Will we make the playoffs this year? Standings, stats and numbers (merged)

[guava_wrench]

Winning is good. Losing is bad. Winners are good. No one wants a team full of losers. Tanking is for losers. The Celtics have never won the lottery. Scotch, scotch, I love scotch. The team needs to run more.

He also ripped the pundits. And it was a two-parter, took a 90 degree turn at highway speed changing the subject to finish his thought while someone was taking free throws later on.

""[Sports broadcasters] haven't got a CLUE how to build a team! What do you want ... Bunch of LOSERS?!""

"If people are saying you should tank the season, you destroy the Celtics mystique, and the Celtics legend in confidence and teamwork!"

Never mind the fact that if Rick Pitino and ML Carr couldn't destroy the "Celtic Mystique" and the "Celtics Legend," I doubt another tanked season would do much in either direction.

And never mind the fact that the teams that Tommy was involved in as a player and as a coach that helped defined said mystique and legend were successful in an era that is so completely foreign to the way the game is played today (on the court and in the front offices) as to be neigh irrelevant to a discussion on tanking in the present day.


I did like his back-to-the-basket running hookshot montage, though.

Nothing can destroy the mystique because it only exists in the heads of Celtics fans.

[D.o.s.]

I don't think that's entirely fair either, though. There is a semi-tangible something to those ideas, even if it is largely reinforced by/based in savvy marketing coupled with an indisputable run of success that will never be replicated based on games that (relatively) nobody watched.

I'd wage it's a big part of the reason we're all stuck watching these guys instead of getting on the Pacermobile or the Thunderbus or whatever.

[bobbyv]

Personally I love it. Look at the Pacers, they were a middle of the road team just a few years back. Now they've developed their pieces and they're ready for a push. Same with OKC, getting to the finals didn't magically happen overnight. It's a process, and if you have smart management (and I think we do), you won't be stuck in the middle of the road for too long.

[aporel#18]

The Celtics don't tank this year, it's Danny Tank General's job. He's not done trading for assets/flexibility, and that will mean less overall talent on the Cs roster. The addition of Rondo and the team's progress will make up for that, and the Cs will win around .400 or slightly less.

On the other hand, it's a long season, and we should expect the Nets and Knicks to have a better record than us by the All Star Game.

But as long as the Cs are playing team ball and bringing 100% effort, I'm not worried about the record/draft pick.So far, I love the way those kids are playing. We have a great young core, and they'll only get better. Any valuable piece you can add is a good thing, and we're still in the develop/showcase/tank phase. We need to be patient.

[BballTim]

Yup...the East is that BAD. Right now we're a 4 seed in the playoffs.  So no lottery pick guys...kiss those dreams goodbye. Unless BK is bad these next few years (and we get a lotto pick) I see us running the mediocrity treadmill for awhile.

Fun fact Phoenix who is 9-8 and currently out of the playoff race in the West would be a THREE SEED in the East. Honestly I think its time we do away with this Eastern/Western Conf playoff thing and just go with the teams with the best records make the playoffs. It would be a lot more fun to watch New Orleans in the playoffs then a Bos/Atl series sans PP and JJ on their old teams...yea no thanks.

if you are not contending you had best be getting a lotto pick. We very well could be stuck in that no man's land called NBA hell. for years. 

Why do some people seem to think that neither getting a lotto pick nor being a contender almost guarantees that your team is stuck in between the two for years?

because it has happened to us already. Do we want that again?

  Sure. Last time it happened Danny acquired enough assets to build a title winning team.

[wdleehi]

I am just happy this is still early in the season.  The worst team in the Atlantic is only 3 games behind the Celtics.  There is plenty of time for those teams to figure it out and make a run. 



I don't want to see the Celtics to make the playoffs as a bad, sub 500 team to just be a sacrifice to the Heat or the Pacers. 



I rather see a young team playing hard, but not having enough talent yet to win end up in the Lotto and give Ainge the highest, best possible asset to work with to add needed talent.

[kozlodoev]

Not sure what's good about this news. It'd be good if we were making the playoffs because we're playing well. But no, we are because everyone else sucks more than we do. Bummer.

[cman88]

I don't see how it is good news....ok we make the playoffs and then what? We get swept by the pacers in 4 games? Fans on this board ALWAYS made fun of teams like he hawks who were just treading water, make he playoffs and then get bounced. Yet nowwe WANT the celtics to be that?

Granted IM not worried....the nNBA season is long and generally talent wins out. The nets and Knicks will likely have better records than us and I GUARANTEE danny is trading some of these guys.

That's the one benefit of guys like bass and Lee playing well...maybe by the trade deadline danny can unload some of them for draft picks or young assets.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't see how it is good news....ok we make the playoffs and then what? We get swept by the pacers in 4 games? Fans on this board ALWAYS made fun of teams like he hawks who were just treading water, make he playoffs and then get bounced. Yet nowwe WANT the celtics to be that?

