Playoffs and Lotto Aside, We Got Really Lucky

[LarBrd33]

I don't see much reason to celebrate, honestly. This team stinks and it's not clear if winning right now serves any purpose for us.

The team does not stink. The team is competitive. Playing hard and winning games is a more sure fire way to greatness than trying to get lucky with draft picks. Go root for the 76ers if you don't want to watch us slog our way to an 8th seed. Working and winning is way more fun than counting ping pong balls.

Also, I take exception to you labeling Smart a "mediocre" youth prospect. If he were doing what he's doing as a guy who's been in the league for years already, he'd be "mediocre."  He is a rookie who's already got a lot of stuff down at a high level. He's got nowhere to go but up.

We are playing a bit better.  Team still stinks.

As for Smart, he's a good defender.  He's averaging 7.6 points, 3.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds with 36%/32%/67%.  Overall, that's horrible-to-mediocre.   He has potential, though.  Clearly has a future as a defensive role player.   He probably has the most trade value of our prospects, but he was probably more valuable before the season.

[celticsclay]

I don't see much reason to celebrate, honestly. This team stinks and it's not clear if winning right now serves any purpose for us.

The team does not stink. The team is competitive. Playing hard and winning games is a more sure fire way to greatness than trying to get lucky with draft picks. Go root for the 76ers if you don't want to watch us slog our way to an 8th seed. Working and winning is way more fun than counting ping pong balls.

Also, I take exception to you labeling Smart a "mediocre" youth prospect. If he were doing what he's doing as a guy who's been in the league for years already, he'd be "mediocre."  He is a rookie who's already got a lot of stuff down at a high level. He's got nowhere to go but up.

We are playing a bit better.  Team still stinks.

As for Smart, he's a good defender.  He's averaging 7.6 points, 3.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds with 36%/32%/67%.  Overall, that's horrible-to-mediocre.   He has potential, though.  Clearly has a future as a defensive role player.   He probably has the most trade value of our prospects, but he was probably more valuable before the season.

Jeez dude you really are living proof that the grass is always greener...

[makaveli]

i love this post rondo-green team(minus ET playing PG while Smart and IT are playing)
and i can't believe that anyone is still crying over Rondo, talk about a dogged bullet as someone mentioned in this thread

I love the post Sully team!   Runs, defends and is 6-5 over .500 without him.  Very fun to watch, I might add too.

we are on the same page i guess

[positivitize]

Jeez dude you really are living proof that the grass is always greener...

"Grass"

[Chris22]

Thank God we didn't sign Rondo or Green or Love.

I like where we are going forward.

[mctyson]

Boston is on pace for just under 34 wins.  Let's not act like this is a good team or even one overachieving all that much.  In fact if you look at the early win predictions on this board they are actually underachieving based on what a large number of people on here thought the team would end up with.  Now granted those win projections were based on Rondo and Green, but the team is performing essentially at the same clip as it was with those two.

No, it is definitely not performing at the same rate, and is a .500 team since Jeff Green was traded.

[LarBrd33]

Boston is on pace for just under 34 wins.  Let's not act like this is a good team or even one overachieving all that much.  In fact if you look at the early win predictions on this board they are actually underachieving based on what a large number of people on here thought the team would end up with.  Now granted those win projections were based on Rondo and Green, but the team is performing essentially at the same clip as it was with those two.

No, it is definitely not performing at the same rate, and is a .500 team since Jeff Green was traded.

We are playing a bit better.  Team still stinks.   We are 10 games under .500.   There are 20 teams in this league with better records.  We're about even with Utah.  Utah has been hotter recently and has better young talent... but they stink too.

[Chris22]

Boston is on pace for just under 34 wins.  Let's not act like this is a good team or even one overachieving all that much.  In fact if you look at the early win predictions on this board they are actually underachieving based on what a large number of people on here thought the team would end up with.  Now granted those win projections were based on Rondo and Green, but the team is performing essentially at the same clip as it was with those two.

No, it is definitely not performing at the same rate, and is a .500 team since Jeff Green was traded.

We are playing a bit better.  Team still stinks.   We are 10 games under .500.   There are 20 teams in this league with better records.  We're about even with Utah.  Utah has been hotter recently and arguably has better young talent... but they stink too.

We are 6-3 in our last 9 games.

With Thomas we don't "stink."

[LarBrd33]

Boston is on pace for just under 34 wins.  Let's not act like this is a good team or even one overachieving all that much.  In fact if you look at the early win predictions on this board they are actually underachieving based on what a large number of people on here thought the team would end up with.  Now granted those win projections were based on Rondo and Green, but the team is performing essentially at the same clip as it was with those two.

No, it is definitely not performing at the same rate, and is a .500 team since Jeff Green was traded.

