Does this team make any sense to anyone?

[Future Celtics Owner]

(imagine marcus and James beating up the other teams backcourt)

I have.

I am so sick of us being the 98 lb weakling.
At least now we have a PG and a SG with some size.

Imagine a point guard at:  6'4'' 230lb  6'9.25'' wingspan  8'4'' standing reach  10% bf
Imagine a shooting guard ;6'7''  213    7' WINGSPAN       8'8'' standing reach   5% bf

Now Imagine one of those players is a beast leading the league in steals and shutting down the best ball handlers. Both are very young for their class. Now imagine they are both drafted on the same pro team with a coach known as an all time best for developing players. Add that they are in a great city and even better organization. Add that the team just signed a defensive beast that is older but heralded for his defense and made his share of all nba defensive teams.Now imagine over time how each player will help the other in practice and in spare gym time, to become a better defensive player, now that an emphasis has been placed on defense. Both players get stronger faster quicker and make their weaknesses strengths.

Very soon none of us will have to imagine this scenario because it will be true....and it will be here.

[Future Celtics Owner]

When I look at this roster, I am not convinced that Sullinger fits with the rest of the roster and I wonder if he's the guy that Ainge would like to move in a deal to put together a roster that makes more sense.

I could see us doing the trade with HOU in which we bring back Terrence Jones. Obv it would be the Rondo trade, but if it comes to that we should demand TJones back..imo

[LarBrd33]

When I look at this roster, I am not convinced that Sullinger fits with the rest of the roster and I wonder if he's the guy that Ainge would like to move in a deal to put together a roster that makes more sense.

I think I agree.

Assuming we don't flip the entire roster... Olynyk seems to make the most sense next to guys like Smart.  He can knock down shots and spread the floor.  I really hope he can continue his production from the end of last year.  He was shooting lights out.  Last two months he shot 53%/44%/82% ... He'd work great with the penetrating guards.  But if you have him tentatively slotted in as your potential starting PF... that means Sully is probably the guy to go.

[kozlodoev]

Oh yeah, you forgot about FAV. So we DO have a center....Kinda.... 

We have two centers, Faverani and Anthony.

So we have no center...

[HomerSapien]

Rondo is the part of the puzzle that doesn't makes sense to me with the drafting of Smart.  If Rondo had 2 years left on his contract instead of 1 it would make total sense to have Smart playing behind Rondo to learn the league and position. But in the current situation it seems like you have to trade him and get something back to improve the team and then sign a lesser PG until Smart is ready to drive the team full time.

Also, although I've managed to convince myself that Bradley's contract isn't THAT bad, I'm pretty sure we'll regret it.  Smart teams fill the role that Avery ultimately will play with $4M - 5M FAs and we're paying $8M for ours.  Until 2018.

[Vox_Populi]

Look on the bright side, the Lakers literally have no team. Or even a coach.

[Csfan1984]

Other than Center the roster has incredible flexibility for a trade and one or two should happen.

If you get Love and Martin for TPE, Bass Wallace, Sully, Young, Bogans, C's pick 2016, LAC pick 2016, one Brooklyn 1st. Then your roster is

PG=Rondo, Smart
SG=K.Martin, AB
SF=Green, Wallace
PF=Love, Olynyk
C=MLE FA (Anderson), Fav
If C's trade Smart & keep Young, AB backs up Rondo. Wolves throw in two 2nds to C's.

If you sell and trade Rondo for a Big and picks say Hibbert or Monroe S&T plus picks then your roster is
PG=Smart, FA, Pressey
SG=AB, Young
SF=Green, Wallace,
PF= Sully, Bass
C=Monroe, Olynyk, Fav

Green and Bass become trade chips (plus Wallace in 2015). Also you score additional picks.


Plenty of options for the C's
 

[Beat LA]

To answer your question, no, this team makes no sense.  We have too many similar players at 2-3 positions and we don't even know who's still going to be here by the start of next season.  Jeff Green has to go.  Personally, I think that he would thrive as the sf on the Grizzlies, but I don't know how that would work, salary wise, so we'd likely need a 3rd team to facilitate such a deal.  Bass, even though I love the guy, belongs on a contender as well.  We can't amnesty wallace for reasons that escape me right now (even though we should probably just wait another year until his contract becomes an expiring one), so that leaves us with what exactly?  We need a center, desperately (although I think that that will try to be solved by tanking next year, only to see us just miss out on all of the top prospects by 1-2 picks, as usual.), and if we get Thomas, which would make absolutely no sense, imo, aren't we basically showing our star player the door?  Please don't trade Rondo.  Please.

[zerophase]

Look on the bright side, the Lakers literally have no team. Or even a coach.

..this exactly.

[Future Celtics Owner]

To answer your question, no, this team makes no sense.  We have too many similar players at 2-3 positions and we don't even know who's still going to be here by the start of next season.  Jeff Green has to go.  Personally, I think that he would thrive as the sf on the Grizzlies, but I don't know how that would work, salary wise, so we'd likely need a 3rd team to facilitate such a deal.  Bass, even though I love the guy, belongs on a contender as well.  We can't amnesty wallace for reasons that escape me right now (even though we should probably just wait another year until his contract becomes an expiring one), so that leaves us with what exactly?  We need a center, desperately (although I think that that will try to be solved by tanking next year, only to see us just miss out on all of the top prospects by 1-2 picks, as usual.), and if we get Thomas, which would make absolutely no sense, imo, aren't we basically showing our star player the door?  Please don't trade Rondo.  Please.

