This looks like a lotto squad to me

[Greenback]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

[JHTruth]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

[Evantime34]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

He is referring to playing hard, as a team and getting the most out of their talent.

This team is extremely young, and building. Last year they barely made the playoffs, this year they will be better than that and the year after that they will be better than that.

[PhoSita]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

He is referring to playing hard, as a team and getting the most out of their talent.

This team is extremely young, and building. Last year they barely made the playoffs, this year they will be better than that and the year after that they will be better than that.

Where's all of the improvement coming from?

Are you expecting huge leaps forward over the next two years from Smart and Young?  Are you hoping for Rozier, Hunter, or Mickey to turn into above average starters? 

[aingeforthree]

I also think based on the free agent snubs that Ainge has come to the conclusion the only way we end up landing a star is through the draft.

On the contrary, signing vets to these large unguaranteed contracts signals to me that Ainge is not concerned with trying to get talent higher in the draft.  Nor does it seem like he's intent on signing second or third tier free agents, even if the player is young and might be a bargain long term. 

Instead, it seems he's focused entirely on setting himself up to make a blockbuster trade or two for an elite talent.  From what I can tell, all of the eggs are in that basket.  If no such trade materializes, we're basically left hoping that one of these guys selected in the mid to late 1st round turns into a star.

No we're not terrible. And that is the problem. We're mediocre. Fringe playoff team, going to he drafting 12-16 every year, watching FAs laugh in our face as they head elsewhere, as we pray for the trade of the century. We were promised fireworks two years in a row and ended up with Jack. We're literally in the worst place to be for a NBA franchise.

And the Nets have no incentive to tank and every in incentive to avoid embarrassment..

Gimme a break. To be in the worst place you have to have no assets, no youth to develop, and up against the cap.

So basically the Brooklyn Nets.

You are the complete opposite. You're wide open. Keep building through the draft.

A few problems with what you're saying

-Other than Smart, we have no assets.

-Having youth to develop is meaningless. You need to have players that can contribute now to win now.

-I actually like the guys we drafted but having "youth to develop" is in NO WAY a requirement for having a good team.

- No assets other than Smart ? That's not true. No GM in the game believes that. IT4 is an asset by himself, and you know it

- Nothing meaningless about developing talents like Young, Olynyk, Sullinger, and Smart. They proved your point wrong last year when they were winning and developing at the same time

- Never said it was required, just pointed out the transition. Develop your youth and try to win, that's the goal

[Celts Fan 508]

Once the season starts and Brad builds up the value of some of our players and we make some trades the Celtics will be a playoff team.  The biggest issue I see on the Celtics now is that the pieces don't mesh well, how are we going to play all these guards is the main thing.  I hope we didn't spend a first rounder on a player and not even give them a chance in their first or second year.  If we are able to get a SF for Turner, KO, and Bradley that would be ideal in my opinion and make them a playoff team again as it would make them more well rounded.

[Eja117]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

He is referring to playing hard, as a team and getting the most out of their talent.

This team is extremely young, and building. Last year they barely made the playoffs, this year they will be better than that and the year after that they will be better than that.

Where's all of the improvement coming from?

Are you expecting huge leaps forward over the next two years from Smart and Young?  Are you hoping for Rozier, Hunter, or Mickey to turn into above average starters?

Um....yes.

[greece66]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

He is referring to playing hard, as a team and getting the most out of their talent.

This team is extremely young, and building. Last year they barely made the playoffs, this year they will be better than that and the year after that they will be better than that.

Where's all of the improvement coming from?

Are you expecting huge leaps forward over the next two years from Smart and Young?  Are you hoping for Rozier, Hunter, or Mickey to turn into above average starters?

Um....yes.

TP brother.

[Celtics18]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

He is referring to playing hard, as a team and getting the most out of their talent.

This team is extremely young, and building. Last year they barely made the playoffs, this year they will be better than that and the year after that they will be better than that.

Where's all of the improvement coming from?

Are you expecting huge leaps forward over the next two years from Smart and Young?  Are you hoping for Rozier, Hunter, or Mickey to turn into above average starters?

Smart and Olynyk are the two players that I expect to see the most improvement from. 


I agree with Who that Amir Johnson will make a significant positive impact defensively.  I don't think it's hyperbole to say he's the best defensive big we've had since KG left town.

I think a full season of Crowder will be extremely valuable. 

I think the above will be enough for our Celtics to be an improved squad next season. 

[Surferdad]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

He is referring to playing hard, as a team and getting the most out of their talent.

This team is extremely young, and building. Last year they barely made the playoffs, this year they will be better than that and the year after that they will be better than that.

Where's all of the improvement coming from?

Are you expecting huge leaps forward over the next two years from Smart and Young?  Are you hoping for Rozier, Hunter, or Mickey to turn into above average starters?

Um....yes.

Yes I agree too.  Improvement will also come from CBS building more experience as an NBA head coach, he is already top-10 to many in the national media. Also, improvement will come from having pieces that fit together better. Last year, many guys had to play out of position (like KO and even Bass playing center). I expect a few more tweaks to the roster to address that but even without that, Amir Johnson playing center will help other guys get comfortable in their natural positions. I think a lot of people underestimate the impact this will have on the team as a whole. Sure go ahead and Yawn at the Johnson signing, but I am liking it more all the time.

