You want Proof. You Can't handle the Proof! C's rebuilding fast.

[KG Living Legend]

 No stars added. But to see how fast this roster is turning over for the positive is impressive. The cut to get down to 15 isn't easy this year.
 Here is a look at the end of the roster the 13-14 season.

 Joel Anthony, Victor Faverini, Vander Blue, Chris Babb, Chris Johnson "played 20 mpg", Marshan Brooks, Phil Pressey, Gerald Wallace.

 That's 8 bad NBA players to choose from at the start of the season. And the top of the roster didn't look that good either.

 Rondo, Bradley, Sully,Green, Kelly,Humphries, Bass

 Out of those players we still have the three best Young players in Bradley, Sully, and Kelly. Hard not to admit that Ainge has made the second half our roster 10 times better.
 And the core of    Thomas, Smart, Bradley, Sully, Amir, Lee, Zeller, Crowder is much improved as well.
 Playing the cards he's dealt Danny is doing a heck of a job.

[cometboy]

nice job, KG - couldn't agree more

building blocks - cannot even imagine what the roster will look like 12 months from now

CB

[Celtics4ever]

We have a lot of good caliber bench guys right now, in some cases they will start.   There will not be much drop in most cases when a starter goes out.   There are some exceptions like Smart and IT.

I still think we need to find a star or two, whether we manufacture one  via development or get one via draft or trade.  A scorer like Lee will help a lot I think because defensively guys bought in, we just had trouble scoring sometimes last year when IT was not out there.

I really do not know if this kind of team can win it all.    Being deep certainly helps us, but how many deep teams without a bonafide star have won it all?

Still as you said, Ainge has put together a team that is fun to watch and competes.  I actually enjoyed the way we played in spring last year.   Would I rather be winning titles absolutely.   But so far, so good, it has been a fast turnaround.   I just do not know if we have guys ready to take the next step forward.

[SHAQATTACK]

No stars added. But to see how fast this roster is turning over for the positive is impressive. The cut to get down to 15 isn't easy this year.
 Here is a look at the end of the roster the 13-14 season.

 Joel Anthony, Victor Faverini, Vander Blue, Chris Babb, Chris Johnson "played 20 mpg", Marshan Brooks, Phil Pressey, Gerald Wallace.

 That's 8 bad NBA players to choose from at the start of the season. And the top of the roster didn't look that good either.

 Rondo, Bradley, Sully,Green, Kelly,Humphries, Bass

 Out of those players we still have the three best Young players in Bradley, Sully, and Kelly. Hard not to admit that Ainge has made the second half our roster 10 times better.
 And the core of    Thomas, Smart, Bradley, Sully, Amir, Lee, Zeller, Crowder is much improved as well.
 Playing the cards he's dealt Danny is doing a heck of a job.

Well done .

We had new coach or coaches too......a lot of moves in three years . 

This years young team is the best assembled yet by miles.

Just a pair of stars away from serious business.

[D.o.s.]

Agreed. We're still not very good, but we seem to have done a good job getting rid of the least good players. Like everyone else is saying, 2-3 legitimate stars and we'll have a good shot at making noise in the playoffs, at least.

[PhoSita]

By what criteria is the rebuild "fast," though?

Sure, the team isn't awful.  Danny's done a great job collecting a bunch of assets.  Stevens has done a good job getting them to play together.

The Celts are no closer to a long term core that can truly compete than, say, the 76ers.  The Sixers might actually be closer, if Okafor is the real deal.

My criteria for how "fast" the rebuild is going, or when the rebuild will be "done," is tied to how long it takes them to get that competitive core in place.  I don't particularly care how quickly they've managed to assemble a collection of disparate middle of the road pieces.   

Danny has done a good job amassing a pure quantity of assets.  Let's wait and see if it actually ends up being more useful for reconstructing a quality team than the strategies that other rebuilding teams have used.

Like everyone else is saying, 2-3 legitimate stars and we'll have a good shot at making noise in the playoffs, at least.

In the Eastern Conference, 2-3 'legitimate stars' pretty much guarantees you have a good shot at making noise in the playoffs, regardless of your supporting cast.

Saying the team is a couple of stars away from being good is more or less stating a truism about all NBA teams.

[slamtheking]

I don't see how anyone could disagree that the team is more talented this year.  Now instead of having 3 legit-starting quality players in Rondo, Green and Humphries (like him or not, the guy is a legit starting PF) and a few decent bench players we have 16 guys under contract, 12 of which have shown they are legitimate NBA-calibur players (not including Young and 3 rookies).

