Building Superteams to Defeat the Boston Celtics: AKA 'Beat Brad ...

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Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Brad Stevens has built a juggernaut.

The Boston Celtics are coming off a 64-win regular season and a 16-3 postseason led by an elite starting five of Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porziņģis.

The C's will enter the 2024-25 season as the favorites, with no team even close to being in their tier. Barring health trouble, a repeat feels likely.

So it's time for a team-building thought experiment.

Joey Akeley, Bryan Toporek, Dan Favale, Jay Dunbar and Grant Hughes were asked to build a starting lineup that could beat Boston's for this upcoming season and this upcoming season only. They had access to every player in the league, except Celtics. The only catch is they couldn't exceed the cost of Boston's starting lineup for the 2024-25 season, which is $163,393,862.

Were the five writers successful in creating superteams capable of beating the Celtics? Which super-squad is the strongest? Drop an app comment below.

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Here's how the draft unfolded:

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PG: Stephen Curry ($55,761,216)SG: Herbert Jones ($12,976,362)SF: Jaden McDaniels ($23,017,242)PF: Kevin Durant ($51,179,021)C: Victor Wembanyama ($12,768,960)Total: $155,702,801

With the first overall pick, I had to decide whether I'd rather have Nikola Jokić or Victor Wembanyama and an extra $38.6 million to spend on the rest of my roster.

I chose Wemby, who could be a top-10 player this season while making just $12.8 million.

That strategy allowed me to go after expensive superstars with my next two picks. Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant were once the two best players on a team that went 16-1 in the playoffs. That team of course also had Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, but it did not have a 7'4" center with shot-blocking prowess and three-point range.

To put it simply, this trio would be unfair.

I used the last two picks on the two best wing defenders available. Herbert Jones and Jaden McDaniels would contain Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as well as anyone, and both have developed into decent three-point shooters too.

My team's one flaw is ball-handling. Jones and McDaniels are not shot-creators, and though Durant is, he's not someone you want initiating offense 35 feet from the basket.

The onus would be on Curry to be on the ball more often than he is with the Warriors. The Celtics would be able to force some turnovers with their ball pressure, but my team's potential for elite three-point shooting and strong defense would win out.

—Joey Akeley

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PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($35,859,950)SG: Anthony Edwards ($42,176,400)SF: Jalen Williams ($4,775,760)PF: Lauri Markkanen ($18,044,544)C: Nikola Jokić ($51,415,938)Total: $152,272,592

Given Victor Wembanyama's comically below-market salary ($12.8 million), I do not blame Joey whatsoever for taking him with the No. 1 overall pick here. But when a three-time MVP falls into your lap, you can't bypass that opportunity, even if he might not be the best matchup against the Celtics from a stylistic perspective.

Nikola Jokić has already proved capable of anchoring a championship team, and he has averaged 29.5 points on 54.7 percent shooting, 13.4 rebounds and 9.2 assists per game over his past 32 playoff appearances. Kristaps Porziņģis doesn't have the heft to hang with Jokić down low, while Jokić should also be able to overpower Al Horford.

From there, I sought to address shooting guard, as I thought it was the weakest of the five positions in terms of high-end talent. After seeing the run Anthony Edwards just took the Minnesota Timberwolves on in this year's playoffs, he was an easy choice here. He's a two-way star who would take the matchups against Jrue Holiday and Derrick White personally, which would only fire him up more.

Since Jokić and Edwards combine to make more than $93 million, I had to start looking for some savings at the other positions. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who's fresh off a runner-up finish to Jokić in the MVP, was an absolute steal here at $35.9 million. He has only the 12th-highest cap hit among point guards this year and trails the likes of Fred VanVleet and Ben Simmons, among others.

With Jokić, Edwards and SGA on my books, I was up to nearly $129.5 million, which left me less than $34 million combined to spend on my two forward spots. Thankfully, no one else scooped up the screaming value that is Jalen Williams at $4.8 million. J-Dub already flirted with All-Star candidacy in his second NBA season and has thrived next to Gilgeous-Alexander even when he isn't surrounded by Edwards and Jokić as well.

I rounded out my starting five by doubling down on shooting with Lauri Markkanen. I'm mildly concerned that Boston would turn him into barbeque chicken defensively, but his high-volume long-range shooting would be a necessity alongside Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokić, both of whom mostly operate inside the three-point arc.

My team arguably has the lowest defensive floor of any team drafted here, but it also might have the highest offensive ceiling. First to 140 points per game wins?

