« Reply #112 on: March 26, 2018, 08:23:12 AM »
Boston won 53 games last year and the team without Hayward is pretty similar.
and the team without Hayward ... is much younger
(giving minutes to Brown, Tatum, Rozier, Semi instead of Bradley, Crowder, Green, Olynyk)
and the team without Hayward ... has no experience playing together
(4 returning players)
and the team without Hayward ... has less reliable outside shooting
(compare Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, Green to Brown, Tatum, Morris, Semi ... not to mention larger roles for Smart and Rozier)
and the team without Hayward ... is much thinner than last year's team
(the Celts are one injury to 31 year old Al Horford away from starting Aron Baynes at C and giving heavy minutes to Semi Ojeleye and Daniel Theis ... they're one Kyrie Irving injury away from starting Marcus Smart and relying on Al Horford or Jaylen Brown to be their #1 offensive option)
Honestly, I might be too optimistic with 45 wins. That feels kind of like a best case scenario. I guess we just need to hope Horford and Kyrie stay healthy and Kyrie has a MVP caliber campaign.
I will take talent over age any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Irving > Thomas
Brown < Bradley
Tatum < Crowder
Morris > Johnson
Horford = Horford
Smart > Smart
Rozier > Rozier
Baynes > Olynyk
Jerebko, Green, Zeller > Yabusele, Larkin, Ojeleye
So I basically see a wash in the starting lineup, but a better main rotation with a weaker deep rotation this year. The teams are about the same, and frankly I wouldn't be all that surprised to see both Brown and Tatum better than Bradley and Crowder by the end of the year.
There is obviously less overall shooting, but I feel much more comfortable with Brown and Tatum as scoring options then I did with Bradley and Crowder in similar roles as Bradley and Crowder were both fairly limited offensively overall (Crowder much moreso than Bradley).
Depth will be a problem and the younger guys will have more "rookie" mistakes, but I also expect more great games from them (like Brown last night).
looking back, I hit this pretty much on the head (at least the comments part). I can't wait to see this team with Hayward. They will be so much better next year after missing Hayward this season then they otherwise would have been as Brown and Tatum got a lot more growth then they would have otherwise gotten.
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