Celtics Team better than last season?

[tonys33]

How do you compare the 08/09 NBA Celtics to last season when they won the Championship?

Vote now:

http://www.polladium.com/poll.php?poll_id=52&location_id=1

[HYPE.]

IMHO; no, we AREN'T as good as we were last year, sadly.

I DO, however, think that we are pretty darn close. If we didn't have that slump with the multiple injuries and such, we would be pretty much how we were last year. Although, I can't say we haven't improved, because we have.

It really is amazing to me though; with all those major injuries, we still managed to get some big W's, but also some pretty bad losses. It really doesn't matter anymore, though, because we have KG back! Wooo!

I also can't say that other teams haven't improved. The Lakers have shown that they do have heart, but in doing so, also revealed their weaknesses. The Cavs; man, I know we all hate on them, but they are a DARN good team. I can't ignore the fact that we killed them at our house earlier this season WITHOUT KG, TA, and Scal. This just shows me that we can kill them at their house as well as the Lakers.

So, all in all, we're almost as good as we were last year, and best believe we're still gonna kill the teams in the Playoffs.

Here's to Banner 18. 

[Truck Lewis]

no comparison can be made until the end of June....as of right now the obvious answer would be no

but if this injury plagued team can survive all of these injuries and get past much improved teams from Cleveland and Orlando..and capture 18...i'll be inclined to say this team was stronger than last year

[orrzor]

I think many people would agree that the starting 5 have improved. Specifically Rondo and Ray. The bench and team as a whole is another matter. Hopefully we get Powe and TA back to add some bench depth for the playoffs.

[BudweiserCeltic]

This team is easily better. The only thing that has prevented us from performing as such is because we have lacked the health we had last year.

[Txusberg]

With everybody healthy, I think we are as good or even better than last year , due to the improvement of key players such as Perk, Rondo, BBD and even Powe. The thing is that, at this moment, we are still waiting for T. Allen, Scal and Powe to be healthy and we don't know if it will happen anytime soon and for Moore and Marbury to be 100% into the Celtics system. So , there are a lot of questions to answer but i hope for the best and i hope we will have a sweet summer as we had last year with banner # 18!! Go Celts!

[jackson_34]

We can't really comment on whether they are a better team until they win/lose the championship. There's certainly an improvement on Powe and Baby's behalf, but Marbury is still having trouble adapting to team strategy compared to Cassell, so I guess we just gotta wait and hope it all comes together come playoff time.

[greenwise]

On paper this team is better:

-We have upgraded the aging Cassell and PjBrown (close to 80 years combined) with ex all star Stephon Marbury and a long vet like Moore.

- We have replaced Posey with combined efforts of Tony and Scal. Plus we have added more athleticism to that spot with the choice of Bill Walker

- Rondo and Perk are progressing even more. Rondo could have made the all star and Perk is having a career year

- Powe and Davis have excelled to the expectations

- Ray has adjusted to the system and is arguably being the best of the big 3

The only problem is that we haven't been healthy enough to combine all these points. If healthy, this team is even better than last year's

[Reyquila]

But we are not healthy and Mikki Moore is no PJ Brown. Besides, The Cavs are much better than last year. We may have improved our roster age wise and some of our players have deed improved from last year; but please, be real; conditions are different and it will be extremely difficult to get to the finals lest win the finals.

[greenwise]

PJ Brown didn't show his true value until the playoffs. Other than that, the Cavs are playing better this year, but their roster hasn't changed so much since last time.

Yes, it's difficult but so it was last year. I have confidence on this team, and i am being realistic

[moiso]

Forget about Moore replacing PJ Brown as the physical enforcer in the paint that we need.  That's just not going to happen regardless of what stats posters bring up to prove their equality.  Hopefully Baby has improved enough to take on some of those duties in the playoffs.
If we are healthy I think we can be better than last year.  I'd say the great improvement in Rondo, and to a lesser degree Perk, outweighs the loss of Posey.
As far as backup point guard, I think it should be obvious at this point that Marbury is no longer an allstar quality impact player, but he's only going to improve and he's definitely an upgrade from Cassell or the alternative we used last year- House defending pg's but someone else dribbling the ball up the court and initiating the offense.
If we stay healthy I fully expect the Celts to repeat regardless of whether we have home court or not.

[slamtheking]

I think it's a wash.

Positives:
- Rondo, Perk and BBD have definitely improved. 
- Ray is more consistant and fits in the offensive flow much better. 
- Doc has figured out House plays better at the 2 not the 1 and it shows in his improved shooting. 
- Marbury is a better ballhandler/ distributor than Cassell and seems to be improving with time.
- Veal stepped up his game and became a real contributor
- The team has the best starting 5 in the game because they play as a team and they can still play at a high level with 1 or 2 subs in the game.


Negatives
- Health issues keep cropping up this year that didn't occur last year.
- No consistant player off the bench -->Posey last year.  Everyone is on/off.
- No consistancy from Powe --> too much up/down in his performance
- No real improvement/contribution from Pruitt (no change from last year but something was expected this year)
- Veal is out indefinitely
- No consistancy from TA offensively
- KG/PP not performing as well as last year in terms of consistant great play
- Less focus --> too many winnable games lost due to lack of focus
- No improvement in turnovers --> still a mess
- No improvement in forcing turnovers --> much less this year
- Even though Doc outcoached Jackson in the finals, Doc still makes some questionable decisions.
- No true center off the bench that can provide some rebounding/defense --> we have a center (Mikki) but his effectiveness is definitely questionable.

[Bankshot]

I think it's a wash.

Positives:
- Rondo, Perk and BBD have definitely improved. 
- Ray is more consistant and fits in the offensive flow much better. 
- Doc has figured out House plays better at the 2 not the 1 and it shows in his improved shooting. 
- Marbury is a better ballhandler/ distributor than Cassell and seems to be improving with time.
- Veal stepped up his game and became a real contributor
- The team has the best starting 5 in the game because they play as a team and they can still play at a high level with 1 or 2 subs in the game.


Negatives
- Health issues keep cropping up this year that didn't occur last year.
- No consistant player off the bench -->Posey last year.  Everyone is on/off.
- No consistancy from Powe --> too much up/down in his performance
- No real improvement/contribution from Pruitt (no change from last year but something was expected this year)
- Veal is out indefinitely
- No consistancy from TA offensively
- KG/PP not performing as well as last year in terms of consistant great play
- Less focus --> too many winnable games lost due to lack of focus
- No improvement in turnovers --> still a mess
- No improvement in forcing turnovers --> much less this year
- Even though Doc outcoached Jackson in the finals, Doc still makes some questionable decisions.
- No true center off the bench that can provide some rebounding/defense --> we have a center (Mikki) but his effectiveness is definitely questionable.

Twice as many negatives as positives.   Hopefully we can overcome them and win #18.