We've been off track since the August 22, 2017

[GreenCoffeeBean]

Rewind to the summer of 2017. Hayward is here. Kyrie isn't yet. We're fresh off a promising playoff run, and another season where we are the only team with a winning or break even record against the unstoppable Golden State Warriors. How did we do it? Ball hawking defense by Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder, and an up and coming rookie named Jaylen Brown.

It's the second week of July. We've drafted another promising Wing in Jayson Tatum and added the consummate team mate and play maker in Gordon Hayward. At that point, the formula was simple and obvious of how to succeed in the modern NBA: build the Wing of Doom. Get enough guys with enough length on defense, shot making abilities, and selflessness to pass the ball and set up others.

You know what's better than scoring 112 points a game? Only needing to 100 to win. I used to love going to the stats page and sorting by Points Against and seeing the Boston Celtics at or near the top.

It's August 21st, 2017. We have Smart, Brown, Tatum, Hayward, Crowder, Moarris, Horford, IT (injured). Wow.

*record scratching sound*

And that's where it all went wrong.

In comes Kyrie and I truly believe two years removed we still haven't recovered. The plan is off the rails. We forgot "The Way." We went from playing Spurs-like team basketball on offense and Game 7 Last Possession Up By 1 Defense to an offense that looks like 4 guys doing yoga and a defense that just wants to fast forward to the part where they get to inbound the ball.

Volume scoring point guards -- forget that -- volume scoring ANY POSITION was never part of the plan. Every player should be awake and alert that they could receive the ball at any minute on offense, because they should be moving the ball like that. We have the new core of the 2017 plan still in place: Smart, Brown, Tatum.

Danny and Brad need to get the train back on the tracks. Make the hard decisions. Trade Kemba. Get as much as you can but don't waste too much time. Punish players for lazy defense and selfish offense. Send a message, because quite frankly this brand of basketball straight up stinks.

[Birdman]

At the time, getting Kyrie was unbelievable and I was excited but it just didn’t work out between Kyrie and Celtics.. mainly because of him

[NKY fan]

I fully agree with most of what you’re saying.. Kyrie showed leadership to Tatum and he seems like a good “student” of him. I think Brown hated Kyrie so he is trying his best to not be like him.
Onto trading Kemba - you can’t really get anything of value for him. Maybe two overpaid players but it will be difficult to construct as trade. You want to trade Kemba ? Better be ready to trade picks along with his contract

[tstorey_97]

You might be right bean...I will say that last year the Celtics were 48-24 and that might be effecting them now. They think they're "supposed to win." Yuck

[Roy H.]

I never liked the Kyrie trade, but Danny’s dream was clearly a Kyrie / Brown / Hayward / Davis / Horford team.  I think that Wyc alluded to that a bit in passing today.  It’s hard to blame Danny for trying.

[Goldstar88]

Were the C’s off track when they had an 8-3 record earlier this year and were in 1st place in the eastern conference? Things looked pretty good until Tatum got Covid, Kemba came back, and then Smart tore his calf.

[RJ87]

The date you're looking for is October 17, 2017. That's when Gordon Hayward went up for an alley-oop and landed wrong. That single injury pretty much ended the Kyrie/Hayward/Horford big 3 before it ever had a chance to get off the ground.

[Donoghus]

The date you're looking for is October 17, 2017. That's when Gordon Hayward went up for an alley-oop and landed wrong. That single injury pretty much ended the Kyrie/Hayward/Horford big 3 before it ever had a chance to get off the ground.

Yeah, that's the date I'm thinking also.  Totally changed the dynamic of the team.  Totally changed the trajectory of team chemistry.  Lots of what ifs arise from that very moment.

[GreenCoffeeBean]

Were the C’s off track when they had an 8-3 record earlier this year and were in 1st place in the eastern conference? Things looked pretty good until Tatum got Covid, Kemba came back, and then Smart tore his calf.

7 of those 8 wins came against Orlando, Washington, Indiana, Memphis, Detroit, and Toronto when they were 1-5, and Milwaukee in the first game of the year shortly after they traded Bledsoe for Jrue.

The team was playing better than it is now, though that's for sure. I wonder what Teague did to Brad.

[PAOBoston]

Kyrie was the right move at the time. Just didn’t work out. Just like Hayward blowing out his ankle in his first game. It was just bad luck. That being said, it looks poopy now but there’s still a way to salvage this. Cs have two young stud wing players. Most bad situations, you’d be lucky to have one building block. It will require some moves but the situation overall is fixable.

[celts10]

I never liked the Kyrie trade, but Danny’s dream was clearly a Kyrie / Brown / Hayward / Davis / Horford team.  I think that Wyc alluded to that a bit in passing today.  It’s hard to blame Danny for trying.

Roy, where exactly did Tatum fit into Danny's long-term plan, especially prior to Hayward's injury?

[jambr380]

The date you're looking for is October 17, 2017. That's when Gordon Hayward went up for an alley-oop and landed wrong. That single injury pretty much ended the Kyrie/Hayward/Horford big 3 before it ever had a chance to get off the ground.

Yep, this is the correct answer. We were looking at years of contending, still had tons of picks, young players with major upside, and it all came crashing down with Hayward's ankle 5 minutes into that season.

Last year was really an incredible feat for our young Celtics team - we should be proud of them for that. However, we then went and lost another All-Star level talent in Hayward. We can be frustrated that this team isn't performing where we think they should, but we are coming off losing 3 All-Stars over the last 2 off-seasons. At this point, we are on to Plan B and we just need to be patient. I applaud Ainge for the effort, though.

[Ogaju]

The date you're looking for is October 17, 2017. That's when Gordon Hayward went up for an alley-oop and landed wrong. That single injury pretty much ended the Kyrie/Hayward/Horford big 3 before it ever had a chance to get off the ground.

Only got more complicated by the team going on that run. Barkley had the right call at the time albeit his call took time to materialize.

[cltc5]

Since we traded Perk

[PhoSita]

It all went wrong when Hayward broke his ankle.

Or it went wrong when Kyrie decided to leave, gave vague impressions to that effect, and the team didn't trade him.

Or it went wrong when the team wasn't sure if Hayward was staying (or that they'd pay him market rate), and they didn't trade him.

Or it went wrong when Danny didn't use assets to bolster the bench coming off a ECF loss where the top of the roster was very good but couldn't quite seal the deal in the fourth quarter, and the bench was super thin.