Celtics vs Cavs,Wizards,Raptors,Hawks,Bucks

[bucknersrevenge]

Bottom line is unless wiz get in , they r not better and no autolock to make the playoffs. Wall/beal/porter and irving/waiters/bennett combos are still a few years away to do anything. Olynyk is ahead of porter/bennett for now.

They both need big efforts from bynum/verejao and okafor/nene to make it in the playoffs and three of those guys are coming back from injuries, two of them from major ones.

Excellent points made here. Ones I hadn't even factored in, in fact. Rondo is also coming back from major injury as well so each team has question-marks. But on paper. Put Boston's best 3 players against Washington's 3 best or Cleveland's 3 best and tell me Boston has no shot. I put Boston on par with all of these teams here save maybe the Hawks who do look better than us.

[ronaldo943]

So is there no doubt or is there "semi no doubt"? Which is it? Perhaps you should be more concerned with your own understanding than mine. As I said earlier, I get it. I was not a math major in college but lucky enough for me I got enough math education in my formative years to be able to double-check that differential you mention. It is correct. It is indeed 19 games. Which again as you also confirmed was good enough for a sub .500 record. So having John Wall by your own admission was good enough to elevate the Wizards from complete laughingstock to just mediocre.

See by my count, Rondo's team has finished above the Wizards every year Wall has been there. So until I have real evidence that actually puts the Wiz above the Celtics I'll defer to what history has already proven. But good luck with your Wizards. We'll see how the season turns out.

You're being very immature clearly we all are Celtics fan, only thing is some of us are not delusional. "Rondo's team" was 18-20 with him and 23-20 without him. Now you have to realize that this team has loss Pierce, KG, Ray Allen and Doc and is heading into a new direction so if anything you should be happy that teams like the Wizards and Cavs are going to be better than the Celtics. What history has already proven? So I'm guessing when the Celtics traded for KG and Allen you thought the Wizards would still be better than the Cs as they had a 41-41 record and the Cs had a 24-58 record in 2006-07.

Ok. So I'm delusional, and "I don't understand". But I'm the immature one. Ok. How about "I know you are but what am I?". I honestly didn't know if you were Celtic fan or not. You were talkin all this noise about the Wiz and John Wall, I thought you were a Wizards fan. Fans of other teams come to this forum. That has actually happened.

But let's get back to you cherry-picking the 38 games from the beginning of last year as if that is somehow the only representation of Rondo's history with this team. As a Celtics fan I'd think you'd know Rondo is a lot more than a 38 game span at the beginning of a season. Rondo, author of 92 playoff games worth of experience as the starting PG I'd say is worth plenty. Unlike Wall, Rondo has actually seen what REAL winning looks like and if you think that doesn't mean anything then you couldn't be more wrong. And if you think being on a roster with 300 playoff games worth of experience doesn't count for anything you would be wrong about that too.

As for your somewhat ridiculous question regarding 2007-08. Not a proper analogy. First off, as I would expect you'd remember, basically the entire roster changed over from the previous year to that year. Not the same players. That team increased their talent level ten-fold. What has Washington added to this team that was good enough to go play sub .500 ball with John Wall? Because I would think they would need to add significant talent right since that group wasn't good enough. Leandro Barbosa? Eric Maynor? How about Otto Porter and Glen Rice Jr? Hey all nice players. They might contribute a bit. But the main components of the team that went 24-25 are still their right? So what des that mean then?

The difference between you and my apparent immaturity here is I'm not ready to write this team off yet because their recent history tells me I shouldn't. Whereas the next time John Wall and the Wizards do something important is going to be the first time. I'm not gonna say Wall CAN'T make the playoffs. Maybe he will, and if he does, congratulations to him because he will have earned it. He hasn't earned anything yet. And when I look at the 2 rosters next to each other, there is nothing I see there that puts either team handily ahead of each other.

How is that cherry picking that literally were the winning record with Rondo last year.

