Kentucky would beat Celts in a 7 game series.

[KG Living Legend]

 It's sad but probably true, They have not one not two but three NBA caliber Centers, It's just absurd, They were beating UCLA today 24 to 0, 42 to 8 at the half. You might say Sullinger and Olynyk would kill those guys, not likely Karl Towns and Cauley Stein are Legit 7 footers that would swallow those guys up, Stein might be the best defender n the country, and he's ten times better than anything we have, They have an unreal midget point guard that's like Eric Bledsoe, The Harrison Twins are both 6'6" tall play the point and off guard, and are both future first rounders in the NBA Draft, I'll take either one over Bradley.

 Jeff Green would be key to the Celtics winning, But with the three 7 footers lurking, and the way coach Cal has them playing Kentucky wins a series IMO,

[Tr1boy]

[Rhyso]

Doesn't matter how many 7-footers they have when we have Rajon... oh wait.

Stevens was a good college coach though, so if it's a 40 minute game I think our game plan will suffice to win in 7.

[clover]

The C's wouldn't lose to a bunch of teenagers.

Jeesh.

[bopna]

This is probably the looniest statement ever!!

we are winners of 6 of the last nine games...gave eastern contenders like Cleveland, washington and toronto all they could handle and have lost some close games the early part of the schedule due to Rondo not fitting with B.S system and now you make a statement that we would lose to a bunch of kids who would be lucky to crack even the weakest NBA team's rotation?...get outta here.

now if they are up against the tankapaloozers that is the Sixers...then that is a different story.

[ebonilla34]

With all due respect, that's a silly statement. Two completely different levels of competition and there's a reason the NBA is considered elite against the rest of the world including our college programs. You can have size, you can be 7ft, but not skilled...see how that panned out for Fab Melo.

Also, both Sully and Olynyk were whooping tail in the NCAA not too long ago and both have even excelled in the NBA.

[Ogaju]

 It's sad but probably true, They have not one not two but three NBA caliber Centers, It's just absurd, They were beating UCLA today 24 to 0, 42 to 8 at the half. You might say Sullinger and Olynyk would kill those guys, not likely Karl Towns and Cauley Stein are Legit 7 footers that would swallow those guys up, Stein might be the best defender n the country, and he's ten times better than anything we have, They have an unreal midget point guard that's like Eric Bledsoe, The Harrison Twins are both 6'6" tall play the point and off guard, and are both future first rounders in the NBA Draft, I'll take either one over Bradley.

 Jeff Green would be key to the Celtics winning, But with the three 7 footers lurking, and the way coach Cal has them playing Kentucky wins a series IMO,

They don't even win a game. They get swept. It is just that simple!!

[Roy H.]

No chance.

[TwinTower14]

 It's sad but probably true, They have not one not two but three NBA caliber Centers, It's just absurd, They were beating UCLA today 24 to 0, 42 to 8 at the half. You might say Sullinger and Olynyk would kill those guys, not likely Karl Towns and Cauley Stein are Legit 7 footers that would swallow those guys up, Stein might be the best defender n the country, and he's ten times better than anything we have, They have an unreal midget point guard that's like Eric Bledsoe, The Harrison Twins are both 6'6" tall play the point and off guard, and are both future first rounders in the NBA Draft, I'll take either one over Bradley.

 Jeff Green would be key to the Celtics winning, But with the three 7 footers lurking, and the way coach Cal has them playing Kentucky wins a series IMO,

Kentucky looked good yesterday so I guess this is an overreaction. The C's would crush Kentucky, probably win all 4 games by 10-20 pts. A lot of those guys arent even as dominate as KO, Sully or Smart were in college. Never mind a few years older and stronger. Kentucky is a great college team but other than Towns and WCS, that team is filled with NBA roll players. No stars in that group.

[TheFlex]

This argument lacks critical thinking.

[Fan from VT]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/kentucky-would-lose-to-the-76ers-at-least-78-percent-of-the-time/

[incoherent]

OP still overly emotional about Rondo trade

[Fan from VT]

There are a few angles to think about with this kind of statement.

First, getting drafted does not guarantee anything. Players get drafted and bust or flame out all the time. Very few live up to their hype. It actually is hard to be a long-term NBA player. So in that sense, basically everyone on the Celtics has proven they have a place in the NBA, which is more than most players trying to get into the NBA from college.

Second, most "average" NBA players actually had some draft buzz and were drafted somewhere in a draft. So those players have been in the place that many Kentucky players are now.

Third, there are countless examples of success in college NOT translating to the NBA, so these exercises always overrate college players based on how they look against other kids.

Fourth, these college players are nowhere near their prime.

Fifth, look at the rookie seasons of a lot of very good players...not always that great. And that's after 1 year of growth and a full NBA training camp, so if they jumped straight from college into an NBA game, it'd look even worse than their rookie year stats!


But let's go with it. Let's start with the Celtics, then we'll do the Draft Express Mock for the KU players:
Starting:
PG: Turner
SG: Bradley
SF: Green
PF: Sully
C: Zeller

Bench:
F/C: Olynyk
F: Bass
G: Smart
F/C: Wright
Wing: Craeder
G: Thornton

Then let's look at their stats this year, and their last year of college, as well as their draft position+year.





