The situation we're in is worse than the record...

[esel1000]

Hmm lets see who got injured today? JO, for the millionth time this season, and Wilcox...

So that means?... oh yeah our already small and depleted front court is virtually not existent now. For a whole half of basketball it was Steamer and Johnson... a d-leaguer and a rookie...

Yeah thats a huge problem...

Look the injury bug is really becoming a huge problem for this team. We're at a point right now where we're about to face OKC with virtually nobody in the front court (hoping KG is back...)

I'm expecting another blowout...

The situation we're in is worse than our current record, because the flaws of the team entering the season have finally come back to bite us.

We entered the season with our starting center, the corpse of JO... he is injured every week...

Our other big men have become injury prone...every single one.

We need size, and I think DA pulls the trigger on the wounded horse in a couple weeks and begins to rebuild. I mean this is literally an impossible situation now...

[PosImpos]

I think we're actually probably better without JO playing.

Wilcox . . . meh.  I'm not expecting a consistent contribution from him at this point; he seems like he gets injured as easily as JO does.

But you're right, with the injuries building like this and the team completely unable to even compete with high level opponents, it's starting to look like the smartest thing to do for the rest of the season is just tank.

[anthony83]

JO is very limited, he can not do anything else, and this we knew before the season, also Doc and Ainge.
Right now is a player to play 15 or 20 minutes a night.

Wilcox is not playing badly, but we need a center, Chris Kaman for example.

My favorite is Big Al, but not if Utah wants to pass on to him.

[Q_FBE]

I hear what you are saying and I expect Mikki Moore types to be signed to 10 day contracts to fill space and eat up minutes. Plus KG, hopefully will show up and finish up his Celtic career and not quit on us.

[clover]

It's easy.  If the big guys are out for any period on injury, the only obvious option is to play the young guys and land in the lottery.

The worst thing IMO would be for Danny to bring in a couple of journeymen to play in front of the young guys--it's okay if they play behind them--and worsen their position for the lottery.

If the big guys heal, they may well just limp to the season's close and 60/40 don't make the playoffs anyway.

[Celtics18]

I think the situation we're in is better than the record indicates.  Guys are getting lots of rest, none of the injuries to our key guys seem to be of the type that will keep them out for extended time (no major tears or broken bones), and everyone is getting a chance to play. 

We are only one game below .500 and still in a good position to make the playoffs.  At some point, everyone will get on the court and this team will find a rhythm. 

Add in that everyone has written them off, and I see a recipe for a dangerous, hungry team come playoff time. 

[green7]

O'neal may not play in the thunder game is the best news i heard all week

he doesn't even try to rebound and he sucks offensively.

[esel1000]

I hear what you are saying and I expect Mikki Moore types to be signed to 10 day contracts to fill space and eat up minutes. Plus KG, hopefully will show up and finish up his Celtic career and not quit on us.

hate that name... lol

[droopdog7]

I don't think our situation is worse or better than our record.  Like someone else said, there really is no bring to bring in a mid level player to try and win now because that chance is virtually done anyway.  Might as well just ride and out or blow it up to get the best possible pick.

[jasail]

The next month's schedule isn't very friendly either. 

From now to the end of March they have 20 games. Half of the games are against playoff teams.  6 back to backs.  An 8 game 13 day road trip. And a bunch of games against young and athletic teams.   

I could easily see this team cruising into the trade deadline at least 5 games below five hundred, hanging on to the 8th seed by a game and potentially heading towards a lottery pick.

[the_Bird]

We're not going to get anywhere this year, but unless Danny does something entirely out of character, the rebuild can start in earnest this summer.  

Compare our situation to say...  Orlando, once Dwight walks this summer.  They're going to want to rebuild, too, but they're still going to be paying big $$s to Turkoglu and Baby Davis and Jason Richardson and Chris Duhon - not a one of those guys being someone you want to build around, and they're all one the books for a while.  

We'll have cap space, a couple first-round draft picks, and a young, All Star point guard on a reasonable contract (to either build around, or trade for value).  And, Pierce could either be amnestied or traded (for value).  

We aren't going to have to go through that whole period of waiting for bad contracts to come off the books before the rebuild can begin in earnest.  Or actually, we're kind of going through that right now.

So yeah, I'd say there's a good chance that we may not be able to play .500 ball for the remainder of the season; we have lost so many bigs to injury, and when they're healthy they aren't playing well regardless.  But, we're not in bad shape, because we're in a pretty good position to hit the "reset" button and start over, clean, this summer.