—Bryan Toporek

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PG: Alex Caruso ($9,890,000)SG: Mikal Bridges ($23,300,000)SF: OG Anunoby ($36,637,932)PF: Paul George ($49,205,800)C: Bam Adebayo ($34,848,340)Total: $153,882,072

I'd be lying if I said my draft went according to plan. I entered with the approach of assembling dominant defensive flexibility around one tentpole shot creator and enough secondary on-ball chops and shooting to unseat Beantown's cheat code of a starting five.

This philosophy was supposed to unfold in three steps: use my first two picks on OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges or Chet Holmgren, scoop up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Jalen Brunson in the third round, then resume my search for functional malleability at both ends with the remaining spots.

The first part went off without a hitch—for the most part. I ended up with Anunoby and Bridges, giving me a pair of perfect defensive foils for Boston's crew. But because Bryan Toporek and Jay Dunbar are sociopaths, they sniped me on SGA, Brunson and Holmgren before I could bag either one. (Jay sniped me twice, making him the biggest, most heartless monster of all.)

Frazzled, disappointed and gradually dying on the inside, I pivoted to Paul George at pick No. 13. He makes a ton, but I had the flexibility, and he's closer to a 1A shot creator than a tertiary option.

When I was on the clock next, at pick No. 18, I was debating whether to go ultra-expensive with Devin Booker to juice up my shot creation and go bargain-bin hunting at center or steer further into defensive versatility. I opted for the latter with Bam Adebayo, a shot generator in his own right, but yet another No. 2/No.3 option rather than No. 1.

I still could have gone more expensive and offensively dynamic with my final pick, at No. 23. Someone like Paolo Banchero would have more than fit into my salary structure. But I didn't love his fit next to Bam, so I rolled with the sweet-shooting, guards-four-positions stylings of Alex Caruso.

Good luck scoring on this group, Boston.

Reconciling the other end of the floor is tougher. Against any other team, we'd be fine. But no one here is going to generate a mismatch or catch one of the Celtics' top-five players off-guard. PG and Bam (versus Kristaps Porziņģis) have the best chance of doing so. That's less than ideal. In retrospect, I should have played the SGA or Brunson card sooner, or just selected Booker instead of Bam and went with someone like Evan Mobley or Jabari Smith Jr. or Jalen Johnson or even Paolo at center.

Still, this team is obviously beating the Celtics. It's a defensive dynamo's defensive dynamo. And we should be just elite enough on offense with our Bam-plus-four-shooters arrangement to get the job done. Dan's team in five, maybe six. I rest my case.

—Dan Favale

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PG: Jalen Brunson ($24,960,001)SG: Jalen Suggs ($9,188,385)SF: Kawhi Leonard ($49,205,800)PF: Giannis Antetokounmpo ($48,787,676)C: Chet Holmgren ($10,880,640)Total: $143,022,502

Given that there isn't a superstar quite like Jayson Tatum, who does everything well and whose game fits with any kind of player, going like-for-like with Brad Stevens' five-headed monster wasn't an option.

That left me with a best-player-available strategy at No. 4, and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was too hard to pass up. This offense is running through him and his back-to-back 30-ppg seasons—and it doesn't hurt that he has a DPOY on his resume to help lock down the other end.

At pick No. 7, this group needed not only a value play but a star who puts the team first, would feed Giannis when necessary and act as the heart and soul of the squad. Check, check and check from New York Knicks All-NBA point guard Jalen Brunson.

His $25 million salary for '24-25 was already a contender as the NBA's most team-friendly bargain, and that was before the 27-year-old took a stunner of a team discount on his four-year, $156.5 million extension. He also gives this hypothetical team its second top-five MVP finisher from a season ago.

In the spirit of bargain hunting, Chet Holmgren was the pick at No. 14 thanks to his ability to stretch the floor (37 percent from three) at the 5 on a rookie-scale deal. The Thunder star can match up with Porziņģis, keep the offense fluid and give the team one of the NBA's top frontcourt defenders. As a bonus, Dan labeling me a sociopath for these last two picks feels like a career zenith.

Next to Giannis, another guy who can boast being most directly responsible for an NBA title?

Kawhi Leonard. I took the most flak from my draft mates for this pick, which came at No. 14, and I'll admit it's warranted given the 33-year-old is the unofficial face of load management and is a huge injury risk at $49 million. Maybe Jimmy Butler should have been the choice. Playoff Jimmy's performances against Boston in the postseason certainly argue in his favor.

