This off season has been frustrating, but don't panic. BREATHE!

[Robb]

Seriously that extreme pessimistic post is ridiculous. The assests are still very useful and just because one team didn't want them doesn't mean they're useless. The young core maybe role players but nonetheless made the playoffs.

Do you listen to or follow any national writers or basketball people? They typically say the Cs roster is regarded as bit pieces and role players outside of Isaiah Thomas.

You could say, "they're writers, what do they know? But we know that one GM turned down 6 of our "assets" for the number 9 spot in the draft.

However else you choose to interpret the state of the team or the league in general, those things are generally true.

Then there is this: If two of the teams (the Kings and the Hornets) that we would traditionally target as being poorly run (and thus more able to fleece in a trade) think our team is crap, then we're not getting anywhere pumping those wells and looking for our next superstar.

[GreenWarrior]

Isn't this exactly the time to panic? It seems most teams are signing significant upgrades to their rosters right now except the Celtics and it looks like no one wants the Celtic's picks in trade so why not panic? : )

i'm not panicking, but the outlook isn't very encouraging. right now it seems the only way this team will be able to acquire a star is if they draft one. and doing it in the later rounds is making that task even more arduous .

[PhoSita]

free agency will never be an option for this team...apparently.

Free agency will be an option, once Ainge has actually built something here.


"Build it and they will come."  True in Field of Dreams, true in the NBA.

If Ainge had drafted Giannis two years ago and the Celts had gotten lucky in the lottery and selected Jabari, maybe free agents like Greg Monroe would have given us a second thought this summer.

Instead, with a roster of 6th, 7th, and 8th men, we're left to our own devices.

[Rondo9]

free agency will never be an option for this team...apparently.

Free agency will be an option, once Ainge has actually built something here.


"Build it and they will come."  True in Field of Dreams, true in the NBA.

If Ainge had drafted Giannis two years ago and the Celts had gotten lucky in the lottery and selected Jabari, maybe free agents like Greg Monroe would have given us a second thought this summer.

Instead, with a roster
 of 6th, 7th,and 8th men, we're left to our own devices.

Was team even interested in Monroe?

[Rondo9]

Seriously that extreme pessimistic post is ridiculous. The assests are still very useful and just because one team didn't want them doesn't mean they're useless. The young core maybe role players but nonetheless made the playoffs.

Do you listen to or follow any national writers or basketball people? They typically say the Cs roster is regarded as bit pieces and role players outside of Isaiah Thomas.

You could say, "they're writers, what do they know? But we know that one GM turned down 6 of our "assets" for the number 9 spot in the draft.

However else you choose to interpret the state of the team or the league in general, those things are generally true.

Then there is this: If two of the teams (the Kings and the Hornets) that we would traditionally target as being poorly run (and thus more able to fleece in a trade) think our team is crap, then we're not getting anywhere pumping those wells and looking for our next superstar.

What are you talked about? I did say that most of the players our role players but they playoffs regardless and I'll repeat yeah a gm rejected the picks but did Danny offer a Brooklyn pick? Besides they are not useless and can be useful to get yourself in three ways or absorb contracts

[Rondo9]

Don't panic. Just accept that this team is irrelevant for the long haul.  Your favorite team is an also-ran.  You're rooting for a perpetually mediocre treadmill squad with no hope of contending.  Half the league is like that.  Accept that we aren't special. Our crappy assets are the same as everyone else's crappy assets.  Ainge spoiled us.  We lost sight of how impossible it is to trade into a contender.  Aside from our little 3.5 year window of contending, we have been like that more or less for 25 years.   We will make the playoffs sometimes. We will miss the playoffs sometimes.  We will add some garbage players. We will stumble into a fringe star like Al Jefferson every 10 years... But we will not matter.  This team will not matter.  We will be on the outside looking in.  This is not our league. It belongs to teams like Cleveland, golden state, Oklahoma... And eventually it will belong to teams like Minnesota and Philly.  We are the Washington Generals. If you see our face, it will probably be on the other end of someone's boot in dunk posters and sportscenter highlights.

The sooner you accept that the sooner you can start celebrating the moral victories... Like stumbling into a Delote West from time to time in the draft, or landing a serviceable big man like Rodney Rodgers or amir Johnson... Or making the playoffs with a losing record.

