Greetings. I apologize if this has been pointed out in an earlier page, but I'm new to the "feel good" thread, having spent most of my time in the "let's come up with the best way to tank" threads.
We are 2.5 games out of not only 8th but also 7th. Charlotte has lost Walker for what could be the year and Miami is teetering. 7 is not out of reach.
If we go in as a seven and the standings stay the way they are now otherwise (a big if, the way Cleveland is playing), we face Toronto in the first round. I'm not saying that Toronto isn't good, but I do think they are overrated. It is not outside the realm of possibilities that we could win that series. Then, we get the winner of Washington/Milwaukee. Also winnable.
Okay, maybe I'm the mayor of Fantasyland, but it's nice to be actually rooting to win instead of secretly hoping we tank.
Mike
Toronto would smoke us, you should watch them sometime.
It would be cool if we made the playoffs if and only if it is due to Marcus and then in the playoffs, he plays really well. That's pretty unlikely, if anything we make the playoffs because we get outanked by savvier teams. All we'll have to show for it is Frank Kaminsky and a first round sweep.
Why only Marcus? Why can't it because the Celtics played well as a team?
Think about it this way: if we were to become a good team, which of the following players do you think would be a part of it?
Bass - probably not
Tayshaun Prince - def not
Evan Turner - prob not
Jameer Nelson - def not
Marcus Thorton - def not
Gerald Wallace - maybe as an assistant coach
Jae Crowder - 50/50
Andre Dawkins - def not
Avery Bradley - probably, but one playoff series blowout isn't going to develop him any
Phil Pressey - Def not
Tyler Zeller - he's not a starting center on a good team, he's 50/50 going forward as our backup
That leaves Smart, Sully, KO and Young. So basically those are the 4 players we have that could net us something in a trade or will be on our "real" team when we start to actually try and win again. What good does Tayshaun Prince playing well in the playoffs for us do if he retires in a year? How many minutes do you really think Young will get in the playoffs? If Thorton has a good series, what does it matter if he's a FA and won't sign here anyways?
If we went to the playoffs however and we actually got a long term, tangible benefit out of it, I would be on board. Marcus playing well is the most likely thing to go well for us, so I am rooting for that. Otherwise we're just rooting for a bunch of journey men to cost us long term assets. I don't want to go to the playoffs for one year and then be handicapped by it. I want to put together a team that goes to the playoffs EVERY year and keeps adding lotto picks to it via the Nets.