Although the Celtics have known some tough years, no other professional sports franchise can match the team for its record of success. Certainly no other team has ever dominated a league the way Boston did from 1957 to 1969, when the club won 11 NBA Championships. For those 13 years, the team was "the Dynasty." The Celtics were busy battling the New Jersey Nets in the 2003 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals when, on May 9, the announcement was made that former Celtics great Danny Ainge would return to the Green and White as the Executive Director of Basketball Operations. Ainge, a key member of the Celtics 1984 and 1986 World Championship teams, jumped right into his role on Draft Night when he traded draft rights to acquire guard Marcus Banks and high school standout center Kendrick Perkins.

As the 2003-04 Celtics were grinding through the double sessions in Training Camp preparing for the upcoming 82-game regular season slate, a major move change the makeup of the team on October 20th. The team acquired center Raef LaFrentz, forward Chris Mills, guard Jiri Welsch and a 2004 First Round draft choice from the Dallas Mavericks, in exchange for Tony Delk and co-captain and seven-year Celtics star Antoine Walker. Two months later, on December 15th, the team acquired veterans Ricky Davis, Chris Mihm and Michael Stewart (and a Second Round draft choice) from the Cleveland Cavaliers, in exchange for veterans Tony Battie, Kedrick Brown and Eric Williams. The win-loss record hovered around the .500 mark for a good part of the first half of the season but on January 27th the team had to make another adjustment. Head Coach Jim O'Brien stepped down and Assistant Coach John Carroll was named the Interim Head Coach. Carroll and the C's would compile a 14-22 record over the final three months of the campaign, which included another trade just before the trading deadline, on February 19th. The Celtics acquired veteran guard Chuck Atkins, Lindsey Hunter, a 2004 First Round draft choice and cash from the Detroit Pistons, in exchange for Mike James and Chris Mills.

Over the final 21 games, Davis slid comfortably into the 6th man role averaging 16.7 points while shooting 52.5% from the field and 45.0% from three-point territory. Co-captain and iron man Paul Pierce became the first Celtic since Larry Bird (1983-87) to post four consecutive seasons of 3,000+ minutes (with 3,099). Pierce also became the fastest Celtic to ever score 10,000 points when he accomplished the feat in his 431st career game, surpassing Bird who scored his 10,000th point in his 436th career game. Center Mark Blount finished the season strong, posting a career-high 19 double-double games and finishing runner-up to Shaquille O'Neal in Field Goal Percentage for the NBA (shooting 56.6%). The Celtics made their third consecutive playoff appearance, bowing out to the Indiana Pacers in the first round.

This team led by Paul Pierce can score, but other than Mark Blount there are not any post defenders of note, Raef LaFrentz is more of a weak-side defender and as was made evident in the playoffs last year there are plenty of holes in the Glove so the perimeter defense will be porous as well. The Celts will likely post a sub-.500 record and suffer a first round sweep.