We are playing a bit better.  Team still stinks.   We are 10 games under .500.   There are 20 teams in this league with better records.  We're about even with Utah.  Utah has been hotter recently and arguably has better young talent... but they stink too.

We are 6-3 in our last 9 games.

With Thomas we don't "stink."

We've played a bit better.  Let's not lose our heads.  Utah has won 10 of their last 13, seems to have much better young talent, has a slightly better record than us... but I have a feeling most would say they stink too. 

[celticsclay]

Boston is on pace for just under 34 wins.  Let's not act like this is a good team or even one overachieving all that much.  In fact if you look at the early win predictions on this board they are actually underachieving based on what a large number of people on here thought the team would end up with.  Now granted those win projections were based on Rondo and Green, but the team is performing essentially at the same clip as it was with those two.

No, it is definitely not performing at the same rate, and is a .500 team since Jeff Green was traded.

We are playing a bit better.  Team still stinks.   We are 10 games under .500.   There are 20 teams in this league with better records.  We're about even with Utah.  Utah has been hotter recently and arguably has better young talent... but they stink too.

We are 6-3 in our last 9 games.

With Thomas we don't "stink."

We've played a bit better.  Let's not lose our heads.  Utah has won 10 of their last 13, seems to have much better young talent, has a slightly better record than us... but I have a feeling most would say they stink too.

You are kind of the only person that has lost your head in this thread. Nobody is saying we are a contender, a great team or really even a good team. However, the fact is that over the last two months and since getting rid of green we have been a slightly over .500 team and have been in just about every game. You can't say we have stunk since we got rid of our overrated vets.

If you want to get cute, Utah hasn't stunk over their last 13 games either and have gotten a lot of recognition nationally for how much better they have played.

[JHTruth]

We're getting better. My point, and I think the point of a lot of people on this thread, is that it's hard to make the leap from where we are now (middling at best), struggling in no-man's land to serious contender. Other teams are tanking properly and landing top 5 picks for the last couple of years and build capspace  while we "contend" for the playoffs, draft the KOs and Smarts of the world, and get incrementally better by tiny amounts. At this rate, we'll be a contender in 2045. Stars picked in the mid-first are exceedingly rare in this day and age with scouting at the international and HS levels at a completely different level than even 10 years ago. It's a lot of luck of course, and I think Danny has played his hand well, but we're just as close to perpetual 7-15 lottery land as we are to fielding the next champion. Are we "lucky" we don't have Love and Rondo on this team right now? I think that's debatable..

[LooseCannon]

Last season, the Hawks were a sub.500 team that got bounced in the first-round of the playoffs.  Sucks to be them.

[LarBrd33]

Last season, the Hawks were a sub.500 team that got bounced in the first-round of the playoffs.  Sucks to be them.

Amazing what an all-star defensive center can do for a team, eh? 

i guess the lesson there is that if we can play .500 ball we'll be a franchise big man away from relevance.

[Chris22]

Last season, the Hawks were a sub.500 team that got bounced in the first-round of the playoffs.  Sucks to be them.

Amazing what an all-star defensive center can do for a team, eh? 

i guess the lesson there is that if we can play .500 ball we'll be a franchise big man away from relevance.

The lesson is that we are better than you think.

[LooseCannon]

Last season, the Hawks were a sub.500 team that got bounced in the first-round of the playoffs.  Sucks to be them.

Amazing what an all-star defensive center can do for a team, eh? 

i guess the lesson there is that if we can play .500 ball we'll be a franchise big man away from relevance.

The lesson is that squeaking into the playoffs and losing in the first round doesn't put you in no man's land.  The problem is when you barely make the playoffs, can't get out of the first round, and have no avenues for improvement.  The Celtics can improve through free agency, the draft, and trades.  The Celtics can also get better through the improvement of young players already on their roster.

The Pacers made the playoffs in 2010-2011 with a 37-45 record, signed David West (and traded for George Hill), and went to the Eastern Semifinals the next season and the conference finals the year after that.  Sure, some of that was the improvement of Paul George, but the Pacers retooled their roster after the Malice at the Palace without ever drafting higher than 10th.

David West chose noted free agent destination Indiana because it looked like a young team on the rise which would have a longer window of contention.  At the time, I actually though he might have made the right decision in choosing the Pacers over the Celtics if he had winning in mind.

If Brad Stevens can lead a strong push towards the playoffs that makes the Celtics look like a team on their way up, they can be attractive to the right kind of free agents.  Not the guys looking for money and nightlife, but guys like West or Paul Millsap who seem to have more of a blue-collar mentality.

There's no sure path back to contention, but I would argue that Danny Ainge has put together a collection of players and assets that allows for multiple ways to a title.  If Plan A doesn't work, he has a Plan B and a Plan C.