Taking Stock: Why is the team so bad?

[Edgar]

I see nothing but a defeated, bad team that is scared to get beat. This is officially the end of this celtics run as we know it. I know I was more than excited about this team as DA put them together but it can be nothing less that a complete debacle at this point. Not sure what team others are watching but this C's team is pretty bad.

Can Jeff Green be amnestied? Some changes need to be made and I think they need to start dumping salaries and assets for youngs and picks.

Do you see the look in Docs face when he says this team is soft and has NO aggression? Ask yourself what exactly is going to change this teams entire dynamic and demeanor?

For why its bad is pretty simple. As much as we love PP and the Kid they're old, rest of the team other than Rondo? They simply suck.

1) Pierce is still Pierce as in he will surprise you more often than not, as much as i will never give him the ball in ISOS again
2) KG is playing well. really, in a new role or in his old role if we finally find a center
3) the KG center experiment really have to be over.
4) Rondo is a great create for others pg-
5)Doc can put Elmos face, i still think hes the one called to make things work with the right rotations and not only saying things in front of cameras.

[mctyson]

I don't think it's  overly negative or reactionary to say that, right now, the Celtics are a far worse team than most people expected them to be coming into the season.  Personally, I felt very good about their roster.

I still feel very good about their roster.  No question this is the deepest Celtics team we have had since 2008.  I focus on 3 major, glaring weaknesses we have:

1) Defensive effort.  It is simply not there, especially from Rondo.  We need Avery Bradley back and soon.

2) Rebounding differential.  We are last in the league.  Creates more chances for opponents and less chances for us, plus it is demoralizing.

3) Sloppy play.  It may not show up in the stats but we are sloppy as hell on the offensive end, nowhere near a crisp product like the Spurs.  This is mostly a function of relying on Rondo as a playmaker.  I think this will improve over time once the team gets used to each other.

[jdz101]

We need a Varejao player, yes a Varejao player... without missing Rondo, KG , Pierce and Terry, that could make it.

I've long felt that Andy V represents exactly the kind of player the Celtics need to put next to KG in order to become a truly elite team again.  Andy V should be available . . . but I'm not sure that the Celtics have the assets, unless they want to put Bradley and / or Sully on the table.

You gotta give up lots of guys to fit in Varejao and Luke Walton's deals. If the cabs trade Varejao, luke Walton goes with him.

[Moranis]

welcome to at least 3 years of mediocrity.  This is exactly what I thought this team would be, which is why I have been saying for months Ainge totally blew this off season.  Unmitigated disaster of an off season and unfortunately I just don't see a way out for Boston as there are just too many awful contracts to mediocre players and no real up and coming stars (at least not any that can stay healthy).  The next three years will be like the 2004-7 seasons (playoffs this year, then slowly worse the next two) with Rondo being the star that Pierce was.  I just hope we can land a Jefferson esque player in the draft at some point (maybe Sully turns into that sort of player).

[dreamgreen]

Yea this is very hard to watch! I love PP but he looks brutally slow and sometimes seeming to put on little effort. If Green was worth $9m I would move him to starter and PP to the bench, but Green looks more like a $3m player  . Another thing I don't understand is if KG is only going to play 28 mins a game why not play him the last 7 mins of each quarter? Doc has to do something here, I'm not seeing good effort, and their passing looks like grade school level.

[SHAQATTACK]

Bench Sullinger until he is willing to box out. Getting killed by Evans and Blatche.

Jared was working hard early in the game, but he racked up fouls quickly because Evans and Blatche have years of experience being tricky and dirty under the basket, drawing fouls on other people and finding ways to not get boxed out by young'ns like Sully.

This exactly CORRECT !!! Sully was trying, but they were flopping, acting, and ABUSING him like a little red headed step child. He was WILLING to battle, but the refs would have just fouled him out in 1-2 Quarters. ANd basically from what I saw it was SULLY against 3-4 extremely ruff and dirty bigs ( BY HIMSELF )..

Without Darko or Perk , all we have is SKINNY OLD KG and a 20 year old KId SUlly to throw in there.  Collins is WORTHLESS period. 

