Does early season turmoil have the Boston Celtics on the brink of disaster?
Having multiple All-Stars on a team is not a guaranteed recipe for success, which the Boston Celtics are currently learning the hard way.
The Celtics have stumbled out of the gate so far this season, sitting at 2-5 after collapsing against the Chicago Bulls on Monday night, losing 128-114 in a game they controlled heading into the fourth quarter.
Soon after the game, the loss became the least of the Celtics' worries, with guard Marcus Smart calling out All-Star teammates Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for being unwilling passers.
Both Tatum and Brown only combined for six assists while attempting 40 combined shots.
Tatum is averaging 24.6 field goal attempts per game this season, while Brown is second on the team with 20.2. But while both players are getting plenty of shots up, they aren't consistently leading to wins at this juncture.
And with the team struggling to find wins while both of its stars shoot mercilessly each night, there might be some credence to Smart's claims.
For Tatum, he once again struggled in Monday's loss, shooting just 8-for-22 from the field for 20 points.
In the Celtics' five losses this year, Tatum has shot better than 40% from the field in just two of them and failed to register a 30-point performance.
His struggles have been magnified down the stretch of those games, with ineffective fourth quarters.
It is also alarming for the Celtics that Brown has yet to find a groove with Tatum simultaneously this season.
Brown has scored at least 30 points in three games this season, and only in one of those games –– an Oct. 25 win against the Charlotte Hornets –– did Tatum manage to score at least 30 points.
The other two games in which Brown has scored at least 30 points have resulted in Celtics losses.
Less than 10 games into the season, it appears the Celtics have their work cut out for them in terms of righting the ship. And while there is evidence to suggest Smart's comments aren't misplaced, these are comments that Shannon Sharpe believes should not have been made publicly.
He explained why on "Undisputed."
"This is something that you keep behind closed doors," Sharpe said. "I think this is just frustration. The season isn't going quite the way that they envisioned it. He's right, but be right behind closed doors."
Only two weeks into the season, all is certainly not lost in Boston.
But if their issues aren't solved, first-year head coach Ime Udoka could be doing more coaching off the court than on it.
