50 Wins Next Season? Paint Me A Picture.

[Evantime34]

Raptors look to retool and agree to trade Derozan

  This is what I hope happens, he would be some more offense and can create his own shot, something we really need.

What's the fascination with a shooting guard who is 27% career on threes and who dribbles too much while being bad at dribbling?  If he creates his own shot, it's because he is a chucker who creates a lot of contested shots.  He'd be a bad fit for an offense based on ball movement and would be a downgrade on defense.

The fascination is with a guy who gets to the line 7-8 times a game. That is a useful offensive skill.

But he's bad enough at everything else that he is a net negative player.  You're looking at a player who resembles Kobe Bryant.  Unfortunately, he resembles old Kobe, not prime, championship-winning Kobe.

I'm not really a fan of his game, but i think the C's need to upgrade anyway they can and he certainly would be an upgrade.

[LooseCannon]

Raptors look to retool and agree to trade Derozan

  This is what I hope happens, he would be some more offense and can create his own shot, something we really need.

What's the fascination with a shooting guard who is 27% career on threes and who dribbles too much while being bad at dribbling?  If he creates his own shot, it's because he is a chucker who creates a lot of contested shots.  He'd be a bad fit for an offense based on ball movement and would be a downgrade on defense.

The fascination is with a guy who gets to the line 7-8 times a game. That is a useful offensive skill.

But he's bad enough at everything else that he is a net negative player.  You're looking at a player who resembles Kobe Bryant.  Unfortunately, he resembles old Kobe, not prime, championship-winning Kobe.

I'm not really a fan of his game, but i think the C's need to upgrade anyway they can and he certainly would be an upgrade.

An upgrade on Bradley's backup?

[Evantime34]

Raptors look to retool and agree to trade Derozan

  This is what I hope happens, he would be some more offense and can create his own shot, something we really need.

What's the fascination with a shooting guard who is 27% career on threes and who dribbles too much while being bad at dribbling?  If he creates his own shot, it's because he is a chucker who creates a lot of contested shots.  He'd be a bad fit for an offense based on ball movement and would be a downgrade on defense.

The fascination is with a guy who gets to the line 7-8 times a game. That is a useful offensive skill.

But he's bad enough at everything else that he is a net negative player.  You're looking at a player who resembles Kobe Bryant.  Unfortunately, he resembles old Kobe, not prime, championship-winning Kobe.

I'm not really a fan of his game, but i think the C's need to upgrade anyway they can and he certainly would be an upgrade.

An upgrade on Bradley's backup?

I think he would be a better starting 2 than Bradley.

[Celtics4ever]

Derozan has always played well against us.   There are times where he cleaned PP 's clock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9infe9KWfQI

He would be a big upgrade over Crowder or Turner.  It would be nice to have a guy who can score 17  and be able to take him man one on one.  We lost the CAVs series because we could not score reliably in the clutch.

I don't see them giving up on him either as he is a keeper.

[wdleehi]

Step one, Ainge makes an amazing trade to bring a star to Boston.


Step two, remaining young players/drafted players take huge step forward.


Step three, Stevens have them play as hard as they did down the stretch this season the whole season.




I just don't think all of that will happen.

[LooseCannon]

I don't see them giving up on him either as he is a keeper.

If they're not willing to give up on Derozan and instead see him as a core piece, they are a team that is happy to plateau at being a second-round exit.

[Evantime34]

Step one, Ainge makes an amazing trade to bring a star to Boston.


Step two, remaining young players/drafted players take huge step forward.


Step three, Stevens have them play as hard as they did down the stretch this season the whole season.




I just don't think all of that will happen.

I think if they do trade for a star there is an increased possibility of bringing in an impact free agent. Adding that step to your 3 steps would pretty much cover all the ways this team could get better.

[PhoSita]

Derozan isn't a great player but he's better than anybody on our team, and he's certainly better than Bradley. 

That said, he's a flawed player and if he's a core piece he should be a secondary scoring option and he should be surrounded by shooters because he's similar to Evan Turner as an outside shooter.

[LooseCannon]

Derozan isn't a great player but he's better than anybody on our team, and he's certainly better than Bradley. 

That said, he's a flawed player and if he's a core piece he should be a secondary scoring option and he should be surrounded by shooters because he's similar to Evan Turner as an outside shooter.

