When the NBA season was put on pause in March, the timing could not have been much better for the Boston Celtics.
Wins were getting harder to come by (they had lost three of their last five), the jacuzzi-hot play of Jayson Tatum was starting to cool off some and Kemba Walker was headed towards a stretch of "strategic rest" days off because of knee soreness.
And just like the rest of the NBA is fired up about the potential return to play reportedly as early as the end of late July, the Celtics are an eager bunch to restart the season as well.
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And they should be for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, there's a very real chance that they can move up in the standings if the league adopts the reported return-to-play model which includes eight regular season games before the playoffs.
Currently third in the East, the Celtics would begin the postseason against Philadelphia if the league went straight into the playoffs - an idea that hasn't garnered a ton of support from owners or players.
An eight-game slate of games would provide Boston with enough opportunities to potentially move ahead of Toronto and secure the No. 2 seed in the East.
The way the standings look now, the potential for movement is great for many teams.
Boston (43-21) trails the Raptors (46-18) by three games in the standings. Behind the Celtics you find the Heat (41-24) who are 2.5 games back.
The next closest teams to Boston beyond those two are Indiana and Philadelphia (both 39-26) who each trail Boston by 4.5 games.
For the Celtics' sake, moving up from their current draft position and avoiding a first-round matchup with Philadelphia would be the preferred path to take this postseason.
The Sixers, one of the bigger disappointments this season, will feature a healthy Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, making them a much tougher foe come playoff time.
For the Celtics, the alternative if they move up would be a Brooklyn Nets team that's expected to play this postseason without Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant who have both been out recovering from injuries.
There's also a chance that Boston would face the Indiana Pacers in the first round if the C's remain as the Eastern Conference's No. 3 seed which, similar to facing Philadelphia, would provide a tough first-round matchup.
The reboot to the season also allows more time for the Celtics to adjust to what's shaping up to be a new pecking order.
While Walker is the team's most proven, most decorated talent, there's no escaping the inevitable rise of Tatum as the face of the franchise (if he's not already there).
As the season wore on, his ascension was undeniable. Tatum began the season as a player the Celtics were hoping to see blossom into a big-time talent with the departures of Irving (Brooklyn) and Al Horford (Philadelphia).
Following his first All-Star appearance in February, Tatum averaged 29.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists while shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 46.8 percent on 3's. His ability to pick up where he left off would go far in Boston's quest to build off the successes they had this past season.
As for Walker, he had missed some games and played limited minutes in others shortly before the season was paused thanks to knee soreness.
The extended downtime without games or practice should allow Walker to return to action revived and refreshed.
And him being healthy combined with Tatum's improved play gives the Celtics a potent 1-2 punch as they inch closer to rebooting the system and in doing so, restarting their journey towards what they believe will be a deep postseason run.
What NBA's return-to-action plan means for the Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
