Given the injury of Boston Celtics stars Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving, many fans are calling this season a waste. Saying things like, what was the point of it if they were not going to plunge into the NBA Playoffs? Well, that is bogus. This season has plenty of positives to takeaway.

First and foremost, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum had the opportunity to play more minutes and have more of a role. Had Hayward stayed healthy, who knows what Tatum would be doing night in and night out. With no Hayward he and Brown were actually able to prosper and each average around 14 points per game. Again, it is unknown if they could’ve or would’ve done that with another scorer and shot-taker in the lineup. But what we do know is that they did it without Hayward out there.

Terry Rozier is a guy that has been and will be able to, improve and gain more confidence with Kyrie Irving out, as well as Marcus Smart injured. Obviously, it is not what is best for the team, but in the long-run, it may be beneficial. Rozier is able to formulate this swagger because he feels free to just play his game. That is not something that should go overlooked. With Marcus Smart’s future in question, Rozier is a huge piece for this team.

Those, right there, are three names that hopefully have long careers in green and gained valuable knowledge and experience this season, only because hard times came knockin’. Again, it was probably not the best case scenario, but it was certainly not a total waste.

Brad Stevens, as good of a coach as he is already, was able to improve as well. Don’t count that out. Just think about some of these lineups and rotations he has had to deal with…

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An underrated positive thing this team has most definitely gotten out of this year is how to get through the hard teams and how to do it together. With a team made up of 80 percent new faces from last year, it was not the worst thing in the world for them to have to bond and push through some turmoil. “When times get tough, the tough get going.” This Celtics team buckled down, handled whatever was thrown at them, and sure as hell ‘got going’.

The team only returned four players from last year, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, and Jaylen Brown. So why did fans assume this was the year? This season was always a building year.

It never was the year they were supposed to win it all. In fact, they’ve already probably accomplished more than any Boston fan believed they would after Hayward fell to the floor.

Let Kyrie and Hayward rest up, let them come back better than ever next year. It will be okay… try to breathe Celtics Nation This was an overall positive year for the team, that was absolutely filled with growth in many different areas.

This story was originally seen on GuyBostonSports.com.

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