"Flattest" talent pool in the league?

[Boris Badenov]

I'm trying to amuse myself here in the dog days of the season...which apparently now extend from game 20 to game 82.

So, here's the question: is there any team in the league with a SMALLER difference in talent between its best player and its 8th best?

I'm defining "best" as value on the floor right now - so, unrelated to contract, potential, etc. I'm just thinking about the level of play today in terms of winning games.

I think our best player is probably Green. I think our 8 best are, in some order:

Green
Sully
KO
Wright
Bradley
Bass
Zeller
Nelson

And here's the thing. I think the 8th best is probably....Zeller? Bass? I'm not even sure. Those 8 guys are all "borderline starter" to "solid rotation" players. I think if you put any one of them on another team they'd all get regular minutes but be nothing special.

There's a good case for other guys on the list as 1st, or 8th...that's actually part of my point.

So anyway if you want to, pick your best and 8th best. And find me another team with a smaller difference between the two.

[slamtheking]

I've been saying pretty much this all season.  with the exception of Rondo, we have a team of role players.  decent role players if on a good team but role players none the less.  Maybe one of the young players breaks out but I'm just not seeing it.  Young's game tonight may be a harbinger that we have a guy that we'd actually want to take 15 shots a game but it's just one game so far

[Quetzalcoatl]

It has to be us and it's not close. 

[GetLucky]

I've been saying pretty much this all season.  with the exception of Rondo, we have a team of role players.  decent role players if on a good team but role players none the less.  Maybe one of the young players breaks out but I'm just not seeing it.  Young's game tonight may be a harbinger that we have a guy that we'd actually want to take 15 shots a game but it's just one game so far

Agreed. I think that's what you're seeing with Rondo gone. Rondo provided at least some semblance of rotational hierarchy on the team, but now it's all in shambles.

[Rondo9]

Seessh talk about extreme pessimism. You would think that the Celtics have the worst talent pool in the league judging from these responses.

[oldtype]

Seessh talk about extreme pessimism. You would think that the Celtics have the worst talent pool in the league judging from these responses.

We might. I don't think there's a team in the league I wouldn't straight up swap our entire roster for. Maybe Denver, Brooklyn, and LA I guess.

All of the value in this team is backloaded into the draft picks. The squad itself is very dry.

[jambr380]

I definitely agree. It seems on any given night, whoever gets the most minutes is likely to get the most points. I would love to see the starters and subs play against each other in practice - they are as evenly matched as can be.

And all this does for us is give us an extremely crowded team from 1-13. All these guys deserve decent minutes on good teams, but instead they are getting inconsistent minutes on a crappy team. It is really too bad that playoff caliber teams are so stingy with their young players/picks - they could really use our guys and we would love to trade them.

[Rondo9]

Seessh talk about extreme pessimism. You would think that the Celtics have the worst talent pool in the league judging from these responses.

We might. I don't think there's a team in the league I wouldn't straight up swap our entire roster for. Maybe Denver, Brooklyn, and LA I guess.

All of the value in this team is backloaded into the draft picks. The squad itself is very dry.

Be patient, the Celtics are year two of the rebuild and looks to be poised to back in the lottery. This is process, to give up on the talent right now, because they don't project to Anthony Davis is short sighted. I don't want Anige to turn into Pitino and trade Smart, Sullinger, Bradley, Young and Olynyk because they're not doing well right now.

[oldtype]

Seessh talk about extreme pessimism. You would think that the Celtics have the worst talent pool in the league judging from these responses.

We might. I don't think there's a team in the league I wouldn't straight up swap our entire roster for. Maybe Denver, Brooklyn, and LA I guess.

All of the value in this team is backloaded into the draft picks. The squad itself is very dry.

Be patient, the Celtics are year two of the rebuild and looks to be poised to back in the lottery. This is process, to give up on the talent right now, because they don't project to Anthony Davis is short sighted. I don't want Anige to turn into Pitino and trade Smart, Sullinger, Bradley, Young and Olynyk because they're not doing well right now.

I'm not that down on our talent, it's just that we're not as far along on the rebuild. Smart is a potential star, but every other rebuilding team seems to have 2~3 of those. We still need to draft a couple more.

