Strategy moving forward

[Fred Roberts]

Under #3, we could have some fun if Stevens can figure out our closing squad.

We've been fairly nasty in the first 3 quarters this season.

Shots start rimming out and players appear to be getting cold feet from the field and the line in the 4th quarter. Defense gets exposed more.

Do we need fresher legs? Mental adjustment? I like that he's gone to Thornton a bit for scoring. It seems to me there is more mental hurdle than personnel issues, but something's got to change.

Getting Smaht back will help give us a boost. This trend is very odd.

[Rosco917]

To develop an NBA ready center out of the college ranks, that can defend, protect the rim, rebound, score a bit, and be an overall positive factor, is about a 3- 4 year deal.
Seldom do you see a center, other than a Shaq type, a once in 10-15 year prodigy, take less than 3-4 years. So if you can't get a young decent center very shortly, trade Rondo, and Greene, and Bass. They will be at the end of they're careers when your college center is getting into his productive prime.

I have to ask this question, if you're DA and you want to keep Rondo soooo bad, then why did you draft Smart? Insurance? Marcus Smart will never be a high scoring, slick shooting 2 guard. He reminds me of Dennis Johnson. DJ could play the point or 2 guard, and be valuable at either, but mostly at the point, because he could really defend and was a totally unselfish player. Hopefully Smart will be the same type of player. A great guy to go to war with every night in my book, and in fact captain material.

The Celtics have to find out if Smart can be a solid NBA point guard. And pretty fast.
 

 

[gpap]

To develop an NBA ready center out of the college ranks, that can defend, protect the rim, rebound, score a bit, and be an overall positive factor, is about a 3- 4 year deal.
Seldom do you see a center, other than a Shaq type, a once in 10-15 year prodigy, take less than 3-4 years. So if you can't get a young decent center very shortly, trade Rondo, and Greene, and Bass. They will be at the end of they're careers when your college center is getting into his productive prime.

I have to ask this question, if you're DA and you want to keep Rondo soooo bad, then why did you draft Smart? Insurance? Marcus Smart will never be a high scoring, slick shooting 2 guard. He reminds me of Dennis Johnson. DJ could play the point or 2 guard, and be valuable at either, but mostly at the point, because he could really defend and was a totally unselfish player. Hopefully Smart will be the same type of player. A great guy to go to war with every night in my book, and in fact captain material.

The Celtics have to find out if Smart can be a solid NBA point guard. And pretty fast.

Yup.

If you're relying on the draft to become good again, chances are you're going to be waiting a long time.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

The strategy should start by getting a rim protector. That should be first and foremost.

We have proven that on any night, we're capable of scoring. It's holding on to leads is what's keeping us form getting wins. A rim protector should be priority number 1. Either we get it from the draft or we get it via trade, we need one.

[SHAQATTACK]

The strategy should start by getting a rim protector. That should be first and foremost.

Perfect.

TP !

[freshinthehouse]

Look to move our vets over the next 2-3 months.  Keep giving the youngn's minutes. Reap quality draft pick at the end of the season.

[guava_wrench]

Under #3, we could have some fun if Stevens can figure out our closing squad.

We've been fairly nasty in the first 3 quarters this season.

Shots start rimming out and players appear to be getting cold feet from the field and the line in the 4th quarter. Defense gets exposed more.

Do we need fresher legs? Mental adjustment? I like that he's gone to Thornton a bit for scoring. It seems to me there is more mental hurdle than personnel issues, but something's got to change.

Getting Smaht back will help give us a boost. This trend is very odd.

We need better players.

[guava_wrench]

What I don't want to see is a panic trade where we become a 4th seed in the weak east at the expense of our long term future.  I think following a championship contender is the most fun thing to happen, but following a rebuilding team like this is the second most fun. 

I agree. That is why I find our team more entertaining this year than I found out team during the final year of KG and Pierce. Since I know they aren't good enough to accomplish anything, I can just enjoy the effort and moments of competitiveness.

That last season with KG and Pierce was brutal as every loss hurt.

[Quetzalcoatl]

What I don't want to see is a panic trade where we become a 4th seed in the weak east at the expense of our long term future.  I think following a championship contender is the most fun thing to happen, but following a rebuilding team like this is the second most fun. 

I agree. That is why I find our team more entertaining this year than I found out team during the final year of KG and Pierce. Since I know they aren't good enough to accomplish anything, I can just enjoy the effort and moments of competitiveness.

That last season with KG and Pierce was brutal as every loss hurt.

TP!  That is a huge reason I feel this way, that season was the worst.

