All these mediocre teams signing mediocre free agents=Celtics 2014 lottery gold.

[rondoallaturca]

Here we go again with the Rondo out until mid-January stuff. 

Feel free to provide some evidence to the contrary.

Um, I don't know. How about Ainge himself saying that opening day is a realistic return date for Rondo?

Rondo will be back by the year's end at the latest.

[chambers]

1. Miami
2. Brooklyn
3. Indiana
4. Chicago
5. New York
6. Boston
7. Washington
8. Toronto
9. Cleveland
10. Atlanta
11. Milwaukee
12. Orlando
13. Detroit
14. Charlotte
15. Philadelphia

Put down the pipe man.

All the teams in bold got better significantly.
We got way worse and we finished 7th seed last season. how are we finishing higher? What big men do we have to protect the rim? What jumpshooters do we have?
Here's your list and who they got this offseason already. You can imagine anyone that signed a bigger free agent will try and get better. (ie Hawks will get Mo Williams, Bobcats will try to get someone else like Humphries off us to help Al Jeff inside).

Let's assume we move Wallace and Humphries.
Starting 5 of Rondo, Bradley, Green, Sully, Olnyk.
How do we beat any of the teams below in bold?

1. Miami
2. Brooklyn
3. Indiana
4. Chicago
5. New York
6. Boston
7. Washington
starting 5 this season:Wall, Beal, Webster, Seraphin, Nene with Okafur and Singleton off the bench. Not a chance.

8. Toronto- Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry, Demar Derozan, Terrence Ross, Jonas Valancunas.
I'd say it's fair to call that a wash?
9. Cleveland- Anthony Bennett and one more year experience= they are better than us without KG and Pierce.
10. Atlanta= Millsap and Mo Williams (perhaps Teague too?) and Al Horfoard and Korver= arguably better than us with Millsap and Horford.
11. Milwaukee= Larry Sanders, Ilyasova, Jennings and Mayo + whoever else they get.
12. Orlando=added Oladipo. Still suck but they're a 50/50 against us with Vucevic in the paint and Harris, Harrison and their inside presence against our non existent rebounding presence.
13. Detroit=Monroe, Caldwell Pope, Brandon Knight, Maxiell, stuckey, Singler.  Trying to sign Josh Smith, so obviously wanting to get better. If Smith to Houston doesn't happen then they are front runner.
The above players even without Smith vs our starting 5? lol
14. Charlotte= new starting 5
Al Jefferson, Biyombo, Kidd Gilchrist, Henderson, Kemba Walker. That's if we don't send Humphries to them and make them even better.
15. Philadelphia still suck and will be worse than us. Probably the only ones with the Magic that we are slightly better.

In the West?
Suns?
The Pelicans just signed Tyreke Evans so they'll have:
Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans, Anthony Davis, Chris Anderson, Lopez...
you think our starting five can beat the Pelicans? You realise bookmakers will have us as clear underdogs right?

You're dreaming if you think we're making the playoffs lol.

First, how in the world is Atlanta better with Mo freaking Williams.  He is TERRIBLE.  Jeff Teague is MUCH better.  Not even close!!  Milsap is a ROLE play and is NOT as much of a game changer as Smith was. 

The Bucks are likely to lose Monte Ellis and they lost Redick for two second rounders which will NOT make them better this year!!

Toronto should still be really bad.

As it stands now, Detroit is virtually the same horrible team.  Josh Smith would help, but he is NOT there yet.  Caldwell-Pope will hardly play at all with the other bigs.

As for Charlotte, Biyombo would not score 20 points if you left him on the court by himself for an entire half:-))  Kidd-Gilchrist is also offensively challenged.  Is Charlotte going to lock up Henderson long-term?  Still a lot of questions.  Kemba likes to shoot a LOT!  Will he actually run the pick and roll effectively with Big Al?  Big Al is one of the worst post defenders in the league too!!

Time will tell on the Magic. Oladipo is NOT a prolific scorer and may never develop into one either!!  He is a very good defender and they have a nice future in front of them as a team.  That being said, they will not have a lot more wins this year.  Maybe 10 at best.

Smitty77

*Mo Williams was an All Star in Cleveland. Jeff Teague is no where near All Star point guard material. Not even close.
*Paul Millsap is arguably a much better fit on Atlanta because he takes much higher % shots around the basket. He basically does what Josh Smith did (rebound, score points, defend elite 4's) without the weakside rim protection of Smith. He is 6 million cheaper and far more efficient and consistent. He won't be wasting ATL possessions with those terrible jumpshots that Smith loves.
Millsap has missed out on an All Star place in the West by one place TWICE. I'll note that Josh Smith has never been an All Star either. So think twice about calling Millsap a role player compared to Josh Smith. They'll also still have Horford- an All Star big man as well.

*The Bucks signed OJ Mayo to a 3 year deal and are looking for more pieces. They'll kill us.

*The Raptors still have Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozan. They have Valancunas too. They'll be bad, but they'll be on the same level as us. We are pretty close to them because they lack serious inside threats outside valancunas. I'll add them to our lottery contenders.

*The Pistons will be a year older and now have an elite shooting guard. Caldwell pope is a 6'6" shooting guard. He's not a big. He solves a big problem area for them. They found Singler's niche at the small forward at the end of last season. Brandon Knight, Pope, Singler, Monroe and Drummond is a far superior starting 5 than ours.

*AL Jeff makes the Bobcats instantly better. He gives them an extra 10 wins a season. He rebounds, scores and brings a work ethic to the locker room that they need. Biyambo is a defensive specialist. Gilchrist will only get better and get more of the ball in his second season. Who has Kemba ever had on that roster to even run pick and roll with? Byron Mullens? lol.
Fact: Bobcats are better than last season. Their lottery chances have decreased overall.( which is great for us)

The Magic still stink, but they got Victor and they still have a much better rounded team than ours. They have a big man that can defend and rebound in Vucevic. They still have Glen Davis and a nice talented guard/forward rotation.

