Frustrated

[slightly biased bias fan]

Don't get me wrong, I love Danny. I love that he was a former player on perhaps the greatest nba team assembled. I love the job he has done getting us banner 17 and making us relevant again, but I'm frustrated with his decisions in the past season.

I'm not pro tanking in purposely trying to lose or giving away assets like the Sixers had done, but his strategy this season have stopped us from becoming a 'true' contender again.

If we were the Charlotte Hornets, being competitive is a great thing but the Boston Celtics are a franchise that unless your a true contender or in full rebuild mode, its a bust season.

By bringing in guys like Thornton, Thomas and Turner, Ainge has turned us into a middle of the pack team. Thomas is a fantastic player but he's the type of guy who's a 'phase two' player. Similar to the Cavs getting Mozgov, Shump and J.R Smith, Thomas should be brought in when your foundation player/players have been established not before. If you look at the history of teams with franchise guys they were all picked up from top draft pick positions. When the Cavs got Lebron they had the tied worst record, when the Magic got Howard they had the worst, Clippers and Griffin 2nd worst and New Orleans and Davis 3rd worst, ect. We need a bad season to regroup.

I also understand Danny has cleared a lot of cap room but for me this is not the place we can get a cornerstone guy from. Only two teams in recent history have picked up franchise guys through free agency and thats LA with Shaq and Miami with Lebron and Bosh but in both instances they already drafted their franchise guy in Kobe and D Wade.

The path he's putting us on is only slowing us down not speeding this process up and it has me frustrated. I apologise for this rant but I needed to blog off some steam lol

[Celtics4ever]

We have cash to sign a big fish, there is no promise that one will come here but if he can keep the team together and add one good pick and a player then we will be a borderline good team. 

We have so many picks that I think he will come up with some talent to add to us.  I would expect 2016 to be real time where we take a big leap forward.  I do not live in Boston but I am a diehard Celtics fan.   Most towns never get a championship let alone one every 2-3 years.   By all accounts Boston is a blessed town when it comes to sports.   Cincinnati where I live has had some success in baseball but Boston is a city of champions.

[slightly biased bias fan]

We have cash to sign a big fish, there is no promise that one will come here but if he can keep the team together and add one good pick and a player then we will be a borderline good team. 

We have so many picks that I think he will come up with some talent to add to us.  I would expect 2016 to be real time where we take a big leap forward.  I do not live in Boston but I am a diehard Celtics fan.   Most towns never get a championship let alone one every 2-3 years.   By all accounts Boston is a blessed town when it comes to sports.   Cincinnati where I live has had some success in baseball but Boston is a city of champions.

But thats the operative word "borderline" no team wins championships with a borderline good team it only pushes them to mediocrity for that much longer as we won't even have a lottery pick.

[Donoghus]

They haven't pigeonholed themselves into the the peg of a true treadmill team, though.

Their cap situation is extremely fluid going forward, they're young, and they have plenty of assets at their disposal.

This isn't the case of a team hitting a glass ceiling of 6, 7, 8 seed because they're filled with veteran, established talent or in cap hell for the next 2 to 3 seasons.

They have plenty of promise to continue to rebuild by trades & free agency.   This organization is not hitting the wall of mediocrity with little manueverability (sp?) in the near future.

It's been a multi-year rebuild all along.  They're actually probably a bit ahead of schedule, in fact.

[slightly biased bias fan]

They haven't pigeonholed themselves into the the peg of a true treadmill team, though.

Their cap situation is extremely fluid going forward, they're young, and they have plenty of assets at their disposal.

This isn't the case of a team hitting a glass ceiling of 6, 7, 8 seed because they're filled with veteran, established talent or in cap hell for the next 2 to 3 seasons.

They have plenty of promise to continue to rebuild by trades & free agency.   This organization is not hitting the wall of mediocrity with little manueverability (sp?) in the near future.

It's been a multi-year rebuild all along.  They're actually probably a bit ahead of schedule, in fact.

I understand its a long process and Ainge as accrued lots of young assets but its the Thomas and Turner moves that have me frustrated as these guys are slightly expensive, taking minutes from rookie who need them and are pushing us out of a true 'franchise guy' possibility.

I'd say in the whole NBA, other than Charlotte, Philly and Denver, Boston is the only team without a 'franchise guy'

[coco]

 As long as we are winning with our young guys getting the lion share of the minutes, I am happy making the playoffs.

Not good if you are making the playoffs  8th spot with an older team like say.....Nets.

[obnoxiousmime]

I think that the chance to get Thomas for 3.5 years on a cheap deal was worth it. Yes, I wish the Celtics were in line for another shot at a top pick but it was going to be difficult anyway with the East being so bad. Even before we got Thomas it was going to be very difficult to break into the bottom 4. You also have to "blame" Stevens for getting so much out of average talent and no real stars.

Right now I'm kind of resigned to making a run at the playoffs. I just don't think this Celtics team will ever be able to truly bottom out so the best thing they can do is play hard and 1) hope Ainge can find some hidden gem with a mid teens pick or in free agency and 2) hope somebody becomes available in a trade. We really need to find the next Nurkic/Gobert in the draft, then hope within a couple years the kids are good enough to attract somebody to come over.

To really tank Ainge would have to go back in time and not hire Stevens, then convince the league to realign the conferences/balance the schedules. I think our only option is to go the Hawks/Rockets route now.

[Rakulp]

Don't get me wrong, I love Danny. I love that he was a former player on perhaps the greatest nba team assembled. I love the job he has done getting us banner 17 and making us relevant again, but I'm frustrated with his decisions in the past season.