You're missing my point as it was that this Cs team also changed not entirely, but the main core did. No the main components of that team did not go 24-25 that was when Wall was playing, but when he was playing Nene and Beal were injured for a bit. Yes Rondo has won a championship, but if you would have put second year Wall instead of Rondo the Celts would have still won.

No, the difference between me and you is that I realize that the team we have right now is not the 07-08 team or 09-10 and their recent history had KG, Pierce, and Allen. It's like a Heat fan in 2015 saying he won't count his team out because of it's recent history yet LeBron is gone and father time is catching up with Wade.


I would be pretty happy to see the C's in the playoffs next year, but for what a first round exit to the Heat or Bulls.

[CelticsFan9]

The Hawks are being slept on, in my opinion.  Horford and Millsap is a nice frontcourt, and hopefully Sweet Lou comes back healthy.  He and Teague make for a fun-to-watch backcourt.  Korver slots in nicely at SF.  The Hawks will have the floor spread next year.  I expect them to be above-average offensively.

The Bucks are depressing, really.  A rotation of:

Knight/Udrih
Mayo/Neal
Delfino/Giannis Adegreekrookie
Ilyasova/Henson
Sanders/Udoh

is good enough to make to the playoffs in the East.  Despite losing their starting backcourt, I see them playing very similarly.  Personally, I like Larry Drew as a coach, so I think he'll do a good job there.  They'll fight for the eighth seed.

The Raptors looked good post-Rudy Gay trade last year, and I expect them to build on that now that Bargnani is gone.  Lowry is a solid starting PG, and they have an uber-athletic wing rotation of Gay/DeRozan/Ross.  Amir Johnson and Valenciunas up front is nice, too.  They'll be in contention for the postseason.

The Wizards and Cavs could miss the playoffs if health becomes an issue.  Both Wall and Irving are very talented players, but they've struggled to stay on the court.  If those two can play through the whole season (a tall task, but I think they can do it), Washington and Cleveland are both going to compete next year for a playoff spot.

That leaves the Celtics.  A lineup of (this is what I think is our best rotation):

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

could contend for the playoffs.  I think it depends on how long Rondo is out.  Reports are he'll be ready for training camp, so that's good news.  I think Danny is going to make lots of moves at the deadline, so I don't see the roster looking like this in five or six months time.

My final prediction is that the Hawks, Wizards, and Cavs make it, with the Raptors, Celtics, and Bucks missing out.

No Pistons?

Oops.  Totally forgot Detroit.  TP for the catch.

They will also contend for a playoff spot, and while they have tons of talent, I don't see the pieces fitting together.  But that's just me.

To recap:  Hawks, Wiz, and Cavs make it, with Detroit, Raptors, Celtics, and Bucks missing out.

[Tr1boy]

So is there no doubt or is there "semi no doubt"? Which is it? Perhaps you should be more concerned with your own understanding than mine. As I said earlier, I get it. I was not a math major in college but lucky enough for me I got enough math education in my formative years to be able to double-check that differential you mention. It is correct. It is indeed 19 games. Which again as you also confirmed was good enough for a sub .500 record. So having John Wall by your own admission was good enough to elevate the Wizards from complete laughingstock to just mediocre.

See by my count, Rondo's team has finished above the Wizards every year Wall has been there. So until I have real evidence that actually puts the Wiz above the Celtics I'll defer to what history has already proven. But good luck with your Wizards. We'll see how the season turns out.

You're being very immature clearly we all are Celtics fan, only thing is some of us are not delusional. "Rondo's team" was 18-20 with him and 23-20 without him. Now you have to realize that this team has loss Pierce, KG, Ray Allen and Doc and is heading into a new direction so if anything you should be happy that teams like the Wizards and Cavs are going to be better than the Celtics. What history has already proven? So I'm guessing when the Celtics traded for KG and Allen you thought the Wizards would still be better than the Cs as they had a 41-41 record and the Cs had a 24-58 record in 2006-07.

Ok. So I'm delusional, and "I don't understand". But I'm the immature one. Ok. How about "I know you are but what am I?". I honestly didn't know if you were Celtic fan or not. You were talkin all this noise about the Wiz and John Wall, I thought you were a Wizards fan. Fans of other teams come to this forum. That has actually happened.

