Who are the Celtics best three players right now.

[td450]

Beside the coach, the reason this team is better than the sum of its parts is due to the combination of Bradley, Smart and Crowder. You can take any three other guys away and they wouldn't change the team fundamentally. They are the team's current identity. They are the only reason this is considered a tough team to play against.

[Eja117]

Smart, IT,.....hard to say....the candidates are Lee, AJ, Sully, Crowder, and Jordan Mickey. At least by the end of the year.

[loco_91]

Thomas, Johnson are a pretty easy one and two imo. Then it's a tossup, you could convince me that it's either Smart, AB, Lee, Crowder, or even Sully. But by the end of the year, I hope it will be Smart, Thomas, Sully.

[redrobot]

Smart, IT,.....hard to say....the candidates are Lee, AJ, Sully, Crowder, and Jordan Mickey. At least by the end of the year.

So a 2nd round pick that has yet to play an NBA game is in discussion for our #3 best player?

I agree it's definitely not clear cut, but that seems slightly ridiculous. Maybe you are not fans of this year's first rounders?

So far the consensus seems to fall somewhere along the lines of IT, Lee & Smart. Tough call of Lee given how how GS flourished after his injury and subsequent benching. Maybe he's become too much of a defensive liability? Hope not, but I really didn't get to see him play that much last season.

My own top 3 is IT, Smart & Bradley - but fully on the fence as much as anyone.

[Iggzilla]

Thomas, Lee and Smart.

The first two are probably our most potent offensive weapons on the current roster. I was initially thinking of Amir as the third best player, but I think Smart and his perimeter defense will be much more valuable than whatever Amir will provide.

[Hemingway]

Beside the coach, the reason this team is better than the sum of its parts is due to the combination of Bradley, Smart and Crowder. You can take any three other guys away and they wouldn't change the team fundamentally. They are the team's current identity. They are the only reason this is considered a tough team to play against.

Agreed. Going forward I really really like the 1 2 3 of Smart, AB and Crowder. That's a really good 1 2 3 for D. Hopefully we could just add a star on O at the 4 or 5 and another D guy at the other spot and be good to go. Amir might be the non star.

Smart
AB
Crowder
Mr X
Amir

X could be Melo, Love, DMC, KD or someone we haven't even thought of yet. 

[Greyman]

Thomas - His points will be vital, our most consistent scorer.

Bradley - Closest we have to a leader and, despite distractors and concerns about playoff performance, a consistent performer.

Lee - As long as he plays close to his previous best.

Smart is player most likely to break into this group.

[Eja117]

Smart, IT,.....hard to say....the candidates are Lee, AJ, Sully, Crowder, and Jordan Mickey. At least by the end of the year.

So a 2nd round pick that has yet to play an NBA game is in discussion for our #3 best player?

I agree it's definitely not clear cut, but that seems slightly ridiculous. Maybe you are not fans of this year's first rounders?

So far the consensus seems to fall somewhere along the lines of IT, Lee & Smart. Tough call of Lee given how how GS flourished after his injury and subsequent benching. Maybe he's become too much of a defensive liability? Hope not, but I really didn't get to see him play that much last season.

My own top 3 is IT, Smart & Bradley - but fully on the fence as much as anyone.

Definitely. There's not lots of great players for him to surpass on this team.

[showtime]

Thomas, Turner and Lee. Next 3, Johnson, Zeller and Sully.

[D Dub]

Lee and Thomas are the ones due the respect, but I think everyone on the court knows its Marcus. 

[mctyson]

I'm going to say Thomas Smart and David Lee. I wanted to say Sullinger but I'm eating a bacon double cheeseburger right now so that made me go Lean with Lee.

Sully is the best all-round talent on the team.  He was probably the best player on the team last year pre IT4.  3rd in Win Shares, best in value over replacement, 3rd in PER...and this was with him being out of shape and benched for the 2nd half of the season when the team was actually winning.

I think part of the reason for acquiring Lee and Johnson was to put pressure on Sully to achieve his potential, which should be All-Star.

[walker834]

Thomas, Turner and Lee. Next 3, Johnson, Zeller and Sully.

I was going to say the same but thomas, Turner, Lee.  With Johnson, Smart, Sully next in line.  Maybe Bradley over Amir.