this was supposed to be our year

[stylo617617]

funny thing is watching the trade deadline special u knew that all the ESPN analyst quietly had boston winning the whole thing untill danny traded away perkins even chris brolebronlover to a certain extent he just wouldnt admit it ,this was our season it really was the chemistry was there ,the talent was there yeah marquis went down but we coulda picked someone up off the scrap heep  im not attending to bring up any thing on "the trade" but i saw the show on my tivo (i recorded it back then but never watched it) just bums me about a bit .. thoughts?

[PosImpos]

I think it would have been "our year" if the team we saw at the beginning of the season could have played in the playoffs with a healthy Perkins or JO. 

In other words, it wasn't really the trade that derailed our status as the "favorite"; it was age and injuries.

[XxSMSxX]

funny thing is watching the trade deadline special u knew that all the ESPN analyst quietly had boston winning the whole thing untill danny traded away perkins even chris brolebronlover to a certain extent he just wouldnt admit it ,this was our season it really was the chemistry was there ,the talent was there yeah marquis went down but we coulda picked someone up off the scrap heep  im not attending to bring up any thing on "the trade" but i saw the show on my tivo (i recorded it back then but never watched it) just bums me about a bit .. thoughts?

So becuase the dumbass ESPN analysts pegged us as the favorites we were just going to win?

[stylo617617]

funny thing is watching the trade deadline special u knew that all the ESPN analyst quietly had boston winning the whole thing untill danny traded away perkins even chris brolebronlover to a certain extent he just wouldnt admit it ,this was our season it really was the chemistry was there ,the talent was there yeah marquis went down but we coulda picked someone up off the scrap heep  im not attending to bring up any thing on "the trade" but i saw the show on my tivo (i recorded it back then but never watched it) just bums me about a bit .. thoughts?

So becuase the dumbass ESPN analysts pegged us as the favorites we were just going to win?

no im not implying that im saying me personally & im sure a few other celtic fans were very confident pre trade then post trade that it just felt like our year it felt like 08 KG said that as well i brought up the espn analyst becuase there usually pro laker/pro hear/pro major market so it was a surpise to me seeing the show that the analyst say those things & all the show did was remind me of how i/us all felt before the trade

[stylo617617]

I think it would have been "our year" if the team we saw at the beginning of the season could have played in the playoffs with a healthy Perkins or JO. 

In other words, it wasn't really the trade that derailed our status as the "favorite"; it was age and injuries.

agree along with the fact that going into the year we had these 4 major advantages on the heat

PG play
size
expierence
& bench

rondo was hurt
we traded away our size/shaq cudnt get healthy
also with perk we traded away expirence
that leaves our bench glen was thinking dollar signs as jeff & delonte wasnt enuff

therefore yes we lost to the better team

[Mike-Dub]

Last year was our year but we didn't have the luck.  Perk got hurt and the refs got hypnotized by LA's homecourt.

[paulcowens]

I think it would have been "our year" if the team we saw at the beginning of the season could have played in the playoffs with a healthy Perkins or JO. 

In other words, it wasn't really the trade that derailed our status as the "favorite"; it was age and injuries.

You speak of age and injuries as if they suddenly popped up at the end of the season.  Almost all of Danny's Defenders do this.  Age (and injuries are related to that) was ALWAYS our achilles heel.  But we were designed to overcome that, until The Trade (and related deals) sent away our defensive anchor and wrecked our cohesion.  Yeah, then we became just old.

Do you really claim not to comprehend at all that the Celtics' remarkable focus and cohesion, that extra gear of mutual trust and understanding that they could get to and that no one else could, was the x factor that amplified experience and overcame age?

As someone else noted, what Ainge did with The Trade contradicted everything else he had so painstakingly done, to the point where it almost seemed like he was thinking like someone running a fantasy team.  His thinking seemed to be along the lines of "gee, Perk doesn't give us that many stats, and Green has pretty good stats, so we can just unplug Perk, and a whole lot of other people too, and then plug in all these new people, and IT'LL BE GREAT!"  It was, frankly, moronic at best.

[paulcowens]

funny thing is watching the trade deadline special u knew that all the ESPN analyst quietly had boston winning the whole thing untill danny traded away perkins even chris brolebronlover to a certain extent he just wouldnt admit it ,this was our season it really was the chemistry was there ,the talent was there yeah marquis went down but we coulda picked someone up off the scrap heep  im not attending to bring up any thing on "the trade" but i saw the show on my tivo (i recorded it back then but never watched it) just bums me about a bit .. thoughts?