[JHTruth]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

He is referring to playing hard, as a team and getting the most out of their talent.

This team is extremely young, and building. Last year they barely made the playoffs, this year they will be better than that and the year after that they will be better than that.

Where's all of the improvement coming from?

Are you expecting huge leaps forward over the next two years from Smart and Young?  Are you hoping for Rozier, Hunter, or Mickey to turn into above average starters?

Um....yes.

Put down the rock brother. I have been posting on CB pretty much since Jeff uploaded it. I have posted on RealGM Celtics since Chris Wallace was our GM. Every year fans expect giant leaps from role players and rookies to become stud starters. Never happens. You either have what it takes to be a star in this league or not. Bottom line..

[aingeforthree]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

He is referring to playing hard, as a team and getting the most out of their talent.

This team is extremely young, and building. Last year they barely made the playoffs, this year they will be better than that and the year after that they will be better than that.

Where's all of the improvement coming from?

Are you expecting huge leaps forward over the next two years from Smart and Young?  Are you hoping for Rozier, Hunter, or Mickey to turn into above average starters?

Um....yes.

Put down the rock brother. I have been posting on CB pretty much since Jeff uploaded it. I have posted on RealGM Celtics since Chris Wallace was our GM. Every year fans expect giant leaps from role players and rookies to become stud starters. Never happens. You either have what it takes to be a star in this league or not. Bottom line..

So you were the one running Rondo, Tony Allen, and Perkins out of town after their first year

[JHTruth]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

He is referring to playing hard, as a team and getting the most out of their talent.

This team is extremely young, and building. Last year they barely made the playoffs, this year they will be better than that and the year after that they will be better than that.

Where's all of the improvement coming from?

Are you expecting huge leaps forward over the next two years from Smart and Young?  Are you hoping for Rozier, Hunter, or Mickey to turn into above average starters?

Um....yes.

Put down the rock brother. I have been posting on CB pretty much since Jeff uploaded it. I have posted on RealGM Celtics since Chris Wallace was our GM. Every year fans expect giant leaps from role players and rookies to become stud starters. Never happens. You either have what it takes to be a star in this league or not. Bottom line..

So you were the one running Rondo, Tony Allen, and Perkins out of town after their first year

No because no one expected them to be much more than they were. And all benefited immensely by playing next to three HOFers..

[guava_wrench]

The problem with people who bank on their own team's young guys greatly improving is that the league is full of teams with young guys. But we don't see all these teams necessarily becoming fundamentally better, even as their young guys get better. The main reason is that for all their improvements, most players still don't become that great.

Having a bunch of players become a better type of mediocre doesn't do much for you. They still aren't good enough to consistently win. Especially when the young guys just end up taking minutes from older guys as the young guys improve, and we often end up with a less effective team, but with higher hopes for the future. For example, if Young ends up taking minutes from Turner, we might view this as a good turn of events for the future, but it won't really help the team now.

We can expect that the rookies will mostly hurt the team as they get minutes for the sake of development and not based on their actual contribution. We could see Rozier get minutes now with the goal of making him a decent contributor by season's end.

We have these guys playing 1-3: Smart, IT, Rozier, AB, Young, Hunter, Crowder, ET. As the newer guys improve, it only really matters if they become better than the guys they will be taking minutes from. If Hunter is surprisingly effective, it likely means he is still less effective than ET and AB, making his contribution mean little as far as team record is concerned. This is also why it seems to some that we have a logjam in the backcourt despite no one apart from IT being above average at their position.

The best way to get value from a bunch of these guys improving is to package them in a trade to get a single player who is better than all those guys (excluding IT, who is a heck of a scorer).

That being said, it is still quite possible that Smart shows major improvements in his ability to get to the rim.

[guava_wrench]

The team looked like a lottery squad last year.

But something happened on the way to tanksville.

Team play is a new paradigm for many to comprehend.

The Celtics are rediscovering their legacy and going retro.

This year will be better than last year.

Their "legacy" is to have a bunch of bench players barely making the playoffs in a terrible conference? You do realize that the Celtics have the most HOFers of any franchise right? That most of them were high lotto picks?

He is referring to playing hard, as a team and getting the most out of their talent.

This team is extremely young, and building. Last year they barely made the playoffs, this year they will be better than that and the year after that they will be better than that.

Where's all of the improvement coming from?

Are you expecting huge leaps forward over the next two years from Smart and Young?  Are you hoping for Rozier, Hunter, or Mickey to turn into above average starters?

Um....yes.

Put down the rock brother. I have been posting on CB pretty much since Jeff uploaded it. I have posted on RealGM Celtics since Chris Wallace was our GM. Every year fans expect giant leaps from role players and rookies to become stud starters. Never happens. You either have what it takes to be a star in this league or not. Bottom line..

So you were the one running Rondo, Tony Allen, and Perkins out of town after their first year

Watch out for that denominator neglect.