[blastoidesroidsnoids]

Some reminding words from the truth himself

Each and every game is important for us but at the end of the day our goal isn’t to win the division... our goal is to go out there and win a championship.

I dont think this is something Doc necessarily agrees with but hey its the truth.

[MBunge]

alot of new pieces still learning our defensive rotations

Most of the players on this team had the whole offseason, a full training camp and now 15 games of the regular season.  Most of the guys are also veterans who've been around the league for several years.  If they're STILL having trouble just learning the defensive rotations, that's a system problem and not a player problem.

Mike

[csfansince60s]

Lack of focus and lack of desire.

Last night's game and the Piston's game, they looked like they didn't care.

Missed free throws, turnovers, poor rebounding all point to lack of focus or desire.

Where was the aggression? They didn't take the ball to the hole much, especially in the first half. Was Tommy right when he said that Terry's illegal D freethrow was the first for the Cs of the game? And that was real late in I think the first quarter, but it might have been late in the first half.

Anybody remember?

[Ersatz]

This team isn't bad, The rebounding is bad.. Quite frankly awful.

Why do people keep saying this? Even after last night's fiasco, the Celtics are ranked seventh in defensive rebounding rate. Clearly they are protecting the defensive boards.

Of course their overall rebounding rate is low because the offensive rebounding rate is spectacularly low. But the thing is, the Celtics never try to get offensive rebounds, so it doesn't make sense to criticize them for something aren't trying to do. something they haven't done four years running now.

[pearljammer10]

It just looks like nobody wants to play out there. Everyone with the exception of KG 85% of the time, Wilcox 75% of the time, Terry 50% of the time, and Rondo 30% of the time, is on auto pilot.

[WeMadeIt17]

This team isn't bad, The rebounding is bad.. Quite frankly awful.

Why do people keep saying this? Even after last night's fiasco, the Celtics are ranked seventh in defensive rebounding rate. Clearly they are protecting the defensive boards.

Of course their overall rebounding rate is low because the offensive rebounding rate is spectacularly low. But the thing is, the Celtics never try to get offensive rebounds, so it doesn't make sense to criticize them for something aren't trying to do. something they haven't done four years running now.

Yes but four years ago we were the best defense in the NBA KG and Pierce were younger. We had a true center in Perk. Those things four years ago aren't working right now. In my post if you can see I put when we rebound well we win. But a close second is our poor defense right now. And you can look at all the games we have lost we have been out-rebounded by a large margin. Rebounds and Defense win you games. We rebound decent we usually win but when we don't we give up offensive rebounds and then we get tired because we are on defense a whole lot. These are things you cant do. Four years ago we could give up and offensive rebound because we were most likely going to stop you again. This is KG being 32 he is 36 and yes while i consider him still a top 5 PF and amazing on defense still, He does have the athletic ability to do what he did 4 years ago.

[Big Rondo]

I see nothing but a defeated, bad team that is scared to get beat. This is officially the end of this celtics run as we know it. I know I was more than excited about this team as DA put them together but it can be nothing less that a complete debacle at this point. Not sure what team others are watching but this C's team is pretty bad.

Can Jeff Green be amnestied? Some changes need to be made and I think they need to start dumping salaries and assets for youngs and picks.

Do you see the look in Docs face when he says this team is soft and has NO aggression? Ask yourself what exactly is going to change this teams entire dynamic and demeanor?

For why its bad is pretty simple. As much as we love PP and the Kid they're old, rest of the team other than Rondo? They simply suck.

It's way way WAY too early in the season for posts like this.

...Step away from the ledge.

[Lord of Mikawa]

Our team has no inside presence and is completely lost on defense when KG is off the floor. I'd rather have decent shooting and solid defense. Too bad there is neither.

[D Dub]

defensive rotations.

any team right now exploits us with 2 or 3 passes.  sometimes, we get the first rotation right.  never, we get the second or third.  we are no where close to the 'on a string' mentality that we had from 08-10. 

coaching staff has really got to step up. 

other than Pierce who is a step slower, everyone else (Bass, Lee, Green, Sully, Melo) is more than capable of rotating quickly and effectively.  how is it we look slower after adding all these young legs?

if our rotations were Celtic Level; we'd score 115 a night running circles around our opponents.