Silver Lining to Injuries

[miraclejohan]

My wife calls me Johnny Silver Lining because I'm always saying, "well, at least its not....(insert worse scenario here)" so forgive me....

BUT.  We weren't even supposed to beat the Warriors this year.  If we continue not expecting Hayward back and be SUPER cautious with Kyrie (and actually fix what is wrong)....imagine this young team with underdog and over-achieving confidence competing through the playoffs.  I'm fully not expecting them to win but they could make a run and get Tatum, Brown, and Rozier meaningful playoff and leadership minutes while surely testing vets like Morris and Monroe to step up and earn a spot to finish the chapter with us.

Just saying, if we accept that 18-19 is the year we need Kyrie and Hayward healthy and together to actually make some noise....this could still be a surprising, entertaining, and valuable post-season for us.  Championship aside.  Let the kids lead and the vets prove it to us.

[GreenWarrior]

I felt better about this team when we made all these changes over the summer. the previous incarnation of this team was a dead end street.

but after all the changes I felt we probably wouldn't be a top team having to depend on inexperienced youth. and we shouldn't have been one of the best teams this season(even if Hayward didn't get injured). but we are.

the frustrating thing with the injuries is if there was a season where we could sneak a championship in it'd be this one. the 2 top teams are teams despite their record no one should really trust as a team to win it all. Houston and Toronto imo are essentially fake good teams - teams that can win a lot of games in the reg. season but equates to nothing come playoff time.

and it's a shame that 2 chump teams like this now have a much better chance. 

[Granath]

TP.

I've been saying much the same thing. Guys are getting thrown out of their comfort zones and are having to learn to adapt and expand their games. It's not always pretty and the results are rocky but long-term this will make the team stronger.

Rozier has developed with more playing time. Morris is signed for another year and is posting the best PER 36 numbers of his career. Tatum is learning what it's like to be a primary scorer in the NBA. Even guys like Yabu and Semi are gaining much-needed experience to boost their games. While you get the occasional village idiot who claims some of these guys are "trash", this is a good way to get young players to step up. They're learning to win on grit and determination rather than talent and size. They're seeing how the system benefits everyone and how Brad can put people in positions to succeed. And they're doing it without the heavy weight of losing which is what happens to most teams in this situation.

I look at this much like the growing pains of the 14-15 season after IT. That team learned to believe in itself that year and it was a springboard to the next level. These guys are learning to believe in themselves this year and that will make this a very, very deep team next year.

Finally, when other players see a guy like Greg Monroe start to gets his reputation rebuilt by signing with Boston, that's yet another selling point for this team. Monroe went from being cut by the worst team in the league to becoming a valuable bench contributor for the #2 seed in the ECF.

[trickybilly]

Yeah, I'd be happy with another ECF exit if it is more competitive than last year's embarrassment.

Our team is obviously MUCH more balanced and structured to deal with Cleveland's targeting one player to completely remove from the game.

[Csfan1984]

Everyone can get a little more experience and some can boost their trade stock.

[JBcat]

Everyone can get a little more experience and some can boost their trade stock.

Yep, this is my thought and specific to someone like Morris.  His value for us will probably never be higher than it will be after this season, and I see his minutes going down next year with Hayward coming back.  I also don’t see him as a long term core piece.

We should explore what we can get for him, and maybe even add someone like Rozier.  A package starting with those 2 looks much better now than at the start of the season. Even something like a loosely protected future first for Morris I would explore if teams are interested in that.

[ChillyWilly]

Everyone can get a little more experience and some can boost their trade stock.

Yep, this is my thought and specific to someone like Morris.  His value for us will probably never be higher than it will be after this season, and I see his minutes going down next year with Hayward coming back.  I also don’t see him as a long term core piece.

We should explore what we can get for him, and maybe even add someone like Rozier.  A package starting with those 2 looks much better now than at the start of the season. Even something like a loosely protected future first for Morris I would explore if teams are interested in that.

and we are trading them for what more draft picks? I'll take Morris and Terry over more draft picks next season when we make our run for the Championship Belt!!

[Csfan1984]

Everyone can get a little more experience and some can boost their trade stock.

Yep, this is my thought and specific to someone like Morris.  His value for us will probably never be higher than it will be after this season, and I see his minutes going down next year with Hayward coming back.  I also don’t see him as a long term core piece.

We should explore what we can get for him, and maybe even add someone like Rozier.  A package starting with those 2 looks much better now than at the start of the season. Even something like a loosely protected future first for Morris I would explore if teams are interested in that.

and we are trading them for what more draft picks? I'll take Morris and Terry over more draft picks next season when we make our run for the Championship Belt!!

Any top 10 player will take a huge package to get doesn't have to be for picks

[JBcat]

Everyone can get a little more experience and some can boost their trade stock.

Yep, this is my thought and specific to someone like Morris.  His value for us will probably never be higher than it will be after this season, and I see his minutes going down next year with Hayward coming back.  I also don’t see him as a long term core piece.

We should explore what we can get for him, and maybe even add someone like Rozier.  A package starting with those 2 looks much better now than at the start of the season. Even something like a loosely protected future first for Morris I would explore if teams are interested in that.

and we are trading them for what more draft picks? I'll take Morris and Terry over more draft picks next season when we make our run for the Championship Belt!!

You totally missed my point.  It will be a minutes crunch when all these guys including Hayward comes back.  Also by trading Morris for a future pick helps us re-sign Smart and stay under the tax for 1 more year. I would like to keep Rozier, but if he is packaged to help bring back another legit star I’m all for it.

[hwangjini_1]

and another silver lining, already discussed above, is how the baby-celtics get more time on the court. next man up may be yabusele...


Adam Himmelsbach
✔
@AdamHimmelsbach
Lost amid the Kyrie news was this unlock-the-Yabu update from Stevens: "The more you do the  math on teams you might play and what we might need from a skill and defensive standpoint, he could play a big role for us moving forward. So he'll play more in the next 10 games."

2:35 PM - Mar 23, 2018

[Chris22]

The Butler Celtics will win the championship this year when Brad calls the Barking Dog Play with ten seconds to go in the seventh game of the Finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OGdkoeqG0Q

[footey]

and another silver lining, already discussed above, is how the baby-celtics get more time on the court. next man up may be yabusele...


Adam Himmelsbach
✔
@AdamHimmelsbach
Lost amid the Kyrie news was this unlock-the-Yabu update from Stevens: "The more you do the  math on teams you might play and what we might need from a skill and defensive standpoint, he could play a big role for us moving forward. So he'll play more in the next 10 games."

2:35 PM - Mar 23, 2018

TP for that discovery. Good to read. I’m feeling optimistic that Yabu will contribute decent minutes next season as small ball backup for Al.

[droopdog7]

Not buying.  Injuries could me this year is lost.  And you can never get it back.  Would rather have a punchers chance of making the warriors this year.

[Granath]

Not buying.  Injuries could me this year is lost.  And you can never get it back.  Would rather have a punchers chance of making the warriors this year.

I do not think anyone is disagreeing with you. I'd rather have a healthy team, including Hayward, winning close to 60 games and facing the Warriors (Rockets?). But if we can't, at least the young guys are getting valuable experience AND winning at the same time.

[Bobshot]

Silver lining is bench players getting a chance to break out. Rozier got 33 against Kings tonite. He has definitely benefitted from injuries to Kyrie and Smart. And he's had enough big games lately to suggest he's the real deal. Looks like Danny was right about him.