But let's get back to you cherry-picking the 38 games from the beginning of last year as if that is somehow the only representation of Rondo's history with this team. As a Celtics fan I'd think you'd know Rondo is a lot more than a 38 game span at the beginning of a season. Rondo, author of 92 playoff games worth of experience as the starting PG I'd say is worth plenty. Unlike Wall, Rondo has actually seen what REAL winning looks like and if you think that doesn't mean anything then you couldn't be more wrong. And if you think being on a roster with 300 playoff games worth of experience doesn't count for anything you would be wrong about that too.

As for your somewhat ridiculous question regarding 2007-08. Not a proper analogy. First off, as I would expect you'd remember, basically the entire roster changed over from the previous year to that year. Not the same players. That team increased their talent level ten-fold. What has Washington added to this team that was good enough to go play sub .500 ball with John Wall? Because I would think they would need to add significant talent right since that group wasn't good enough. Leandro Barbosa? Eric Maynor? How about Otto Porter and Glen Rice Jr? Hey all nice players. They might contribute a bit. But the main components of the team that went 24-25 are still their right? So what des that mean then?

The difference between you and my apparent immaturity here is I'm not ready to write this team off yet because their recent history tells me I shouldn't. Whereas the next time John Wall and the Wizards do something important is going to be the first time. I'm not gonna say Wall CAN'T make the playoffs. Maybe he will, and if he does, congratulations to him because he will have earned it. He hasn't earned anything yet. And when I look at the 2 rosters next to each other, there is nothing I see there that puts either team handily ahead of each other.

How is that cherry picking that literally were the winning record with Rondo last year.

You're missing my point as it was that this Cs team also changed not entirely, but the main core did. No the main components of that team did not go 24-25 that was when Wall was playing, but when he was playing Nene and Beal were injured for a bit. Yes Rondo has won a championship, but if you would have put second year Wall instead of Rondo the Celts would have still won.

No, the difference between me and you is that I realize that the team we have right now is not the 07-08 team or 09-10 and their recent history had KG, Pierce, and Allen. It's like a Heat fan in 2015 saying he won't count his team out because of it's recent history yet LeBron is gone and father time is catching up with Wade.


I would be pretty happy to see the C's in the playoffs next year, but for what a first round exit to the Heat or Bulls.

A playoff experience is better than tanking and getting a high pick. Look at teams like wiz, cavs, bobcats the last several years loaded with high picks. What have they done?

You also need culture and experience to know how to win games.

Celts have lots of young guys on the team plus a crapload of picks. We can make it into the playoffs plus buy a pick if its worth it. You have to start somewhere and might as well b as soon as possIble. Lastly from what i seen so far the 2014 draft does not contain no lebron, durant and even if it did, you cant tank on purpose. That is a sad way to compete

[bucknersrevenge]

So is there no doubt or is there "semi no doubt"? Which is it? Perhaps you should be more concerned with your own understanding than mine. As I said earlier, I get it. I was not a math major in college but lucky enough for me I got enough math education in my formative years to be able to double-check that differential you mention. It is correct. It is indeed 19 games. Which again as you also confirmed was good enough for a sub .500 record. So having John Wall by your own admission was good enough to elevate the Wizards from complete laughingstock to just mediocre.

See by my count, Rondo's team has finished above the Wizards every year Wall has been there. So until I have real evidence that actually puts the Wiz above the Celtics I'll defer to what history has already proven. But good luck with your Wizards. We'll see how the season turns out.

You're being very immature clearly we all are Celtics fan, only thing is some of us are not delusional. "Rondo's team" was 18-20 with him and 23-20 without him. Now you have to realize that this team has loss Pierce, KG, Ray Allen and Doc and is heading into a new direction so if anything you should be happy that teams like the Wizards and Cavs are going to be better than the Celtics. What history has already proven? So I'm guessing when the Celtics traded for KG and Allen you thought the Wizards would still be better than the Cs as they had a 41-41 record and the Cs had a 24-58 record in 2006-07.

