Celtics 2025-26 Regular Season Discussion

[Vermont Green]

I have been saying that they are a 0.500'ish team all along.  Which they were (8-8) after losing to BNK on Nov. 21.  Since then they have won 6 of 7 against mostly good teams.  So now they are 14-9 and on pace to win 50 games.  So I am trying to figure out what is happening that I didn't expect.

The X-factors to me have been mostly Walsh and also Queta.  I did not expect Walsh to be stepping up and playing at a starter level, which is what he has been doing the last 7 games or so.  I didn't even expect him to be playing in the regular rotation.  Queta has exceeded my expectations also.  There are some other surprises, Minott, for example, but I think it is Walsh and Queta making the big impact.  The question is of course if they can keep it up as defenses adjust.

I feel that Mazzulla deserves a lot of credit also.  He has this team playing hard, playing connected.  If this keeps up, he will be in the running for coach of the year.  I would say Mazzulla is exceeding my expectations.  I never bought into the Mazzulla is the worst coach in the league narratives but I had him at good not great.  I would say he has been better than that this year so far.  It is pretty hard to make the argument that he is a bad coach at this point.

[Phantom255x]

Tough stretch for the Cs coming up: Pistons, T-Wolves, Cavs, Knicks.

Probably 1-3

Who do you have them beating?

Turns out they went 3-1 and have been 6-1 over the last 7 games 

[Goldstar88]

Tough stretch for the Cs coming up: Pistons, T-Wolves, Cavs, Knicks.

Probably 1-3

Who do you have them beating?

Turns out they went 3-1 and have been 6-1 over the last 7 games 

Yep, pretty incredible. I don?t think anyone expected that. Well, maybe Joe did. 

[hwangjini_1]

and 9 and 2 over the past 11 games. who had this on their celtic bingo card??? i sure didn't.

it is still early and the wheels may yet come off as the season progresses. but then again, maybe not! 

in any case, this season is a LOT more entertaining to watch than i had expected. Mazzulla is doing a great job as well.

[keevsnick]

and 9 and 2 over the past 11 games. who had this on their celtic bingo card??? i sure didn't.

it is still early and the wheels may yet come off as the season progresses. but then again, maybe not! 

in any case, this season is a LOT more entertaining to watch than i had expected. Mazzulla is doing a great job as well.

I was hoping they'd get through they'd just survive this stretch still above .500, and now they are dominating. The emergence of Walsh, Minott and Queta has been huge this year.

They have Mil, Det, Mia, Tor in their next 4 games, but after that the schedule eases up a bit with 7 straight games against 10th seeds or worse. If they can keep up their current level of play could really stack some wins.

[keevsnick]

In his first 16 games of the season White shot 34.8% from the field and 29.7% from three. 46.7 TS%.

In his last 7 games of the season White has shot 49.1% from the field and 41.7% from three. 65.2 TS%.

It appears as if Derick White's offense is back. The defense never left.

[Vermont Green]

In his first 16 games of the season White shot 34.8% from the field and 29.7% from three. 46.7 TS%.

In his last 7 games of the season White has shot 49.1% from the field and 41.7% from three. 65.2 TS%.

It appears as if Derick White's offense is back. The defense never left.

Great stat analysis. It is like trading a bench scrub (with good defense) for an all star. 

[Vermont Green]

Current ranking for NetRTG.  No big surprises but Boucher has a pretty good number for a bench guy, but not seeing the court at all lately.  These numbers are for the entire regular season to date.  Tillman and Garza are just killing us.

NTG   GP   PLAYER
16.1   22   Neemias Queta
13.7   20   Jordan Walsh
12.3   19   Hugo Gonz?lez
 8.9   20   Baylor Scheierman
 8.7   23   Derrick White
 8.1   24   Payton Pritchard
 6.9   23   Josh Minott
 5.7   23   Jaylen Brown
 5.0    8   Chris Boucher
 4.5   24   Anfernee Simons
 3.8   24   Sam Hauser
-4.1   11   Xavier Tillman
-7.5   19   Luka Garza

[Neurotic Guy]

Current ranking for NetRTG.  No big surprises but Boucher has a pretty good number for a bench guy, but not seeing the court at all lately.  These numbers are for the entire regular season to date.  Tillman and Garza are just killing us.