[SHAQATTACK]

Most teams depend on two or three guys to play a lot of minutes with maybe 8 or 9 that even play .  From 7 man on aren't very good.

By the years end with rookies getting experience , assuming no injuries , and current roster , The Celtics could play whole team to bring defensive intensity to the entire game. That's tuff on on old 30 year old legs

Thats a lot of pressure and energy for team that is older and built around two guys that have to do most of the heavy lifting.

The C's potential pressure could be very frustrating for stars used to teams backing off them with poor benches . 

C's could be one Tuffest outs the top teams face......if contenders want to beat us they ll need to play their stars heavy minutes ,  the falloff of talent past their top three isn't going to be enough to hold a lead against the new Celtics . 

Could be interesting to see how things pan out.

[jambr380]

I am generally optimistic as well. Even though we don't have legit stars, we likely won't have to clear out our entire trove of assets to acquire one or two should any become available. That will surely help us in being immediately competitive rather than having to build up the bench again.

Danny certainly knows how to find value, but now it's time to cash some of these pieces in. Regardless, it will be a fun team to watch.

[walker834]

We really have no dead weight on our roster.  Our final 3 spots are most likely going to be taken up by our 3 draft picks which is good.  The days of Gerald Wallace appear to be over.

[slamtheking]

Most teams depend on two or three guys to play a lot of minutes with maybe 8 or 9 that even play .  From 7 man on aren't very good.

By the years end with rookies getting experience , assuming no injuries , and current roster , The Celtics could play whole team to bring defensive intensity to the entire game. That's tuff on on old 30 year old legs

Thats a lot of pressure and energy for team that is older and built around two guys that have to do most of the heavy lifting.

The C's potential pressure could be very frustrating for stars used to teams backing off them with poor benches . 

C's could be one Tuffest outs the top teams face......if contenders want to beat us they ll need to play their stars heavy minutes ,  the falloff of talent past their top three isn't going to be enough to hold a lead against the new Celtics . 

Could be interesting to see how things pan out.

some games could very well pan out that way.  I suspect that if we do play with defensive intensity, unless the guards start getting some love from the refs, we'll be sending the other team to the FT line a lot. 

[Vermont Green]

I am a Danny fan and I have not disagreed with his moves in aggregate.  But so far, all he has done is clean up the roster and build depth.  I am not trying to be critical of Danny by saying that as I believe he has done the best he could under the circumstances.

I like Smart and Sullinger.  I think they could be as good or even better than Conley and Randolph are for Memphis.  After that (and even that is not all that impressive) we have a team of middle to end of the rotation guys plus draft picks that no one seems to want to trade for.  Our moves are incremental improvements but they are baby steps in my mind.  For example Lee.  He is an improvement over Wallace in terms of contribution and trade value but the improvement is from zero value to minimal value.  That is improvement of course but "fast"?

I am not discouraged as I think some of the players we have or will draft will turn out to be surprises.  We are on the only path that is available to us right now; unfortunately, I do not see is as something that is happening "fast".

[D.o.s.]

I like Smart and Sullinger.  I think they could be as good or even better than Conley and Randolph are for Memphis.

That would be pretty impressive (and I think speaks to the degree that Conley and Z-Bo are underrated around the league)

[PhoSita]

I like Smart and Sullinger.  I think they could be as good or even better than Conley and Randolph are for Memphis.

That would be pretty impressive (and I think speaks to the degree that Conley and Z-Bo are underrated around the league)

It's impressive how much is packed into that two sentence post.  Says a lot about how much we overvalue Celtics players around here, and how much Grizzlies players are undervalued outside of Memphis, despite the success that team has had.


If the Celts were to sign Conley next year, he'd quickly become the favorite Celtic for many people here.

Similarly, it'd be interesting to see how quickly people would regard Al Horford as a superstar once he started playing for the Celtics.

[Vermont Green]

I agree that Conley and Randolph are good players.  I would be happy to see Smart and Sullinger achieve their level in a few years.  If you think back on the careers of Conley and Randolph, it took them quite a few years to get where they are today.  I don't feel as though I am underrating these guys, they are good solid players (now) but not going to carry a team to a title.  Probably really good #2 and #3 pieces.

The point is that even if Smart and Sullinger get to that level, it will not be for a few more years and even then, that alone will not get the Celtics to the level where titles are in the conversation.  I feel like projecting Smart and Sullinger to Conley and Randolph is realistic.  Sullinger will likely not score as well as Randolph but his all around game could reach a comparable level.  Smart will be a very different player than Conley but I think he will be better.  Smart still needs to develop "touch" but I think he will sufficiently to be a very good player in a few years, better than Conley is right now (Conley still may improve too though).