Bring back Nate Robinson and Barbosa next year

[lightspeed5]

We need scorers. none of our shooters are cutting it. Talking to bulls fans, they  dont just like nate. they LOVE nate. Lets get krypto-nate back.

[CelticConcourse]

Perhaps a more offensive-minded coach?

[ItStaysYang]

Have you forgotten that Nate Robinson is terrible?

[slamtheking]

We need scorers. none of our shooters are cutting it. Talking to bulls fans, they  dont just like nate. they LOVE nate. Lets get krypto-nate back.

why?  are you trying to ensure a high lottery pick?

[lightspeed5]

Have you forgotten that Nate Robinson is terrible?

if he's terrible, what is jordan crawford?

[LEHGOCELTICS]

No, we need a clean rebuild.

[lightspeed5]

No, we need a clean rebuild.

is jordan crawford part of a clean rebuild?

[CelticConcourse]

No, we need a clean rebuild.

Disagree

[crimson_stallion]

No, we need a clean rebuild.

Disagree

I also strongly disagree.

With this lineup plus Rondo and Sully we are a borderline contender.

Current lineup without Pierce and KG (if they leave) gives us plenty of cap space.  We can sign a big to replace KG, while Jeff Green will step in and take over for Pierce.  Leaves us with a roster of:

[Free Agent big]
Sullinger
Green
Bradley
Rondo

Then we have Terry (with a more natural, increased role), Crawford, T-WIll, Bass, Randolf, Wilcox coming off the bench.  Lots of young talent among that group with potential.

A roster like this is still capable of making the playoffs in the weak eastern conference (just look at the Bucks) and has plenty of potential to develop as a group over the years that follow.

We already know that Rondo works well with Bradley and with Sullinger, and plenty of cap space to add pieces if Pierce / KG go.   Also plenty of trade chips with all the young guys we have. 

I'd favour this position over a full rebuild anyday.
 

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

No, we need a clean rebuild.

yep. i am leaning towards this as well. clean house players wise. 

although i will admit rondo, green and sully could be something to help build around. depends which way DA wants to go.

[syfy9]

Have you forgotten that Nate Robinson is terrible?

.............Have you watched a Bulls game this season?

He might be terrible if you compared him to the likes of Chris Paul...or Magic, Stockton, and Isiah Thomas, but he has been crucial to the Bulls this season. Above average point guard. 

[Kiorrik]

Perhaps a more offensive-minded coach?

I'm pretty sure D'Antoni will be available next season :')

[crimson_stallion]

Have you forgotten that Nate Robinson is terrible?

.............Have you watched a Bulls game this season?

He might be terrible if you compared him to the likes of Chris Paul...or Magic, Stockton, and Isiah Thomas, but he has been crucial to the Bulls this season. Above average point guard.

He always was.

Boston fans are overly harsh on their players because they tend to expect way too much, then get horridly upset when it doesn't happen. 

Look at Jason Terry this season as a perfect example.  He's had a solid season by an other standards, but the way Boston fans talk about him you would think he's averaged 3 PPG in 35 minutes while shooting 25% and turning the ball over 5 times a night. He's been MORE THAN solid for us, but to most Boston fans he's a apprently been a disaster.  I bet a LOT of teams in the league would take what he's given us on their roster.  Last year (when our backup PG's were Keeyon Dooling and E'twaun Moore) I'm pretty sure we'd have taken this Jet in a hearbeat.

In much the same way, Nate was really pretty decent for us.  He was a 'spark plug' type of player.  We all knew he's a streaky scorer who will sway from hot to cold in an instant, but he actually did a pretty nice job of handling the ball and passing the ball.  He manned the PG spot reasonably well...I was sad to see him go in the trade. He was a big of a defensive liability with his size, but he always tried and he always got the crowd involved.

Hell even Marbury wasn't that bad in his stint with us!  He never found a consistent offense, but again he did a pretty good job of handling and distributing the ball in the spot minutes he played. 

Both of those guys were vastly superior to AB when it came to handling the PG spot.

People here just are just too quick to focus on criticism and too slow to praise for strengths.