Ok. So I'm delusional, and "I don't understand". But I'm the immature one. Ok. How about "I know you are but what am I?". I honestly didn't know if you were Celtic fan or not. You were talkin all this noise about the Wiz and John Wall, I thought you were a Wizards fan. Fans of other teams come to this forum. That has actually happened.

But let's get back to you cherry-picking the 38 games from the beginning of last year as if that is somehow the only representation of Rondo's history with this team. As a Celtics fan I'd think you'd know Rondo is a lot more than a 38 game span at the beginning of a season. Rondo, author of 92 playoff games worth of experience as the starting PG I'd say is worth plenty. Unlike Wall, Rondo has actually seen what REAL winning looks like and if you think that doesn't mean anything then you couldn't be more wrong. And if you think being on a roster with 300 playoff games worth of experience doesn't count for anything you would be wrong about that too.

As for your somewhat ridiculous question regarding 2007-08. Not a proper analogy. First off, as I would expect you'd remember, basically the entire roster changed over from the previous year to that year. Not the same players. That team increased their talent level ten-fold. What has Washington added to this team that was good enough to go play sub .500 ball with John Wall? Because I would think they would need to add significant talent right since that group wasn't good enough. Leandro Barbosa? Eric Maynor? How about Otto Porter and Glen Rice Jr? Hey all nice players. They might contribute a bit. But the main components of the team that went 24-25 are still their right? So what des that mean then?

The difference between you and my apparent immaturity here is I'm not ready to write this team off yet because their recent history tells me I shouldn't. Whereas the next time John Wall and the Wizards do something important is going to be the first time. I'm not gonna say Wall CAN'T make the playoffs. Maybe he will, and if he does, congratulations to him because he will have earned it. He hasn't earned anything yet. And when I look at the 2 rosters next to each other, there is nothing I see there that puts either team handily ahead of each other.

How is that cherry picking that literally were the winning record with Rondo last year.

You're missing my point as it was that this Cs team also changed not entirely, but the main core did. No the main components of that team did not go 24-25 that was when Wall was playing, but when he was playing Nene and Beal were injured for a bit. Yes Rondo has won a championship, but if you would have put second year Wall instead of Rondo the Celts would have still won.

No, the difference between me and you is that I realize that the team we have right now is not the 07-08 team or 09-10 and their recent history had KG, Pierce, and Allen. It's like a Heat fan in 2015 saying he won't count his team out because of it's recent history yet LeBron is gone and father time is catching up with Wade.


I would be pretty happy to see the C's in the playoffs next year, but for what a first round exit to the Heat or Bulls.

Are you being serious right now? You cherry-pick these 38 games from last year because over 38 games it shows Rondo's team with a record 2 games below .500 over 38 games when he has a career worth of record with him well over .500. Meanwhile, over a slightly larger 49 game span, you champion a 1 game below .500 record as evidence of the Wiz being decidedly better than the Celtics.

I realize they no longer have Paul, KG or #20. They still have Rondo, Jeff Green, Avery Bradley, a bunch of guys that learned how to win by watching and playing with Hall of Famers, and way more playoff experience than the Wizards. Look I get it. You have to short-sell our roster because it serves your argument. Also sounds like the real root of this may be an undercurrent of tanking bias. But just because a 35 yr old Paul Paul Pierce and a 36 yr old KG are gone doesn't mean we can no longer compete. This roster is FULL of guys that have played major minutes in the playoffs and know what it takes to get back there. I think you are in for a rude awakening.

[Tr1boy]

Some fans think unless you got a top pick or player(s), there is no chance. Far from the truth.

Look at teams like the past jazz, bulls (outside of jordan), spurs (outside of duncan) have a bunch of guys that were mid/late 1st round,2nd round picks and some even undrafted.

How good were/are they?

[ronaldo943]

No Buckner it wasn't cherry picking as that is the recent history nice try though. Hopefully your right though about the rude awakening, but then again we did go 41-40 last season.