We spent the majority of the last 3 decades in this spot.  Welcome back.  Rub KG's pixie dust out of your eyes... You have been here for a few years now and didn't even notice it. Time to accept it.  There's no easy way out of it.   Here's hoping one of these years we bottom out and finally luck into a cornerstone.  Accept our futility and this will all be easier to stomach.

Or you can sit here for the next 20 years and keep waiting for that "other shoe" to drop that never comes. That will just lead to disappointment.

That or sit there whining and complaining about something you have no control over...

No point in whining and complaining about it.  Rooting for Tony Delk had it's rewards.  It was just the acceptance that Boston was never going to be relevant anytime soon.   We're right back in the thick of NBA irrelevance.  Might as well accept it.  We're going to be here indefinitely.

Dude, seriously. Give it up already. Since when are we an "also-ran stuck in perpetual mediocrity". Like 10 people have challenged you on that with the fact that we went from on for the worst teams in the league to the playoffs in ONE season. We finished the season at a 56 win pace with a core group of guys under the age of 26. We haven't even finalized the roster for this year.

How in the world is that "stuck in perpetual mediocrity"? Do tell? And how are we a "35 win" team as you and some of your compatriots like to point out when we were a .500 team last year with 2/3 of a season with the dumpster fire that was a Rajon Rondo led team? Is the 56 win pace we finished the season on unrealistic? Yes, of course. About as unrealistic as 33 wins barring something catastrophic.

Go cheer on the sixers. You like them better anyway.

15 30 vs playoff teams including the sweep by Cleveland. Minus 2 wins vs Cleveland in April when they mailed it in  13 30
I like your optimism, but your drinking the Kool aid..

Yes call people who have a different outlook than yours as Koop aid drinkers.......

[GreenWarrior]

free agency will never be an option for this team...apparently.

Free agency will be an option, once Ainge has actually built something here.


"Build it and they will come."  True in Field of Dreams, true in the NBA.

If Ainge had drafted Giannis two years ago and the Celts had gotten lucky in the lottery and selected Jabari, maybe free agents like Greg Monroe would have given us a second thought this summer.

Instead, with a roster of 6th, 7th, and 8th men, we're left to our own devices.

I still don't think superstar free agents will. mid-tier free agents might if we have something here, I've never doubted that.

[knuckleballer]

free agency will never be an option for this team...apparently.

Free agency will be an option, once Ainge has actually built something here.


"Build it and they will come."  True in Field of Dreams, true in the NBA.

If Ainge had drafted Giannis two years ago and the Celts had gotten lucky in the lottery and selected Jabari, maybe free agents like Greg Monroe would have given us a second thought this summer.

Instead, with a roster of 6th, 7th, and 8th men, we're left to our own devices.

I still don't think superstar free agents will. mid-tier free agents might if we have something here, I've never doubted that.

Monroe may not a superstar, but he had the option to sign with the Lakers or Knicks for max money, but he chose Milwaukee.  Why would his line of thinking be any different than a "superstar"?

[GreenWarrior]

out of those 3, i'd choose the bucks too.

[LilRip]

Talk about being irrelevant for 20 years ... the Celts were at least semi-decent & fun in the mid-2000s.  They even made the conference finals once.  Yeah it was a flawed team with no hope at a title, but still better than where we are now.

I'd jump for joy to add a couple of talents like Pierce and Walker to watch for the next 8-10 years.  With better management and a competent coach much earlier on in the process, who knows what they might have built with those two guys?

The biggest problem for me is that the team doesn't have anybody who I can even imagine being one of the main pieces of a fun and exciting 50+ win team.  Until Ainge finds a way to get one of those guys, our team is more like a deck of cards -- constantly getting reshuffled -- than a true rebuilding project.

I believe in Marcus Smart.

But nonetheless, I get what you mean. And I hate to bring it up as an example, but if the Sixers stumbled onto a terrific piece in Okafor or Embiid (we'll see when they finally get to play), they could easily leapfrog us in terms of "rebuilding" fairly quickly. The fact that people here were discussing a "Noel for Smart" trade shows that how even our single arguably-best asset in Smart compares to the Sixers arguably 3rd best asset in Noel.

