The last argument of rings – the Celtics and greatness

Whenever France marched to war under Louis XIV, they did so carrying a quote. On the French army’s cannons, Big Lou (as I like to call him) had the words “Ultima Ratio Regum” inscribed. In English, it translates to “The Last Argument of Kings,” a sordid reminder of the last resort of diplomacy.

I find NBA ringz culture distasteful, at least as it’s applied to individual players. It’s a reductive way to analyze a player that is often devoid of context. Winning a ring does, and should, matter, but it shouldn’t be the beginning and end of the discussion. Individual greatness doesn’t always transcend the many obstacles and challenges of the NBA Playoffs.

With teams, the opposite is true. The season and the playoffs are nothing if not the ultimate test to find the best team. Yes, injuries matter — that’s part of the beauty of the NBA. It’s not just a test of skill, but also depth on a multi-front war of attrition. It is the first and last item for discussion when arguing the best teams of all time. You can point to net ratings, you can point to offense and defense relative to league average, but, in the end, all that really matters is how many times they were crowned champions and how many ringz are on their fingers.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

But what exactly makes a legendary team? You need multiple rings, of course, even Dirk Nowitzki’s late-career slaying of the Heatles doesn’t elevate the Mavericks into legendary status. A few teams come to mind pretty quickly: the 80s Celtics, the Russell Celtics, the 2010s Warriors, the Shaq Lakers, the 80s Lakers, and the 90s Bulls.

These teams have a few things in common. First, they all won at least 3 rings, and they did so within a fairly tight window, less than a decade (exempting Russell’s Celtics, a team that’s accomplishments are so profound it’s difficult to use as a comparison). Each of those teams had at least one season that ranks in the top-25 of net rating of all-time.

Author’s note: I have no idea what to do with the Duncan Spurs. They were almost like the height requirement for a roller coaster. You have to be this tall to win a championship, and if no team was, the Spurs won by default. They were undoubtedly great, but over such an absurd number of years in an NBA where that shouldn’t happen, I left them aside.

Luckily for the Celtics, they’ve already checked one of these requirements off the list. They had the 4th best net rating ever last season, and the ring is obviously a pretty important step. They enter this season poised as the favorites to repeat with anything less than a title will be a failure. Teetering on the verge of greatness isn’t just a privilege, it’s also a burden.

What’s been especially interesting to watch as we loll towards the season is that the Celtics themselves are acutely aware of what they are chasing. They know they have a chance to be great, and they aren’t afraid to talk about it.

Here’s Joe Mazzulla on detaching from your successes in the pursuit of greatness:

“The world tries to keep you attached to your latest success or your latest failure. And that’s where people get stuck where they’re in is attachment. And so it was a balance of we can’t be attached to this past success. It would be the same as being attached to a past failure. So how can we detach from that with the understanding of taking the things, the DNA of the things that we need to do to try to go after greatness again?”

Jayson Tatum on his mindset going forward:

“All the guys that I looked up to growing up at least won one championship. So now it’s just a conversation of how great are you trying to be? What room or what tier are you trying to be mentioned in when it’s all said and done?”

The Celtics do not miss the forest for the trees. While they are collectively obsessive over the details and the day-to-day process of being great, they seem to understand that you only get one career. Collections of talent like this version of the Celtics don’t come around that often. Joe, Jayson, and the rest of the team know that the opportunity for greatness, for immortality, is right in front of them, and the time to capture it is now. They appear to be doing everything within their control to make the most of it.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

If I can engage in a bit of poignant reflection for a minute — us fans don’t get this opportunity all that often either. I’m 37, Larry Bird won his last championship about nine months before I was born. Prior to this season, the only Celtics title I’d witnessed was 2008, which came with a similar stare into the features of greatness. It didn’t happen then, but it’s a privilege to get another chance, even if I’m just watching from the sidelines.

Players, coaches, GMs only get one career, but we only get one life. I remember sharing the 2004 Sox championship with my dad, a massive Red Sox fan, and feeling a connection over how meaningful it was for him. He cherished each one after that (despite not always cherishing every inning due to his habit of falling asleep between innings 3 and 7 of most games), an appreciation borne of a lifetime of seeing them lose, and two decades of cursing out Bill Buckner.

And then, for all of us, that journey eventually comes to an end. You don’t know how many more times you’ll get to experience a parade; how many more times you’ll get to jump on a livestream drinking out of a bottle of champagne with your podcast mates; how many more times you’ll scream so loud your cat hides for two days. How many more times you’ll get give your old man a call well past his bedtime just to say, “they did it again!”

Because at some point, one of those parades will be the last one you enjoy. The last bottle of champagne you down. The last scream your cat hears. At some point, it’s no longer your dad at the other end of that phone number. And, if you’re lucky enough, you might get to be the parent on the other end of that call.

The fact basketball can bring this much joy to so many, build bridges of comradery between so many, is what makes it so special. But it often takes a special team to bring that out of sport, and the Celtics are on their way to being one of them.

The Celtics have a long journey in front of them to be considered great. A few more rings to win before they join the argument over the best teams ever. But I know one thing, I’m going to appreciate every second of it. Bring on the new season, bring on Banner 19.