I Think I Am Aboard The Tank Train Now

[keevsnick]

Celtics now 17th on offense and 9th on defense according to cleaning the glass, which filters out garbage time.

The offense is still being pulled down by mediocre 3 point shooting, they are at 31.9% as a team. So that should improve. Defense has been great, but still 30th in OReb% allowed (but the gap closed a bit last night).

I think if they generally play like they have these first four games, but the 3 point percentage finds it level and the OReb% isn't historically bad then they be fine. If those things hold they won't be a tank team.

Of course an injury to really any of Brown/White or even Queta would be devastating. So they're always going to be one bad play away from tanking.

[slamtheking]

Celtics now 17th on offense and 9th on defense according to cleaning the glass, which filters out garbage time.

The offense is still being pulled down by mediocre 3 point shooting, they are at 31.9% as a team. So that should improve. Defense has been great, but still 30th in OReb% allowed (but the gap closed a bit last night).

I think if they generally play like they have these first four games, but the 3 point percentage finds it level and the OReb% isn't historically bad then they be fine. If those things hold they won't be a tank team.

Of course an injury to really any of Brown/White or even Queta would be devastating. So they're always going to be one bad play away from tanking.

any games missed by any of Brown, White, PP or Queta you can pretty much book as a loss before they even tip off.  we're too thin at PG to lose either White or PP, Queta's the only big who can rebound and Brown's our only consistent offensive threat. 

didn't think I'd see another team in the league play us with worse personnel in every aspect until we played NO last night.  not sure any of their guys, other than Queen, would be getting minutes for us.  still took over 3 quarters to put them away with us shooting decently and keeping them off the offensive boards.  Not worried about the tank.

[keevsnick]

Celtics now 17th on offense and 9th on defense according to cleaning the glass, which filters out garbage time.

The offense is still being pulled down by mediocre 3 point shooting, they are at 31.9% as a team. So that should improve. Defense has been great, but still 30th in OReb% allowed (but the gap closed a bit last night).

I think if they generally play like they have these first four games, but the 3 point percentage finds it level and the OReb% isn't historically bad then they be fine. If those things hold they won't be a tank team.

Of course an injury to really any of Brown/White or even Queta would be devastating. So they're always going to be one bad play away from tanking.

any games missed by any of Brown, White, PP or Queta you can pretty much book as a loss before they even tip off.  we're too thin at PG to lose either White or PP, Queta's the only big who can rebound and Brown's our only consistent offensive threat. 

didn't think I'd see another team in the league play us with worse personnel in every aspect until we played NO last night.  not sure any of their guys, other than Queen, would be getting minutes for us.  still took over 3 quarters to put them away with us shooting decently and keeping them off the offensive boards.  Not worried about the tank.

They played 3-0 Phili to one point, they played playoff team Detroit to one possession. I don't think they're going to be a high forties win team but I'm pretty comfortable saying they won't be amongst the worst of the worst. They could easily be 3-1 right now.

their defense has been better than expected and they aren't yet hitting their threes. I just don't think this team profiles as a *tanker*, unless health forces it.

***By this i mean bottom 7 entering the lottery. That likely requires 30 or fewer wins.

[slamtheking]

Celtics now 17th on offense and 9th on defense according to cleaning the glass, which filters out garbage time.

The offense is still being pulled down by mediocre 3 point shooting, they are at 31.9% as a team. So that should improve. Defense has been great, but still 30th in OReb% allowed (but the gap closed a bit last night).

I think if they generally play like they have these first four games, but the 3 point percentage finds it level and the OReb% isn't historically bad then they be fine. If those things hold they won't be a tank team.

Of course an injury to really any of Brown/White or even Queta would be devastating. So they're always going to be one bad play away from tanking.

any games missed by any of Brown, White, PP or Queta you can pretty much book as a loss before they even tip off.  we're too thin at PG to lose either White or PP, Queta's the only big who can rebound and Brown's our only consistent offensive threat. 

didn't think I'd see another team in the league play us with worse personnel in every aspect until we played NO last night.  not sure any of their guys, other than Queen, would be getting minutes for us.  still took over 3 quarters to put them away with us shooting decently and keeping them off the offensive boards.  Not worried about the tank.

