I Think I Am Aboard The Tank Train Now

[Neurotic Guy]

The real question is, could they have reasonably contended next year.  I'm not so sure of that given age, injury history, etc.

Let?s assume there were 3 basic options in the offseason:
1) Run it back without Tatum
2) Salary cap reset with player development (ie actual choice made)
3) Trade Brown, maybe White for young role players, maybe a future all-star, and ping pong balls

Which one is the most likely to lead to a ?26 championship caliber team?

depends on the trade. Role players aren't the same thing as all star caliber players.  I don't think 1 or 2 would have yielded a contender without hitting the lottery this summer.

The run was over in my view.  10 years is a nice long run, changes needed to be made.

Remember they lost in the 2nd round with a mostly healthy team. They weren't coming off the title, they were coming off a beat down in the 2nd round to a team that then lost in the ECF.

Mostly healthy? Brown was playing on a torn meniscus, Porzingis had some weird post viral syndrome, and Jrue holiday was dealing with a hamstring injury. They weren't close to healthy.

Yes. They weren?t looking like they could repeat, but no question injuries were part of that picture.

[radiohead]

KP hasn?t been doing much for the Hawks. Jrue though has been balling for the Blazers though. I think Brad made the right decisions. Running it back was not a guarantee that we would be a top contender for the championship. I just hope the ?rebuild? doesn?t last beyond this season.

[Moranis]

The real question is, could they have reasonably contended next year.  I'm not so sure of that given age, injury history, etc.

Let?s assume there were 3 basic options in the offseason:
1) Run it back without Tatum
2) Salary cap reset with player development (ie actual choice made)
3) Trade Brown, maybe White for young role players, maybe a future all-star, and ping pong balls

Which one is the most likely to lead to a ?26 championship caliber team?

depends on the trade. Role players aren't the same thing as all star caliber players.  I don't think 1 or 2 would have yielded a contender without hitting the lottery this summer.

The run was over in my view.  10 years is a nice long run, changes needed to be made.

Remember they lost in the 2nd round with a mostly healthy team. They weren't coming off the title, they were coming off a beat down in the 2nd round to a team that then lost in the ECF.

Mostly healthy? Brown was playing on a torn meniscus, Porzingis had some weird post viral syndrome, and Jrue holiday was dealing with a hamstring injury. They weren't close to healthy.

Brown looked just fine against the Magic though and played over 37 mpg against the Knicks.  Holiday was coming back from injury but also started every game and played over 32 mpg against the Knicks.  Zinger barely played the title season as well.  Relying on Zinger to be healthy is a fools errand.  The Celtics were most healthy against the Knicks and lost badly.  Absolutely should have won the first two games and the series (and Tatum likely doesn't get hurt), but they didn't.  They got embarrassed by a team that designed its roster with beating the Celtics in mind and that is exactly what they did.  They put pressure on Tatum and Brown and the rest of the team just wasn't good enough.  That was the fundamental problem with bringing the team back.  Boston would have been too old, too injury prone, and simply not good enough going forward, especially next year when Tatum is back.  In my view, they absolutely would not have won the title again if they mostly brought the team back.  The window was over.  They had to make moves.  I don't think they went far enough, but making moves was absolutely the correct decision, because running it back just would have delayed the inevitable.