[bucknersrevenge]

No Buckner it wasn't cherry picking as that is the recent history nice try though. Hopefully your right though about the rude awakening, but then again we did go 41-40 last season.

re·cent
  [ree-suhnt]  Show IPA 

adjective 
1.
of late occurrence, appearance, or origin; lately happening, done, made, etc.: recent events; a recent trip. 

2.
not long past: in recent years. 

3.
of or belonging to a time not long past.

4.
( initial capital letter ) Geology . noting or pertaining to the present epoch, originating at the end of the glacial period, about 10,000 years ago, and forming the latter half of the Quaternary Period; Holocene. See table under geologic time.

noun 
5.
Also called Holocene.  ( initial capital letter ) Geology . the Recent Epoch or Series.

The term recent is a relative term. It could mean last year. It could mean the last 2-3 years. I told you I was not a math major but I did like English. Wall has been in the league 3 years. I'll put up Rondo's record over the last 3 years against Wall. I'll put up Rondo's accomplishments against Wall's. You would have us believe that having played with KG and Paul weakens the argument. I say it strengthens it. You don't play with Hall of Famers for 6 years and not learn anything about how to win. Combine that knowledge with Rondo's talent and I say he has an advantage Irving and Wall have no idea of. Add to that young veteran talent with playoff games under their belt as well. I'll bet on that 5 times a week and twice on Sunday.

[vjcsmoke]

Cavs have Irving, Bynum, Varejao, Waiters, Thompson, Bennett, etc. Wizards have Wall, Beal, Okafor, Nene, Porter, Webster, etc. so if both teams are healthy than yes they are better than the Cs.

I'd also say Raptors and Hawks are better than Cs.

Which leaves the Celtics dueling it out with the Bucks for worst team in the conference?  Wiggins here we come!!   

[moiso]

Some fans think unless you got a top pick or player(s), there is no chance. Far from the truth.

Look at teams like the past jazz, bulls (outside of jordan), spurs (outside of duncan) have a bunch of guys that were mid/late 1st round,2nd round picks and some even undrafted.

How good were/are they?

How are you going to ignore Duncan and Jordan?  The Bulls had lots of other high picks also.  I'll admit that the Jazz weren't constructed around super high picks.

[saltlover]

Cavs have Irving, Bynum, Varejao, Waiters, Thompson, Bennett, etc. Wizards have Wall, Beal, Okafor, Nene, Porter, Webster, etc. so if both teams are healthy than yes they are better than the Cs.

I'd also say Raptors and Hawks are better than Cs.

Which leaves the Celtics dueling it out with the Bucks for worst team in the conference?  Wiggins here we come!!   

Um, the Sixers say hello.  They also say goodbye, since they'll leave us in the dust for the worst record.

[chambers]

 Cavs,Wizards,Hawks are better. Toronto is slightly better.
Bucks are about even, losing Jennings hurt them but Knight might be a better fit because he's a better facilitator.

You keep asking why these teams are better. Instead ask yourself how or why the Celtics would be better than any of them.
You're asking 'what have Irving or so and so done' on the Cavs. Well let me ask you what have any of the Celtics other than Rondo done? The Cavs have a two 7 foot all stars and an all star point guard.
We have one all star. What have Bradley, Sully, Green done?
The Cavs have Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, Earl Clarke, Anthony Bennet, Alonso Gee, Andrew Bynum, Tristan Thompson and Anderson Verajao. You're seriously saying that if both teams were 100% healthy that the Cav's team listed above wouldn't destroy us 4-0 in a playoff series?

You're missing the importance of size and shooting. We have neither. Even our guards can't shoot.

