I know that we all expected fireworks to come after the draft...everyone praying we somehow land Love and Melo this summer and recreate the magic of the KG and Ray Allen trades.
However, although I do hold tight for something ridiculous like that to happen, I am not really expecting it.
I think we made the decision last year to hire Brad Stevens was to recreate the culture of the franchise. I felt like in the Doc and Big 3 era, our issue was that instead of playing with a purpose, we attempted to plug and chug players into the system to see if it could work. Doc was good out of timeouts and drawing up plays, but he had a poor system and Ainge gave headway to the system by going after specific "brand-name" players via free agency or trade with mixed results.
I am going to trust what's going on and primarily put my faith in Brad Stevens. He has had a year under his belt as head coach. We have seen how Popovich did during his first year as coach, only to have a 49 win turnaround the following year. I understand the season involved bringing back an injured hall of famer in David Robinson and bringing in a future hall of famer in Tim Duncan, but don't cut the Celtics short. We do have Rondo back from injury and we did add one of the best players in college, who took his game to another level after the suspension. It shows us that Smart has another gear and has superstar potential.
Brad Stevens has had a year now to get a sense of the NBA and now has the entire summer to prepare to build a system suited to the players we have. I'm positive he can get it done. He managed to do well with the players he had at Butler. Imagine if Butler were able to bring in players the caliber of Smart and Young? They'd be in the Final Four every year.
It's just the hope that the players buy-in to our coach's process. Once that happens, I really believe we have a playoff team on our hands.
Of course it would always be nice to have a legitimate big man who can stay healthy and man the 5 position as well as another player who can score, but by no means do we have to go after a big name. If players play the way they should in their respective systems, they should become big names. Look at the Patriots and the Spurs. The players they get, all pan out because they are played to their strengths with respect to the system.
Obviously it helps to have a quality big man who can defend in the paint, but that player isn't out there. If he can be acquired with some combination of players who may not fit into Brad's system, that would be ideal.
I still believe there's another move to be made to fill out the roster. Players like Brandon Bass and maybe even Jeff Green appear to be a bit out of place and obviously parts of our old scheme of throwing in "branded" players and hoping they will be successful.
Its a matter of keeping the players who play hard, smart, consistent, and error free basketball. If we can muster up players who do that, I think we have a solid chance of winning our division and going to the second round of the playoffs, primarily because the East is so weak. We then have 2 first round picks next year to focus on other areas of the team.
I don't know. I just believe in the system and am just saying it is best to have some patience in the process. Stevens is here for the long haul and I think he can turn us into a model organization like the Spurs or the Celtics of past
Topic: Post Draft overreaction (Read 743 times)