Hooray! We are in the Lottery!

[Celtics4ever]

I could live with  Joe Johnson and Smith from ATL teamed with Rondo providing we kept our picks which isn't likely to happen.  It would not be as bad as the Twon & Potapenko teams.

[tyrone biggums]

^    ^     ^      ^

Great point about virtually the same starting lineup coming back for the Celts.

This is true, however a team is more than 5 people, rotations changing etc.

[rondohondo]

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Please keep sucking C's! we need a top 10 pick in the draft.

Who would you want if we got a pick in the 5-10 range?(I am counting on more injuries to JO,KG ,PP and maybe even Rondo at some point(the way he plays, although he wasn't doing much of anything tonight). Trades could come into play too.

We need big men who can play both sides of the ball and be a 20/10 guy in the future, or close to it .

Sullinger
Perry Jones


and then Gilchrist as a wing option ,explosive scorer. ( we should have Brooks )

[Yoki_IsTheName]

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OKC up next

Please keep sucking C's! we need a top 10 pick in the draft.

Who would you want if we got a pick in the 5-10 range?(I am counting on more injuries to JO,KG ,PP and maybe even Rondo at some point(the way he plays, although he wasn't doing much of anything tonight). Trades could come into play too.

We need big men who can play both sides of the ball and be a 20/10 guy in the future, or close to it .

Sullinger
Peryy Jones


and then Gilchrist as a wing option ,explosive scorer. ( we should have Brooks )

I hope we don't but if we are, I'd take Andre Drummond. That kid is athletic as heck. Hell of an athlete. Active on the boards and defense but a little unpolished on the offensive side. I'd take him.

[GrandTheftRondo]

LOL @ everyone getting excited about the thought of lottery picks...like Doc would ever play them outside of garbage time 

[PosImpos]

The team's got a little while before Danny decides whether to blow it up or not, but it's a little while; probably three or four weeks to show that they can be competitive.  That should be enough time for guys to play themselves into shape, for Pietrus to integrate himself into the lineup, for Pierce to get himself healthy and going, and for JO to have his inevitable knee injury.

Danny knows that the team could be done, just like we do.  If we're in early February and the team's still muddling along at .500 or below, look for some changes to happen.  Look for Ray Allen to get traded for picks/young talent.  Maybe look for something REALLY dramatic; at least look for Danny to kick around the idea of trading for Joe Johnson or Rudy Gay or some other talented-but-overpaid scorer.  We're most apt to use the cap space via trade, anyway. 

The fact is, Danny knows this team isn't playing well.  He knows it's more than just the lack of training camp, or integrating new players.  There may be a smidge of validity to those, but this is a veteran group.  Talk about the Lakers and Spurs bringing back their same core; the starting lineup's basically been the same, it's only the bench that's different for the C's this year and the problems start with the guys who've been here for a while.  We aren't losing games because Wilcox and Dooling aren't comfortable yet!

I hear a lot of excuses being made for a team that's showing itself to just not be very good right now.  What does a medicore team look like?  They can beat the dregs and sometimes keep up with the great teams, but usually can't quite make enough plays to beat the good teams.  Pretty much exactly what we've seen.

Maybe they get better, but they better get better soon; the clock's a tickin'.

great post.  TP.

[lightspeed5]

i would trade down for austin rivers if we had a shot at drummond, etc.

[Tnerb02]

I'm not done with this team yet but a part of me wouldn't mind if we just tanked and started the rebuilding mode a year early. I still want the Celtics to win but even if they do make the playoffs, the best I see them doing is a 2nd round exit. It is still very early and we will still probably finish with an over .500 record, but I think it would be best for the franchise to start rebuilding around Rondo.

[ForexPirate]

so i signed up for nba league pass ... i went to turn on the game and all I got was a blank screen.  I went to call my cable provider and they said they didn't have a record of my subscription.  I said - that's just great - don't subscribe me my team sucks.  Saved $170 !

