I didn't think they were going to tank, i never understood that idea given the talent they have. But I also didn't think they'd be THIS good. Maybe 42-44 wins, right now they look like they might challenge for 50.
The emergence of Walsh, Queta, Minott and to lesser degrees the solid contributions of Scheierman/Hugo are a complete game changer. This team NEEDS cheap contributors to be able to keep together the Tatum/Brown/White core, and they've found some this year. Walsh especially looks like he may be the glue-guy 5th starter 3+D wing they desperately need.
Add one more rotation center, not even a starter just another roughly Queta level guy to split the minutes at center with him. Get JT back. Do those two things and I think they could make real noise this year. The east is so bad they may challenge for it even if those two things don't happen.
I mean, they lost so much in the offseason and Tatum was expected to miss the year. So 3 starters and two very good bench players. The guys that Brad brought in over the summer haven?t been good, minus Minott. Simons is so streaky. Garza and Boucher are borderline unplayable. Hugo is hit or miss, the other rookies are long shots at best. Like you said, Some of the other younger guys taking that next step has been the difference. Queta, Minott and especially Walsh. I don?t think anyone saw that coming.
Did they though? i mean think about what they actually lost. They lost KP who only played about half the games and even when he didn't play they still won at almost a 75% rate. He was great but never super important to regular season results. They lost Jrue but did get back Simons who may not be as good as an overall player but does give you better microwave scoring off the bench which helps this version of the team without Tatum. They lost Kornet who was good, but more like backup big good and they've more than replaced his output with Queta which is maybe surprising but not shocking I'd say.
Honestly Horford was maybe the most important loss, just because a solid defensive 3+D centers are hard to find but he was a 39 year old who only had so much to give in the regular season.
I don't know, i think people sort of
A) Overrated the guys they lost based off the star power of names rather than what those guys actually were by the time we moved them.
B) Forgot that increased minutes for unknown guys would more than likely lead to at least a few breakouts. Just because Walsh/Minott/Queta/Scheierman didn't get regular minutes on really good teams never meant they were bad, just meant they weren't ready THEN.
C) Forgot that the C's were a 60+ win team. You can lose a lot of talent off a 60+ win team and still be a good team. Its not the c's were the pacers' who were barely a 50-win regular season team last year. The Celtics had more margin of error to lose guys with how stacked the team was.
I just think in retrospect it was all a bit of an overreaction. The Tatum loss is HUGE, gigantic, he's probably worth 10+ wins himself. But the other guys were always to some degree replaceable, especially considering KP just couldn't stay healthy. You can find 5th, 6th and 7th best players with a little luck, especially during the regular season.
Topic: I was wrong about this team.. (Read 620 times)