And before I attract all the hate for bringing up the Sixers and get comments how the plan has accomplished nothing... well, we haven't accomplished much either. We made the playoffs last year on a miraculous run, finishing with the 2nd best record in the league in the 2nd half of the season. I'm pretty sure though that won't translate to us having the 2nd best record in the league throughout the next season. Odds are we won't even make the playoffs next season, with the Pacers and Heat returning to full form.

To bring another example into the mix, you know who else also hasn't accomplished anything? The T'Wolves. Worst record in the league last year, but they sure do look like they're sitting pretty with Wiggins-Towns. I'd estimate that they're "ahead" of us in terms of this whole rebuilding thing.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Don't panic. Just accept that this team is irrelevant for the long haul.  Your favorite team is an also-ran.  You're rooting for a perpetually mediocre treadmill squad with no hope of contending.  Half the league is like that.  Accept that we aren't special. Our crappy assets are the same as everyone else's crappy assets.  Ainge spoiled us.  We lost sight of how impossible it is to trade into a contender.  Aside from our little 3.5 year window of contending, we have been like that more or less for 25 years.   We will make the playoffs sometimes. We will miss the playoffs sometimes.  We will add some garbage players. We will stumble into a fringe star like Al Jefferson every 10 years... But we will not matter.  This team will not matter.  We will be on the outside looking in.  This is not our league. It belongs to teams like Cleveland, golden state, Oklahoma... And eventually it will belong to teams like Minnesota and Philly.  We are the Washington Generals. If you see our face, it will probably be on the other end of someone's boot in dunk posters and sportscenter highlights.

The sooner you accept that the sooner you can start celebrating the moral victories... Like stumbling into a Delote West from time to time in the draft, or landing a serviceable big man like Rodney Rodgers or amir Johnson... Or making the playoffs with a losing record.

We spent the majority of the last 3 decades in this spot.  Welcome back.  Rub KG's pixie dust out of your eyes... You have been here for a few years now and didn't even notice it. Time to accept it.  There's no easy way out of it.   Here's hoping one of these years we bottom out and finally luck into a cornerstone.  Accept our futility and this will all be easier to stomach.

Or you can sit here for the next 20 years and keep waiting for that "other shoe" to drop that never comes. That will just lead to disappointment.

That or sit there whining and complaining about something you have no control over...

No point in whining and complaining about it.  Rooting for Tony Delk had it's rewards.  It was just the acceptance that Boston was never going to be relevant anytime soon.   We're right back in the thick of NBA irrelevance.  Might as well accept it.  We're going to be here indefinitely.

Dude, seriously. Give it up already. Since when are we an "also-ran stuck in perpetual mediocrity". Like 10 people have challenged you on that with the fact that we went from on for the worst teams in the league to the playoffs in ONE season. We finished the season at a 56 win pace with a core group of guys under the age of 26. We haven't even finalized the roster for this year.

How in the world is that "stuck in perpetual mediocrity"? Do tell? And how are we a "35 win" team as you and some of your compatriots like to point out when we were a .500 team last year with 2/3 of a season with the dumpster fire that was a Rajon Rondo led team? Is the 56 win pace we finished the season on unrealistic? Yes, of course. About as unrealistic as 33 wins barring something catastrophic.

Go cheer on the sixers. You like them better anyway.

15 30 vs playoff teams including the sweep by Cleveland. Minus 2 wins vs Cleveland in April when they mailed it in  13 30
I like your optimism, but your drinking the Kool aid..

Yes call people who have a different outlook than yours as Koop aid drinkers.......

Lol. What does that even mean?! I can't figure out the joke

[Rondo9]

Don't panic. Just accept that this team is irrelevant for the long haul.  Your favorite team is an also-ran.  You're rooting for a perpetually mediocre treadmill squad with no hope of contending.  Half the league is like that.  Accept that we aren't special. Our crappy assets are the same as everyone else's crappy assets.  Ainge spoiled us.  We lost sight of how impossible it is to trade into a contender.  Aside from our little 3.5 year window of contending, we have been like that more or less for 25 years.   We will make the playoffs sometimes. We will miss the playoffs sometimes.  We will add some garbage players. We will stumble into a fringe star like Al Jefferson every 10 years... But we will not matter.  This team will not matter.  We will be on the outside looking in.  This is not our league. It belongs to teams like Cleveland, golden state, Oklahoma... And eventually it will belong to teams like Minnesota and Philly.  We are the Washington Generals. If you see our face, it will probably be on the other end of someone's boot in dunk posters and sportscenter highlights.

