SI on Celtics, Ainge, Stevens. "Celtics aim to develop talent, not tank for more

[Q_FBE]

Gerald Wallace and Keith Bogans will lead this team to the NBA Finals in 2014!!!!!







OK Probably not. If I could see that happening I would have placed a $100 bet in Vegas and retired next year.

I am more concerned about the process and talent development needed to improve the team incrementally so we can get the break through trade or FA signing to get us back in the big game. My guess is a bottoming out early on followed by more trades to clear out cap and roster space and gain seeds along with pulling the weeds. Danny and Brad get turn the composter in hopes of gaining fertile soil to harvest future playoff series wins and of course championships. 

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I think Ainge will have Stevens push hard for the first half to see what we have in terms of talent. We should be able to see the holes in the roster by then.

After the break and a look around at the trade deadline to upgrade, he will take his NCAA and International prospect wish list and see who is worth targeting. If we are 'bad enough' at that stage to warrant a run at a high draft choice and there are some impact players within reach, then we will lose a few too many games down the stretch.

The hard push in the first half will also establish some market value on a few of our players deemed 'expendable' going forward due to contract, actual talent, redundancy or compatability.

In the final part of this scenario, Danny will be looking at the FA market for 2014 and attempting to clear cap space for a value signing or two if available.

I agree with your prediction as to what will happen. If we push hard to stay in the playoff mix , by the trade deadline, we could actually pry some of these 2014 big names using our many assets. If we are def out of the picture like being 7-10 games out of 8th place, do a fire sale and focus on 2014 draft and fa. I personally dont hope for that bc it will be a long wait then before we get back into the playoffs

I forgot to mention, Rondo will take his time rehabbing if we are really getting our butt kicked before Christmas. At that point, when he does come back I wouldnt be surprised to see it be for an audition of sorts.

I really hope this isnt the case as this will definitley keep us out of the playoffs for 2 or more years. Rondo IMO is our main piece, with no offense to JG, that makes us playoff relevant after this season.

He's our main piece, period.  I'm looking forward to finding how if his facilitation gives that extra bit that might keep guys at the 1a or #2 option level, like perhaps Green might be.  Can Rondo push guys up to the top, or over it, aka make his teammates not just better, but contender worthy?

If so, we're in pretty good shape having him around

[Snakehead]

Its just my natural scepticism saying, this all sounds too good to be true.

I don't know what there is to not believe in.  It's just a matter of what we can get.

We saw this exact same formula play out for Ainge before.  Now maybe it's not the same, but collecting pieces is a more surefire way to rebuild then tanking and playing the lotto and hoping there is a KD like talent.  I think that's pretty clear.  And I personally trust Ainge to find the best possible deals out there.  He sure did with the Garnett trade... one good player and a collection of possibly promising ones was enough.

I am also very interested in Ainge's comments about the draft not being that good.  My natural skeptic is seizing onto that statement.  We will see but in our media age it's obviously very believable for it to be over hyped.

[billysan]

He's our main piece, period.  I'm looking forward to finding how if his facilitation gives that extra bit that might keep guys at the 1a or #2 option level, like perhaps Green might be.  Can Rondo push guys up to the top, or over it, aka make his teammates not just better, but contender worthy?
If so, we're in pretty good shape having him around

The making teammates better is the real truthteller on guys when they are marked as superstars. This was always a burden for Paul Pierce prior to the KG and Ray Allen days. It is something that Lebron struggled with as well.

It was also the final piece of acknowledgement (I remember) for Michael Jordan. He was told by someone, 'It doesnt matter if you score fifty on the Celtics in the playoffs, they won the game'. This in the playoffs prior to the Bulls run of championships. Jordan realized he had to make his teammates better to become legit.

[gpap]

Its just my natural scepticism saying, this all sounds too good to be true.

I don't know what there is to not believe in.  It's just a matter of what we can get.

We saw this exact same formula play out for Ainge before.  Now maybe it's not the same, but collecting pieces is a more surefire way to rebuild then tanking and playing the lotto and hoping there is a KD like talent.  I think that's pretty clear.  And I personally trust Ainge to find the best possible deals out there.  He sure did with the Garnett trade... one good player and a collection of possibly promising ones was enough.

I am also very interested in Ainge's comments about the draft not being that good.  My natural skeptic is seizing onto that statement.  We will see but in our media age it's obviously very believable for it to be over hyped.

Not to undersell what Ainge did, but it bears mentioning that if Kevin McHale wasn't friends with DA and a former Celtic, I don't think he trades KG to Boston.

Just saying, you'd like to hope there's another deal out there waiting for us, but I also wouldn't bet on it being a foregone conclusion.

[billysan]

Its just my natural scepticism saying, this all sounds too good to be true.

I don't know what there is to not believe in.  It's just a matter of what we can get.

We saw this exact same formula play out for Ainge before.  Now maybe it's not the same, but collecting pieces is a more surefire way to rebuild then tanking and playing the lotto and hoping there is a KD like talent.  I think that's pretty clear.  And I personally trust Ainge to find the best possible deals out there.  He sure did with the Garnett trade... one good player and a collection of possibly promising ones was enough.

I am also very interested in Ainge's comments about the draft not being that good.  My natural skeptic is seizing onto that statement.  We will see but in our media age it's obviously very believable for it to be over hyped.

Not to undersell what Ainge did, but it bears mentioning that if Kevin McHale wasn't friends with DA and a former Celtic, I don't think he trades KG to Boston.

Just saying, you'd like to hope there's another deal out there waiting for us, but I also wouldn't bet on it being a foregone conclusion.

It's one of those, "ya cant prove it" deals. You just know that it was a 'friends' thing. I am not complaining either way, but it is hard to believe that their prior relationship had no bearing on the trade.

I dont pretend to know what is in the head of GM's out there or what knd of agreements they have, but maybe there are a substantial amount of 'you owe me' type of deals being formulated. Like a 'quid pro quo' kind of situation.

[BballTim]

Its just my natural scepticism saying, this all sounds too good to be true.

I don't know what there is to not believe in.  It's just a matter of what we can get.

We saw this exact same formula play out for Ainge before.  Now maybe it's not the same, but collecting pieces is a more surefire way to rebuild then tanking and playing the lotto and hoping there is a KD like talent.  I think that's pretty clear.  And I personally trust Ainge to find the best possible deals out there.  He sure did with the Garnett trade... one good player and a collection of possibly promising ones was enough.

I am also very interested in Ainge's comments about the draft not being that good.  My natural skeptic is seizing onto that statement.  We will see but in our media age it's obviously very believable for it to be over hyped.

Not to undersell what Ainge did, but it bears mentioning that if Kevin McHale wasn't friends with DA and a former Celtic, I don't think he trades KG to Boston.

Just saying, you'd like to hope there's another deal out there waiting for us, but I also wouldn't bet on it being a foregone conclusion.

  If people associated with the nba really felt that there was a chance that Kevin McHale screwed over his own team to give a friend or a former team a better deal he'd never work in the league again. You'd also have to assume that he was the only one in the Wolves organization who knew what any teams were offering for KG and the owner took his word for it that no teams were offering better deals.