Granted IM not worried....the nNBA season is long and generally talent wins out. The nets and Knicks will likely have better records than us and I GUARANTEE danny is trading some of these guys.

That's the one benefit of guys like bass and Lee playing well...maybe by the trade deadline danny can unload some of them for draft picks or young assets.

There's a difference between making the playoffs, while rebuilding and collecting assets and maintaining financial flexibility vs. making the playoffs with a competent roster, but with a ceiling and keep investing big money on players who'll destroy your financial buying power and not take you anywhere.

At the moment, we're the former... the teams that have remained in the perpetual purgatory are the latter.

[TwinTower14]

I don't see how it is good news....ok we make the playoffs and then what? We get swept by the pacers in 4 games? Fans on this board ALWAYS made fun of teams like he hawks who were just treading water, make he playoffs and then get bounced. Yet nowwe WANT the celtics to be that?

Granted IM not worried....the nNBA season is long and generally talent wins out. The nets and Knicks will likely have better records than us and I GUARANTEE danny is trading some of these guys.

That's the one benefit of guys like bass and Lee playing well...maybe by the trade deadline danny can unload some of them for draft picks or young assets.

Don't worry man, this team isn't making the playoffs.  They have a brutal schedule and you have to believe the Nets and Knicks will play better.  Also, Ainge will move pieces at the deadline ( Lee, Bass, Wallace or Hump ).  They may not get a top 3 pick but they will be in the 5-8 range. 

[BballTim]

I don't see how it is good news....ok we make the playoffs and then what? We get swept by the pacers in 4 games? Fans on this board ALWAYS made fun of teams like he hawks who were just treading water, make he playoffs and then get bounced. Yet nowwe WANT the celtics to be that?

  Fans on this board make fun of bottom-feeders as well.

[wdleehi]

I don't see how it is good news....ok we make the playoffs and then what? We get swept by the pacers in 4 games? Fans on this board ALWAYS made fun of teams like he hawks who were just treading water, make he playoffs and then get bounced. Yet nowwe WANT the celtics to be that?

Granted IM not worried....the nNBA season is long and generally talent wins out. The nets and Knicks will likely have better records than us and I GUARANTEE danny is trading some of these guys.

That's the one benefit of guys like bass and Lee playing well...maybe by the trade deadline danny can unload some of them for draft picks or young assets.

There's a difference between making the playoffs, while rebuilding and collecting assets and maintaining financial flexibility vs. making the playoffs with a competent roster, but with a ceiling and keep investing big money on players who'll destroy your financial buying power and not take you anywhere.

At the moment, we're the former... the teams that have remained in the perpetual purgatory are the latter.

The problem is with the first example, there needs to be a small set of players to build around.


The Celtics do not have that.  They have one player, Rondo, to build around.   They need the assets a bad team should earn because of record.  The problem is, the rest of the East is playing bad, which hurts in two ways:

1)  A record that should keep a team out of the playoffs doesn't, allowing better teams in the west to pick higher.

2) Inflates the actual record of the Celtics since the majority of their games are against the weakest playing teams. 

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Yup...the East is that BAD. Right now we're a 4 seed in the playoffs.  So no lottery pick guys...kiss those dreams goodbye. Unless BK is bad these next few years (and we get a lotto pick) I see us running the mediocrity treadmill for awhile.

Fun fact Phoenix who is 9-8 and currently out of the playoff race in the West would be a THREE SEED in the East. Honestly I think its time we do away with this Eastern/Western Conf playoff thing and just go with the teams with the best records make the playoffs. It would be a lot more fun to watch New Orleans in the playoffs then a Bos/Atl series sans PP and JJ on their old teams...yea no thanks.

if you are not contending you had best be getting a lotto pick. We very well could be stuck in that no man's land called NBA hell. for years. 

Why do some people seem to think that neither getting a lotto pick nor being a contender almost guarantees that your team is stuck in between the two for years?

because it has happened to us already. Do we want that again?

No, it really hasn't. Most, if not all, of our struggles throughout the years haven't been because of poor drafting positions, but because of poor management decisions.

however you want to slice it and dice it. Look we were not contenders in that timespan and how many times were we in the lottery again? remind me.

[Jeff]

I don't think we'll make the playoffs but someone in the Atlantic is going to have to fix things very soon.

[kozlodoev]

I don't see how it is good news....ok we make the playoffs and then what? We get swept by the pacers in 4 games? Fans on this board ALWAYS made fun of teams like he hawks who were just treading water, make he playoffs and then get bounced. Yet nowwe WANT the celtics to be that?

Granted IM not worried....the nNBA season is long and generally talent wins out. The nets and Knicks will likely have better records than us and I GUARANTEE danny is trading some of these guys.

That's the one benefit of guys like bass and Lee playing well...maybe by the trade deadline danny can unload some of them for draft picks or young assets.

Except there's a good chance we won't be playing the Pacers in the first round, but rather someone like Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago or Washington.