The Cavs have Bynum, Thompson and Verajao.
Who protects the paint for the Celtics? Who scores inside?
Who scores three pointers? who replaces Pierce, KG and Terry's shooting?  Who scores on Bynum or Verajao or out rebounds them? Who on our squad defends Lopez or Bynum or Noah or even Boozer in the paint? What about Al Jefferson and Roy Hibbert, or Chris Bosh or Greg Monroe, or Ersan Ilyasova? Who stops Nene on the Wizards? Or Josh Smith when Sully has Monroe?
Jesus who stops Vucevic when we play Orlando or even Big Baby!? What about Valancunas from Toronto? Wait let's play Atlanta and...oh they have Al Horford and Paul Millsap matched up against Kelly Olynyk, Jarred Sullinger and some Brazillian guy. Awesome. Bloodbath.

Go through the rest of the starting big men in the NBA and which starting center or power forward isn't looking at the schedule and licking their lips for their Celtics match up ? Even Kendrick Perkins is excited to come home to Boston and beat up on our rookies and bums- might score 10 points and 5 rebounds!

This roster is BUILT TO TANK!

We have one All Star who struggles offensively. He'll get everyone involved and make them all better but he can't make them good shooters.

We have a rookie coach. It's a completely different system and style of play in the NBA. Why do you think they got all the experienced NBA assistant coaches to help him? Because he's a fish out of water. He'll be fantastic in 2 or 3 seasons but he's never even been an assistant coach in the NBA. It's going to be a hard transition.

We won 41 games last season. We've lost KG's interior presence. We've lost Pierce's scoring and Terry's bench scoring/shooting.
Who replaces any of those things? You tell me? Jeff Green might replace Pierce's scoring if we're lucky.

*We are going to be one of the bottom 5 teams in the league om rim protection

*We'll be one of the worst scoring teams within 5 feet around the rim.

*We will also be one of the worst jump shooting and three point shooting teams in the NBA.

We don't have a single impact big. The best big we have is a sophomore coming off surgery and projects at MAYBE 14 points 9 rebounds per 36 mins if he doesn't suffer any more time out with injuries.
Unfortunately that's on the offensive end and while his defense is good, he's 6 foot 9 and still working to use his size/strength because of his lack of lift/length and he will struggle MIGHTILY against all the elite bigs of the NBA on both ends in his first season as a full time starter (if he starts!).

We are going to STINK. It's okay though because that's to be expected. You think Danny hired this new young coach fresh into the NBA expecting to make the playoffs? You're kidding right? Or do you think he hired him knowing that this squad has the pieces to develop into a good playoff caliber team in a few years. When Ben Wallace, Kris Humphries, Courtney Lee and Brandon Bass take up 36 million of your payroll you're not expecting to make the playoffs.
When you have a team that can't score and can't defend the paint, you're tanking- combine that with a rookie coach and what else do you want? Danny Ainge has designed this team to be young, athletic and look good on the fast break. Our trade assets can showcase their skills but we won't win.
When you have 36 million dollars locked up in 5 bums you're not trying to make the playoffs. You're hoping for a top 5 draft pick.

Everyone here has Celtic pride. Not everyone looks at the roster or our opposition with green glasses.

[bucknersrevenge]

Cavs,Wizards,Hawks are better. Toronto is slightly better.
Bucks are about even, losing Jennings hurt them but Knight might be a better fit because he's a better facilitator.

You keep asking why these teams are better. Instead ask yourself how or why the Celtics would be better than any of them.
You're asking 'what have Irving or so and so done' on the Cavs. Well let me ask you what have any of the Celtics other than Rondo done? The Cavs have a two 7 foot all stars and an all star point guard.
We have one all star. What have Bradley, Sully, Green done?
The Cavs have Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, Earl Clarke, Anthony Bennet, Alonso Gee, Andrew Bynum, Tristan Thompson and Anderson Verajao. You're seriously saying that if both teams were 100% healthy that the Cav's team listed above wouldn't destroy us 4-0 in a playoff series?

You're missing the importance of size and shooting. We have neither. Even our guards can't shoot.

