So... What lessons did we learn?

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It seems to me that being a team mate of IT4 would be a wearing experience, I can envision him being one of those guys who bounces from team to team and ends up playing on 6-8 teams when his career is all said and done, gets his numbers, but not much else.

Rich man's Nate Robinson.

Shorter Jamal Crawford

Same thing.

[BDeCosta26]

It seems to me that being a team mate of IT4 would be a wearing experience, I can envision him being one of those guys who bounces from team to team and ends up playing on 6-8 teams when his career is all said and done, gets his numbers, but not much else.

Rich man's Nate Robinson.

Shorter Jamal Crawford

That's the best comparison I have of him. He's a good player and asset.

It's the only one that fits in my opinion. Comparing him to the likes of Nate Robinson and Spud Webb is an insult to Thomas. This amazes me, because Robinson played here. IT is FAR more talented than those guys. Similar impact as Crawford.

Just imagine if CLE had Thomas. That team would be deadly. Maybe the big three over there wouldn't have to play 40+ minutes a game to beat a 7th seed Celtics team. With his contract, and his performance he's a really nice trade asset.

[Kuberski33]

Never-ever, put a player above the team. 

We went away from TEAM ball, to Pick-n-Roll / Iso ball every time IT4 came in. Guys standing around waiting for IT4 to create.  Heck, we even slowed the game down waiting on IT4.  SO PREDICTABLE.....

That's way too simple of an analysis.  Cleveland's defense forced that.  Turner could not create much all series (except Game 3).  We don't have anyone else on the roster who can dribble penetrate besides Thomas, so when he was in that is exactly what he needed to do.  Cleveland is just a really athletic defensive team.  It starts with Lebron, but adding Shumpert and Mozgov to that team was a huge positive.  They are both excellent defenders.  Kyrie was really good all series on D as well.

People have totally underestimated Cleveland's defense.  Even Irving works at it now.  They defend well enough to compete for a title.

[JHTruth]

Kevin Love won't be signing here as a FA

[furball]

Like WHO said, nothing we didn't already know.  Everything in this thread I could have told you months ago.  And then we would have had a higher draft pick to try and fill one of those many needs. 

[Rakulp]

Kevin Love won't be signing here as a FA

If no other lesson was learned, then it was a VERY valuable one and well worth the effort.  Hopefully we can move on from Love now.

However, I believe there were many more learned and only the staff and players of the Celtics could truly answer the question. 

Rak

[crimcartel]

- Size and talent wins in the playoffs
- The Celtics are a small-ball perimeter team that can't shoot
- The best players on the Celtics can't consistently get good shots against even a mediocre defensive playoff opponent.
- Bradley and Turner are wholly inadequate as starting options on the wing
- Bass and Zeller get overwhelmed by physically superior opponents

Disappointed in Bradley's shot selection.

Zeller and Kelly are soft finesse bigs

Bass is what he is.

Brad can coach.

Isaiah is a great option off the bench only.

I don't think that Thomas has to be limited to a bench player. His last two games of the season were two of his worst shooting wise, but let's not forget how great he was for most of his time here. Also have to take into account how easy it was for the Cavs to game plan for him, being the only scorer on the team. If you look back to when he started on the Kings, it was much harder to plan for Isaiah because everyone was so worried about Cousins. I would make getting a second go to scorer a huge priority this offseason to help ease the load on IT.

I like Isaiah but his size limits his defensive abilities.. so if he is not hitting his shot he has little value other than drive and kick... but remember its not who starts the game.. its who finishes.

[Jferrari401]

- Size and talent wins in the playoffs
- The Celtics are a small-ball perimeter team that can't shoot
- The best players on the Celtics can't consistently get good shots against even a mediocre defensive playoff opponent.
- Bradley and Turner are wholly inadequate as starting options on the wing
- Bass and Zeller get overwhelmed by physically superior opponents

Disappointed in Bradley's shot selection.

Zeller and Kelly are soft finesse bigs

Bass is what he is.

