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

[perks-a-beast]

Here is why you are wrong: Rajon Rondo.

[LarBrd33]

Some folks had unrealistic expectations... got suckered into believing the company line of "we have room for two max contract players" and weren't paying attention to months of warnings from posters on this forum who stressed, "This free agent crop is terrible... the best guys available are our own players... by far our best option is to just bring everyone back and hope for the best... 25 million in cap space is a myth"

You might be right that we're headed for mediocrity.  But we'll have more-or-less the same team that vastly overachieved in the playoffs this year... except we'll be adding Jeff Green (most likely) and a couple rookies... probably a role player with the MLE.  If we can remain healthy this year (as opposed to having a handful of players have season ending injuries like this past season)... we'll probably be right in the thick of the playoffs again.  Regular season could be painful to watch, but the fact is... this past season was brutal to watch up until mid Feb as well.  People forget that we spent a large chunk of the season sub .500 and heading for the lottery.  The playoff run was fun, but this definitely was my least fond season of the "Big 3" era.  I was bored to tears until Avery Bradley showed a pulse.   This next season should have a lot more intrigue at least.... Some people think Bradley has star potential... and then one or two of the other young players might show some signs as well.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

I would have rather renounced everyone to get at Hibbert and Mayo if they were going that route...would have been better than this outcome.

What's the ceiling on a team made up of Rondo, Mayo, and Hibbert going forward?  Eastern Conference Finals, on that team's absolute best day?

That's where we are now.  I don't see the need to blow it up just to end up equal to, or worse than, where we are now.

agreed it is a complete knee jerk reaction by some here. They are not using any perspective or being rational. Makes me want to think since the big 3 are supposed to get so bad each and every year did they want to blow it up after 2008? 2009? how about the finals in 2010? since we did not win it all clearly we were on the decline right? 2011? 2012??? Using that mindset we should have been GOD awful this year but we were better than last year and came within minutes of making the NBA finals again almost making it 3 times in 5 years......THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES FOLKS. It means we are doing something right. 

[LarBrd33]

Lol @ anyone who would prefer Tony Allen's backup + max contract Roy Hibbert over Kevin Garnett + Brandon Bass + Jeff Green + Ray Allen + Nenad Krstik + MLE.  

Not to mention... Indiana might still just match the Hibbert offer.

[LooseCannon]

Let's consider the not-crazy possibility that:

a) Rondo, having been handed the keys to the team, plays consistently enough that we don't completely scoff at over-enthusiastic Celtics fans who want to chant "MVP" at him
b) Avery Bradley is for real and actually improves his numbers vs last season
c) One of the draft picks earns enough minutes and performs well enough to be at least second team All-Rookie
d) Jeff Green ends up in the top five in sixth man of the year voting

Individually, all of those sound like reasonable possibilities, but it seems unlikely that all of them could happen.  Still, there is enough there to justify optimism.

As for two years of mediocrity, if your goal is to blow things up, that's probably the necessary transition period to get horrible enough to be in the lottery unless you want to commit to drafting busts and trading Rondo for players who are average at best.

[Cman]

just enjoy what we've got for now. I like what DA is doing.

[goCeltics]

think if they suck, ainge will trade them away or they will retire will be pretty easy to blow it up

[Kdu12]

Gerald Green and Big Al are not walking through that door...accept it and move on!

Actually, Gerald Green might be walking through that door 

[Reyquila]

2 years of mediocrity? Thats what some fans said after 1986. They forgot to add a 0 after the 2.

[mctyson]

If Danny had any other serious viable options to turn us into a contending team for another 5 years, he would have pulled the trigger. 

The fact is that Dwight Howard was never coming to Boston (and I am not sure at this point I'd want him.)

The only way we are getting franchise/generational talent in Celtics Green is to trade Rajon Rondo.  He is the only single player that can net a current or future lock Top 20 player in return.  But why would Danny do that just to say that he made a move?  That is how Billy King and Otis Smith and Kahn operate.

Danny is saying to himself..."I have an All-NBA Defensive first team backcourt in Rondo and Bradley.  Rondo may be 1st team All NBA next year.  He is 26. Bradley is 21.  Most teams would kill for that kind of backcourt right now.  WHY WOULD I TRADE THAT AWAY???"

Danny only explored trading Rondo if it meant giving our Big 3 a better chance to capitalize on their last few years of being the core of a championship unit.  That's why Chris Paul made sense.  Under any other circumstance it does not.

The folks on this board who would be giddy if we let KG and Ray walk, and then traded Rondo for Dwight Howard, and signed Deron Williams, are delusional if they think that his how you build an NBA championship team.  Yet if we did do that, my guess is you wouldn't have made this thread, even though that trade would not have made our TEAM any better.

[tyrone biggums]

Gerald Green and Big Al are not walking through that door...accept it and move on!

Actually, Gerald Green might be walking through that door 

Blakely is a horrible reporter...I have more credibility than him. Anyone on here has more credibility

[arambone]

If Danny had any other serious viable options to turn us into a contending team for another 5 years, he would have pulled the trigger.

 

Danny did "pull the trigger", and the Celtics are looking like a contending team for the next 5 years.

Did you miss the part where we drafted the 6th ranked prospect in the draft at 21, without trading away both first rounders?

Sullinger was/is the best post scorer in this draft, and he's only 20. He's also a major upgrade over Bass as a rebounder.

And since Danny didn't trade away both picks, we also drafted first or second best big man defender in the draft.

Melo is a much better post defender than Zeller or Leonard at this point, and he has a more natural feel for the game than Drummond.

Rondo is a borderline MVP candidate at this point, and for the next 5 years.

KG and Pierce can be major factors in limited minutes for the next 2-3 years, at which point the Celtics will have the cap space to sign another star who wants to win a ring with Rondo, Bradley, Green, Sullinger, and Melo.

I couldn't be more excited about the next five years, and Danny has done a great job of sitting tight and not over-reacting to bumps in the road.

Few if any teams are as well positioned for the next five years as the Celtics.

[Reyquila]

arambone, Im very happy for you. I hope you stay this excited during the next 5 years, as you claim you are going to be with this team. God, please dont dissapoint my friend here. 

[arambone]

arambone, Im very happy for you. I hope you stay this excited during the next 5 years, as you claim you are going to be with this team. God, please dont dissapoint my friend here. 

I'm a very pessimistic guy. That should give my optimism even more weight, lol.

I think our goverment will use war with Iran to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, and to impose a full blown police state after things get out of hand at the bread lines and soup kitchens.

 

[Moranis]

My worry isn't that Boston signed KG or is looking to bring back Allen, Bass, and Green, it is the years and the dollars of the contracts that is worrisome.  Boston has pretty much effectively eliminated itself from the free agent market next summer and to me that is the real problem with all the moves.  And there should be some real concern that Boston will turn into Detroit after all these moves i.e. overpaying for players and ending up mediocre at best.  Granted Boston has Rondo, something Detroit didn't have, but Rondo isn't a MVP type talent.  Boston should be alright next year, but 2 and 3 years from now, I'd have some real worries unless one of the draft picks hits and hits big, and I just don't get why Boston eliminated the future cap space.  Seems silly and unnecessary.