I do not feel the same way about jeff green. He is not a player we should be dumping on a team just to get rid of. His stock could not be lower right now and he way our leading scorer last year. Let him play this year and try to get his stock higher. I don't think you will get less that 16ppg with him at worst. And at best he can score in the 20's

[Rakulp]

Free agency has just started...and is stuck in the mud until Lebron announces he is staying in Miami.  After that, who knows what could happen.

Summer league is always good for a look at some new talent.  It will be nice to see KO working with Smart and Young to see how they fit together.

Does the team make sense...as it stands right now, I concede it's lopsided and out of balance.  Still too much time ahead before the first real tip off of the regular season to think that the team on paper now is the one who will be occupying the locker room then.

Rak

[aingeforthree]

I'm a pessimist.  Sometimes it's good to hear a different perspective.  Is there anyone out there who looks at this team and thinks, "yeah... that makes sense" or... "I see what Danny is doing"?

Our team right now...

POINT GUARDS

Rondo -  Ball-dominating PG.  Former star.  Definitely a PG.
Bradley -  He pretends to be a SG, but he's actually a defensive role playing PG without PG ability.
... Backing those 2 up:  Smart - another ball-dominating PG. 
Dregs of the bench:  Pressey.  Another PG.
... The player we reportedly made our top free agent target?... a 5'9 PG.

Every single one of those guys is 6'2 and under without shoes.


POWER FORWARDS

Brandon Bass - longtime starting PF still under contract
Oly - He showed promise in the irrelevant part of the season.  Everyone agrees he's a stretch PF... too slow for SF and way too much of a defensive liability at center.
Sully - Fat kid has some game.  Long term future probably a back-up PF, but he might have a future as a starting PF.   Nobody realistically thinks he's anything other than a PF.
Humph - another PF.  Apparently we want to re-sign him.

SMALL FORWARDS
Green's natural spot is SF
Wallace is a backup SF
We just drafted an 18 year old who is apparently a SF.

....

DOes any of the above make sense?  We passed on bringing in Asik... we clearly had an expendable 1st rounder to get him if he wanted.  We passed on bringing in Afflalo even though it would have merely cost us a marginal young talent.

Clearly this is a team that has to make a trade at some point, right?  It looks like a bunch of "stuff" that we undoubtedly wanted to send for Kevin Love... but if that falls through we're just stuck with a bunch of stuff that doesn't fit together.   Does anyone actually look at that collection of "stuff" and say to themselves, "Yeah, that works.  Faverani can play center.  Lack of size doesn't matter.  Two ball-dominating PG's who can't shoot totally fits Brad's vision."   ... or do we all just agree that we're waiting for the other shoe (or shoes) to drop?

I think it all makes sense.

Acquire assets, develop youth, draft well, clear cap space, & make a trade when it's presented & favorable to your team.

If a trade is there that jump starts the rebuild, you take it. If it's not there, don't make a trade just to make one. You'll take yourself out of a position of strength if you do that. Patience. Fans won't like it, but it's the right approach. Shoot, this time next year could present even a better trade for your franchise.

With the assets acquired, you're setup to wait this out & hit when the price is right.

[DarkAzcura]

Honestly, it just seems like Ainge understands that the 2 and 5 spots are really weak right now in the NBA. He's not getting one for the sake of having one and would rather have some talent in the backcourt and front court than waste spots on stiffs (not like we are great anyway I suppose). I'm fully on board with Ainge's ideology (seemingly) on the weak 2 spot. In this day and age Rondo, Bradley, and Smart are enough for the backcourt to function properly. Smart has the weight and strength of a SF in a 6'3" frame with the length of a SG. Bradley and Rondo have the length of SGs also but not the strength really, but Smart really ties it together for me there. We potentially have James Young and Chris Johnson for the nights we might have to go taller I suppose.

Where I disagree with Ainge is his allergies to finding a decent center lately. Maybe the Jermaine's and Shaq's of the world have soured him a bit, but I wish he would finally just find a dude who can patrol the paint for 15-20 minutes a night. Not asking for much there honestly, imo.

[LooseCannon]

Rondo is the part of the puzzle that doesn't makes sense to me with the drafting of Smart.  If Rondo had 2 years left on his contract instead of 1 it would make total sense to have Smart playing behind Rondo to learn the league and position. But in the current situation it seems like you have to trade him and get something back to improve the team and then sign a lesser PG until Smart is ready to drive the team full time.

It makes sense to me.

One, when you're picking that high, you should usually draft the best player available.  You don't want to be Portland, who took Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan because they had Jim Paxson coming off his second straight All-Star game appearance as their incumbent shooting guard and rookie Clyde Drexler behind him.

Two, I think Ainge's dream has been to have a three-guard rotation with a combo guard coming off the bench as a SMOY candidate.

[CelticsFanFromNYC]

Look on the bright side, the Lakers literally have no team. Or even a coach.

Its Amazing