After being eliminated in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs by the Philadelphia 76ers, there's been a lot of conjecture about whether or not the Boston Celtics season was a success or failure.

Let me make it easy for you: It's both.

I know we live in a world where things have to seem one way or the other, but much of life doesn't actually function that way.

Let's take a simple, yet important look at things.

1) The Celtics came into this season with almost no expectations. In the wake of losing Jayson Tatum in last season's playoffs, there was a strong thought that he wouldn't play all season. 

If you couple that with the losses of Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holliday and Al Horford, nobody would have been surprised if the Celtics ended up in the play-in round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Heck, the Indiana Pacers were in the NBA Finals in 2024-25 and ended up 19-63 in the wake of losing Tyrese Haliburton to injury and trading Myles Turner.

Instead, the Celtics fought the "gap year" moniker and turned in a 56-26 regular season, earning the No. 2 seed.

From that standpoint? This season couldn't have been anything other than a success. Some of the most fun years for fans - and organizations - is when teams defy the odds.

2) With regards to the future, the Celtics developed Payton Pritchard as a truly reliable guard option. He's always been able to shoot and he won the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2024-25, but Pritchard took it to another level this season, averaging a career-best 17.0 ppg. If you're looking for that third piece to pair with Jaylen Brown and a healthy Jayson Tatum, Pritchard might be it.

3) Speaking of Brown: He unlocked something this year also. He averaged a career-best 28.7 ppg and developed his leadership skills in a new way which can only help him - and the locker room - going forward.

4) There were contributions from younger and unheralded players like Baylor Scheireman and Luka Garza, with both showing that they can contribute in the future to a successful team. Garza is a free agent, however.

But this development of those players, and Neemias Queta, is certainly a testament to Joe Mazzulla and the player development team. Those things carry on and will be important in the future as well.

You can take all the moral victories you want, but at the end of the day, the Celtics earned the No. 2 seed, and with that, comes championship aspirations.

Not only did the Celtics have aspirations, they were in a position to achieve them. They had a 3-1 series lead against the 76ers and lost three games on their home floor in this series. That's a crushing turn of events and one that's hard to reconcile. 

While the Detroit Pistons ultimately staved off the No. 8 Orlando Magic in the first round, it looked like the Celtics had given up a clear path to the NBA Finals with their loss.

And secondly: Brown will be 30 next season. Tatum will turn 29. While they are still young, there's a lot of tread on those tires already. Any year in which you forfeit their greatness will hurt later, as age and injury potentially pile up.

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