I'm not pro tanking in purposely trying to lose or giving away assets like the Sixers had done, but his strategy this season have stopped us from becoming a 'true' contender again.

If we were the Charlotte Hornets, being competitive is a great thing but the Boston Celtics are a franchise that unless your a true contender or in full rebuild mode, its a bust season.

By bringing in guys like Thornton, Thomas and Turner, Ainge has turned us into a middle of the pack team. Thomas is a fantastic player but he's the type of guy who's a 'phase two' player. Similar to the Cavs getting Mozgov, Shump and J.R Smith, Thomas should be brought in when your foundation player/players have been established not before. If you look at the history of teams with franchise guys they were all picked up from top draft pick positions. When the Cavs got Lebron they had the tied worst record, when the Magic got Howard they had the worst, Clippers and Griffin 2nd worst and New Orleans and Davis 3rd worst, ect. We need a bad season to regroup.

I also understand Danny has cleared a lot of cap room but for me this is not the place we can get a cornerstone guy from. Only two teams in recent history have picked up franchise guys through free agency and thats LA with Shaq and Miami with Lebron and Bosh but in both instances they already drafted their franchise guy in Kobe and D Wade.

The path he's putting us on is only slowing us down not speeding this process up and it has me frustrated. I apologise for this rant but I needed to blog off some steam lol

I highlighted the part I wanted to comment on.

The ultimate goal is to win, obviously.  You can't wave a magic wand (whether it's called the draft or free agency) and make it work.  Despite all the hoopla of the Miami Heat, they still only won 2 of 4 championships with their Big Three (and they really shouldn't have won the second).

You build a team...brick by brick.  Sometimes you get a player that surprises you.  Frankly, Rondo is in that category.  I thought better of him, and playing for his next contract would inspire him to give it his all this year.  I was wrong.

We've added some very essential bricks to our foundation this year...players that will be very instrumental in the future success of the team.  And we have plenty of assets for the next few years to continue to build the team.

Name me one other NBA team with the potential that we have in the coming years?

Enjoy the ride...March will be brutal, but iron is strengthened through the fire.

This team is coming to play!

Rak

[Jesus Shuttlesworth #20]

Why would you apologize for creating this thread in the initial post? If you were really apologetic at the time you posted this you simply would not have made the post. Don't apologize, just make better posts and particularly thread names 'Frustrated' c'mon man you need to come with something better all around.

[Donoghus]

They haven't pigeonholed themselves into the the peg of a true treadmill team, though.

Their cap situation is extremely fluid going forward, they're young, and they have plenty of assets at their disposal.

This isn't the case of a team hitting a glass ceiling of 6, 7, 8 seed because they're filled with veteran, established talent or in cap hell for the next 2 to 3 seasons.

They have plenty of promise to continue to rebuild by trades & free agency.   This organization is not hitting the wall of mediocrity with little manueverability (sp?) in the near future.

It's been a multi-year rebuild all along.  They're actually probably a bit ahead of schedule, in fact.

I understand its a long process and Ainge as accrued lots of young assets but its the Thomas and Turner moves that have me frustrated as these guys are slightly expensive, taking minutes from rookie who need them and are pushing us out of a true 'franchise guy' possibility.

I'd say in the whole NBA, other than Charlotte, Philly and Denver, Boston is the only team without a 'franchise guy'

You still have to field a basketball team;  guys who are going to be around for the long haul & guys who are passing through.   

Thomas isn't expensive by any means.  He's a bargain when you factor in production, years left on contract, & age.  You also have to consider the bump in the salary cap going forward. 

Now he may not be a cornerstone in the long run but he's going to be an asset as either a Celtic on the court or as trade bait down the road.

Turner only has a year left on his contract after this season plus he's getting paid a measly $3 million plus change.  That's nothing.

[timobusa]

And you know this coming from experience? Have you had a GM position in the NBA before?

News flash not all franchise players stay with their teams.
Shaq, KG, Dwight, Barkley, Melo, Chris Paul, Webber, Vince Carter, Lebron etc

All those players were considered franchise players at least at one point in their careers, but they all moved teams or got traded at the peak of their careers, so your reasoning is flawed.

Things change, gotta keep up with the times.

Danny has done a really good job so far, so just let him do his thing.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

And you think that wasn't Danny's plan all along?

He traded away two of our best players at the time, he was tanking. It just so happens that the coach and the players refuse to lose on purpose.

He may have not made us a terrible enough team to tank, but he acquired us players and picks that he can use to flip into something very valuable in the long ran, all while, our young guys are developing something even far better than what tanking will get us, they're learning how to win.

[JohnBoy65]

If it was as easy as being bad for one season everyone would do it. I think DA has soone a masterful job. The was IT has been playing why can't he be our Paul Pierce? He could be a piece that draws people here.

[Vermont Green]

It is hard to be critical because you can't expect Ainge to know what will happen.  CLE had 3-#1  picks in 4 years and they didn't have anything much to show for it until LeBron came back.  Philly has been dumping and drafting for, what, 3 years and what do they have?  Maybe two great players, maybe nothing.

I think Ainge got both Thomas and Turner because he thought they were really good value for their contract dollars.  Neither is a cornerstone but either could be valuable in future trades or to play a role on the team as more talent is accumulated.  I don't see the problem with this.

[greg683x]

We have so many of the Nets picks, why not let them do the losing for us while we try to avoid starting a culture of losing.
 
Teams spend years and even decades waiting to get the right pick at the right time and land that franchise player that transforms them into a contender.  Dannys trying more to take matters into his own hands instead of waiting for lightning to strike, and Im ok with that.