I just can't shake the feeling the Celtics org. was asleep at the wheel

[obnoxiousmime]

From the last half of the season until now, I just can't help but feel the Celtics were caught unaware with everything that was happening behind the scenes with their own players and around the league. It seems like they were the only ones who thought Kyrie might still stay in Boston when the BKN rumors were out there. Then they decided not to trade for Davis even though their reasoning (Davis wanted LA and was going to be a rental) should have been determined well before the offseason. Finally, during the period when it seemed like they were taking a step back and hadn't recovered with Kemba yet, they let the Sixers swoop in and steal Horford.

Instead of being proactive, they put their hope on Kyrie staying when it was obviously a fait accompli. They were held hostage, stuck in a defensive and reactive position and we're seeing the result.

[Rondo9]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

[SparzWizard]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

Well yeah because the Celtics currently have the worst front-court in the NBA and arguably of all-time.

[celticsclay]

I think most of us would rather have Kemba than Irving. They are pretty equally talented but Kemba has been the ultimate teammate Ian’s is beloved and Irving has bothered people everywhere he went

[gouki88]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

It was a solid 72 hours of some optimism. Now we're "fringe playoff contenders" according to some

[celticsclay]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

Well yeah because the Celtics currently have the worst front-court in the NBA and arguably of all-time.

I’m sure other teams have had equally bad frontcourts on July 1st. Let’s see what we end up with eh?

[RPGenerate]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

Well yeah because the Celtics currently have the worst front-court in the NBA and arguably of all-time.

I’m sure other teams have had equally bad frontcourts on July 1st. Let’s see what we end up with eh?

But that just gets in the way of my wrist-slitting and cliff diving!!!

[gouki88]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

Well yeah because the Celtics currently have the worst front-court in the NBA and arguably of all-time.

I’m sure other teams have had equally bad frontcourts on July 1st. Let’s see what we end up with eh?

But that just gets in the way of my wrist-slitting and cliff diving!!!

Daily tradition when not literally everything is perfect

[Rondo9]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

It was a solid 72 hours of some optimism. Now we're "fringe playoff contenders" according to some

Yeah I think I’m done for tonight, free agency was full of drama and twists and that was the first day. XD

[ozgod]

We had to make the best of a bad situation. I think it's a decent recovery from where we were looking a week ago.

[obnoxiousmime]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

Yes, Horford leaving may not have been preventable. However, my larger point still stands that they allowed themselves to be held hostage by the Kyrie and Davis situations when the outcomes of those should have been clear to anyone paying attention. I mean, they are in the league and they have to know much more than we do. They know these players, their own players especially and they should have had an inkling this might happen.

I'll give them credit for signing Kemba, but as I said it seemed reactive, not proactive. If what I'm speculating is in fact not true, then they needed to better control the narrative in the media. It wasn't a great look to have "Kyrie is ghosting us" out there. It wasn't a good look to make it seem like we had all our eggs in the Davis basket if they weren't truly going to put a big boy offer out there. It looked like they were scrambling today when all of a sudden this "sign and trade to keep Horford" came out only for it to come out a few hours later Horford had already decided he was leaving regardless.

[ozgod]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

Yes, Horford leaving may not have been preventable. However, my larger point still stands that they allowed themselves to be held hostage by the Kyrie and Davis situations when the outcomes of those should have been clear to anyone paying attention. I mean, they are in the league and they have to know much more than we do. They know these players, their own players especially and they should have had an inkling this might happen.

I'll give them credit for singing Kemba, but as I said it seemed reactive, not proactive. If what I'm speculating is in fact not true, then they needed to better control the narrative in the media. It wasn't a great look to have "Kyrie is ghosting us" out there. It wasn't a good look to make it seem like we had all our eggs in the Davis basket if they weren't truly going to put a big boy offer out there. It looked like they were scrambling today when all of a sudden this "sign and trade to keep Horford" came out only for it to come out a few hours later Horford had already decided he was leaving regardless.

I'm not sure that they had their eggs in the Davis basket, at least not after it was made clear to them he was going to be a rental. At the deadline last year I don't know if they knew that which was why they kept their powder dry. I do agree that they needed to do something to fix the team last season, not because of AD trade but because it looked like the chemistry was shot. But the Celtics were up and down all season, maybe they thought they would pull out when playoffs came.

As for the news, all kinds of news comes out during free agency, some of true some of it not. And some news never makes the light of day. How would controlling the media narrative have changed the outcomes? Kyrie was determined to leave, AD was determined to be a rental, and we didn't want to pay Al. The sign and trade thing with Al was a journalist speculating about how to keep him.

As for comments about players, I was under the impression they weren't allowed to make any. I could be wrong though.

[Ogaju]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

Yes, Horford leaving may not have been preventable. However, my larger point still stands that they allowed themselves to be held hostage by the Kyrie and Davis situations when the outcomes of those should have been clear to anyone paying attention. I mean, they are in the league and they have to know much more than we do. They know these players, their own players especially and they should have had an inkling this might happen.

I'll give them credit for signing Kemba, but as I said it seemed reactive, not proactive. If what I'm speculating is in fact not true, then they needed to better control the narrative in the media. It wasn't a great look to have "Kyrie is ghosting us" out there. It wasn't a good look to make it seem like we had all our eggs in the Davis basket if they weren't truly going to put a big boy offer out there. It looked like they were scrambling today when all of a sudden this "sign and trade to keep Horford" came out only for it to come out a few hours later Horford had already decided he was leaving regardless.

I am with obnoxious on this one. Danny got played by the malcontent BIG TIME.