Brad can coach.

Isaiah is a great option off the bench only.

I don't think that Thomas has to be limited to a bench player. His last two games of the season were two of his worst shooting wise, but let's not forget how great he was for most of his time here. Also have to take into account how easy it was for the Cavs to game plan for him, being the only scorer on the team. If you look back to when he started on the Kings, it was much harder to plan for Isaiah because everyone was so worried about Cousins. I would make getting a second go to scorer a huge priority this offseason to help ease the load on IT.

I like Isaiah but his size limits his defensive abilities.. so if he is not hitting his shot he has little value other than drive and kick... but remember its not who starts the game.. its who finishes.

That's true, I do think that he is best suited coming off the bench and being out there to finish games but I think far too much pressure was on him to score this season. We really didn't have another consistent option, and drive and kick isn't easy when none of our spot up shooters are actually great shooters.

[SHAQATTACK]

I love the team being in the playoff and I hope they never miss the playoffs again.  Last year was awful ....no more of that ....glade the bottoming out is DONE

More playoffs ! 

[gpap]

Smart is a keeper. Crowder is a keepr. Thomas is a bench spark plug so I hope he's ok with that. Everyone else should be available.

Agree with everything EXCEPT the part about IT. I feel he got exposed badly in games 3 and 4. I would list him under the AVAILABLE section.

[spikelovetheCelts]

Most likely we are getting swept, our comeback is too little, too late.

What are some lessons we have learned from the Playoff Experience?

We need a defensive rebounder.

We need to make open 3s.

We do those two things...team can play with anyone in this conference.

Young can become the shooter Bradley and Smart will too become better shooters and IT4 can shoot.
Sullinger can rebound. Zeller is a backup period. We need a True Legit center that can rebound. DA has the resources to do get us one.

[Beat LA]

Keep - Smart, Young (we haven't seen nearly enough of him yet, imo), Crowder, and maybe Sullinger, although if some gm is dumb enough to give us someone/something good for him, I'd probably jump at the chance to ship him out of town, lol.

Jettison - everyone else, haha. Thomas, especially.  I can't stand him.  It's frustrating enough watching him even try to play defense, and it's even worse when he's on offense.  He's nothing but a hero ball player, and on the rare occasion when he actually feels like passing, more often than not he gets in the air before he knows what he's going to do, which is a cardinal sin for a point guard.  He plays completely out of control, most of the time, as well.  Pass (unlike him, lol ).

[JHTruth]

Keep - Smart, Young (we haven't seen nearly enough of him yet, imo), Crowder, and maybe Sullinger, although if some gm is dumb enough to give us someone/something good for him, I'd probably jump at the chance to ship him out of town, lol.

Jettison - everyone else, haha. Thomas, especially.  I can't stand him.  It's frustrating enough watching him even try to play defense, and it's even worse when he's on offense.  He's nothing but a hero ball player, and on the rare occasion when he actually feels like passing, more often than not he gets in the air before he knows what he's going to do, which is a cardinal sin for a point guard.  He plays completely out of control, most of the time, as well.  Pass (unlike him, lol ).

Everyone will be on the table. Danny will trade anyone

[Lucky17]

Don't get the hate on Thomas. Team's best (only?) scorer and best (only?) playmaker. Another game high in assists tonight. Had a rough game shooting, no doubt.

Pretty much like everyone else on the C's roster, he's a guy who being asked to do more than he's really capable of. Better 6th man than starter.

[max215]

Smart is the future, but needs to develop more on offense. Young needs to work over the summer and take advantage of a chance next year. Crowder needs to be resigned. IT should be coming off the bench and needs to be relied on less. Perimeter shooting needs to be more consistent. AB and ET have no future with us. Sully looked really good today, but I don't think he makes sense for us, so he should be traded. We desperately need a go-to scoring option. There are a lot of things that need improvement on this team, but things are looking up; we have DA, CBS, an ungodly number of picks, and a boatload of cap room. I can't wait to watch this team develop over the next few years.