The Inmate Run The Asylum

[rollie mass]

The breaking down of teams to hold talent they groomed or acquired.No respect for contracts.
The ability to create supe rteams and trade young fan favorites. The referees
The players at the moment for the Celtics are putting on themselves but is really a breakdown of injuries,new players ,rookies,young players and the resulting iso ball.
Maybe Fournier will help return of ball movement .We really miss miss Hayward and his ability to control and make the right plays .
It maybe that Ainge and Brad have lost temporary control but to question it is not fixable.To question Danny's holding onto core Timelord is just coming into his own,Smart,Brown,Tatum,Romeo ,Nesmith ,Pritchard, Semi,
 Grant Williams.
And we lost the mercenaries Horford,Hayward,Kyrie .
Ainge found Theis, Now it might be Yam Madour a point guard that is stashed.
Fournier is a solid fit.
Romeo and Timelord both fell out of lottery but both have length and skills and Nesmith has length  and shooting slikks.
No preseason late into summer bubble playoffs failure of additions,youth ,no fans and Covid.
HARD TO WATCH an understatement  a mess an understatement but Danny held and kept the young guys.
Tatum Coronavirus and effect on his game,injuries across the board ,isolation for contact.
The pieces are there but young to adversity of this type.
Pritchard so poised  said so many games. Time lord gets sick,Semi is injured and Tristan Thompson out. and we got two new replacement centers and Fournier and still came back.
What if the players are not that concerned with standings but getting  through the season uninjured with the foundation and chemistry right Which means playing new guys and testing lineups .Now Romeo is coming back to play his way slowly into shape.
Loss of Theis huge blow emotionally and for his fit and willingness to take hits and sprint the court.

[PhoSita]

The breaking down of teams to hold talent they groomed or acquired.No respect for contracts.
The ability to create supe rteams and trade young fan favorites. The referees

Unfortunately I think that the league's ideal of competitive balance is 3-4 teams in glamour markets stacked with superstars, and then the rest of the league tries to be competent and provide a relatively consistent nightly product while winning 40-50 games, but no real chance at being truly relevant or making the Finals.

This is the endgame of changing the lottery odds to be more flat while also giving increasing freedom to star players to demand / force trades, work together behind the scenes to coordinate going to a particular big city team, etc. 

Casual fans are increasingly following the NBA for star personalities rather than team play.  Always been true to some extent but seems more so now than ever.  (get off my lawn, etc)  The NBA does better financially when there are superteams, and the media would much rather talk about the stacked Brooklyn Nets or the Los Angeles Klutch than waste podcast episodes and insider articles on the Utah Jazz or the Toronto Raptors.



As for the rest of your post, I think I agree with you.  It's been a tough year for this team and I think the effects of youth plus a lot of bad luck with COVID and injuries are just too much for the team to really overcome. 

I'd like to believe they're just saving themselves for the playoffs and they will go on another deeper-than-expected run, but I don't really believe that.  I think they are who they've shown themselves to be.