Celtics biggest needs/wants for 2011-12 season...

[jpd985]

I would like them to find the Fountain of Youth. That would fix all of their problems. 

[kozlodoev]

I'd be surprised if JO retires. He came back from that knee injury to play quite well down the stretch. He can still contribute 20 minutes a night.

Latest I heard is that he's leaning toward retirement for personal rather than medical reasons. Not sure what to make out of it.

In any case, I'd rather have a starter that is healthier. Jermaine has been great, but he has been out a lot, too. That destroys team rhythm.

In that case, JO's contract becomes a decent trade chip. Your off-hand comment about using it to acquire Kaman merits consideration, I think. He's not terribly athletic, but he can rebound and score, and his contract is the right length.

There are two problems with trying to acquire Kaman:

(1) His contract is gargantuan, and he's not the type of player that is going to carry your team in the long run.

(2) He never figured out how to play next to Griffin, so I am skeptical about his ability to adapt to our style of play.

Of course, he's got all the tools, inside game, jump shot, rebounding ability. Some defensive presence as well, by virtue of being so huge. But at nearly $12 million per he's more of a pipe dream than an actual possibility.

[Tayo]

Since the Big 3 era the Boston Celtics have enjoyed two seasons with 60+ wins and have finished in the top 4 of the Eastern Conference each season. The Celtics have been able to advance out of the first round each year and have been to the NBA Finals twice out of the four seasons since the 'Big 3' were introduced (Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce).

From my perspective this previous season was a relative success. Yes, the Celtics slipped two spots from the top seed near the end of the season, however our players were relatively healthy throughout the season and that alone put us in position to compete in the post season. The 2011 Playoffs are not over yet, however it seems that this past off-season the Miami Heat have made the trades necessary to build a team that can finish the regular season with well above 50 wins for the next few seasons so that team (the Heat) for now will definitely be one of our biggest obstacles in the post season during the next few years.

It also helps that our biggest rivals, historically (The Los Angeles Lakers) were eliminated from this year's playoffs before we were, however we can't take something like that for granted -- since 2008 the Lakers have won two NBA Championships and they have finished with a better regular season record than we have 3 years in a row (this season they only won one more game than we did ).

The key to next season would be to maintain a healthy roster that has all of the tools necessary to compete for a full season and late in the playoffs. Though we defeated the Miami Heat in all 3 meetings prior to the NBA playoffs this season, the Heat have proven that they are a force to be reckoned with and they will surely have more room to try and bolster their roster with more talented role players in upcoming seasons, so barring injury that team seems on paper to be the one to beat in the East going forward.

You can always make the comparison between the C's first season of the 'Big 3' era with that of the 'Heatles', in terms of regular season wins, conference and overall standings and even the age comparison between the Celtics' 3 and the Heat's 3. Allen, Garnett, and Pierce were ages 32, 30, and 29, respectively, during the start of the 2008 NBA season. Right now, the 'Big Three' are ages 35, 34, and 33.

Meanwhile, Bosh, James, and Wade were ages 26, 25, and 28 at the start of this season. If you add their ages together, the Miami Heat 3 were collectively 12 years younger than the Celtics' three at the beginning of this season when compared with the 2008 Boston Celtics 3. As of right now, Miami's 'Big 3' are ages 27, 26 and 29.

As an aside, Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant, and Pau Gasol are ages 31, 32 and 30.

The age factor isn't the greatest issue considering the fact that quite a few of our role players are in their mid 20's right now (Rondo, West, Davis, Green, Kristc, Pavlovic, Von Wafer), though it seems that we are, as of now devoid of a clear-cut young star who we could eventually re-build around once the original 'Big 3' era is over with. Other than that I don't think this team has any major issues going forward.

I was overall pleased with the Shaquille O'Neal and Jermaine O'Neal signings this past off-season. Though both players had their fair share of injury issues, they definitely helped bolster our frontcourt, especially during the first half of this season where our team was at the top of the Eastern Conference. It was sad to see Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson go, though at least they are still in the playoffs right now with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I'm looking forward to seeing what this team has to offer once next season begins...





http://www.nba.com/standings/2007/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Std_Cnf.html

http://www.nba.com/standings/2008/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Std_Cnf.html

http://www.nba.com/standings/2009/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Std_Cnf.html

http://www.nba.com/standings/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Std_Cnf.html

[Asijs]

Re-sign West, Green. Sign Redd and Murphy for vet and then sign Chandler.