But this team needed another guy who has a) finished the job on the big stage and b) can help match Boston's two-way firepower. The man is still a force on the defensive end who can blanket Joe Mazzulla's best scorers, is coming off an All-NBA second-team season and gives the squad a third guy who rated in the top 10 of both BPM and PER last year alongside Antetokounmpo and Brunson.

And if we're assuming health from Porziņģis, then I get to do the same for Kawhi. (Cue the Jimmy reaction memes.)

For my final pick, I had $29 million to play with and a hope to find more shooting. But this is the NBA, and, well, good shooters who can also defend were either already off the board or cost more than that per year. That put defense back on the radar, and second-team All-Defensive selection Jalen Suggs was the play to slot in next to Brunson and finish off the group.

Is my two-way balance beating the Celtics? Probably. But I would've liked more shooting to stake a claim as the best of my draft mates.

—Jay Dunbar

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PG: Luka Dončić ($43,031,940)SG: Scottie Barnes ($10,130,980)SF: LeBron James ($48,728,845)PF: Paolo Banchero ($12,160,800)C: Anthony Davis ($43,219,440)Total: $157,272,005

Technically, Luka Dončić was closer to beating the Celtics than anyone else last year. That meant I couldn't leave him on the board with the last pick in the first round, even if I wasn't in love with the idea of building a roster around one player who needs the ball all the time.

I then decided Anthony Davis was the defensive anchor best suited to pull off the tricky trifecta of sticking with Boston's do-it-all wings, defending the rim and getting out to the perimeter to bother Kristaps Porzingis' deep shooting. Added bonus: AD, unlike some other switch-capable centers, can dominate the glass and score in the post against mismatches.

With point guard and center settled for the reasonable sum of $86 million, things were going pretty well. That was true until I vaporized my cash and disregarded fit by taking LeBron James. There was no going back. My team was going to be weird.

Two more oversized primary scorers later, and I had my ridiculously huge, shooting-challenged, defensively iffy quintet.

At the very least, my team won't be at a size disadvantage against Boston. Maybe we can beat the Celtics up on the boards, switch everything on D and run the offense through whomever has the best post-up mismatch. Between Dončić and LeBron, we've got two surgeons who can dissect the defense with their passing, but it may not matter if Barnes and Banchero don't make shots.

The former took a "leap" to 34.1 percent from deep last year, and the latter set a career high by hitting 33.9 percent of his treys. Let's just say we're banking on continued growth.

Let it be known Bryan ruined this draft for me by taking Lauri Markkanen right before my final selection of Banchero. I had just enough money left to afford The Finnisher's $18 million salary, and his shooting would have solved a lot of problems for me.

Bryan is a competitor, I respect him and he made the right choice. But this is exactly how mortal enemies are created.

—Grant Hughes

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Here's a look at all five teams side-by-side. How many of them would beat the 2024-25 Celtics in a seven-game series?

Team WembyPG: Stephen Curry ($55,761,216)SG: Herbert Jones ($12,976,362)SF: Jaden McDaniels ($23,017,242)PF: Kevin Durant ($51,179,021)C: Victor Wembanyama ($12,768,960)Total: $155,702,801Drafted by: Joey Akeley

Team SGAPG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($35,859,950)SG: Anthony Edwards ($42,176,400)SF: Jalen Williams ($4,775,760)PF: Lauri Markkanen ($18,044,544)C: Nikola Jokić ($51,415,938)Total: $152,272,592Drafted by: Bryan Toporek

Team OGPG: Alex Caruso ($9,890,000)SG: Mikal Bridges ($23,300,000)SF: OG Anunoby ($36,637,932)PF: Paul George ($49,205,800)C: Bam Adebayo ($34,848,340)Total: $153,882,072Drafted by: Dan Favale

Team GiannisPG: Jalen Brunson ($24,960,001)SG: Jalen Suggs ($9,188,385)SF: Kawhi Leonard ($49,205,800)PF: Giannis Antetokounmpo ($48,787,676)C: Chet Holmgren ($10,880,640)Total: $143,022,502Drafted by: Jay Dunbar

Team LukaPG: Luka Dončić ($43,031,940)SG: Scottie Barnes ($10,130,980)SF: LeBron James ($48,728,845)PF: Paolo Banchero ($12,160,800)C: Anthony Davis ($43,219,440)Total: $157,272,005Drafted by: Grant Hughes