be cautious with him. He didn’t play in back-to-backs last season, and that trend could continue. The team will monitor his body from Day 1. But if Isaac can somehow climb to 20 or 25 minutes a game, the Magic’s defense, which can leave you breathless, could become even more stifling.

They can piece together massive units with a mix of Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr., Goga Bitadze and Isaac. All are 6-foot-10 or taller. And if Isaac can bounce around defensive positions, holding up the defense in the same way he did last season, no one will enjoy playing them.

Amick: It sounds absurd, right? Reigning champions are disqualified from having revenge tours because they won the whole thing. That’s the very definition of having the last laugh.

But that just wasn’t the case with the Celtics, who had one of the most dominant seasons of all time (regular and post) en route to winning the franchise’s record 18th title yet still have all sorts of reasons to be hungry for more. Contrary to what we might have believed back in June, when Boston downed Dallas in five games during the NBA Finals and finished the postseason with a remarkable mark of 16-3 under second-year coach Joe Mazzulla, this was not the sort of validation Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had in mind after all these years of falling short of their shared goal. It was, in truth, a summer full of slights for the Celtics stars.

For Tatum, the franchise centerpiece who has finished sixth in MVP voting for three consecutive seasons, it all started with the uncomfortableness that came with him not winning NBA Finals MVP. I was one of the voters who gave it to Brown, and who still firmly believes he deserved the honor, but the denigrating discourse that followed Tatum in the wake of that decision was, well, dumb.

Then came the Team USA saga in the Olympics.

When Tatum didn’t play in the Americans’ first pool play game, with coach Steve Kerr explaining at the time that the choice was part of his attempt to combat Serbia’s size, the social media conversation about where the Celtics star truly belonged in the discussion about elite players started yet again. The optics were tough, with fellow Celtics Jrue Holiday and Derrick White being relied on far more heavily than their superstar teammate who played just 71 minutes during four Olympic games (and sat in two). Tatum took the high road until the end, insisting that winning a gold medal was all that mattered. But as he admitted to our Jared Weiss in late August, it was “a lot.”

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For Brown’s part, he went from receiving the top individual honor on the game’s biggest stage to wondering why he couldn’t even get an invite from the national team. Whether or not you believe his theories about the Nike influence, it’s the kind of thing that will surely motivate him heading into this season.

All of this means the Celtics’ dynamic duo might be even better this time around. Not only will they have the confidence that comes with being champs, but also they’ll still have that sense that there is plenty left to prove. Mazzulla, who has proven quite adept at the motivational and mental side of leadership, will surely use all of this bulletin board material to his advantage. As well he should.

What will the Knicks do at center?

Katz: The Knicks had questions about their centers before Monday, but the latest news did not help. Mitchell Robinson will miss the beginning of the season, league sources confirmed to The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III. The team is targeting a return in December or January.

After losing Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency, New York is without both of its top-two centers from last season, 7-footers who contributed to its notoriously physical style. Tom Thibodeau, a head coach whose ethos is rim protection, is now without a conventional rim protector for at least the first couple months of 2024-25.

What does he do?

Does Precious Achiuwa slide into the starting lineup, acting as an undersized center alongside a duo of defensive dynamos in OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges? Is Jericho Sims now in the rotation? Does he start, as he did when Robinson first got hurt last season? How often does Thibodeau turn to lineups with Julius Randle at center, a strategy he’s veered away from for years? Thibodeau has hinted he would be more willing to slide Randle down a position this season. He could use Anunoby to defend centers in those constructions. But there is a difference between matching Randle against softer big men for 10 minutes a night and deploying him as a full-time center.

Will Randle, who underwent shoulder surgery at the end of last season, even be healthy enough come October?

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Whom could Knicks target to fill in for Mitchell Robinson?

Whatever Thibodeau chooses, the group he has today will be the one he has for the beginning of the season. Because of the Knicks’ salary-cap situation, it’s difficult to find an intuitive trade for a center before Dec. 15.

New York’s offense is higher voltage than many realize. Especially in lineups with Randle at the five, the Knicks can place shooters, cutters and quick decision-makers around their All-Star point guard, Jalen Brunson. They will score. But a group structured around defense and rebounding is now missing the size to match its identity. Can it find another way to succeed?

(Top photo of Paul George and Jayson Tatum: Getty Images)