I feel like we're quickly headed to two years of mediocrity

[theswitch]

I think Paul needs to restructure his contract especially after last years eastern conference finals. He played horrible. His ass needs to be in the gym right now. Working hard and getting back to what made him great. Getting to the free throw line.

He can't do that even if he and the Cs wanted to.

He also played with a sprained MCL the whole playoffs.

[KGs Knee]

I'll be honest, this thought does linger somewhere in the far reaches of my thoughts.


For me though, it comes down to one simple fact.  The cap space we could have had this year ended up being useless.  There are no FA's worth spending significant money on.  There are no game changers available.  It's just bad timing.

As much as I am thrilled KG is back, and probably Ray too, I would have been fine with going a different direction if we were able to get a top flight player to sign here.  But as I said above, there weren't any available.

Bringing back our core and adding a few complimentary pieces, with an eye on youth, is the best we were going to do.  I really do hope that we can somehow use Bass (maybe in combination with Sully/Melo) in a S&T to find a upgrade at either C/PF, but I'm not hoding out hope for that.  Even if we just bring back Bass, I think we'll still be highly competitive.  Enough to be a contender, we'll see.

[tyrone biggums]

Say for example the OP is right (which I've already taken the position that he isn't) and we're mediocre for two years...would you rather be mediocre with 3 guys who could retire and thus take the money off the books...or would you rather give huge moronic contracts to Mayo and friends and be mediocre?

We saw this before Ainge took over, and we also have seen this from teams like the Pistons who after a long stay in the basement in the league appears to be finally climbing out.

[colincb]

Agree with the OP.

This roster needs a shake up in the worst way. Maybe Danny has something up his sleeve that will allow us to get younger and more athletic so that we can keep up in the East (let's be real guys, outside of Miami, Atlanta and Philly gave us a run for our money and we didn't even have to deal with Chicago. The East is getting more athletic by the year. We're getting left in the dust.)

Yup, I keep saying the same thing but I get blasted for saying that this core just isn't going to work. The core peaked years ago and they're only going to get older from this point on. They need younger players to complement the vets, but bringing back Ray will mean we're going to get smoked by more athletic teams also recharging for another postseason run. People believe Miami is our only obstacle, but say we get past them. We'll get devastated by OKC; blown out of the water...smfh

I guess most people don't think losing in game 7 to the eventual champ is getting smoked and that adding a few pieces to that team might get you over the top.  The alternative is to tank and rebuild because we don't have any legit young stars except Rondo and he's not a scorer.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Have a better option for the next two years without tanking? We were one win away from beating the Champs and had two opportunities to do it. Now we come back deeper and try again.

DING DING DING we have a winner!

[lightspeed5]

its either our big 3, our having oj mayo, kwame brown, and the other free agents we would be left with be our center pieces

[Senninsage]

Feel whatever you want. This Celtics squad has the potential to be the best and deepest it has been in quite a while.

Bradley is starter from the very start of the season. He is a proven quantity now. We have Ray on the bench (hopefully), Jeff Green back hopefully, Pietrus back hopefully, we have Jared Sullinger also. Man, we have a deep [dang] team with a combination of both young and veteran talent.

Ray is a must.

[tyrone biggums]

Agree with the OP.

This roster needs a shake up in the worst way. Maybe Danny has something up his sleeve that will allow us to get younger and more athletic so that we can keep up in the East (let's be real guys, outside of Miami, Atlanta and Philly gave us a run for our money and we didn't even have to deal with Chicago. The East is getting more athletic by the year. We're getting left in the dust.)

Yup, I keep saying the same thing but I get blasted for saying that this core just isn't going to work. The core peaked years ago and they're only going to get older from this point on. They need younger players to complement the vets, but bringing back Ray will mean we're going to get smoked by more athletic teams also recharging for another postseason run. People believe Miami is our only obstacle, but say we get past them. We'll get devastated by OKC; blown out of the water...smfh

I guess most people don't think losing in game 7 to the eventual champ is getting smoked and that adding a few pieces to that team might get you over the top.  The alternative is to tank and rebuild because we don't have any legit young stars except Rondo and he's not a scorer.

Rondo had only slightly less points per game than Mayo who everyone wants to give the piggy bank to. I don't understand where you get Rondo isn't a scorer though, he has a career average of 17.3 ppg in the post season, and won't be a 25 ppg scorer because he doesn't need to be with the Celtics.

[j804]

Haven't people learned to not count this team out? Apparently not and those same folks will be eating crow when we are back in the ECF making a run for the Finals

[tyrone biggums]

Feel whatever you want. This Celtics squad has the potential to be the best and deepest it has been in quite a while.

Bradley is starter from the very start of the season. He is a proven quantity now. We have Ray on the bench (hopefully), Jeff Green back hopefully, Pietrus back hopefully, we have Jared Sullinger also. Man, we have a deep [dang] team with a combination of both young and veteran talent.

Ray is a must.

110% agree!

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Agree with the OP.

This roster needs a shake up in the worst way. Maybe Danny has something up his sleeve that will allow us to get younger and more athletic so that we can keep up in the East (let's be real guys, outside of Miami, Atlanta and Philly gave us a run for our money and we didn't even have to deal with Chicago. The East is getting more athletic by the year. We're getting left in the dust.)