They played 3-0 Phili to one point, they played playoff team Detroit to one possession. I don't think they're going to be a high forties win team but I'm pretty comfortable saying they won't be amongst the worst of the worst. They could easily be 3-1 right now.

their defense has been better than expected and they aren't yet hitting their threes. I just don't think this team profiles as a *tanker*, unless health forces it.

***By this i mean bottom 7 entering the lottery. That likely requires 30 or fewer wins.

34 wins.  that was the low end of my prediction range.  not sure they'll get that many after seeing the first 4 games.  This is a high-lottery team so not the absolute dregs of the league but not a whole lot better. 

[Phantom255x]

There's a ton of people on Twitter, even under the C's page replies that are advocating for a tank, and I don't even think many of them are joking 

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Well, they aren't coming anywhere near a title, or even the conference finals, this year, even if a lot goes right, and we aren't the Wizards (happy to barely make the playoffs and then get destroyed). If Brown and/or White misses 10+ games, that would just about ensure an additional 10+ losses, taking them from, say, 38 wins to 28. If things go that way, they could easily get a top-5 pick, which could awesome to pair with Tatum, Brown, White, and Pritchard.

[Muzzy66]

Celtics now 17th on offense and 9th on defense according to cleaning the glass, which filters out garbage time.

The offense is still being pulled down by mediocre 3 point shooting, they are at 31.9% as a team. So that should improve. Defense has been great, but still 30th in OReb% allowed (but the gap closed a bit last night).

I think if they generally play like they have these first four games, but the 3 point percentage finds it level and the OReb% isn't historically bad then they be fine. If those things hold they won't be a tank team.

Of course an injury to really any of Brown/White or even Queta would be devastating. So they're always going to be one bad play away from tanking.

any games missed by any of Brown, White, PP or Queta you can pretty much book as a loss before they even tip off.  we're too thin at PG to lose either White or PP, Queta's the only big who can rebound and Brown's our only consistent offensive threat. 

didn't think I'd see another team in the league play us with worse personnel in every aspect until we played NO last night.  not sure any of their guys, other than Queen, would be getting minutes for us.  still took over 3 quarters to put them away with us shooting decently and keeping them off the offensive boards.  Not worried about the tank.

They played 3-0 Phili to one point, they played playoff team Detroit to one possession. I don't think they're going to be a high forties win team but I'm pretty comfortable saying they won't be amongst the worst of the worst. They could easily be 3-1 right now.

their defense has been better than expected and they aren't yet hitting their threes. I just don't think this team profiles as a *tanker*, unless health forces it.

***By this i mean bottom 7 entering the lottery. That likely requires 30 or fewer wins.

We also need to remember that they are still getting used to playig together and playing in highly altered roles.

Brown needs to adjust to being the #1 guy.  That's a big adjustment - teams will throw everything at him and he needs to learn to adjust and work out how he's going to carry the team.

Pritchard and White need to adjust to being #2/#3 offensive options.  Before these guys could play within the offense and could have a big scoring night ever 4th or 5th night and that was fine.  Now they are beign relied on to help carry the load every night - that's a big change.

Queta last season didn't know if he'd even play from one game to the next, now he's a starter and is being depended on every night to find ways to make an impact.

Simons needs to adjust to coming off the bench and playing for a team that actually has winning culture and expects defence and effort. 

All of these guys need to adjust to playing with rotations of guys they aren't used to playing with.  It's going to take time for them to lean where each guy likes to be fed the ball, to build chemistry defensively, etc.  It's going to take a lot more than 4 games for things to start really clicking in to place.

Yet despite having minimal chemistry and continuity and shooting horribly, the team was a couple of possessions away from being 3-1 at this point instead of 1-3.  I don't think things are nearly as drastic as people think.  Once they find their stride I suspect this team is going to be a ~0.500 team and probably somewhere around the 7-10 seed in the East.