[obnoxiousmime]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

Yes, Horford leaving may not have been preventable. However, my larger point still stands that they allowed themselves to be held hostage by the Kyrie and Davis situations when the outcomes of those should have been clear to anyone paying attention. I mean, they are in the league and they have to know much more than we do. They know these players, their own players especially and they should have had an inkling this might happen.

I'll give them credit for singing Kemba, but as I said it seemed reactive, not proactive. If what I'm speculating is in fact not true, then they needed to better control the narrative in the media. It wasn't a great look to have "Kyrie is ghosting us" out there. It wasn't a good look to make it seem like we had all our eggs in the Davis basket if they weren't truly going to put a big boy offer out there. It looked like they were scrambling today when all of a sudden this "sign and trade to keep Horford" came out only for it to come out a few hours later Horford had already decided he was leaving regardless.

I'm not sure that they had their eggs in the Davis basket, at least not after it was made clear to them he was going to be a rental. At the deadline last year I don't know if they knew that which was why they kept their powder dry. I do agree that they needed to do something to fix the team last season, not because of AD trade but because it looked like the chemistry was shot. But the Celtics were up and down all season, maybe they thought they would pull out when playoffs came.

As for the news, all kinds of news comes out during free agency, some of true some of it not. And some news never makes the light of day. How would controlling the media narrative have changed the outcomes? Kyrie was determined to leave, AD was determined to be a rental, and we didn't want to pay Al. The sign and trade thing with Al was a journalist speculating about how to keep him.

As for comments about players, I was under the impression they weren't allowed to make any. I could be wrong though.

It just appears as if they put big bets on a lot of extremely unlikely things happening. They thought the team might still pull it together, it didn't. They underestimated the chemistry issues and overestimated what Hayward might bring when they threw out the "we stayed pat at the trade deadline because we think Hayward is already our big addition" stuff out there. They seemed to still believe a Davis acquisition would change Kyrie's mind. To a lesser extent, they kept Rozier around this whole time as "insurance" that they didn't even end up using, while he helped poison the team with his sour attitude.

It just seems like they were resigned to letting everything play out as it has instead of trying to get ahead of the curve before it happened. Kemba was a nice move, but they're still left with an overall weaker team and the biggest loss is Horford. To be honest, PG is not the hardest position to fill. Versatile PFs who can shoot and defend both in the paint and out to the perimeter is 10x harder.

[ozgod]

They didn’t steal Horford, they just offered more money than the Celtics were  willing to pay. Seriously after getting Kemba it’s back to pessimism in Celticsblog now?

Yes, Horford leaving may not have been preventable. However, my larger point still stands that they allowed themselves to be held hostage by the Kyrie and Davis situations when the outcomes of those should have been clear to anyone paying attention. I mean, they are in the league and they have to know much more than we do. They know these players, their own players especially and they should have had an inkling this might happen.

I'll give them credit for singing Kemba, but as I said it seemed reactive, not proactive. If what I'm speculating is in fact not true, then they needed to better control the narrative in the media. It wasn't a great look to have "Kyrie is ghosting us" out there. It wasn't a good look to make it seem like we had all our eggs in the Davis basket if they weren't truly going to put a big boy offer out there. It looked like they were scrambling today when all of a sudden this "sign and trade to keep Horford" came out only for it to come out a few hours later Horford had already decided he was leaving regardless.

I'm not sure that they had their eggs in the Davis basket, at least not after it was made clear to them he was going to be a rental. At the deadline last year I don't know if they knew that which was why they kept their powder dry. I do agree that they needed to do something to fix the team last season, not because of AD trade but because it looked like the chemistry was shot. But the Celtics were up and down all season, maybe they thought they would pull out when playoffs came.

As for the news, all kinds of news comes out during free agency, some of true some of it not. And some news never makes the light of day. How would controlling the media narrative have changed the outcomes? Kyrie was determined to leave, AD was determined to be a rental, and we didn't want to pay Al. The sign and trade thing with Al was a journalist speculating about how to keep him.

As for comments about players, I was under the impression they weren't allowed to make any. I could be wrong though.

It just appears as if they put big bets on a lot of extremely unlikely things happening. They thought the team might still pull it together, it didn't. They underestimated the chemistry issues and overestimated what Hayward might bring when they threw out the "we stayed pat at the trade deadline because we think Hayward is already our big addition" stuff out there. They seemed to still believe a Davis acquisition would change Kyrie's mind. To a lesser extent, they kept Rozier around this whole time as "insurance" that they didn't even end up using, while he helped poison the team with his sour attitude.

It just seems like they were resigned to letting everything play out as it has instead of trying to get ahead of the curve before it happened. Kemba was a nice move, but they're still left with an overall weaker team and the biggest loss is Horford. To be honest, PG is not the hardest position to fill. Versatile PFs who can shoot and defend both in the paint and out to the perimeter is 10x harder.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of blame Danny has to take for what went wrong. I think the biggest question would be, during the season when they were prepping, did they expect someone to come up with a godfather deal for Horford that would pay him 25m committed at age 37 and what was their fallback? The prevailing thought among the media was that Al would be happy with a 3y/60m and he would be happy with the extra security. Turns out someone was willing to give him 4yr/109m.

Unfortunately the biggest PF/center FAs out there (excluding AD and obviously Al) were Porzingis (re-signed with Dallas), Vucevic (re-signed with Orl), Randle (signed with Knicks), Young (signed with Chi), DeAndre J (signed with Nets), and Dedmon (signed with Sac). I'm guessing it came down to Vucevic vs Kemba for the free agent $$$ and they went for the best player to fill one of the team's needs.