At the start of last season, the Boston Celtics were in prime position to take over the Eastern Conference thanks to the signings of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.

When both Hayward went down during the opener, and when Irving went down during the season itself, many people didn't give the Celtics a chance of going far in the playoffs.

However, Boston young core of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown was able to respond well, taking the team to the Eastern Conference Finals and only losing out to the Cleveland Cavaliers after a seven-game thrilling series.

Optimism

This great performance of overcoming adversity has given the Celtics a lot of optimism ahead of next season, especially with Hayward and Irving returning to the court.

Hayward explained on his website that the Celtics' target for next season is to win a title, and he thinks the options on the team mean they're in a prime position to do just that.

"We go into next season with a lot of options, high expectations, and a lot of reason for optimism.

"I’ve talked with Kyrie, and I know he is progressing really well, and plans to start training hard pretty soon. We’ve both been itching to re-join these guys after watching what they did in the postseason.

"Even before last season, just being around guys like Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown through training camp, I thought those guys were really good, and it was just going to be a matter of gaining experience for them.

"Now they have gained really, really valuable experience, and I think it just makes us even better next year.

"It will almost be like a pick-your-poison type deal, especially if somebody is not having their best game. You’ve got three, four, even five other guys that can pick it up for you, and that is a good problem to have.

"You can never have too many options, and we’ve got a coach in Brad Stevens who knows how to put everyone in a position to be successful better than anyone. I know he will be able to figure it out.

"I also know that there isn’t going to be any ego. The guys that we have on the team, we want to win a title. And if everyone has that mindset, then nothing else matters."

The Celtics will be one of the favourites to win the Eastern Conference next season, especially if LeBron James was to leave the Cavaliers this summer to play his basketball in the Western Conference.

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