The sooner you accept that the sooner you can start celebrating the moral victories... Like stumbling into a Delote West from time to time in the draft, or landing a serviceable big man like Rodney Rodgers or amir Johnson... Or making the playoffs with a losing record.

We spent the majority of the last 3 decades in this spot.  Welcome back.  Rub KG's pixie dust out of your eyes... You have been here for a few years now and didn't even notice it. Time to accept it.  There's no easy way out of it.   Here's hoping one of these years we bottom out and finally luck into a cornerstone.  Accept our futility and this will all be easier to stomach.

Or you can sit here for the next 20 years and keep waiting for that "other shoe" to drop that never comes. That will just lead to disappointment.

That or sit there whining and complaining about something you have no control over...

No point in whining and complaining about it.  Rooting for Tony Delk had it's rewards.  It was just the acceptance that Boston was never going to be relevant anytime soon.   We're right back in the thick of NBA irrelevance.  Might as well accept it.  We're going to be here indefinitely.

Dude, seriously. Give it up already. Since when are we an "also-ran stuck in perpetual mediocrity". Like 10 people have challenged you on that with the fact that we went from on for the worst teams in the league to the playoffs in ONE season. We finished the season at a 56 win pace with a core group of guys under the age of 26. We haven't even finalized the roster for this year.

How in the world is that "stuck in perpetual mediocrity"? Do tell? And how are we a "35 win" team as you and some of your compatriots like to point out when we were a .500 team last year with 2/3 of a season with the dumpster fire that was a Rajon Rondo led team? Is the 56 win pace we finished the season on unrealistic? Yes, of course. About as unrealistic as 33 wins barring something catastrophic.

Go cheer on the sixers. You like them better anyway.

15 30 vs playoff teams including the sweep by Cleveland. Minus 2 wins vs Cleveland in April when they mailed it in  13 30
I like your optimism, but your drinking the Kool aid..

Yes call people who have a different outlook than yours as Koop aid drinkers.......

Lol. What does that even mean?! I can't figure out the joke

It's not a joke, I just assumed that he called him a kool aid drinker because he has an optimistic view, unless you believe what he said.

[Rondo9]

Talk about being irrelevant for 20 years ... the Celts were at least semi-decent & fun in the mid-2000s.  They even made the conference finals once.  Yeah it was a flawed team with no hope at a title, but still better than where we are now.

I'd jump for joy to add a couple of talents like Pierce and Walker to watch for the next 8-10 years.  With better management and a competent coach much earlier on in the process, who knows what they might have built with those two guys?

The biggest problem for me is that the team doesn't have anybody who I can even imagine being one of the main pieces of a fun and exciting 50+ win team.  Until Ainge finds a way to get one of those guys, our team is more like a deck of cards -- constantly getting reshuffled -- than a true rebuilding project.

I believe in Marcus Smart.

But nonetheless, I get what you mean. And I hate to bring it up as an example, but if the Sixers stumbled onto a terrific piece in Okafor or Embiid (we'll see when they finally get to play), they could easily leapfrog us in terms of "rebuilding" fairly quickly. The fact that people here were discussing a "Noel for Smart" trade shows that how even our single arguably-best asset in Smart compares to the Sixers arguably 3rd best asset in Noel.

And before I attract all the hate for bringing up the Sixers and get comments how the plan has accomplished nothing... well, we haven't accomplished much either. We made the playoffs last year on a miraculous run, finishing with the 2nd best record in the league in the 2nd half of the season. I'm pretty sure though that won't translate to us having the 2nd best record in the league throughout the next season. Odds are we won't even make the playoffs next season, with the Pacers and Heat returning to full form.

