F & M state the Celts hung IT4 to dry by standing pat

[PhoSita]

Can we please not use terms like "placeholder" and "bridge team" when talking about this team? Sounds incredibly spoiled and entitled.

I know we don't hang banners for ECFs, but the team is competitive and fun to root for, right now.

Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.

I think it's possible that this group -- i.e. Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Horford -- is only going to be together for a few seasons, even if they are beloved and win a good number of games during that time.

That would justify calling them a "bridge" team, without it necessarily being a slight.

[Casperian]

Can we please not use terms like "placeholder" and "bridge team" when talking about this team? Sounds incredibly spoiled and entitled.

I know we don't hang banners for ECFs, but the team is competitive and fun to root for, right now.

Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.

I think it's possible that this group -- i.e. Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Horford -- is only going to be together for a few seasons, even if they are beloved and win a good number of games during that time.

That would justify calling them a "bridge" team, without it necessarily being a slight.

It's still unnecessarily disrespectful to the guys in green busting their behinds right now. It's just the wrong mindset.

We're not biding our time until "the real rebuild" begins, we're doing something many people on this blog were very concerned about back when we traded KG and Pierce: we're building a winning culture.

And even if you don't believe in this whole culture thing, there are also very real, tangible benefits: a far better negotiating position when dealing with other teams, for example. Regardless of how you feel about Al Horford, we were able to add him without giving up any assets, besides cap space, precisely because we are building something, right now.

I know we fans want to make sense of what's happening, and for the sake of discussion we're using these terms to better grasp which of the multitude of possibilities is closest to "the truth", not because we mean any disrespect, but terms like these specifically have a clearly negative connotation.

Again, just a matter of respect, in my opinion.

[nickagneta]

Some things:

IT4 is our starting PG until he stops averaging 25+ PPG at a ridiculously high efficiencyand while he is doing that and averaging 6+ APG. When he signs his max contract he will be our starting PG for years. Get used to it.

The idea of having all our starters come off the bench and start all the youth is about the dumbest thing I have ever seen written here at Celticsblog. Stevens would lose the veterans in the clubhouse, the team chemistry would implode and the Cs would start losing games at a Nets like pace. Ainge would also probably fire Stevens for doing so.

IT is this team's primary scorer and hence takes the most shots on the team. He is not a ball hog, he is simply doing his job, the job Stevens has told him to do. Once the Celtics can get another 20+ scorer on this team, IT will defer more.

IT is in a slump for the last week it happens. He will come out of it as he is too good a shooter, gets too many open looks and shots at the free throw line not to come out of it.

What about his defensive limitations?

He still has to prove he can carry this team past a playoff round..

So he has defensive limitations...get over it. So does Harden, Curry, Melo and a lot of other high scoring players. You work around those deficiencies because his offense is so important to the team.

And he doesn't have to carry the team past the first round. The whole team has to be healthy and play well as a whole to get past the first round. IT can't do it by himself. Only the all-time greats can get their team past a round of the playoffs when the rest of the time isn't playing well. And the last two years almost no one played well in the playoffs for the Celtics.

And yet you want to throw max money at IT4 and want him to be the face of the franchise for years to come?

You cant expect role players to come through in the playoffs (not consistently)...the max, star players have to carry them

You cant excuse a guy like IT4 both ways(he is the best player, pay him, but also dont expect alot from him in the playoffs)... Same goes for Horford

Who said not to expect a lot from him in the playoffs. I would expect 25+ PPG, 6+APG, efficient shooting and clutch play in the fourth. If everyone else plays well that will be good enough to get to the 2nd round. Is that carrying the team...who knows? But its worth a max contract and its not even debateable in my mind.

That is fine..

But IT4 stats in the playoffs vs regular season so far have been at different wavelengths

This year he has Horford and some more help then he has had the last 2 seasons....team is in 2nd place

Its not alot to ask for the team to get past the 1st round imo

Really? I mean I'm not saying IT is a "Lebron" in the playoffs, but last season he averaged 22 PPG, and in the playoffs actually averaged 24 PPG. Granted he had two bad games, he was pretty much at his season averages.

Obviously this season you hope he continues his regular season spurt into the post season, but I'm expecting more like 25 PPG since teams will triple team him.

He was magical the one home game we won..

The problem has been the play away from home

You seem to harp on IT for last year's playoffs but what about the rest of the team? They were pretty awful with the exception of Smart for a couple games. Kinda hard for IT to have carried that team any farther given the performance from the rest of the squad.

the rest of the team aren't all stars or max contract players though.  And the thing is Boston lost game 6 at home by 8 points in a game Thomas was 9 of 24 from the field and 1 of 7 from three.  Sure Turner and Crowder were also terrible, but Thomas is your star.

So what he is our star. He can't do it alone.

Also we lost by 12. Everyone but Zeller and Jerebko shot poorly, not just IT. Isaiah also scored 25 points and had 10 assists, leading the team. IT wasn't the problem. The rest of the team was.

 And IT wasn't a max player last year, isn't this year, and won't be next year.