[D Dub]

What do you all think?
With trading season coming up do we
1: trade for proven talent (if available) to improve this year?
2: trade for young prospects to fill holes and balance roster (with little to no short term gain)
3: stick with developing current players (I.E tank) and look to improve through draft/ FA, trades down the road?

I'm kind of in the 2 boat myself.

I'm probably in the 1.5 camp; want younger talent that CAN win now. Honestly don't think Ainge has a preference between Smart and Rondo, would deal either just not both. 

In that scenario its likely Ainge is waiting to cash his chips in for an All Star big, and then will follow that move immediately with another to balance the roster with win-now talent. 

Packaging either Smart or Rondo with parts and picks should be enough to bring back an All Star big-- but it's similar to hunting big game in that your opportunities are rare requiring patience and poise to be exercised. 

I'd be looking to pull something off along the lines of:

Rondo + 2015 LAC first
for
Drummond & spare parts
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=qzlbuhb

then

Sully, Bass, 2015 BOS second
for
Kenneth Faried

Smart / Turner
AB / Thornton
Green / Young
Faried / Olynyk
Drummond / Zeller

could be a highly dynamic, young team and we'd still have all those BKL picks to boot.  I call that the 'win now& later' plan.

[obnoxiousmime]

The Celtics are in a tough spot. There aren't many stars in bad situations and with the pending cap increase, few teams will have trouble locking up the guys they want to keep. Also, the team has not been successful enough on the court to attract players who want to win.

Their best options may be the only available ones: Continue looking for lottery luck for at least this season, then acquire FAs who might be better than other teams think (Evan Turner types) and/or overpay for a young FA that other teams may not be willing to go so high on (Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Wesley Matthews, Greg Monroe, etc.). Since we're a bad team and the cap is going to increase, this probably means paying in the 12-16 million range.

They don't really have any other options. Stars want to go to teams ready to win now. Young stars will mostly be locked up by their original teams. Pending cap increase helps winning teams keep the excess talent they have and perhaps sign more. It's really not a good time to be a bad team that does not already have franchise players in place.

Another thing that would hurt is the potential playoff realignment. If they just take the 16 best teams the Celtics won't even be able to tell free agents "well in the East anybody could make the playoffs - it's wide open!"

[gpap]

The Celtics are in a tough spot. There aren't many stars in bad situations and with the pending cap increase, few teams will have trouble locking up the guys they want to keep. Also, the team has not been successful enough on the court to attract players who want to win.

Their best options may be the only available ones: Continue looking for lottery luck for at least this season, then acquire FAs who might be better than other teams think (Evan Turner types) and/or overpay for a young FA that other teams may not be willing to go so high on (Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Wesley Matthews, Greg Monroe, etc.). Since we're a bad team and the cap is going to increase, this probably means paying in the 12-16 million range.

They don't really have any other options. Stars want to go to teams ready to win now. Young stars will mostly be locked up by their original teams. Pending cap increase helps winning teams keep the excess talent they have and perhaps sign more. It's really not a good time to be a bad team that does not already have franchise players in place.

Another thing that would hurt is the potential playoff realignment. If they just take the 16 best teams the Celtics won't even be able to tell free agents "well in the East anybody could make the playoffs - it's wide open!"

Good points.

Sadly, the events of the summer of 2007 may have been something that we may never see again.

[Celtics4ever]

Sully, Bass, 2015 BOS second
for
Kenneth Faried

Smart / Turner
AB / Thornton
Green / Young
Faried / Olynyk
Drummond / Zeller

could be a highly dynamic, young team and we'd still have all those BKL picks to boot.  I call that the 'win now& later' plan.

Who shoots on this team?

[LooseCannon]

The Celtics are in a tough spot. There aren't many stars in bad situations and with the pending cap increase, few teams will have trouble locking up the guys they want to keep. Also, the team has not been successful enough on the court to attract players who want to win.

The increase in cap space means that teams will have more trouble locking up the guys they want to keep since they will have more competition.

He may look like he is in a good situation that he wants to stay in, but it is possible that the Celtics could attempt to overpay Robin Lopez, since it seems like they want a center who is good defensively and can play the pick and roll on offense.

[Csfan1984]

I'm with option 3.
Because you can not win with Rondo being your best player. Rondo is more the third guy on a championship team not even the second. Time to cash in on Rondo as well as Green and fully rebuild through the draft.

Smart, AB, Young, Sully, Olynyk, and Zeller are nice rebuilding start all we need is another great pick and to develop everyone.

Once 2 guys show they can lead/carry this team to playoffs secure FAs to assist in a championship run. Also use assets for possible better personal upgrades.