To bring another example into the mix, you know who else also hasn't accomplished anything? The T'Wolves. Worst record in the league last year, but they sure do look like they're sitting pretty with Wiggins-Towns. I'd estimate that they're "ahead" of us in terms of this whole rebuilding thing.

They've made the playoffs, and they may make it again next year.

[LGC88]

Don't panic. Just accept that this team is irrelevant for the long haul.  Your favorite team is an also-ran.  You're rooting for a perpetually mediocre treadmill squad with no hope of contending.  Half the league is like that.  Accept that we aren't special. Our crappy assets are the same as everyone else's crappy assets.  Ainge spoiled us.  We lost sight of how impossible it is to trade into a contender.  Aside from our little 3.5 year window of contending, we have been like that more or less for 25 years.   We will make the playoffs sometimes. We will miss the playoffs sometimes.  We will add some garbage players. We will stumble into a fringe star like Al Jefferson every 10 years... But we will not matter.  This team will not matter.  We will be on the outside looking in.  This is not our league. It belongs to teams like Cleveland, golden state, Oklahoma... And eventually it will belong to teams like Minnesota and Philly.  We are the Washington Generals. If you see our face, it will probably be on the other end of someone's boot in dunk posters and sportscenter highlights.

The sooner you accept that the sooner you can start celebrating the moral victories... Like stumbling into a Delote West from time to time in the draft, or landing a serviceable big man like Rodney Rodgers or amir Johnson... Or making the playoffs with a losing record.

We spent the majority of the last 3 decades in this spot.  Welcome back.  Rub KG's pixie dust out of your eyes... You have been here for a few years now and didn't even notice it. Time to accept it.  There's no easy way out of it.   Here's hoping one of these years we bottom out and finally luck into a cornerstone.  Accept our futility and this will all be easier to stomach.

Or you can sit here for the next 20 years and keep waiting for that "other shoe" to drop that never comes. That will just lead to disappointment.

Lol this is an utterly miserable perspective, overly reactive and knee jerkish to a crappy few weeks of draft and free agency let downs.
And while in the NBA it's better to be realistic than optimistic, you're throwing both Ainge (a proven legend in the front office) and Stevens (an obviously awesome coach) completely under the bus after 2 years of rebuilding. This is the NBA, not the NCAA where you can round up all the best players at will whilst yielding no cap or future repercussions for 'overpaying'.
You should know better than most how important that cap space is and that spending $28 million a year on Robin Lopez and Tobias Harris over the next 4 years- without a Carmelo Anthony already in place- would be far more likely to land us in another era of mediocrity than signing a few two way role players like Crowder and Johnson on bargain and expiring contracts with the rest of our scrubs would do.
 Now that the Eastern Conference is getting its act together-bar another crazily injury laden season in the East- the true talent level on our team being exposed is likely going to mean we get a top 10 pick for years to come until we bink that game changing player.
 You're 100% right that we are a team of role players and young scrubs, but we have picks, a crapload of expiring cap space and one of the best general managers in the NBA running the show.
 Danny knows the talent needed to compete with Cleveland, OKC and Atlanta for the next 5 years is ridiculous - so he's waiting till some ridiculous talent becomes available.
Pierce and KG were traded less than 2 years ago, and Brad Stevens surprised us and Ainge at how good he is, but it doesn't change the fact that as always, we have to stay patient and hope we get lucky with some of our picks and prospects, and strike when the timing is right.
I generally agree with your line of thinking, but in this case I think you're mistaking realism for post draft/free agency depression and pessimism.

TP

[Celtics4ever]

They've made the playoffs, and they may make it again next year.

It is possible but it will be harder if some of the same teams are not tanking.   

I think MIA, DET, IND and  ORL should be better as they each drafted well.   IND added Monte Ellis and will get George back.   Some day all that talent in PHI is going to help them.  I think CBS will have us playing hard, our defense should be better with Johnson.  Some of our guys may improve but I do not think most of our bigs will as Sully and KO has finite ceilings.  Mickey may help with some shot blocking and cover our slow guys somewhat.

We need Smart and Young to improve and at  least one of Hunter and Rozier able to contribute from day one to help with our scoring woes.   Sully might get in shape, but he still is not an athlete.   KO needs to get a lot tougher and find some confidence.  It could all come together but it might not either.