We're not far off....

[mostofusrsad]

Being eliminated in the second round is far off, imo...plus, its not going to be easy to sign all the players we need to upgrade our bench. We have limited resources and assets.

We were eliminated in the second round in 2009, and made it to game 7 of the finals last year.  Dallas was knocked out in the first round last year, and are in the WCF this year. 

This team is not that far off.

Cleveland made it to the finals and was knocked out in the 2nd round. Lakers were the champions and were swept this year. Hornets had one of their worst seasons after playing very well in the playoffs the year before. It goes both ways.

Our core will be a year older next season and our bench needs to be upgraded. Unless we add athleticism and scoring off the bench and a defensive minded center, we are looking at another first or second round exit. Our resources and assets are limited. It's going to be hard to upgrade all our weak links given what resources we have to make all that happen. Until all that happens, we are far off.

  I've been hearing all this every summer since KG's knee injury.

hey lets face facts here, KG is in decline big time...he doesn't have a superior inside game nowadays and he seems to get winded a lot easier than i remember in the past...he is not as good a pillar as he used to be...who knows how much more the decline will be by next year...that knee injury has stolen his explosiveness in my opinion...

[BballTim]

Being eliminated in the second round is far off, imo...plus, its not going to be easy to sign all the players we need to upgrade our bench. We have limited resources and assets.

We were eliminated in the second round in 2009, and made it to game 7 of the finals last year.  Dallas was knocked out in the first round last year, and are in the WCF this year. 

This team is not that far off.

Cleveland made it to the finals and was knocked out in the 2nd round. Lakers were the champions and were swept this year. Hornets had one of their worst seasons after playing very well in the playoffs the year before. It goes both ways.

Our core will be a year older next season and our bench needs to be upgraded. Unless we add athleticism and scoring off the bench and a defensive minded center, we are looking at another first or second round exit. Our resources and assets are limited. It's going to be hard to upgrade all our weak links given what resources we have to make all that happen. Until all that happens, we are far off.

  I've been hearing all this every summer since KG's knee injury.

hey lets face facts here, KG is in decline big time...he doesn't have a superior inside game nowadays and he seems to get winded a lot easier than i remember in the past...he is not as good a pillar as he used to be...who knows how much more the decline will be by next year...that knee injury has stolen his explosiveness in my opinion...

  KG's numbers were very close to what they were in 08-09 before his knee injury, and better than they were in 09-10 when we went to the finals.

[Fafnir]

  KG's numbers were very close to what they were in 08-09 before his knee injury, and better than they were in 09-10 when we went to the finals.

Yeah but you can clearly see the impact of his game decreasing. His defense is a bit slower and less dominant in help schemes, and his offense is now complimentry most games.

We still have a good enough core to win if we're all healthy and we get on a role, but we're no longer favorites. It'd be nice to add some more offensive talent to the mix some where.

[BballTim]

  KG's numbers were very close to what they were in 08-09 before his knee injury, and better than they were in 09-10 when we went to the finals.

Yeah but you can clearly see the impact of his game decreasing. His defense is a bit slower and less dominant in help schemes, and his offense is now complimentry most games.

We still have a good enough core to win if we're all healthy and we get on a role, but we're no longer favorites. It'd be nice to add some more offensive talent to the mix some where.

  His game has probably been declining since 2006 or so. But I don't think that it's "declining big time" or it will be markedly worse next year than this year. He does probably get winded earlier, hence Doc's discussion of playing him for three 5 minute stints in a half instead of two 8 minute stints.

[MBz]

Two things need to happen:

1)We need to get a young big man who can score inside.  Regardless of how bad his defense is, if he scores inside and rebounds his minutes will be key.

2)Doc Rivers needs to play him.  We all know Rivers has fallen in love with certain players.  I mean the year we won it all it took him 2 months to start giving Powe serious burn.  He just doesn't trust the young guys and I feel like that is usually because of their defense.  If we get a young guy who can score inside, Rivers is going to have to play him no matter how bad his rotations are.

[Chris]

ok i get your point...but you do need to add one year to all the celtics ages because the playoffs start again this time NEXT year. 

Now I don't think that the mavericks are as reliant on the 3 guys you mentioned as we have been on the big 3. i'm not comfortable being so reliant on our big 3 anymore...they are bound to be nicked up during the playoffs and i just think we are better off to get some more young athletes.

dallas also added that big backup center who has been a nice addition too and helped knock the lakers out...

Well, they had Haywood last year as well, so, he wasn't an addition.

But anyways, I agree, the C's need to make changes so they are not as reliant on the big 3.  That is something everyone (including Doc and Danny) have acknowledged.  However, they can do that without blowing it up.  In fact, they can cover a lot of that by doing a better job of integrating guys they already have on the roster (Green, West, Davis, all have the ability to be impact players off the bench).

I don't think anyone is realistically saying that the C's don't need to do anything this summer.  However, there is a middle-ground between standing pat, and trading away one or more of the Big 4, where they could absolutely be contenders next year.