Yahoo Writer Has Celtics Winning The Division

[gpap]

I hope he's right.

The truth is, the Atlantic Division really is rather weak.

You never know what you are going to get with the Knicks and both Philly and Toronto are sub 500 teams.

I also think some need to pump the breaks with Brooklyn.

I know they have our former star players and there's a lot of sentimentality there, but Brooklyn is a rather older team with injury prone players (Deron, Joe Johnson.)

[gpap]

I love how as soon as Pierce and KG leave we start getting more respect


Now somehow brooklyn will suck cause KG and Pierce joined them

Its pretty ridiculous

Well, Pierce and KG are pretty old.

Anyway, it's really too bad that Ainge (at least so far) hasn't assembled a decent roster instead of an imbalanced one.

With a halfway decent center and decent back-up point guard, I think our team could be and would be a lot better than people give it credit for.

I don't believe we are going to be awful just because Pierce and KG are no longer here.

If we are awful, it's only because the front office wants our team to be awful.

Trading Pierce/KG and then acquiring decent talent to be a good team is more then doable.

[dark_lord]

that guy must be a CB member

[Chris]

For what it's worth Wages of Wins are also very down on the Knicks and Nets.  They have the Raptors ahead of both teams.  The reason is that they rate Bargnani as such a huge negative win share.

Personally I see Nets, Knicks, Celtics, Raptors and Sixers, although I wouldn't be surprised if we overtake the Knicks.

 

I would be lol

As the roster in constructed right now, they are too reliant on Carmelo having an MVP type year.  That roster is not that impressive without Anthony.  Losing Kidd also has to hurt that locker room a lot.

I don't know, I think its a pretty strong roster.

I am actually a Bargnani fan, and think putting him on a team with other option could revive his career (and his shooting percentages).  But even beyond that, Chandler may be the best defensive center in the league, and is not an offensive liability (or much of one anyways).  JR Smith is still the reigning 6th man.  Shumpert could have a breakout year.  Felton is very underrated.  Martin and Prigioni are very good depth.

And then there is Artest and Staudemire.  Either of these guys, if healthy, could be very valuable. Amare would give them another force up front offensively, and I actually think Artest is a spectacular fit next to Melo, because he can defend the 3 or the 4, and doesn't need the ball...if he has anything left in the tank.

I also think they could be an interesting trade partner, if they decide to move Amare.  Boston matches up particularly well, especially if Artest doesn't pan out.  They could send something like Wallace, Lee, and Bass(or Bogans) for Amare, which would give the Knicks more depth, and get the C's out of the final year of Wallace's contract.

 

[guava_wrench]

Garbage blog post.

[CelticG1]

I love how as soon as Pierce and KG leave we start getting more respect


Now somehow brooklyn will suck cause KG and Pierce joined them

Its pretty ridiculous

Well, Pierce and KG are pretty old.

Anyway, it's really too bad that Ainge (at least so far) hasn't assembled a decent roster instead of an imbalanced one.

With a halfway decent center and decent back-up point guard, I think our team could be and would be a lot better than people give it credit for.

I don't believe we are going to be awful just because Pierce and KG are no longer here.

If we are awful, it's only because the front office wants our team to be awful.

Trading Pierce/KG and then acquiring decent talent to be a good team is more then doable.

I think KG and Pierce along with everyone else they acquired or kept makes them a top 2-3 team.

Just subbing Wallace for Pierce last year woyld have been infinitely huge.

Maybe regular season wins won't be 65 plus but only reason is because those guys take off a month or so

[Yogi]

I don't know, I think its a pretty strong roster.

I am actually a Bargnani fan, and think putting him on a team with other option could revive his career (and his shooting percentages).  But even beyond that, Chandler may be the best defensive center in the league, and is not an offensive liability (or much of one anyways).  JR Smith is still the reigning 6th man.  Shumpert could have a breakout year.  Felton is very underrated.  Martin and Prigioni are very good depth.

And then there is Artest and Staudemire.  Either of these guys, if healthy, could be very valuable. Amare would give them another force up front offensively, and I actually think Artest is a spectacular fit next to Melo, because he can defend the 3 or the 4, and doesn't need the ball...if he has anything left in the tank.

IF Bargnani turns his career around, IF J.R. Smith comes back from his injury and regains his form (without Jason Kidd,) IF Amare becomes and stays healthy, IF Shumpert has a breakthrough season, IF World Peace has anything left in the tank, IF Chandler stays healthy and doesn't decline as a 31 year old, and finally IF Melo maintains his MVP type play, then the Knicks will MAYBE displace Miami, Brooklyn, Indiana or Chicago to be a top 4 seed. 

