In another few days, the regular season will be over, and the C's will have between 60-63 wins. By any measure, it's been a very successful regular season. And yet, when the end-of-season awards come out, we're almost certain to be absent from all of them.
No Celtic will be in the top 5, or maybe even the top 10, of MVP voting. No Celtic will make 1st team All-NBA, and Pierce is the only guy with any shot at 2nd team. Despite our great D, no Celtic will make the All-Defensive team, unless Garnett's partial season and name recognition gets him enough votes to squeak by. No one's going to contend for 6th Man, or Most Improved (Rondo may make the top 5 but won't come close to winning). Doc won't make the top 5 for Coach of the Year. Danny has zero chance of Exec of the Year. And yet, still, we're a 60+ win team, in a much more tougher league and under much more difficult circumstances than last year's. The contrast between our success, and the recognition we're likely to get for it, is striking.
How is this possible? Some would say that we're not getting the respect we deserve, and to an extent, they're right - this team seems oddly taken for granted or even dismissed next to the constant LeBron and Kobe hype, and the building up of newer faces like Howard and Paul. But I would argue that disrespect isn't what's driving this coming exclusion. True, KG drives this team in ways that don't show up in the boxscore, but except when several other guys were also out, we've still been an elite team without him. Pierce still doesn't get the credit he deserves from the national media, but we've won plenty of games despite a bad night from the Captain. Ray has been our most consistent star, but even when he gets lost in the shuffle we generally come out ahead. Rondo's play still yo-yos from night to night, but again, we accommodate it.
Instead, I think the reason why we'll be shut out from all the major awards is because we don't deserve them. All of the awards I've listed are for individuals, and this is not a team built on individual excellence; instead, we've put together that rarest of NBA commodities - a true, capital-T Team. We don't play as a collection of talented individuals, we play as a collection of roles, and when inconsistency or injury keeps one guy from fulfilling his role, someone else is behind him to pick up the slack. KG's out? Big Baby can step in and give us 75+% of his scoring and rebounding. Baby's in foul trouble? Leon or Mikki can play the same part, albeit with a much different style. Ray's cold tonight? Eddie's off the bench and ready to wreak some havoc. Pierce not hitting? Our bigs and shooters are ready to capitalize on his passes.
This squad's greatest strength is not our three future HOFers, or our promising young guys, or our savvy veterans. It's our cohesiveness, our ability to hang together and pick up one another's slack when the chips are down. With the recent decline of the Spurs, this is really the only true Team in contention, and no matter how hard the league and media tries to push individual stars, this will always be our advantage, and what makes us a team to fear.
Topic: The Capital-T Team (Read 638 times)