Which team is better: 2016/2017 Team or 2017/2018 Team (no Kyrie, Hayward)

[Tr1boy]

Which team is better?

[footey]

Great question.

This team especially defensively.

Offensively much better balance.

[gouki88]

Probably this team. Defensive juggernaut, better bigs

[Phantom255x]

Love and miss Isaiah, Crowder, Bradley, etc. BUT I'll say this team.

I agree with @gouki, better bigs. WAY BETTER than Amir, Zeller, Olynyk + Mickey that we threw out there to get slaughtered by Gortat and Lopez daily.

Also Tatum and Brown look like superstars right now.

[MasterEmile]

This team.

The main thing is that Tatum Brown and Morris can make the open shots that Brad's system gives them, but they also can also drive close outs and create their own shots if they have to. Plus they always create certain mismatches against opposing wings and are generally more versatile (can all post up, handle, pass in short bursts.)

Bradley and Crowder were just spot up shooters (exellent at that) who could drive close outs in a straight line when there was a clear path to the basket. And against some teams, Bradley (and IT) was the mismatch that the other teams attacked.

[jpotter33]

Yeah, definitely this year's team. We are the exact type of athletic, tall, and lanky team that we really, really struggled with last year.

[Jiri Welsch]

I agree that it’s this year, especially considering Crowder’s disappearing act and Isaiah’s injury. This team has more gamers.

Let’s just win one on the road baby!!

[SparzWizard]

2017/2018 (no Kyrie/Hayward) BY A LANDSLIDE.

IT4 was basically our only offense last year. When he gets contained or get injured, Celtics pretty much screwed. And our defense was porous last year because of him.

[rondofan1255]

Playoffs only - this year’s team

[Greyman]

This year's team. Danny made the Celtics better by being Danny. Stevens made the team better by being Brad Stevens. Like others have said, I loved Avery, IT and Crowder but Tatum, Morris and Baynes have been great additions (Theis should get a honourable mention) and the emergence of Rozier is one of the NBA stories of the season for mine.

In another way this team has to at least make the conference final to equal last year's team, but I believe on the same court this group would win.

[Chris22]

This year. We are bigger and stronger.

[Redz]

A healthy IT squaring off against a new improved Rozier would be a fun matchup. 

Anyway you slice it, they're both lovable teams.  I'll go with this year's team too.  The talent level seems superior.  Tatum keeps me smiling. 

[Roy H.]

Until we get out of the second round, it’s still last year’s team.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I said before the playoffs that I thought this team was better equipped for a deep post-season run than last year's team.

It doesn't mean they will get as far, or further. The are elite defensively, both as a team and in individual one-on-one matchups. Baynes is better than Johnson, Morris than Olynyk, Brown than Bradley, Tatum than Crowder, Rozier than Thomas. Even Ojeleye and Moose provide some unique defensive help. As a team, they no only can matchup defensively, but right now, they are mostly on a string with each other, responding to each other's rotations. Last year's team had that, but they didn't have the ability to stop offensive players one-on-one.

Offensively, last year's team with Thomas on the court was really, really special. They were not as good with him  off the court. However, the Cs have more players this year that can create shots than last year's team. Last year, it was mainly only Thomas -- everything else was part of the motion of the offense. This year, Tatum, Brown, and Morris can all break down their man. Horford has been a better shot creator in this year's playoffs too. On top of that, Rozier is providing like 80% of Thomas' production, shot creation, and offensive power.

I still don't know how deep this team will go, but evaluating them on their talent and togetherness, I'd say they have a better chance to make a deep playoff run than last year's team.

[ozgod]

This year’s team is a lot more balanced. There’s no one dominant scorer, it’s really an ensemble effort as opposed to last year when we relied a lot on IT for points. We are more solid defensively as well.