Rondo gets a lot of cricisism here but I can understand that, because with him it's mental (effort and attitude) rather than a question of talent or ability.

I think after years past DA tried very hard to get guys who were strict professionals in the way they approach the game - guys like Bass, Green, Lee.  Guys who don't wear their emotions on their sleeve.  I think in the process he too away all of that soul which has kept Boston so dominante over the past decade.

Looking at our team now you can blame the injuries but its only half the story.  Even when we have been relatively healthy this season, we have been mostly a fringe playoff team at best.  I put it down to lack of emotion.

Ironically all of the 'head case' players (JR Smith, KMart, Birdman, Blatche) that we seemed to purposely avoid happen to be doing quite well right now. Oh the irony.

[LEHGOCELTICS]

No, we need a clean rebuild.

Disagree

I also strongly disagree.

With this lineup plus Rondo and Sully we are a borderline contender.

Current lineup without Pierce and KG (if they leave) gives us plenty of cap space.  We can sign a big to replace KG, while Jeff Green will step in and take over for Pierce.  Leaves us with a roster of:

[Free Agent big]
Sullinger
Green
Bradley
Rondo

Then we have Terry (with a more natural, increased role), Crawford, T-WIll, Bass, Randolf, Wilcox coming off the bench.  Lots of young talent among that group with potential.

A roster like this is still capable of making the playoffs in the weak eastern conference (just look at the Bucks) and has plenty of potential to develop as a group over the years that follow.

We already know that Rondo works well with Bradley and with Sullinger, and plenty of cap space to add pieces if Pierce / KG go.   Also plenty of trade chips with all the young guys we have. 

I'd favour this position over a full rebuild anyday.

Not sure what your definition of a contender is. If your idea of a contender is barely sneaking into the playoffs with a sub-.500 record like this season's Bucks, we won't even be on that tier if KG and PP are both gone. We are definitely not contenders, nor are we playoff-bound; two distinctly different and mutually exclusive classifications.

While what you described is a nice starting core, we'll need much more than that in order to perhaps contend for a championship again.

[crimson_stallion]

Not sure what your definition of a contender is. If your idea of a contender is barely sneaking into the playoffs with a sub-.500 record like this season's Bucks, we won't even be on that tier if KG and PP are both gone. We are definitely not contenders, nor are we playoff-bound; two distinctly different and mutually exclusive classifications.

While what you described is a nice starting core, we'll need much more than that in order to perhaps contend for a championship again.

My definition of a contender is a team that has a legit shot of beating anybody in the league if they are on top of their game. 

A borderline contender is a team that is walking the fine line between being a contender, or just being purely a playoff team. 

I would describe last season's team as a borderline contender.  We made it to the ECF and pushed the eventual NBA champions to 7 games.  To me that is borderline contender.

Our current roster with a healthy Rondo and Sully is IMHO as good as the team we had last season which pushed Miami to 7 games, hence I would call it a borderline contender. 

The team without Pierce and KG would not be a contender, but I think it would still be a playoff team - likely a 7th or 8th seed and probably a first round exit. 

The way Pierce has played so far in the playoffs there are times where I think he havn't been much worse without him.  He's helped us in spots with his scoring and passing, but hurt us at other times with bad shot selection and ugly turnovers.  I strongly believe that having Pierce on the court holds back Jeff Green's aggressiveness (he seems to defer to Pierce at end of games) so I would say it's debatable whether losing him (and the remainder of his contact) would make us THAT much worse. Green would be given a bigger role as our primary scorer and I think he'd flourish in that role and elevate his game significantly.

Losing KG would certainly hurt us, but his $10M would come off the books theoretically so we could also sign another quite capable big to take his place.  You'll never find another KG, but you could potentially get a Tyson Chandler / Josh Smith / Al Jefferson calibre player that could ease the transition.

As I said I do believe we would drop from 'contender' status with Pierce and KG gone, but I still think we'd be a playoff team...and with Wilcox and Terry being the only > 30 year old players on the team, we would be one that is built fo the future and would only get better.