Much like last season, I'm starting to get excited.

[LarBrd33]

Last year I had a large thread where I admitted I hadn't been watching the team every night.  I felt like I was watching sitting ducks and couldn't get into it.  I was waiting for the deadline.  I knew the team was poised to make a trade.  We had to.  We were playing .500 ball and were going to probably lose Ray for nothing if we didn't.  ALso, we didn't have a single interesting young player on the team to root for... I was bored to death (Bradley didn't start his streak until late March).

I was completely shocked when the deadline came and went without a move.  SHOCKED.  Later, I came to find out that Ainge did in fact trade Ray to Memphis for OJ Mayo, but the deal fell through.  Additionally, he had tried trading Pierce to the Nets for a lotto pick, but Pierce killed the deal and the Nets settled for Gerald Wallace (although I've heard that reported differently by some).

Luckily, KG took a couple games off to have a personal "leave of absence", came back with a switch flipped, Boston started streaking, we got lucky draws the first two rounds of the playoffs and made a nice little run.  It became a pretty successful season all things considered. 

This year, once again I have to admit I haven't been catching every game.  It's partially, because I'm working late.  I do catch as many games as I can.  But like last year, there are a handful of games I've skipped simply because It's tough to get too invested in a team that I expect will look dramatically different by February. 

At no point has this roster made sense.  It seemed to me we were acquiring assets to make a run at a legit big.  Rondo plays 43 minutes per game in the playoffs... that leaves about 53 minutes total for the interchangeable Jason Terry, Avery Bradley, LeAndro Barbosa and Courtney Lee to split when stuff starts to matter.  That makes no sense.  Paul Pierce plays close to 40 minutes a game in the playoffs... and yet we're paying Jeff Green (who is only effective as a SF) starters money... why?... so he can play 9 minutes off the bench when stuff starts to matter?  That makes no sense.  We have a glut of mediocre bigs surrounding a 36 year old.  Bass and Sully are solid bench players.  Beyond that it's bottom of the barrel scraps that you can find on most D-League rosters and waiver wires.  MAYBE Wilcox is the exception there, but not really.  We're not so surprisingly starting Jason Collins now.  I'm not shocked.  The roster is excessively overloaded with undersized guards and severely lacking in quality bigs.  That doesn't make sense. 

I've been saying this roster was flawed since the offseason.  But really I've been saying this roster was flawed since March 2011 when Shaq hobbled off the court.  I really can't see us going past the deadline without making a move... and for that reason it's tough to get too emotionally invested in the ups and downs of this team's early struggles.  I just can't see us NOT making a move.  So as Jan 15th is approaching and the deadline not far after... I'm starting to really get excited about the possibilities of fixing this roster.  I hope we can pull it off.  One big 4-for-1 deal could really pop things into place and start defining roles. 

I'm crossing my fingers we don't get left empty handed like last year (which turned out alright anyways)... I was 99% confident a trade was going to happen last deadline and I clearly was wrong.  I'm 99% confident a trade will happen at this deadline too.  I can't wait to see what it is!

         

[csfansince60s]

Nice post. +1

Pretty much sums up how I feel. Thanks.

[Kane3387]

Tp LB33.

Enjoyed reading this. I'm not convinced a deal is there. Personally I don't see a lot of our role players as the kind of assets teams are willing to exchange quality big men for. Bradley is the only one and he's coming off two surgeries and has only been productive for half a season.

Teams rarely trade for role players on long term deals. Usually contenders are most likely to bite but they're moving expiring deals, late draft picks, and the occasional prospect. Not quality big men. Pau gasol might be the exception but the lakers and celtics doing a deal is highly unlikely.

I think Danny built this team with the heat in mind. Green WILL play PF because Lebron will. He would guard battier and pierce would guard James. No one knew or knows how Avery would return. Ray left. We had to acquire guards just in case. Barbosa was acquired bc guys like dionte Xmas weren't impressive in camp.

A trade for a big would be nice but I don't believe the roster was built this way solely for that. I think it was always about Miami and defending James and wade. Especially when they went small.

[CoachBo]

There's definitely a deal there - if Danny hasn't gone as whole hog insane over Avery Bradley as some on this board have, dusting off a spot for Bradley in Springfield.

There will be quality bigs available. It will take more than a package of our trash to acquire them.

[nostar]

Yeah this is how I feel too. TP for reading my soul

[manl_lui]

TP, and yay to the positive thoughts

[mctyson]

TP as well.  Where I agree:  the number of guards on our roster makes no sense.  It did under the context of small ball but as we can see that is not really working.

When Bradley comes back he will be our starting 2.  I fully expect him to play at the level he did last year when healthy.  That will net him at least 25 minutes a game.  Doc is having trouble getting the rotation of Terry and Lee right now.  It is going to be doubly hard with AB in the fold.

Where I disagree:  that doesn't necessarily mean a deal is coming.  I'd look at the Ray situation last year as a good example.  You can say that the team was going nowhere and Danny came to the conclusion that he needed to shop his expiring vets to get young players/picks.  That would sound reasonable.  But Danny held pat, even when he had a deal that Memphis agreed to.  Why?  I think he has a lot of faith in Doc and if Doc tells him he likes the team, Danny will go with it.  I don't get the sense that Doc necessarily dislikes this team, and I think Doc will change when AB comes back. 

[Yoki_IsTheName]

You get a TP from me too.

Thank you for being so positive.

We got this.

[SHAQATTACK]

Nice read. 

I haven't given up hope.  Alot depends on AB , Rondo's game , possible trade for a nice center , and glimmer of hope from Fab Melo at seasons end.

One thing , I don't hear alot of people aren't saying , but , I believe the WHOLE Eastern conference ( besides the Wizards and they beat the HEAT) are better. It seems all the teams made good trades that worked out.

Knicks, Nets, 76ers, Bucks, Pacers , Chicago, ect...the whole league seems to have evened out talent wise . With anybody being able to beat another team on a given night.
 Only the Heat seemingly to have clear advantage with Lebron.

With the whole conference in a log jam... it is still possible the Celtics could bust out and be a factor in the playoffs .At least thats my hope.


 

 

[dark_lord]

for me.....whether they have played well or not, there is just too much talent to discount them.  i think we will be a tough out for any team in a 7 game series.  keep the faith!

if we can get a defensive minded big that can rebound b4 the trade deadline, id be elated.