Derozan or Bradley, the Celtics still need to add better pieces to be a contender.  Neither is a core star.  Bradley would be a much better fit around those other pieces than Derozan.  I'd take Derozan if my goal were to be a consistent non-contending playoff team.  I'd take Bradley if my goal was to be better than that.

I could accept Derozan in a sixth man role as a scorer off the bench, but Thomas is better than Derozan.

[sofutomygaha]

I'm not sure this is the best long-view-short-view balance but assuming Kawhi, Gasol, Butler, etc all turn down our max offer, here is how I would work to improve the squad-

fa targets- Chandler, Matthews, Lin
trade target- Gallinari
outgoing trade assets- Bradley, Wallace expiring, picks
ignore-  monroe, lopez, dragic, jordan
draft target- Harrell

[Celtics4ever]

I think he is more consistent than ET, PhoSita, but that is an apt comparison in some other regards.

  Bradley would be a much better fit around those other pieces than Derozan.

  You have a lot of guts to say this after his playoff series.  Unfortunately, we have something called stats that can diffuse this argument.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3978/seasontype/3/demar-derozan

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/4240/seasontype/3/avery-bradley

Bradley average 12 PPG in these playoffs, he played some great D though.  But shot .38%.  He did hold Irving to 23 PPG and .44% shooting.  In retrospect, one has to question how good that D was at times.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/4240/avery-bradley

Derozan averaged 20 PPG and shot .40%

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3978/demar-derozan

Neither is that great but I would take Derozan over him.  Since he has a career playoff average of 22 PPG to AB's 8.

[Hemingway]

50 wins isn't as far away as is being said here. With no changes we could get 50 and would at least be close. If we can just replace Datome with someone as goof or better than IT, then I think we have 50 wins. There have been a lot of names talked about. Just get 1 and we are probably about 50 wins.

[slamtheking]

50 wins?  Ainge would have to pull out a miracle.  I seriously see the C's sliding back out of the playoffs next year as several of the Eastern teams that missed the playoffs or just got in get injured players back and/or add good young talent via the draft to strengthen their teams.

Indy, Charlotte, Miami and Milwaukee all fit that situation.  Sure, Brooklyn figures to get worse (thankfully we have that unprotected pick) but that's about it. 

Boston will still have a team of role players unless Danny pulls off a heist in a trade.  The concern I'd have with trading for a top player is just much of the asset stockpile would be gone after that deal.  Would we have anything left to add to whoever we brought in?

[PhoSita]

Derozan isn't a great player but he's better than anybody on our team, and he's certainly better than Bradley. 

That said, he's a flawed player and if he's a core piece he should be a secondary scoring option and he should be surrounded by shooters because he's similar to Evan Turner as an outside shooter.

Derozan or Bradley, the Celtics still need to add better pieces to be a contender.  Neither is a core star.  Bradley would be a much better fit around those other pieces than Derozan.  I'd take Derozan if my goal were to be a consistent non-contending playoff team.  I'd take Bradley if my goal was to be better than that.

I could accept Derozan in a sixth man role as a scorer off the bench, but Thomas is better than Derozan.

I would only go after Derozan if I already had another superior player in place and I needed a wing with size who could get to the rim and draw fouls.

Bradley is an OK player, but if your goal is to create a contender you need to do it with superior players and Derozan is one, just not a top tier player.

[Evantime34]

50 wins?  Ainge would have to pull out a miracle.  I seriously see the C's sliding back out of the playoffs next year as several of the Eastern teams that missed the playoffs or just got in get injured players back and/or add good young talent via the draft to strengthen their teams.

Indy, Charlotte, Miami and Milwaukee all fit that situation.  Sure, Brooklyn figures to get worse (thankfully we have that unprotected pick) but that's about it. 

Boston will still have a team of role players unless Danny pulls off a heist in a trade.  The concern I'd have with trading for a top player is just much of the asset stockpile would be gone after that deal.  Would we have anything left to add to whoever we brought in?

This isn't painting a picture so much as throwing cold water at the canvas.

We aren't debating whether it will happen here, but suggesting ways it could happen.

On the bright side, none of the teams you listed as getting better are in our division. If Toronto takes a step back in trades and New York isn't able to add a viable 3-10 to their roster I think winning the division isn't out of the question even if the teams you listed improve.