[tyrone biggums]

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Please keep sucking C's! we need a top 10 pick in the draft.

Who would you want if we got a pick in the 5-10 range?(I am counting on more injuries to JO,KG ,PP and maybe even Rondo at some point(the way he plays, although he wasn't doing much of anything tonight). Trades could come into play too.

We need big men who can play both sides of the ball and be a 20/10 guy in the future, or close to it .

Sullinger
Perry Jones


and then Gilchrist as a wing option ,explosive scorer. ( we should have Brooks )

Let me ask you this, how can you be a true fan of a team when you hope that they lose every game? Drafting is an inexact science and for all we know the Celtics could tank away this year for Ron Mercer 2012. Would you be satisfied with this team tanking with the chance that the pick may not work out? Hell this draft is so deep you can get a solid player in the teens anyways. There is no LeBron or Wade talent in this draft.

Why not try to add to this core instead for one last run?

[Celtics4ever]

Would you add to the core of an apple if it was rotten?

I used to think that this might help, now I am not so sure.  Do you think we'd be in the same boat if we had a healthly Jeff Green?   I do.

[CelticsFanNC]

Would you add to the core of an apple if it was rotten?

I used to think that this might help, now I am not so sure.  Do you think we'd be in the same boat if we had a healthly Jeff Green?   I do.

I think Green would have helped our most glaring issue which is lack of athletes but would he have made us into a contender?  Nope.

  We have a core of mid-30's former superstars who in all honesty probably gave us a season or two more of competitive basketball then most anyone thought they would when they came together. Make no mistake about it though, there was always an expiration date on this thing.

  I personally am grateful to them for a marvelous run that lasted longer then I ever dream it would in 2007-08.  I'm grateful that we came out the other end with a truly elite PG because no one saw him as that in 2007-08, even if he ends up being an asset to be dealt later on.

  I'm also grateful that next season(or at the dead line) we will start from scratch rather then in a major deficit brought on by taking on bad contracts.

[rondohondo]

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Mavs
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OKC up next

Please keep sucking C's! we need a top 10 pick in the draft.

Who would you want if we got a pick in the 5-10 range?(I am counting on more injuries to JO,KG ,PP and maybe even Rondo at some point(the way he plays, although he wasn't doing much of anything tonight). Trades could come into play too.

We need big men who can play both sides of the ball and be a 20/10 guy in the future, or close to it .

Sullinger
Perry Jones


and then Gilchrist as a wing option ,explosive scorer. ( we should have Brooks )

Let me ask you this, how can you be a true fan of a team when you hope that they lose every game? Drafting is an inexact science and for all we know the Celtics could tank away this year for Ron Mercer 2012. Would you be satisfied with this team tanking with the chance that the pick may not work out? Hell this draft is so deep you can get a solid player in the teens anyways. There is no LeBron or Wade talent in this draft.

Why not try to add to this core instead for one last run?

I was waiting for someone to say I wasn't a true fan because I want them to suck this year, but I disagree. The only reason I want them to suck is so we don't have to watch another decade like the mid 90's to mid 2000's. We also got Chauncey Billups in that draft and if Pitino wasn't so impatient would have had a future all-star for 10+ years. Joe Johnson was picked around # 10, PP was picked #10 .

This is how you get playmakers and game changers in the NBA. We have no chips to trade for a star, we saw the package Rondo would have gotten back from indy(Collison, Hansborough, Rush). There are no max worthy free agents besides Deron and Dwight in free agency this year and won't be any again until about 2014.

How else do you see the c's improving? adding more corpses to surround JO,KG,PP and Ray?

Te c's need to get young athletic scorers who can run with rondo, I am sick of seeing rondo on 1 man fastbreaks all the time .

[timpiker]

Put a fork in 'em.

[hpantazo]

I'd say trade Ray for a young promising player or 1st round pick, and tank this year. Get a lottery pick, plus the clippers pick, and rebuild with those two picks, Rondo, Jeff Green, and whatever you get from trading Ray.