NTG   GP   PLAYER
16.1   22   Neemias Queta
13.7   20   Jordan Walsh
12.3   19   Hugo Gonz?lez
 8.9   20   Baylor Scheierman
 8.7   23   Derrick White
 8.1   24   Payton Pritchard
 6.9   23   Josh Minott
 5.7   23   Jaylen Brown
 5.0    8   Chris Boucher
 4.5   24   Anfernee Simons
 3.8   24   Sam Hauser
-4.1   11   Xavier Tillman
-7.5   19   Luka Garza

Not surprising re Luka and X but makes me feel bad - both give good effort and seem
to be good teammates.

[Neurotic Guy]

and 9 and 2 over the past 11 games. who had this on their celtic bingo card??? i sure didn't.

it is still early and the wheels may yet come off as the season progresses. but then again, maybe not! 

in any case, this season is a LOT more entertaining to watch than i had expected. Mazzulla is doing a great job as well.

I was hoping they'd get through they'd just survive this stretch still above .500, and now they are dominating. The emergence of Walsh, Minott and Queta has been huge this year.

They have Mil, Det, Mia, Tor in their next 4 games, but after that the schedule eases up a bit with 7 straight games against 10th seeds or worse. If they can keep up their current level of play could really stack some wins.

Hoping for 2-2 with 4 competitive games in their next 4. That would sustain the feeling I have right now about this team.

[jambr380]

So, why do we think Chris Boucher isn't playing at all? He seems to have all of the qualities a player would need to fit into the system. He's got length, he can shoot, he's always been known as a hustle guy, and we specifically went out and signed him after dumping Niang.

Perhaps it's just a down year for him or perhaps Joe he just doesn't fit what Joe wants to do, but it seemed like he would be a pretty integral part of the rotation coming into the season and now he literally never plays. It was thought at the beginning of the offseason that he might get considerably more than the minimum and that we were lucky to get him.

For his sake, I hope we are able to trade him to a more auspicious situation. I imagine he thought by signing to a team with very little big depth, he would be getting a lot more playing time. I know he has not produced in his on-court minutes, but those minutes have been very few and far between.

[Donoghus]

So, why do we think Chris Boucher isn't playing at all? He seems to have all of the qualities a player would need to fit into the system. He's got length, he can shoot, he's always been known as a hustle guy, and we specifically went out and signed him after dumping Niang.

Perhaps it's just a down year for him or perhaps Joe he just doesn't fit what Joe wants to do, but it seemed like he would be a pretty integral part of the rotation coming into the season and now he literally never plays. It was thought at the beginning of the offseason that he might get considerably more than the minimum and that we were lucky to get him.

For his sake, I hope we are able to trade him to a more auspicious situation. I imagine he thought by signing to a team with very little big depth, he would be getting a lot more playing time. I know he has not produced in his on-court minutes, but those minutes have been very few and far between.

Guys ahead of him are playing much better.  Also, his shoot has looked terrible when he has been out there.  Who's minutes are you going to cut to get Boucher in there?

[Neurotic Guy]

What do people think about Daniel Gafford?  Not the starting quality center that would be ideal, but maybe a guy that would mix well, block shots, add some length, be a better bench 5 than what we have now. 

[Celtics2021]

What do people think about Daniel Gafford?  Not the starting quality center that would be ideal, but maybe a guy that would mix well, block shots, add some length, be a better bench 5 than what we have now.

I like Daniel Gafford.  I don?t know that I like him at an $18 million AAV beginning next year if we think his role will be as a backup center.  Next year I guess that is not a big deal with Q making the minimum, but we will not likely be able to afford both in the 2026-2027 season when Queta commands the same amount as Gafford.

Also, he will be difficult to acquire, as it will need to be a multi-team deal.  Not impossible, of course, but someone else needs to want to get involved, or already be involved and want to move Gafford elsewhere.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

What do people think about Daniel Gafford?  Not the starting quality center that would be ideal, but maybe a guy that would mix well, block shots, add some length, be a better bench 5 than what we have now.

He's active, but he's bad at the two areas Joe likes his bigs to be good at.
1. Handoffs/facilitating at the top of the key
2. Defending the pick-and-roll

I just don't think a guy making that much would be a good fit in our system.