Are we a championship roster?

[hodgy03038]

Bring it on.  We'll see who's laughing.  Are we there yet? I'm not getting any younger here.

[PhoSita]

If by "championship" you mean "losing in the first round by winning a game or two this time," then yeah, this roster could be good enough.

[Who]

Why not?!

Lack of talent.

How many players do we have that are top five players at their position? None.
How many that are top ten players at their position? None.
How many players that are above average starters? Lee, maybe.

The team is lacking in high end talent. That is why they are not a contender.

How many players do we have that are average starters?

This is where I'd put Lee. You could debate Amir Johnson if he was playing PF still (but not at center position; too undersized to make up for low skill-level). Depends how highly you rate Bradley (SG position is weakest in the league). And whether you think Marcus Smart can make a leap next year (I am looking more to year 3 myself).

What is the rest of the team? Below average starters to high quality bench players.

[walker834]

I think we are going to surprise some people.  Maybe not championship but this team is good.

[walker834]

Why not?!

Lack of talent.

How many players do we have that are top five players at their position? None.
How many that are top ten players at their position? None.
How many players that are above average starters? Lee, maybe.

How many players do we have that are average starters? This is where I'd put Lee. You could debate Amir Johnson if he was playing PF still (but not at center position; too undersized to make up for low skill-level). Depends how highly you rate Bradley (SG position is weakest in the league). And whether you think Marcus Smart can make a leap next year (I am looking more to year 3 myself).

What is the rest of the team? Below average starters to high quality bench players.

The team is lacking in high end talent. That is why they are not a contender.

We have a lot of talent.  That's my biggest argument.  We've been developing players like KO, Sully, Bradley for a while.  They are due.  Plus Marcus and james young last year.  And IT.  Turner.  plus we just added 4 more talented rookies and Lee and Amir. Plus Zeller.  Resigned Crowder and jerebko.   

So we don't have a top 5 or top 10 guy.   Players like that are made anyways.

[walker834]

When we had KG, Ray and Pierce all those years they weren't tops at their positions anymore. They were for 1 year when we won it.

[max215]

Why not?!

Lack of talent.

How many players do we have that are top five players at their position? None.
How many that are top ten players at their position? None.
How many players that are above average starters? Lee, maybe.

How many players do we have that are average starters? This is where I'd put Lee. You could debate Amir Johnson if he was playing PF still (but not at center position; too undersized to make up for low skill-level). Depends how highly you rate Bradley (SG position is weakest in the league). And whether you think Marcus Smart can make a leap next year (I am looking more to year 3 myself).

What is the rest of the team? Below average starters to high quality bench players.

The team is lacking in high end talent. That is why they are not a contender.

We have a lot of talent.  That's my biggest argument.  We've been developing players like KO, Sully, Bradley for a while.  They are due.  Plus Marcus and james young last year.  And IT.  Turner.  plus we just added 4 more talented rookies and Lee and Amir. Plus Zeller.  Resigned Crowder and jerebko.

Not saying SL means a lot, but did you see Young last night? He was atrocious. If he ever develops into anything special, it probably won't be for a little while.

[celticsfan8591]

DA is being very aggressive. I wouldn't put anything past this team.  I follow the Royals and Red Sox and the Royals had a young nucleus and went out and got a couple midlevel free agents this year.  Baseball is obviously different but having a good mix can take you places regardless.  Especially with the coach we have working this lineup.  I think fans in general would never say such a thing.  Too much doom and gloom but I'm really liking our team now.

I think we are more knocking on the door. If this were football we'd be a 10-6 team and making some noise in the playoffs.  It's not that different.  We are a contender though on the outside looking in but I really feel like we are getting there.

You can't compare basketball to football or baseball; the differences in how basketball rosters are structured compared to those sports have everything to do with why we this isn't a championship roster, now or at any time in the future.  When you can only carry 15 players and play 5 at a time, you better have at least one superstar if you want to contend for a title.  In football, a team of solid players can beat a team with a few superstars mixed with a bunch of scrubs because there are so many guys on the field that 1 or 2 can't make such a huge impact.  In basketball, a guy like LeBron has more impact than any football player can ever have; it's pretty much impossible to beat someone like that if you don't have a similar talent on your team.  We don't have a player like that or anyone who seems likely to develop into one, so we don't have much of a chance of winning a championship.

[walker834]

DA is being very aggressive. I wouldn't put anything past this team.  I follow the Royals and Red Sox and the Royals had a young nucleus and went out and got a couple midlevel free agents this year.  Baseball is obviously different but having a good mix can take you places regardless.  Especially with the coach we have working this lineup.  I think fans in general would never say such a thing.  Too much doom and gloom but I'm really liking our team now.

I think we are more knocking on the door. If this were football we'd be a 10-6 team and making some noise in the playoffs.  It's not that different.  We are a contender though on the outside looking in but I really feel like we are getting there.