So by my count, we have players who were good enough in college to be drafted at: 2, 5, 6, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 21, 33, 34, 43.


Hopping on over to the draft express mock, I see KU players at:

3, 4, 24, 27, 36, 42

So that's looking a bit less overpowering, since we know none of the Celtics were full "flameouts," but that is still unknown about the KU guys, especially at picks 24+. And that's just 6 players! KU relies on Booker, Lyles, Ulis and Lee as well, who are freshman or sophomores who arent even projected to be drafted this year!

Then take a look at KU's players stats this year, and compare them to the C's from each of their last college year:



Point is, if the current (bad) C's roster all magically were changed to be the same age and were on the same college team, it would be a ridiculous college team. Add to that natural growth, nba coaching, and the fact they've all at least stuck in the NBA and its no contest IMO.

But let's keep going.

KU's roster is impressive this year, no doubt. So let's just look back at the last 4 drafts for the NBA quality equivalent, and look at those players' rookie year (i.e just out of college) PPG/RPG/APG/BPG/SPG just for quick reference:

2011:
Kanter 4.6/4.2/.1/.3/.3
Tristan THompson 8.2/6.5/.5/.5/1.0
Reggie Jackson 3.1/1.2/1.6/.6/0
JaJuan Johnson 3.2/1.6/.2/.1/.4
Jordan Williams 4.6/3.6/.3/.5/.3
Davis Bertans None

2012 (and i'm not wasting time writing out scrub rookie lines now, you get the idea)
Beal 13.9/3.8/2.4/.9/.5
Waiters 13.7/2.4/3/1/.3
Jared Cunningham
Arnett Moultrie
Orlando Johnson
Doron Lamb

2013
Otto Porter 2.0/1.0/1.5
Cody Zeller 6/4.3/1.1/.5/.5
Tim Hardaway 10.2/1.5/.8
Rudy Gobert 2.3/3.4
Ray McCallum
Pierre Jackson

2014:
Embiid
Gordon 5.8/3/.6
Napier 5.7/2.3/1.9
Bogdan Bogdanovic
John Obryant III
Nick Johnson

For fun we can keep going back:
2010
Favors 6.8/5.3
Wes Johnson
Damion James
Jordan Crawford
Terico White
Desean Butler

2009
Harden 9.9/3.2/1.8
Tyrek evans 20.1/5.3/5.8
Byron mullens
Demearre Carrol
Sam Young 7.4/2.5/.7
Patrick Beverly 5.6/2.7/2.9

2008 (actually a good team! but as rookies? Mostly not ready at all.)
Mayo 18.5/3.8/3.2
Westbrook  15.3/4.9/5.3
Ibaka 6.3/5.4/1.3blk
Darrell Arthur 5.6/4.6
Asik 2.8/3.7
Sean Singletary


So that's about what you can expect from those types of picks. It's amazing how not-ready a lot of very good players are their rookie year. Sobering.


Finally lets look back at actual best NCAA teams. National champs, which ones could beat an NBA team as rookies?

'14 connecticut
Shabazz Napier
DeAndre Daniels
Ryan Boatright
Niels Giffey
Lasan Kromah
Amida Brimah
Omar Calhoun
Phillip Nolan
Terrence Samuel

'13 Louisville
Russ Smith
Peyton Siva
Chane Behanan
Gorgui Dieng
Luke Hancock
Wayne Blackshear
Montrezl Harrell
Kevin Ware
Stephan Van Treese
Zach Price

'12 Kentucky
Anthony Davis (13.5/8.2/1 as a rookie NBA)
Doron Lamb
Terrence Jones
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Marquis Teague
Darius Miller
Kyle Wiltjer
Sam Malone

'11 Uconn
Kemba Walker
Jeremy Lamb
Alex Oriakhi
Shabazz Napier
Roscoe Smith
Jamal Coombs-McDaniel
Charles Okwandu
Niels Giffey
Donnell Beverly
Tyler Olander
Enosch Wolf

'10 Duke
Jon Scheyer
Kyle Singler
Nolan Smith
Brian Zoubek
Miles Plumlee
Lance Thomas
Andre Dawkins
Mason Plumlee
Olek Czyz
Ryan Kelly

'09 UNC
Tyler Hansbrough
Ty Lawson
Wayne Ellington
Danny Green
Deon Thompson
Ed Davis
William Graves
Tyler Zeller
Bobby Frasor
Larry Drew
Marcus Ginyard
J.B. Tanner
Patrick Moody


So really, none of these great college teams had through and through success, let alone as rookies. Even great prospects take at least their rookie year to get acclimated, and that's after a full training camp, let alone stepping in against NBA guys right now. Same thing if you look at the predicted draft slots of the KU guys currently. Just not consistent enough to beat an NBA team, even a bad one, in a 7 game series.

[Redz]

Joe Forte was the ACC player of the year, the year before the Celts drafted him.  I always think of that when I think of the difference in talent level between the NBA & NCAA.

[slamtheking]

pre-rondo trade, no way.  post-rondo trade, I really doubt it.  C's may not have any star players but they do have a load of legit NBA players. 

I could understand the comments that Philly would lose and I wouldn't rule that out but C's beat them handily.