Celtics named one of 3 teams that may knock off Cavs/Warriors

[max215]

I can only see a defense slowing that warriors lineup.  On paper they are unstoppable.

I find this to be pretty silly.  Yes they will be very good, but unstoppable, come on.

They have three of the greatest shooters of all time, 2 of the 3 best players in the NBA, and 4 of the best 20 players in the NBA. They're going to be unstoppable.

[jambr380]

I can only see a defense slowing that warriors lineup.  On paper they are unstoppable.

I find this to be pretty silly.  Yes they will be very good, but unstoppable, come on.

In the history of team sports, the closest comparison is the Dream Team.  This is pretty unprecedented in modern American major league sports.

LOL

Are you doing some sort of experiment to see how many people put you on ignore?

You incredibly bullish on every team, but extremely bearish on the Celtics.

Annoyingly so.

That's the old LB. He has been very optimistic about this year's team, even touting our young players like Rozier and Brown in recent threads.

Sure there is a little bit of hyperbole in there ('history of team sports'), but it's not undeniably wrong; who in the world would feel comfortable betting against GSW right now making it to the finals?

[crimson_stallion]

I can only see a defense slowing that warriors lineup.  On paper they are unstoppable.

I find this to be pretty silly.  Yes they will be very good, but unstoppable, come on.

In the history of team sports, the closest comparison is the Dream Team.  This is pretty unprecedented in modern American major league sports.

Ok, lets relax a little with the dream team comparisons...

They have Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant.  Three chuckers who need the ball in their hand in order to score.   Then they have Draymond Green - who is basically a rich man's, star version of Boris Diaw.

That's the extent of 'star' talent on their roster - beyond those guys it's just a stack of role players, like every other team.  That's quite a contrast to the Dream Team that has a roster made up of 12 stars.

The Cavs have Lebron, Kyrie and Love.
The Spurs have Kawhi, Aldridge and Gasol.
The Clippers have Paul, Griffin and Jordan.

Does the starting 5 of the Warriors have greater overall talent, on paper,  then those other rosters?  Sure it does. 

* So did the Payton/Malone/Kobe/Shaq Lakers who got knocked off by the star-less Pistons.
* So did the Dwight/Gasol/Kobe/Nash Lakers who struggled to make the playoffs
* So did the Deron/Johnson/Pierce/Garnett/Lopez Nets who (also) struggled to make the playoffs
* So did the Curry/Thompson/Green Warriors who barely made the finals last year
* So did the Lebron/Wade/Bosh/Allen Heat who near-swept by the grandpa spec Spurs

Uber-stacked superteams are nothing new.  Uber-stacked superteams failing to achieve expectations is also nothing new. 

I think it'll be a dominant regular season  team, but when it comes to playoff time everything changes, and anything can happen.

Nobody expected the Thunder to come within one game of knocking out the Warriors last year, nor did anybody expect the Spurs to get taken down as early as they did.  Both were seen as two of the best regular season teams we've seen in years. 

[crimson_stallion]

I can only see a defense slowing that warriors lineup.  On paper they are unstoppable.

I find this to be pretty silly.  Yes they will be very good, but unstoppable, come on.

They have three of the greatest shooters of all time, 2 of the 3 best players in the NBA, and 4 of the best 20 players in the NBA. They're going to be unstoppable.

That's debatable...

1) I don't agree that Durant and Thompson are two of the best shooters of all time.
2) I don't agree that Durant is a top 3 player
3) I'm not sure I agree that Draymond Green is a top 20 player - not even sure about Klay Thompson to be honest

Anyway even if the above were true, it still means little. 

When Dwight went to the Lakers you could make the argument that Dwight (c), Kobe (SG) and Gasol (PF) were the best players in the NBA at their position.  Then they also had Nash (who was a arguably a top 5 PG the prior season) and a pretty solid bench.

They struggled and got swept by the Spurs in the first round because (1) they had an idiotic coach who didn't have a clue and (2) they got hit by so many injuries.

Just goes to show that you can have all the talent in the world, doesn't matter if you don't use it right.

[SHAQATTACK]

Warriors will crumble without Luke Walton   

[kraidstar]

Warriors will crumble without Luke Walton   

Hey, the Lakers fell apart after he left!!!

Let's hope the Luke Walton curse continues.

[Greyman]

A lot of what the Celtics have achieved over the last two seasons has been put down to Steven's coaching. Undoubtedly the Stevens factor is significant but the quality of the players shouldn't be ignored. Some will say that failure in the playoffs shows that the players have overachieved in the regular season but I don't buy this. A healthy AB and KO in the series against Atlanta last season would have made a big difference.

I expect that the changes that have been made to the roster will boost the teams performance and, despite no superstar, the team will move from 'building' to 'built' (or almost built). Will they be good enough to win a series against GSW or the Cavs? I would rather see what happens in the season and free agency before really committing, I do believe the Celtics are closer than many others believe.

My concern is that the loss of Turner has left Smart and TR with responsibility that I am not sure CBS or DA know they are ready for. Though the team will obviously play a slightly different game with Horford and  Green. I trust Stevens and Ainge to have got it right. We know we have a strong defensive team and we are getting close to an offense that will get you 100+ points consistently. I doubt that any of the top teams are discounting the Celtics.