I wish I could put more stock in Sullinger or Olynyk, but I'm sick to death of them playing the "one step forward, one step back" game with each other. I really just can't understand why they take turns playing well and then disappearing for a month.

James Young showed some nice potential today. Beyond that, everyone else on the roster has a value ranging between negative to neutral.

[Snakehead]

I think we absolutely follow along these lines which is something I will say to defend Stevens.  It's not easy figuring out who to play when they are all 2K rating wise like 70's and when many really play the same position.

[Snakehead]

Seessh talk about extreme pessimism. You would think that the Celtics have the worst talent pool in the league judging from these responses.

Well the thread is about how your talent compares against each other.

Personally, I really like a number of our players.  I think they'd be great in roles on much better teams (vets like Green and Bass) and other younger players (Sully, Olynyk, Smart, Young) I think have All Star potential or close to it.  But the problem is, to compare to NBA 2K as I did in my last post, we are a team of players in the 70's.  It's hard to do much with that and also hard to make rotations and stick to them.

[Boris Badenov]

I think we absolutely follow along these lines which is something I will say to defend Stevens.  It's not easy figuring out who to play when they are all 2K rating wise like 70's and when many really play the same position.

I am giving Stevens more of a pass because of this too. Even given the muddle talent-wise his other motivations are all in opposing directions too. Play Green/Bass/Turner/Wright/Zeller to improve their trade value? Play Smart/Young/Bradley/Sully/KO for development? Try to find a combination of guys who play well together, to teach them about winning? Etc.

[Rondo9]

Seessh talk about extreme pessimism. You would think that the Celtics have the worst talent pool in the league judging from these responses.

We might. I don't think there's a team in the league I wouldn't straight up swap our entire roster for. Maybe Denver, Brooklyn, and LA I guess.

All of the value in this team is backloaded into the draft picks. The squad itself is very dry.

Be patient, the Celtics are year two of the rebuild and looks to be poised to back in the lottery. This is process, to give up on the talent right now, because they don't project to Anthony Davis is short sighted. I don't want Anige to turn into Pitino and trade Smart, Sullinger, Bradley, Young and Olynyk because they're not doing well right now.

I'm not that down on our talent, it's just that we're not as far along on the rebuild. Smart is a potential star, but every other rebuilding team seems to have 2~3 of those. We still need to draft a couple more.

I wish I could put more stock in Sullinger or Olynyk, but I'm sick to death of them playing the "one step forward, one step back" game with each other. I really just can't understand why they take turns playing well and then disappearing for a month.

James Young showed some nice potential today. Beyond that, everyone else on the roster has a value ranging between negative to neutral.

Inconsitency happens when you're a young team. It does not help when the Celtics shipped out Rondo and destroyed what chemistry was left.

[Mazingerz]

I don't want Green (is the guy bipolar or what), Bradley (chuckmeister supreme), Sully (if he loses waight and play some D, I'd reconsider), Jameer (ye olde point guard who cannot guard), Pressey (I was impressed before, but turned out he is fool's gold), and Thornton  near my team next year;

Remaining players: Smart, Young, KO, Zeller, Wallace (old as hell but is a positive influence and with a hard contract to move), Bass (a good, solid and consistent guy) Crowder, Wright, 2 first round draftees;

I want to vomit as to the team's effort and lack of spirit tonight and the other nights as well;

[LarBrd33]

I've been saying pretty much this all season.  with the exception of Rondo, we have a team of role players.  decent role players if on a good team but role players none the less.  Maybe one of the young players breaks out but I'm just not seeing it.  Young's game tonight may be a harbinger that we have a guy that we'd actually want to take 15 shots a game but it's just one game so far

ive been saying it all season too.  It's a concept some fans have trouble grasping. Having 5 equally talented guards isn't some grand advantage.   Rondo, turner, bradley, smart and Thornton could all play a little bit... You'd gladly trade all of them for 2 above average guards.   Sully and oly can both play a little bit, but you'd gladly trade both for a better power forward.  It's a mismatched collection of assets.  The goal was to use them in a big trade.   The team badly needs a 6-for-1 deal to clear out the mess and define some roles.   It'll happen eventually. Gotta have patience.