Could a very early playoff exit be exactly what the Celtics need?

[nickagneta]

The Celtics have been beat up all year. Unhealthy is probably an underwhelming description of what has happened to this team this year and not so coincidentally, underwhelming is probably not a strong enough word to describe the Celtics performance.

The Celtics players have missed 192 games due to injury or Covid, the 7th highest in the league and have missed the most games due to Covid and it's health protocols by a very wide margin. Kemba has missed time recently with a strained oblique. Timelord for swelling in his knee that could be caused by his bone marrow edema in his hip. Jaylen was struggling with tendonitis and now has ankle issues that could effect him the rest of the year. Fournier is still having issues with Covid. Tatum is still using an inhaler before games due to Covid. A bunch more players have had Covid. And on and on it goes.

And we don't know how much of this has affected the team and player performances. What we as fans see as a lack of effort could easily be players being unable to give their normal efforts due to the affects of playing through injuries and the effects of Covid. It's almost impossible to be the player fans expect you to be if injuries and Covid compromise your health.

So maybe what this team needs is a very long off-season to recover and recuperate from all that ails them. And for those players not giving it 100% even though they aren't hurt or sick, maybe they need a wake-up call, a slap to the face, to realize half ass efforts don't equate to wins. Maybe a long off-season to properly analyze what he did wrong and fix it is exactly what Brad needs. Maybe the long off-season is what Ainge needs to re-evaluate what needs to be done to maximize this team's chances of winning in the future, including looking if the draft has any solutions for him, if a coaching change is in order and which players need to stay and which need to go.

I have never wanted the Celtics to ever lose any game, yes, even during tanking years. I hate tanking. But could going out fast in the playoffs this year be the best way to put this craptastic season behind the franchise so that it's easier to get better for next year. I think it could be.

[slamtheking]

The Celtics have been beat up all year. Unhealthy is probably an underwhelming description of what has happened to this team this year and not so coincidentally, underwhelming is probably not a strong enough word to describe the Celtics performance.

The Celtics players have missed 192 games due to injury or Covid, the 7th highest in the league and have missed the most games due to Covid and it's health protocols by a very wide margin. Kemba has missed time recently with a strained oblique. Timelord for swelling in his knee that could be caused by his bone marrow edema in his hip. Jaylen was struggling with tendonitis and now has ankle issues that could effect him the rest of the year. Fournier is still having issues with Covid. Tatum is still using an inhaler before games due to Covid. A bunch more players have had Covid. And on and on it goes.

And we don't know how much of this has affected the team and player performances. What we as fans see as a lack of effort could easily be players being unable to give their normal efforts due to the affects of playing through injuries and the effects of Covid. It's almost impossible to be the player fans expect you to be if injuries and Covid compromise your health.

So maybe what this team needs is a very long off-season to recover and recuperate from all that ails them. And for those players not giving it 100% even though they aren't hurt or sick, maybe they need a wake-up call, a slap to the face, to realize half ass efforts don't equate to wins. Maybe a long off-season to properly analyze what he did wrong and fix it is exactly what Brad needs. Maybe the long off-season is what Ainge needs to re-evaluate what needs to be done to maximize this team's chances of winning in the future, including looking if the draft has any solutions for him, if a coaching change is in order and which players need to stay and which need to go.

I have never wanted the Celtics to ever lose any game, yes, even during tanking years. I hate tanking. But could going out fast in the playoffs this year be the best way to put this craptastic season behind the franchise so that it's easier to get better for next year. I think it could be.

This is one way to put a positive spin on a probably early exit from the playoffs.  Don't forget the mid-first round draft pick that comes with barely making the playoffs.  There's also the (hoped for ) benefit of the young players getting a full training camp (and perhaps summer league) to further their development. 

I'd rather see them play at their best and win the title but whatever happens this season, hopefully most people will look for the silver lining in the end result.

[Androslav]

I might be an optimist beyond repair, but I feel like we should be a stronger team in the PO than we were in the Bubble.
The early PO exit you talk about would IMO be less beneficial than a deep run.
Players will get their time off after the season, we are a young team in general.

[timpiker]

I think its funny how most people on this forum continually make excuses for this p--- poor team. 

[Vermont Green]

I don't feel like an extra month to rest or to evaluate the team makes any difference.  Either way, I would expect the team to be ready for next season when things start and I expect that Ainge would have made whatever changes he needs to make.  I would rather see the team play as many meaningful playoff games as possible.

That said, I don't see it as causing any long term damage to the team if we do have an earlier than expected playoff exit.  The Portland game last night was a microcosm of the season in that we have a ton of really good young talent, Tatum, Brown, Pritchard, Nesmith, Langford, RWilliams.  The silver lining so to speak of a frustrating loss it has been a frustrating season and will be more so if we exit early.

