Is assembling a Championship Team like a dog chasing its tail?

[Alleyoopster]

The ultimate scenario is the Celtics keep their best players and add even better players as the years go on. With the new collective bargaining agreement this might be a lot tougher to do.

This past summer we lost Evan Turner to a higher bidder. Some may feel that we are fine without him and some feel the same if we lose Kelly Olynyk and/or Amir Johnson next year. And, others would be fine if we lost out on keeping Avery Bradley and/or Isaiah Thomas the next year. The reality is we need good players to win. Thus, saying we can win it all without all these players is somewhat questionable. (not impossible though)

Whatever happens the salary demands for retaining our better players plus signing free agents may prove monumental. My feeling is that it's going to be nearly impossible to keep them all. Thus, we could be in a perpetual cycle of losing key players to salary or injuries and signing new ones to take their places.
 
Would there be any improvement under such circumstances? Maybe, but it's going to be difficult. Could it be like a dog chasing its tail? It gets closer, yet gets nowhere. 

[csfansince60s]

Luck is the other huge variable here when it comes to championships.

And not just regarding injuries.

Even signing what seems like an inconsequential player at the time could turn a game or a series months or years later. Do the Sox win in '04 without Dave Roberts or the Cs in '07 without PJ Brown? Maybe, maybe not.

And regarding injuries, we win 2 maybe 3 more championships in the PP/KG era, but for injuries. How about deaths, does Jordan/Bulls win as many if Lennie Bias was on the Cs? And how many more would we have won?

[mctyson]

The ultimate scenario is the Celtics keep their best players and add even better players as the years go on. With the new collective bargaining agreement this might be a lot tougher to do.

This past summer we lost Evan Turner to a higher bidder. Some may feel that we are fine without him and some feel the same if we lose Kelly Olynyk and/or Amir Johnson next year. And, others would be fine if we lost out on keeping Avery Bradley and/or Isaiah Thomas the next year. The reality is we need good players to win. Thus, saying we can win it all without all these players is somewhat questionable. (not impossible though)

Whatever happens the salary demands for retaining our better players plus signing free agents may prove monumental. My feeling is that it's going to be nearly impossible to keep them all. Thus, we could be in a perpetual cycle of losing key players to salary or injuries and signing new ones to take their places.

Would there be any improvement under such circumstances? Maybe, but it's going to be difficult. Could it be like a dog chasing its tail? It gets closer, yet gets nowhere.

It is not impossible to keep all these players.  In fact it is very possible.  It just is unlikely to happen because of the severe luxury tax penalty the Celtics would have to pay.  Wyc and Pags did not become ridiculously rich by throwing money away.

If they believe that IT, Bradley, and Smart are all pieces to the championship puzzle, then it would make sense for Danny to approach all of them about extensions this offseason.  I doubt Bradley does it because he did it once before and now is underpaid, which is why he is most likely to leave as a free agent.  I can see Smart signing on to a Bradley-like contract extension though. 

IT is the real interesting question - would he accept $25M for 4 years now (basically a Horford contract) or would he rather force the Celtics into the $33M x 4 max a year from now when he hits the market?  I guarantee some team will give that to him.  That might not seem like a major victory for the Cs but if they eventually have to pay the repeater tax every $1 you can save could be huge.

[LilRip]

IMO, other than luck, assembling a championship team is about making bold choices. C's have a lot of likable and nice pieces but they need to make a bold choice to take the next step to become a contender. That may entail trading away crowd favorites like Crowder, Bradley or Smart, or on the flip side, sticking to their guns because they think one of them will become special.

I don't think it's realistic to keep all the good-not-great talent we have right now, unless everyone takes a hometown discount. At some point, C's have to combine those good talents for a great one.

[Ogaju]

The ultimate scenario is the Celtics keep their best players and add even better players as the years go on. With the new collective bargaining agreement this might be a lot tougher to do.

This past summer we lost Evan Turner to a higher bidder. Some may feel that we are fine without him and some feel the same if we lose Kelly Olynyk and/or Amir Johnson next year. And, others would be fine if we lost out on keeping Avery Bradley and/or Isaiah Thomas the next year. The reality is we need good players to win. Thus, saying we can win it all without all these players is somewhat questionable. (not impossible though)

Whatever happens the salary demands for retaining our better players plus signing free agents may prove monumental. My feeling is that it's going to be nearly impossible to keep them all. Thus, we could be in a perpetual cycle of losing key players to salary or injuries and signing new ones to take their places.
 
Would there be any improvement under such circumstances? Maybe, but it's going to be difficult. Could it be like a dog chasing its tail? It gets closer, yet gets nowhere.

I see your point, TP !!! This is what happened to OKC. Once they lost Harden they were toast.

[Csfan1984]

Here's the thing you need a top ten player or you are hoping for a miracle. So till you aquire one you are not a contender. Some franchises dont even focus on championships due to this fact. They focus on smaller goals like making the playoffs. Now back to those teams looking for titles, things are far worse for that goal currently. This is due to the Warriors Mega team. They have two guys in the top 10. And another two in the top 20. They are favorites for the next 3 years probably. Any trades or 2017 FA additions wouldn't change that fact only make C's a stronger contender to come out the East. So I wouldn't call "going after a title", chasing a tail. I'd call it false hope.

[trickybilly]

Here's the thing you need a top ten player or you are hoping for a miracle. So till you aquire one you are not a contender. Some franchises dont even focus on championships due to this fact. They focus on smaller goals like making the playoffs. Now back to those teams looking for titles, things are far worse for that goal currently. This is due to the Warriors Mega team. They have two guys in the top 10. And another two in the top 20. They are favorites for the next 3 years probably. Any trades or 2017 FA additions wouldn't change that fact only make C's a stronger contender to come out the East. So I wouldn't call "going after a title", chasing a tail. I'd call it false hope.

This is why several posters (and one notable whipping boy) talk about The Process. The Process was designed solely to find a generational talent, hopefully 2.

Every team, except those explicitly acknowledging in July that they are not competing for a ring fills up its payroll with guys that will win 41 games. Now that is often enough for an owner to make substantial profit, but the emotional reward (and increased financial reward) makes having a true understanding of what you need to win it all. And that, as FLCelts might say, is an X factor. A unicorn.