The Cavs have Bynum, Thompson and Verajao.
Who protects the paint for the Celtics? Who scores inside?
Who scores three pointers? who replaces Pierce, KG and Terry's shooting?  Who scores on Bynum or Verajao or out rebounds them? Who on our squad defends Lopez or Bynum or Noah or even Boozer in the paint? What about Al Jefferson and Roy Hibbert, or Chris Bosh or Greg Monroe, or Ersan Ilyasova? Who stops Nene on the Wizards? Or Josh Smith when Sully has Monroe?
Jesus who stops Vucevic when we play Orlando or even Big Baby!? What about Valancunas from Toronto? Wait let's play Atlanta and...oh they have Al Horford and Paul Millsap matched up against Kelly Olynyk, Jarred Sullinger and some Brazillian guy. Awesome. Bloodbath.

Go through the rest of the starting big men in the NBA and which starting center or power forward isn't looking at the schedule and licking their lips for their Celtics match up ? Even Kendrick Perkins is excited to come home to Boston and beat up on our rookies and bums- might score 10 points and 5 rebounds!

This roster is BUILT TO TANK!

We have one All Star who struggles offensively. He'll get everyone involved and make them all better but he can't make them good shooters.

We have a rookie coach. It's a completely different system and style of play in the NBA. Why do you think they got all the experienced NBA assistant coaches to help him? Because he's a fish out of water. He'll be fantastic in 2 or 3 seasons but he's never even been an assistant coach in the NBA. It's going to be a hard transition.

We won 41 games last season. We've lost KG's interior presence. We've lost Pierce's scoring and Terry's bench scoring/shooting.
Who replaces any of those things? You tell me? Jeff Green might replace Pierce's scoring if we're lucky.

*We are going to be one of the bottom 5 teams in the league om rim protection

*We'll be one of the worst scoring teams within 5 feet around the rim.

*We will also be one of the worst jump shooting and three point shooting teams in the NBA.

We don't have a single impact big. The best big we have is a sophomore coming off surgery and projects at MAYBE 14 points 9 rebounds per 36 mins if he doesn't suffer any more time out with injuries.
Unfortunately that's on the offensive end and while his defense is good, he's 6 foot 9 and still working to use his size/strength because of his lack of lift/length and he will struggle MIGHTILY against all the elite bigs of the NBA on both ends in his first season as a full time starter (if he starts!).

We are going to STINK. It's okay though because that's to be expected. You think Danny hired this new young coach fresh into the NBA expecting to make the playoffs? You're kidding right? Or do you think he hired him knowing that this squad has the pieces to develop into a good playoff caliber team in a few years. When Ben Wallace, Kris Humphries, Courtney Lee and Brandon Bass take up 36 million of your payroll you're not expecting to make the playoffs.
When you have a team that can't score and can't defend the paint, you're tanking- combine that with a rookie coach and what else do you want? Danny Ainge has designed this team to be young, athletic and look good on the fast break. Our trade assets can showcase their skills but we won't win.
When you have 36 million dollars locked up in 5 bums you're not trying to make the playoffs. You're hoping for a top 5 draft pick.
Everyone here has Celtic pride. Not everyone looks at the roster or our opposition with green glasses.

Oh yay! More tanking talk. You could have just led with this comment and saved yourself the time of writing everything else. I love how every thread lately devolves into a referendum on tanking so much that we need to bash all Celtics to fit into the tanking referendum.

<Sigh>...can't wait for the season to officially start so we can put an end to all of this nonsense.

[Tr1boy]

Cavs,Wizards,Hawks are better. Toronto is slightly better.
Bucks are about even, losing Jennings hurt them but Knight might be a better fit because he's a better facilitator.

You keep asking why these teams are better. Instead ask yourself how or why the Celtics would be better than any of them.
You're asking 'what have Irving or so and so done' on the Cavs. Well let me ask you what have any of the Celtics other than Rondo done? The Cavs have a two 7 foot all stars and an all star point guard.
We have one all star. What have Bradley, Sully, Green done?
The Cavs have Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, Earl Clarke, Anthony Bennet, Alonso Gee, Andrew Bynum, Tristan Thompson and Anderson Verajao. You're seriously saying that if both teams were 100% healthy that the Cav's team listed above wouldn't destroy us 4-0 in a playoff series?

You're missing the importance of size and shooting. We have neither. Even our guards can't shoot.

