When do we start worrying?

[BballTim]

It is so inspiring that we have to look ahead on the schedule to see the bad teams the Celtics can beat. That says it all about this team. They will beat the dregs, but lose to most everyone else. As far as the 12 games listed, I see 8-4 at best. As far a old guys being out of shape, needing training camp, etc., why does it seem the Celtics are one of the only teams with this issue? Maybe we should talk to a 16-year vet like Kobe to see what his Magic is. Why is he in shape? I had no expectations this year, but they are even worse than I thought and I don't think they make the 38 wins I expected.

Geesh, I didn't know anyone pointed to specific games and said we would win those and lose those. I took a look at the road ahead and said 8-4 easy 10-2 possible. In that 10-2 they could beat everyone but lose the two games against Cleveland for all I know.

Also, being out of shape and/or not playing well has been a problem for many players across the league. David West, Andray Blatche, Jason Kidd, Brendan Haywood, Grant Hill, Vince Carter, Raymond Felton, Devin Harris, Jameer Nelson, Derek Fisher. The list goes on and on. Its an individual thing not a team collective thing.

Rondo, Ray, Bass, and the youngsters are in shape but KG, Pierce, Pietrus, and O'Neal are not. That is because of what they did in the off season. That's not on the team as a collective.

You are right that the scheduled eases up. The Celts should be 7-8 after their next 5 games. I guess the big question is, how long can they go beating the crap of the league, while losing to just about every decent team? And, will this be enough to get them to the playoffs?

  That formula worked pretty well for Miami last year.

right, cause miami won 58 games by beating only bad teams.

  They also enjoyed quite a bit of success against middle of the road teams. Honestly, I'd say most of their wins against decent teams came near the end of the year. Peak at the right time...

[Celtics18]

It is so inspiring that we have to look ahead on the schedule to see the bad teams the Celtics can beat. That says it all about this team. They will beat the dregs, but lose to most everyone else. As far as the 12 games listed, I see 8-4 at best. As far a old guys being out of shape, needing training camp, etc., why does it seem the Celtics are one of the only teams with this issue? Maybe we should talk to a 16-year vet like Kobe to see what his Magic is. Why is he in shape? I had no expectations this year, but they are even worse than I thought and I don't think they make the 38 wins I expected.

Geesh, I didn't know anyone pointed to specific games and said we would win those and lose those. I took a look at the road ahead and said 8-4 easy 10-2 possible. In that 10-2 they could beat everyone but lose the two games against Cleveland for all I know.

Also, being out of shape and/or not playing well has been a problem for many players across the league. David West, Andray Blatche, Jason Kidd, Brendan Haywood, Grant Hill, Vince Carter, Raymond Felton, Devin Harris, Jameer Nelson, Derek Fisher. The list goes on and on. Its an individual thing not a team collective thing.

Rondo, Ray, Bass, and the youngsters are in shape but KG, Pierce, Pietrus, and O'Neal are not. That is because of what they did in the off season. That's not on the team as a collective.

You are right that the scheduled eases up. The Celts should be 7-8 after their next 5 games. I guess the big question is, how long can they go beating the crap of the league, while losing to just about every decent team? And, will this be enough to get them to the playoffs?

  That formula worked pretty well for Miami last year.

right, cause miami won 58 games by beating only bad teams.

  They also enjoyed quite a bit of success against middle of the road teams. Honestly, I'd say most of their wins against decent teams came near the end of the year. Peak at the right time...

That's pretty much the case.  They didn't really get any real quality wins until they beat the Lakers on Christmas day, 32 games in to the season. 

[CoachBo]

WADR, Moore and Johnson aren't going to have significant impacts this year. They'll be lost.

[SHAQATTACK]

I was worried last year when Perk got traded and Shaq was out, the writing was on the wall

[Neurotic Guy]

I'll worry only if Danny decides to do something crazy like start sacrificing the future if the C's continue to look like a middle of the road team. 

If the C's turn it around in the next month and they appear at that time to be a player away from being in the mix, I'll be fine with a tweak trade that has some negative impact on the rebuild.  But if they are showing 'done' in a month, the ONLY thing that would worry me would be sacrificing the future.  I don't expect a championship this year -- but I'll continue to root for one. 

[slamtheking]

I'll worry only if Danny decides to do something crazy like start sacrificing the future if the C's continue to look like a middle of the road team. 

This

This team is what it is at this point--barely a playoff team.  I'll worry about the team if Danny starts making moves to get mediocre talent and sacrificing the financial advantage he'll have in free agency and trades in the next couple of years.

[SHAQATTACK]

Yep...no reason to make sideways moves for more bad or below average talent , thats no getting us anywhere

Might al well watch the ex superstars as to watch a bunch of rejects cut form other teams who need a job or rather our bench

[gpap]

How does right about NOW sound?

[greenpride32]

We played good teams down the stretch and most of those loses were pretty close.