I think that we were generally regarded as probably the favorites to win, the team to beat, until The Trade, though it's true that we had been struggling at times all season long to beat lesser teams, and struggling with other issues, including (of course) endless injuries,  so we were FAR from shoo-ins.  I think the Chicago players were the only ones who came right out and said it, though:  when Perkins was traded, they felt like the road to the championship had been cleared for them (they kinda forgot about the Heat...).  We went from being arguably the front runners for the championship to, well, also-rans. 

I know that I thought as soon as I heard about The Trade that we would probably be out of the playoffs in the first or second round.  It's still hard to fully understand what kind of manic episode Ainge must have had.

[mgent]

I think it would have been "our year" if the team we saw at the beginning of the season could have played in the playoffs with a healthy Perkins or JO. 

In other words, it wasn't really the trade that derailed our status as the "favorite"; it was age and injuries.

Yeah but if it look at it without the trade, we were still a much better team even with the age and injuries.

Rondo/Nate
Ray/West
Pierce/Sasha or Wafer
KG/Baby
Perk/JO

...would have won.

[PosImpos]

I think it would have been "our year" if the team we saw at the beginning of the season could have played in the playoffs with a healthy Perkins or JO. 

In other words, it wasn't really the trade that derailed our status as the "favorite"; it was age and injuries.

Yeah but if it look at it without the trade, we were still a much better team even with the age and injuries.

Rondo/Nate
Ray/West
Pierce/Sasha or Wafer
KG/Baby
Perk/JO

...would have won.

I disagree.  That team wouldn't have won.  Our team needed scoring options outside of the Big 3, in particular an inside presence.  Without a healthy Shaq, we would not have had that.  Nate was completely ineffective this year due to injuries and cold shooting.  He couldn't even crack the rotation on the Thunder.  The bench without Marquis or Green would have been even worse than it was, and it was pretty bad.

[Yogi]

Trade or no trade, we just had too many injuries to overcome.  We swept the Knicks when we were not fully healthy, but we needed a healthy and fresh squad to take on the Heat.  But JO had a broken wrist and back problems.  Delonte West was about 70%.  Both these guys didn't have the time during the regular season to fit in with the starting 4.  Rondo was taken out by the freak accident.  The big 3 had no legs after playing way too much during the regular season thanks to too many injuries to our bench (West, Marquis, Perk, Shaq and JO).  Green and Kristic were skilled but had no time to fit in to a complex system that demands flawless execution.  Combine this with an ill-timed slump for our sixth man Baby and we were just helpless.  We had the tools, like we did the last few years, but not the fortune.  

[cdif911]

[tenn_smoothie]

The Trade killed the team - took away our identity and toughness and damaged offensive rhythm - destroyed the team chemistry and togetherness and group motivation. those guys played for each other, moreso than any Celtic group since Cowens' and Russell's teams.

intangibles, intangibles, intangibles.

Danny was thinking like a Laker instead of like a Celtic. he tried to be progressive when he should have stuck to tradition.

[PosImpos]

The Trade killed the team - took away our identity and toughness and damaged offensive rhythm - destroyed the team chemistry and togetherness and group motivation. those guys played for each other, moreso than any Celtic group since Cowens' and Russell's teams.

intangibles, intangibles, intangibles.

Danny was thinking like a Laker instead of like a Celtic. he tried to be progressive when he should have stuck to tradition.

I think this is a nice enough narrative, but it's been invented because it's more interesting and controversial to blame the trade.  This team lives and dies by its Big 4, and they did not change.  There can be no doubt that the trade disrupted chemistry, but at the end of the day our stars are professionals and they've been through it before.  If they had what it took to win when it came down to it, they would have. 

I think the trade was made in the first place because Danny felt the team wasn't going to have enough (in the present or the future).  Turns out he was right, but the trade didn't do enough to help.

[tenn_smoothie]

The Trade killed the team - took away our identity and toughness and damaged offensive rhythm - destroyed the team chemistry and togetherness and group motivation. those guys played for each other, moreso than any Celtic group since Cowens' and Russell's teams.

intangibles, intangibles, intangibles.

Danny was thinking like a Laker instead of like a Celtic. he tried to be progressive when he should have stuck to tradition.

I think this is a nice enough narrative, but it's been invented because it's more interesting and controversial to blame the trade.  This team lives and dies by its Big 4, and they did not change.  There can be no doubt that the trade disrupted chemistry, but at the end of the day our stars are professionals and they've been through it before.  If they had what it took to win when it came down to it, they would have. 

I think the trade was made in the first place because Danny felt the team wasn't going to have enough (in the present or the future).  Turns out he was right, but the trade didn't do enough to help.

let me put it this way then:


whether we would have ended up winning the title or not, is there any doubt that the Celtics were a better team pre-trade than post-trade ?