The Cavs have Bynum, Thompson and Verajao.
Who protects the paint for the Celtics? Who scores inside?
Who scores three pointers? who replaces Pierce, KG and Terry's shooting?  Who scores on Bynum or Verajao or out rebounds them? Who on our squad defends Lopez or Bynum or Noah or even Boozer in the paint? What about Al Jefferson and Roy Hibbert, or Chris Bosh or Greg Monroe, or Ersan Ilyasova? Who stops Nene on the Wizards? Or Josh Smith when Sully has Monroe?
Jesus who stops Vucevic when we play Orlando or even Big Baby!? What about Valancunas from Toronto? Wait let's play Atlanta and...oh they have Al Horford and Paul Millsap matched up against Kelly Olynyk, Jarred Sullinger and some Brazillian guy. Awesome. Bloodbath.

Go through the rest of the starting big men in the NBA and which starting center or power forward isn't looking at the schedule and licking their lips for their Celtics match up ? Even Kendrick Perkins is excited to come home to Boston and beat up on our rookies and bums- might score 10 points and 5 rebounds!

This roster is BUILT TO TANK!

We have one All Star who struggles offensively. He'll get everyone involved and make them all better but he can't make them good shooters.

We have a rookie coach. It's a completely different system and style of play in the NBA. Why do you think they got all the experienced NBA assistant coaches to help him? Because he's a fish out of water. He'll be fantastic in 2 or 3 seasons but he's never even been an assistant coach in the NBA. It's going to be a hard transition.

We won 41 games last season. We've lost KG's interior presence. We've lost Pierce's scoring and Terry's bench scoring/shooting.
Who replaces any of those things? You tell me? Jeff Green might replace Pierce's scoring if we're lucky.

*We are going to be one of the bottom 5 teams in the league om rim protection

*We'll be one of the worst scoring teams within 5 feet around the rim.

*We will also be one of the worst jump shooting and three point shooting teams in the NBA.

We don't have a single impact big. The best big we have is a sophomore coming off surgery and projects at MAYBE 14 points 9 rebounds per 36 mins if he doesn't suffer any more time out with injuries.
Unfortunately that's on the offensive end and while his defense is good, he's 6 foot 9 and still working to use his size/strength because of his lack of lift/length and he will struggle MIGHTILY against all the elite bigs of the NBA on both ends in his first season as a full time starter (if he starts!).

We are going to STINK. It's okay though because that's to be expected. You think Danny hired this new young coach fresh into the NBA expecting to make the playoffs? You're kidding right? Or do you think he hired him knowing that this squad has the pieces to develop into a good playoff caliber team in a few years. When Ben Wallace, Kris Humphries, Courtney Lee and Brandon Bass take up 36 million of your payroll you're not expecting to make the playoffs.
When you have a team that can't score and can't defend the paint, you're tanking- combine that with a rookie coach and what else do you want? Danny Ainge has designed this team to be young, athletic and look good on the fast break. Our trade assets can showcase their skills but we won't win.
When you have 36 million dollars locked up in 5 bums you're not trying to make the playoffs. You're hoping for a top 5 draft pick.

Everyone here has Celtic pride. Not everyone looks at the roster or our opposition with green glasses.

-Jared sullinger is a better rebounder than half of pf/c in the league.
- rebounding is not only done by bynum. Rondo is the best pg rebounder in the league.
- as long as the team doesnt give up many defensive opportunity chances , we will be ok. Offensively , sullinger again is an excellent rebounder
- you also forget humphries is an above rebounder and so is wallace
- 3 pt shooting is this teams main weakness, i agree
- but for u to bash the team like you did is sad to read. Celtic up and have faith

[slamtheking]

Easy question. Are Cavs,Wizards,Raptors,Hawks,Bucks better than the Celtics right now??

If none of these teams are not better, than why do the Celtics have no chance to make the playoffs??

If one or several of these teams are better, how are they better??

they're all probably better except maybe Toronto.  depends on whether their improvement with Gay was a fluke or not