I am wondering which games you were watching???  We were down 12-15 points for the majority of those games. 

[Celtics4ever]

I still watch the games good or bad.   But I been worried for about a week.

[Surferdad]

How does right about NOW sound?

Worrying is not the right sentiment any more.  It's more like giving up.  Worrying suggests you think they might still win.

I am not watching all the gamws and I'm not watching entire games when I do watch.  I hope for the best but with no  expectations for big success this season.

Fairweather fan?  Perhaps, but my entertainment dollar (and time) will go more towards better entertainment.

[PosImpos]

It is so inspiring that we have to look ahead on the schedule to see the bad teams the Celtics can beat. That says it all about this team. They will beat the dregs, but lose to most everyone else. As far as the 12 games listed, I see 8-4 at best. As far a old guys being out of shape, needing training camp, etc., why does it seem the Celtics are one of the only teams with this issue? Maybe we should talk to a 16-year vet like Kobe to see what his Magic is. Why is he in shape? I had no expectations this year, but they are even worse than I thought and I don't think they make the 38 wins I expected.

Geesh, I didn't know anyone pointed to specific games and said we would win those and lose those. I took a look at the road ahead and said 8-4 easy 10-2 possible. In that 10-2 they could beat everyone but lose the two games against Cleveland for all I know.

Also, being out of shape and/or not playing well has been a problem for many players across the league. David West, Andray Blatche, Jason Kidd, Brendan Haywood, Grant Hill, Vince Carter, Raymond Felton, Devin Harris, Jameer Nelson, Derek Fisher. The list goes on and on. Its an individual thing not a team collective thing.

Rondo, Ray, Bass, and the youngsters are in shape but KG, Pierce, Pietrus, and O'Neal are not. That is because of what they did in the off season. That's not on the team as a collective.

You are right that the scheduled eases up. The Celts should be 7-8 after their next 5 games. I guess the big question is, how long can they go beating the crap of the league, while losing to just about every decent team? And, will this be enough to get them to the playoffs?

  That formula worked pretty well for Miami last year.

right, cause miami won 58 games by beating only bad teams.

  They also enjoyed quite a bit of success against middle of the road teams. Honestly, I'd say most of their wins against decent teams came near the end of the year. Peak at the right time...

It is true that they won most of their games against decent opponents towards the end of the year, and that they struggled a bit early.

However, they never went below .500, and by Christmas they were on quite a roll.

[SHAQATTACK]

More like facing reality and dealing with the fact this version Celtic team may be extremely luck to make the playoffs and thas about as far as I can see their future.

I'm not worrying about not winning a championship this year , it an't happening . That worry left with Shaq last year.

I hope we tank , dump the lot and go Lottery myself.

[nickagneta]

Probably not until mid February.

This team is still out of shape and will round into form within the next couple weeks. In short order we could be 4-8.

But we then have a schedule with a lot of games but against teams that should be beatable:

Toronto - WIN
Phoenix - LOSS
@ Washington - WIN
Orlando - WIN
@ Orlando - WIN
Indiana
Cleveland
@ Cleveland
Toronto
New York
Memphis
Charlotte

That's 12 games where I could see the Celtics easily going 8-4 and possibly 10-2 as they get in better shape and their roles become more defined.

If after that stretch they are in mid February and have a .500 record or better and are playing winning basketball, I can still see a third or 4th seed from winning the Atlantic and a strong playoff push.

If after that stretch they are still struggling and are more than 2 games below .500, not only is it time to worry, its time to think about trading expiring contracts for young assets and draft picks.

So who here is still worried?

I said 8-4 to 10-2 and stick by that. I'm now leaning towards the 10-2 part as it appears KG and Pierce have gotten into shape and that we might actually have two young guards in Moore and Bradley to provide Doc some really nice and different tools off the bench.

[nickagneta]

Probably not until mid February.

This team is still out of shape and will round into form within the next couple weeks. In short order we could be 4-8.

But we then have a schedule with a lot of games but against teams that should be beatable:


Toronto - WIN
Phoenix - LOSS
@ Washington - WIN
Orlando - WIN
@ Orlando - WIN
Indiana - WIN
Cleveland - LOSS
@ Cleveland - WIN
Toronto - WIN
New York - WIN
Memphis - WIN
Charlotte

That's 12 games where I could see the Celtics easily going 8-4 and possibly 10-2 as they get in better shape and their roles become more defined.

If after that stretch they are in mid February and have a .500 record or better and are playing winning basketball, I can still see a third or 4th seed from winning the Atlantic and a strong playoff push.

If after that stretch they are still struggling and are more than 2 games below .500, not only is it time to worry, its time to think about trading expiring contracts for young assets and draft picks.

So who here is still worried?

I said 8-4 to 10-2 and stick by that. I'm now leaning towards the 10-2 part as it appears KG and Pierce have gotten into shape and that we might actually have two young guards in Moore and Bradley to provide Doc some really nice and different tools off the bench.

God I love being right.