Yup, I keep saying the same thing but I get blasted for saying that this core just isn't going to work. The core peaked years ago and they're only going to get older from this point on. They need younger players to complement the vets, but bringing back Ray will mean we're going to get smoked by more athletic teams also recharging for another postseason run. People believe Miami is our only obstacle, but say we get past them. We'll get devastated by OKC; blown out of the water...smfh

as hurt as we were using your analogy then Atlanta and or Philly should have smoked us with their youth and athleticism right?

And just how does your prescience tell you we will get smoked by OKC???

 We played the heat better than them. We will have young guys also. Who can run. You think the heat play better D than us?

Yes OKC looks good but we have discussed this previously.

yeah we'll get blown out the water just like the heat did to us right?

SMH  

[cman88]

i said this before, but the celtics arent going to go the route of trying to "suck" and hope the ping-pong balls go their way to build their next championship core...sure theres a chance you hit the jackpot and end up with the next rose,durant etc. but chances are you dont and just keep being bad hoping for the next year

Doc didnt sign up for 6years to coach a rebuilding team..even Steven A smith sees us in the ECF next season.


contrary to popular belief there are other ways to build a team.....and the celtics actually have alot of youth..Bradley,Green, sullinger,melo, joseph, moore, jjj

now, these guys get to learn how to play/prepare from the best in the game..its a much better situation for them to flourish and reach their potential than playing on a team like charlotte or washington where they are thrust into a losing mentality.

so, you compete for titles now, develop the youth and they can either become guys you see as the future core, or you now have chips you can trade when that big superstar wants to leavue.

[T-LoDaniels]

If we do sign Ray Allen, do we get older and slower? Yes. Does it affect our flexibility to go after free agents next summer? Yes. Does this hurt our team's chances to win a championship in the next 2 years? Absolutely not.

Some people here don't understand just how complicated winning a championship is, and they think our team's problems can be solved easily. Some people have been saying: "We were 26th in offensive efficiency last season, so we need someone (a chucker) who gives us instant offense, even if it means sacrificing a little bit of our defense". Or some people are saying "we need to get athletic players who can run with Rondo and block shots. Let's get McGee! (A basketball player who doesn't know how to play basketball)". Give me a break.

This might be news to some people, but here it is: our system WORKS. Yes, the system that involves frustrating offense that leads to jump-shots, that doesn't involve crashing the offensive board but rather playing stifling defense. Our offense changed a little bit last year when KG was moved to the 5. Our bigs were terrific jump shooters, so they hung out on the perimeter and elbows a lot, freeing up space in the middle for Pierce and Rondo to drive into. Also, it creates space that Bradley can sneak into, leading to easy lay-ups. Using this system we were actually pretty decent on offense. Sure we need to get more athletic so that we do get more fast-break points, but to sacrifice our whole system?? It doesn't make sense. With this system, we went 24-10 after the all-star break. We took the best team in the world to 7 games. I repeat, THIS SYSTEM WORKS!

In the playoffs, defense is superior to offense. The shot-blocking, fast-paced athletic team that people fantasize about? That team already exists: The Oklahoma City Thunder. Their system DOES NOT WORK against a team like the Heat. Theoretically, a team that has an elite shot-blocking presence to keep Lebron and Wade out of the paint and is overall more athletic than the Heat should have no problems beating them right?

No.

An elite shot-blocker does not equal keeping players out of the paint. The Heat got to the basket more easily against OKC than against us. Why? Because KG and Rondo do a terrific job cutting out driving lanes. The only way to beat the Heat is to beat them in half-court and on defense. Cut the athletic, fast-paced bullEdited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.. No matter who we get, we're NOT going to beat the Heat in a fast-paced game. Slowing the game down is the only way to win.

[GreenFaith1819]

Not me.

I feel like our window is as open as San Antonio's, IMO. Maybe longer, with the choices Danny made with the draft.

Adding Sullinger and Melo? Joseph's not a bad 2nd round pick, either.

I expect Sully to produce immediately, barring any prolonged back issues (God forbid). And I expect Melo to come along nicely. Both of these two will be key in keeping KG fresh.

Rondo is getting more confidence with his J. He's closing the gap quite nicely with CP3 and DWill.

Paul, while older, will STILL be a top 5 SF. After Lebron, Durant, and perhaps Deng and Iggy, who is better?

Danny's not done, either.

I am VERY optimistic about the next two years, myself. If anything, MIA should be concerned....they are courting Ray Allen heavily because they want him to take some minutes away from soon to be 31 year old Dwyane Wade.

Does anyone here really see Dwayne Wade being very effective over the next few years? Especially with AB hounding him for 40 min? He was rather banged up last year, I thought.

I don't see him getting any younger.

BOS's not going anywhere for the next couple of years. I look for them to be right there come May and June.

All you have to do is set you team up to compete....most of the time, everything else will fall into place.

Any remaining pieces we need WILL come.

I trust Danny and Doc.

[Senninsage]

Have a better option for the next two years without tanking? We were one win away from beating the Champs and had two opportunities to do it. Now we come back deeper and try again.

Somebody has some [dang] sense...