I actually think that Felton is overrated after his playoff performance against us.  Prigioni is a nice veteran but he is 36.  Their big man rotation is extremely fragile and hasn't impressed with their overall production. 

[jambr380]

I don't know why everybody is so down on the guy. It wasn't a prediction piece, more, 'it could happen...' and reasons why. I get that he could have gone into some more specifics about why the Nets won't win or why our roster as a 'team' is prepared to step up, but it's not garbage. Personally, I like the optimism - even if it's not realistic.

[gpap]

I don't know why everybody is so down on the guy. It wasn't a prediction piece, more, 'it could happen...' and reasons why. I get that he could have gone into some more specifics about why the Nets won't win or why our roster as a 'team' is prepared to step up, but it's not garbage. Personally, I like the optimism - even if it's not realistic.

Totally agree. Personally, I love the optimism. I can't help but think of the Red Sox. This year everybody thought they were going to be 4th in the AL East and now they are 22 games over 500 with the best record in baseball.

Not saying the Celtics will follow the same road, but everyone is entitled to making predictions, and to say the Celts will win the Atlantic Division is no more ridiculous than saying they'll be in 3rd, 4th of 5th.

[Yogi]

Rondo/Crawford/Pressey
Bradley/Lee/Brooks
Green/Wallace/Bogans
Sullinger/Bass/Humphries/Olynyk
Faverani/Melo

With the roster as it stands Bass or Humphries will probably start at center.  If one of them can be moved for a young center, our roster will be pretty balanced. 

[Tr1boy]

my 6 reasons why the Celtics will at least make the playoffs

6. Jeff Green - He will continue to play where he left off last year. 2nd part of the 2nd half Green arrived with some amazing performances included the 43 point games vs the Heat. This year i expect at least 16 pts, 4-5 rebounds, 2-3 assists avg and several unreal performances

5. Avery Bradley - Last year he was 85-90 percent and in the end ran out of gas or his shoulder was reinjured it looked like. Bc also this is his contract year, i expect top notch defense coupled with more efficient offense.

4. Depth - From size to guard spots, alot more geared this year. No Bass having to be our center also. More skills upfront with Faverani, Hump and Brooks not wanting to be shunned onto the bench will provide scoring firepower

3. IQ, Motor, Youth. Especially from Sullinger and Olynyk. Though they won't block 3 shots a game combined, i expect excellent games from these two mature rookies. They were both all american 1st team players, last year Sully was a beast when he played and we saw exciting things from Olynyk during summer league where he was arguably the best player.

2. Rondos comeback - No Pierce and no KG. No more relying on the true and tested and no other choice but to trust/involve everyone else. In addition Rondo will probably want to score more for himself and that is a good thing bc he is a historically a high fg percentage shooter.  Still a triple double threat game in and game out but i expect him to not lead in assist this year and instead make quicker passes utilizing other players excellent passing skills. Just overall be more of a team guy or else score more than he usual has

1. Brad Stevens - Can't think of another college coach that has led a weak talented bunch high up in the regular season standings and deep into the tourney not once, twice but pretty much every year he has been coach. He knows the plays of the other teams, even the ones they only use on special occasions and he can identify it as the game goes along.  Unlike Doc who can identify it watching post game videos a few times. He is very good at getting his team excuting plays one possession at a time and getting his guys to work hard. The only unknown is how good he is in maximizing an individual players game. We will see

[kozlodoev]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/boston-celtics-top-5-reasons-theyll-reclaim-atlantic-221600601.html



Ineresting take...

A Yahoo!Contributor Network writer is not the same as a regular Yahoo writer -- it's much closer to a regular clown with a keyboard.

[SparzWizard]

What's this guy smoking?

Brooklyn is obviously gonna win the division lol. New York comes behind them. Then probably between the Celtics and Raptors for third place. 76ers will probably be one of the bottom teams in the East.

[ManUp]

I expect both the Knicks and Nets to be at least 10 games better than us.

[guava_wrench]

I don't know why everybody is so down on the guy. It wasn't a prediction piece, more, 'it could happen...' and reasons why. I get that he could have gone into some more specifics about why the Nets won't win or why our roster as a 'team' is prepared to step up, but it's not garbage. Personally, I like the optimism - even if it's not realistic.

Delusion is not the same as optimism.

It is a post about what he hopes will happen, not about evaluating anything in the real world.