You can't compare basketball to football or baseball; the differences in how basketball rosters are structured compared to those sports have everything to do with why we this isn't a championship roster, now or at any time in the future.  When you can only carry 15 players and play 5 at a time, you better have at least one superstar if you want to contend for a title.  In football, a team of solid players can beat a team with a few superstars mixed with a bunch of scrubs because there are so many guys on the field that 1 or 2 can't make such a huge impact.  In basketball, a guy like LeBron has more impact than any football player can ever have; it's pretty much impossible to beat someone like that if you don't have a similar talent on your team.  We don't have a player like that or anyone who seems likely to develop into one, so we don't have much of a chance of winning a championship.

I'm not really disagreeing.  It was more a question but I think this team can surprise some people and it's not that laughable anymore.  We are a talented team.  WE have that depth and other teams don't.  If we want to run and with our coach who knows.

[walker834]

Ultimately you need players who can defend, rebound and knock down shots.  It's really that simple.  Basketball isn't rocket science.  With the depth we have we should be able to go farther.

[celticsfan8591]

DA is being very aggressive. I wouldn't put anything past this team.  I follow the Royals and Red Sox and the Royals had a young nucleus and went out and got a couple midlevel free agents this year.  Baseball is obviously different but having a good mix can take you places regardless.  Especially with the coach we have working this lineup.  I think fans in general would never say such a thing.  Too much doom and gloom but I'm really liking our team now.

I think we are more knocking on the door. If this were football we'd be a 10-6 team and making some noise in the playoffs.  It's not that different.  We are a contender though on the outside looking in but I really feel like we are getting there.

You can't compare basketball to football or baseball; the differences in how basketball rosters are structured compared to those sports have everything to do with why we this isn't a championship roster, now or at any time in the future.  When you can only carry 15 players and play 5 at a time, you better have at least one superstar if you want to contend for a title.  In football, a team of solid players can beat a team with a few superstars mixed with a bunch of scrubs because there are so many guys on the field that 1 or 2 can't make such a huge impact.  In basketball, a guy like LeBron has more impact than any football player can ever have; it's pretty much impossible to beat someone like that if you don't have a similar talent on your team.  We don't have a player like that or anyone who seems likely to develop into one, so we don't have much of a chance of winning a championship.

I'm not really disagreeing.  It was more a question but I think this team can surprise some people and it's not that laughable anymore.  We are a talented team.  WE have that depth and other teams don't.  If we want to run and with our coach who knows.

We do, but you can see from how much perceived value our depth has from how our attempts to move up in the draft and sign/trade for superstars have gone.  No one's interested in our role players because everyone knows that this is a superstar driven league.  We might be able to sneak up on people and outrun teams with our depth in the regular season, and Brad's coaching will probably get us a few wins, but when push comes to shove in the playoffs we aren't going to be able to compete with the superstars. 

[walker834]

DA is being very aggressive. I wouldn't put anything past this team.  I follow the Royals and Red Sox and the Royals had a young nucleus and went out and got a couple midlevel free agents this year.  Baseball is obviously different but having a good mix can take you places regardless.  Especially with the coach we have working this lineup.  I think fans in general would never say such a thing.  Too much doom and gloom but I'm really liking our team now.

I think we are more knocking on the door. If this were football we'd be a 10-6 team and making some noise in the playoffs.  It's not that different.  We are a contender though on the outside looking in but I really feel like we are getting there.

You can't compare basketball to football or baseball; the differences in how basketball rosters are structured compared to those sports have everything to do with why we this isn't a championship roster, now or at any time in the future.  When you can only carry 15 players and play 5 at a time, you better have at least one superstar if you want to contend for a title.  In football, a team of solid players can beat a team with a few superstars mixed with a bunch of scrubs because there are so many guys on the field that 1 or 2 can't make such a huge impact.  In basketball, a guy like LeBron has more impact than any football player can ever have; it's pretty much impossible to beat someone like that if you don't have a similar talent on your team.  We don't have a player like that or anyone who seems likely to develop into one, so we don't have much of a chance of winning a championship.

I'm not really disagreeing.  It was more a question but I think this team can surprise some people and it's not that laughable anymore.  We are a talented team.  WE have that depth and other teams don't.  If we want to run and with our coach who knows.

We do, but you can see from how much perceived value our depth has from how our attempts to move up in the draft and sign/trade for superstars have gone.  No one's interested in our role players because everyone knows that this is a superstar driven league.  We might be able to sneak up on people and outrun teams with our depth in the regular season, and Brad's coaching will probably get us a few wins, but when push comes to shove in the playoffs we aren't going to be able to compete with the superstars.

Having a good bench can elevate the play of our starters though come playoff time is all.  Look at a team like the spurs.  The celtics were kind of the same way.   Those guys werent top players anymore.  They were in the playoffs.  Ours not so much mainly because our bench was not  good enough and Doc played them too much during the regular season.

[walker834]

Who's to say Marcus isn't a superstar anyways?  I think he is.

[M.A.]

No... Yet I believe that this off-season puts them in a better position than last year.

[D.o.s.]

Depends. I think we could make a strong run at the WNBA title this summer.