There's no getting around Danny and Brad phoning it in this year.

[liam]

Both of these guys phoned it in this year and I'm glad they did something at the end of the year to get some new blood in here. They should've made this move after the bubble. They should've played all the young guys a lot more if they were just giving the season away.

[Roy H.]

“Phoned it in”, how?

[Who]

I don't think they phoned it in.

They lost Hayward for nothing which compromised an already shallow bench. They had a reduced FA period when all the FAs went off the board pretty quickly. The Celtics like many other teams struggled to fill out their bench well (in part) due to this. They had little assets to make moves. What they did have, they used. They used the midlevel to get Tristan Thompson. They brought in Jeff Teague (a mistake). They later used the trade exception to get Evan Fournier.

They tried. They just didn't have many cards to play.

Not after losing Horford, Kyrie and Hayward for nothing. That was hugely damaging to this team. Both on the court and in terms of flexibility for replacing them.

[RJ87]

This is such a weirdly bad take. Yes, this season was disappointing but I don't believe anyone in a management just stopped trying or caring.

[Donoghus]

How the hell did they phone it in? 

This team was ravaged by injuries, Covid, chemistry issues, & depth issues.  I didn't see or sense any indication that the organization was phoning it in.    That's just silly.

[gouki88]

To me, it seems that Brad and Danny were victims of circumstances outside their control. COVID, Hayward leaving, numerous injuries and a shortened off-season to name a few.

I do not think they phoned it in. They gave it a red hot crack, but there was little they could do.

[Rosco917]

If you're of a believer in team chemistry and ball movement you'll understand that when the Celtics lost Horford and Hayward the basketball IQ of this team suffered.

If you need a reminder of what both look like, check out this years Phoenix Suns.

[gouki88]

If you're of a believer in team chemistry and ball movement you'll understand that when the Celtics lost Horford and Hayward the basketball IQ of this team suffered.

If you need a reminder of what both look like, check out this years Phoenix Suns.

Not only that we lost them, but we didn't replace them at all really. The talent we had going out over the last couple of years (Horford, Hayward, Rozier, Morris, Baynes) was significantly higher than what we brought in (Kemba and Fournier + prospects)

[liam]

This is such a weirdly bad take. Yes, this season was disappointing but I don't believe anyone in a management just stopped trying or caring.

Remember all the solid role players Danny got for our bench, and remember all the adjustments Brad made during the Nets series? Yeah, neither do I. Neither seemed interested in putting a winning team on the floor and both said they were burnt out after the bubble and it showed. No one who's but out is doing their best job.

[Roy H.]

This is such a weirdly bad take. Yes, this season was disappointing but I don't believe anyone in a management just stopped trying or caring.

Remember all the solid role players Danny got for our bench, and remember all the adjustments Brad made during the Nets series? Yeah, neither do I. Neither seemed interested in putting a winning team on the floor and both said they were burnt out after the bubble and it showed. No one who's but out is doing their best job.

Danny signed Thompson and Teague, and brought in Nesmith and Teague.  He tried to sign Millsap, Ibaka and Bazemore.  He was deep into trade negotiations with Indiana.  He traded for Fournier, he was attempting to trade for Aaron Gordon.  He signed Jabari Parker, after attempting to sign Andre Drummond.

I think you have a strange definition of mailing it in here.

[ozgod]

This is such a weirdly bad take. Yes, this season was disappointing but I don't believe anyone in a management just stopped trying or caring.

Remember all the solid role players Danny got for our bench, and remember all the adjustments Brad made during the Nets series? Yeah, neither do I. Neither seemed interested in putting a winning team on the floor and both said they were burnt out after the bubble and it showed. No one who's but out is doing their best job.

I think this is a bit unfair to both Danny and Brad. They didn't get the job done but I don't think it was due to lack of trying. They were dealt a really crappy hand with 3 starters injured and with all the Covid absences. Didn't Danny get Fournier for our bench? Unfortunately due to injuries he ended up having to start and be the 2nd option. Who else would we have had the money or cap space to get? If I recall correctly we were hard capped this season.

As for the Nets series, what adjustments could Brad have made that would have made a difference? Double teaming KD? Playing a zone? Starting Jabari? Starting Payton?

Did the Fakers phone it in after losing AD or were they just outmatched?

I think there's a difference between lack of effort and just not being good enough (for whatever reason, be it injuries or lack of cohesion), and I think we were the latter. If anything we probably overhyped our team all year. Danny has fallen on his sword and Brad needs to answer for the result of the season but not for a lack of effort, I think.

[Kiorrik]

I don't get the whole ignoring of the fact that we had injuries/covid.

How does that not affect every single game this season.

I truly believe that if we didn't have league highest missed games due to COVID, and 2 injuries less (Brown/Kemba) we'd have a season where we'd be at around .600.

That'd put us way up, and have us face BKN probably in the conference finals.

I honestly, truly, 100% believe, that without that more-than-significant portion of bad luck, we'd be conference (if not league) title contenders.

If we disagree on that, fine.

But you can't honestly think it had no impact on our whole season.

[Ogaju]

I don't get the whole ignoring of the fact that we had injuries/covid.

How does that not affect every single game this season.

I truly believe that if we didn't have league highest missed games due to COVID, and 2 injuries less (Brown/Kemba) we'd have a season where we'd be at around .600.

That'd put us way up, and have us face BKN probably in the conference finals.

I honestly, truly, 100% believe, that without that more-than-significant portion of bad luck, we'd be conference (if not league) title contenders.

If we disagree on that, fine.

But you can't honestly think it had no impact on our whole season.

what happened to next man up? What affected the Cs is lack of depth to respond to the injury and COVID issues.

[Roy H.]

I don't get the whole ignoring of the fact that we had injuries/covid.

How does that not affect every single game this season.

I truly believe that if we didn't have league highest missed games due to COVID, and 2 injuries less (Brown/Kemba) we'd have a season where we'd be at around .600.

That'd put us way up, and have us face BKN probably in the conference finals.

I honestly, truly, 100% believe, that without that more-than-significant portion of bad luck, we'd be conference (if not league) title contenders.

If we disagree on that, fine.

But you can't honestly think it had no impact on our whole season.

what happened to next man up? What affected the Cs is lack of depth to respond to the injury and COVID issues.

Lack of depth compounded by no real training camp or time to practice.  Plus, how many teams have the depth to replace multiple starters?

[liam]

They both admitted to being burnt out after the bubble and it showed. It showed all year.