All of the above indicates good news for our draft chances. Much better than 5 days ago.

[LilRip]

TP for chambers. I too think we're pretty much a lock for one of the 5 worst teams next year. We're in the company of the sixers, suns and magic. i would have included the Bobcats but Big Al puts them in "playoff contender" status.

[pearljammer10]

This years free agency has been pretty wild in my eyes. A lot of teams unexpectedly signing talent and guys like earl Clark, Chris copeland, and budinger getting big deals... It's been wild.

[D.o.s.]

Here we go again with the Rondo out until mid-January stuff. 

Feel free to provide some evidence to the contrary.

Um, I don't know. How about Ainge himself saying that opening day is a realistic return date for Rondo?

Rondo will be back by the year's end at the latest.

That was the same press conference where Ainge said there was no timetable for Rondo's recovery, so a grain of salt is needed with any prediction of his return.

[lightspeed5]

Agreed

[eugen]

Paul Millsap to the Hawks
AL jeff to the Bobcats.
Tyreke Evans to the Pelicans.
Mayo to the bucks.
Calderon to the Mavs.

Millsap, Al and Tyreke are not mediocre players. They are high level players.

[rondoallaturca]

Here we go again with the Rondo out until mid-January stuff. 

Feel free to provide some evidence to the contrary.

Um, I don't know. How about Ainge himself saying that opening day is a realistic return date for Rondo?

Rondo will be back by the year's end at the latest.

That was the same press conference where Ainge said there was no timetable for Rondo's recovery, so a grain of salt is needed with any prediction of his return.

That's why I allowed for two months. Training camp is in October, so even if Rondo opts to take it safe, November and December is still two whole months. Like I said, Rondo will be back by the year's end at the latest.

[lightspeed5]

Paul Millsap to the Hawks
AL jeff to the Bobcats.
Tyreke Evans to the Pelicans.
Mayo to the bucks.
Calderon to the Mavs.

Millsap, Al and Tyreke are not mediocre players. They are high level players.

theyr garbage and teams who settle for those overpriced role players will pay the price of never winning a championship. all jefferson and tyreke evans will not win you a championship

[JJones1090]

Paul Millsap to the Hawks
AL jeff to the Bobcats.
Tyreke Evans to the Pelicans.
Mayo to the bucks.
Calderon to the Mavs.

Millsap, Al and Tyreke are not mediocre players. They are high level players.

theyr garbage and teams who settle for those overpriced role players will pay the price of never winning a championship. all jefferson and tyreke evans will not win you a championship

If Tyreke had kept improving after such a promising rookie year... but anyway, I personally want other teams to soak up these mid to mid-high level talents and let us make smart choices the Boston way. We'll be on top again.

[LooseCannon]

TP for chambers. I too think we're pretty much a lock for one of the 5 worst teams next year. We're in the company of the sixers, suns and magic. i would have included the Bobcats but Big Al puts them in "playoff contender" status.

With Al Jefferson, Charlotte still isn't a team I expect to win 30 games.

Some of these free agent signings that Celtics fans think are removing roadblocks to tanking are going to end up being as good as the Detroit signings of Villanueva and Gordon.

[BballTim]

Here we go again with the Rondo out until mid-January stuff. 

Feel free to provide some evidence to the contrary.

Um, I don't know. How about Ainge himself saying that opening day is a realistic return date for Rondo?

Rondo will be back by the year's end at the latest.

That was the same press conference where Ainge said there was no timetable for Rondo's recovery, so a grain of salt is needed with any prediction of his return.

  "No timetable" could mean something as simple as "no exact date has been set". The fact that they were at the same press conference makes it less likely that "no timetable" was meant to contradict other things he said at the same time, if he'd said "ready by November" and a week later he'd said "no timetable" you'd have a more reasonable case.

[Birdman]

Going to be a rough year folks so buckle up!! If the Celtics win 30 games, I be thrill to death and would be a major victory

[BballTim]

Paul Millsap to the Hawks
AL jeff to the Bobcats.
Tyreke Evans to the Pelicans.
Mayo to the bucks.
Calderon to the Mavs.

Millsap, Al and Tyreke are not mediocre players. They are high level players.

  They're somewhere in between.

[erisred]

The Celtics could be okay, but assuming they don't add a guard that can make the 3 pointer consistently and a real center that can defend, I don't think there is a chance in heck for them to make the playoffs.

Who's bad? IMO, some of the usual suspects and some new players...

1. Philly - clearly tanking
2. Lakers - Kobe is out for 30+ games, what else have they?
3. Boston - You know about us
4. Utah - Shedding talent like a dog shaking off water!
5. Suns - As usual
6. Sacramento - As usual
7. Orlando - Just too young!
8. New Orleans - Just too young, too!

Charlotte, Cleveland, Toronto and especially Detroit move up a bit. Milwaukee and Atlanta stay about the same. Dallas falls, but not far enough.

C's as 6th seed? Even if Lee, Humphries and Wallace equal their best production ever; even if Rondo plays the whole season and Sully is perfectly healthy and productive; even if Green turns into a 23/6/4 All Star; even if one of Melo, Iverson or Olynyk turns into starter quality overnight the C's are going to be struggling to make the 8th seed, much less the 6th!

Personally, I hope Coach Stevens can get the team to play their hearts out, and everybody develops, grows, recovers their form, and all other good things. Even so, think 9th or 10th worst is as good as they can realistically go and 5th or 6th worst is probably where they end up.