No, to me, the issue is that we need a skilled big.  Even Nurkic was able to exploit our bigs last night.  And we didn't really have any answer to Carmelo as their PF.  They got 19 pts out of the center position (Nurkic and Kanter), we got 7 (Thompson and Williams).  They added in 23 more from Carmelo and Covington who are more swing but played PF for them.  Our swings/PF (Parker, Ojeleye, GWill) didn't even play.  We would have given up to much skill/scoring to have them on the court.

[PAOBoston]

Early playoffs exit? They literally might not make the playoffs!

[colincb]

No. A long playoff run would be exactly what the Celtics need.

[Jiri Welsch]

I certainly can see the rationale for thinking an early exit would carry some silver linings. But I think building a winning culture is more important. The minutes that Nesmith, Pritchard, and/or Langford get in this postseason will be huge for their development.

Even though we have no shot at the title this year, let's go on as long of a run as we can.

[footey]

This season seems to have much the same unpredictability as the prior bubble season.  I think our seeding is pretty irrelevant. If we can just get healthy, which are seem to be trending toward, we have a decent chance to do damage in the playoffs.   We are playing our best ball now, and think we will continue to get better.  Nesmith and Fournier are a huge boost.  Our bench is finally looking decent. We should have a solid 9 man rotation come playoffs.

Let's go!!!

[PhoSita]

I'm not sure if it's exactly what they need, since I fear the crap storm that will inevitably follow a 1st round exit, as media sources of all stripes, but especially local, willfully ignore the context and the mitigating factors.

That said, I do agree that a longer than usual off-season would benefit the team.


Even so, I think the cap factors and how they restrain the team's ability to build and improve the roster, which have been discussed in detail elsewhere, may overwhelm the theoretical benefits of a longer off-season.


Whether or not it's the best thing, I do think it's probably inevitable at this point.  I think the best we can probably hope for is that the first round series is more or less a stand-in for what we thought would be the second round series, i.e. a matchup with one of the three teams at the top of the standings, and that the Celtics acquit themselves well in a 6-7 game loss.

Worst case scenario would probably be that they end up in a play-in scenario and they find a way to fumble away both games.  But that seems far fetched to me even for this team.

[Roy H.]

I get what you're saying; the Celts didn't get a lot of rest coming into this season, and at times it has showed.

But, overall I don't think fatigue is a huge issue.  Most of our current core has received plenty of rest this season, the exceptions being Tatum, Brown and Smart.  In their case, however, they're young and should hopefully be able to bounce back.  The rest of the team should have fresh legs.

A lot of the team's problems this year have seemed to be mental, and I wonder about the psychological impact of getting bounced out of the playoffs quickly.  It would make some players train ever harder to be better coming into next year, but it would leave others discouraged. 

My preference:  go as deep as possible, with Pritchard and Nesmith picking up playoff experience.  Although unlikely, this team has the talent to go to the Conference Finals again.

[wiley]

Stop the 4th quarter turnovers and go for the title....

[nickagneta]

A lot of the team's problems this year have seemed to be mental,

This is where I vehemently disagree with you. First off, unless you talk to the players or are in their heads, no one can know this.

But what we do know is they have been ravaged by Covid with some players having long lasting physical effects. We also know three guys returned from off season injuries and struggled to get their legs under them to start their seasons. And we also know more players have missed lots of games due to regular injuries with Timelord having his minutes reduced all year so Stevens can use him heavily in the playoffs and Kemba is missing the 2nd game of back to backs for the same reason. And still other players have tried to play through nagging injuries limiting them.

Also, both Stevens and Ainge have talked about the long term physical effects that a very short off-season has had on the team. Can trying to overcome all these physical issues cause mental stress and anxiety that could show up on the court? Sure, to a degree. But the biggest issue appears to have been physical health not mental. If you can't jump as high, run as fast, give the best effort you can because of physical issues, fans can easily dismiss those physical issues and call it mental problems like lack of effort or caring

That said, I can see the benefits of exposing some players to the playoff experience but most of the team already has gotten that exposure. And I don't think a bit of playoff success is going to raise the bar on any player's trade value.

So yeah, I will be cheering them on until the very last second of the season, but I also see the benefits that just ending this god awful season could have on the franchise as a whole too.

[PhoSita]

A lot of the team's problems this year have seemed to be mental, and I wonder about the psychological impact of getting bounced out of the playoffs quickly.  It would make some players train ever harder to be better coming into next year, but it would leave others discouraged. 

I think a major mental roadblock for this team has been that they have not been able to play with a consistent starting lineup or rotation.  Much harder to develop consistency, trust, discipline etc when the personnel changes every single game.

[Moranis]

No, but the team isn't good enough to make a long run anyway, so it really doesn't matter if they need it or not as it will almost certainly happen.

If the playoffs started today, Boston would be the 7th seed so if they won the play in tournament, would play the Nets in the first round.  They aren't beating Brooklyn.