Celtics: Worst team in the NBA, or worst team in history of human civilization?

[Ed Hollison]

Obviously the title is sarcastic, a little troll-on-troll crime based on all the negativity on this forum in response to the slow start. A few thoughts:

1) The Celtics played one team that's worse than they are (PHI), two that are better (TOR and SAS), and one team roughly on their level in their gym (IND). They should have been 2-2 or 1-3 after this stretch.

2) The one thing dragging down the team right now is the most fixable: shooting. Nothing is going down. Last couple of games you're starting to see signs of Isaiah break out of his funk, and Bradley has gotten it going. But that's it. Just have patience. Kelly Olynyk, for instance, isn't going to shoot this poorly the whole year. It'll come around.

3) The one serious sign that I see is that the team appears to be playing tight.
I really wonder if all those positive previews and win projections for the team in the offseason are the reason. The players are no longer playing with house money. Expectations are for them to be a playoff team. Even Brad Stevens looks a little less calm on the sidelines, more chirpy with the officials. Let's see if a couple of wins dissolves this feeling, assuming I'm perceiving something that's actually there.

It will get sorted out, especially when the schedule softens up after this month. Don't panic.

[slamtheking]

I said as much in the game thread last night in terms of their current record in relation to who they've played so far.

Record is going to get a lot worse too because they play a lot of teams coming up in the next few weeks that are better than they are.

[Moranis]

I said as much in the game thread last night in terms of their current record in relation to who they've played so far.

Record is going to get a lot worse too because they play a lot of teams coming up in the next few weeks that are better than they are.

But that is impossible.  Boston is a 50+ win team and the 2 seed in the East.  How can there be that many teams better than it?

[littleteapot]

I mostly agree, but we might have to get used to the shooting thing. Our team doesn't really have shooters, and teams aren't respecting our ability to get in the paint, so they aren't going to give space to the shooters we do have.

[fairweatherfan]

Nice green goggles post; you've gotta be drinking a lot of Koolaid to call them a team.

[saltlover]

One reason that many people (myself included) think that Celtics will have a good regular season record is their depth.  At the beginning of the season, when teams are all near their highest levels of health and energy, that advantage is nullified.  Over the course of 78 more games in the next 5 or so months, that will not be the case, and the C's will start to beat "better" teams.

[GetLucky]

[apc]

Nice green goggles post; you've gotta be drinking a lot of Koolaid to call them a team.

The OP view is pretty realistic in my opinion.
I will add that they got to work on the turnovers, it was very bad last night.

[slamtheking]

I said as much in the game thread last night in terms of their current record in relation to who they've played so far.

Record is going to get a lot worse too because they play a lot of teams coming up in the next few weeks that are better than they are.

But that is impossible.  Boston is a 50+ win team and the 2 seed in the East.  How can there be that many teams better than it?

for some reason, a number of people only look at the tail end of last season to extrapolate how this team will play instead of looking at the conference and league as a whole and seeing that a team that overachieved last season (and they did --> no reason to expect trading Rondo and Jeff Green for lesser players and the constant shuffling of bodies would improve the team's productivity) would come back down to earth this season when playing against teams that still had more talent than the C's and/or improved via returning players or drafting better players.

[fairweatherfan]

Nice green goggles post; you've gotta be drinking a lot of Koolaid to call them a team.

The OP view is pretty realistic in my opinion.
I will add that they got to work on the turnovers, it was very bad last night.

I agree - it's too soon to panic given who we've played and what our specific problems are.  The D is generally there but the O has been lousy and even when we execute fairly well we tend to miss shots that should go in.  And Indiana and Toronto in particular have taken the ball from us much too often. 

[SHAQATTACK]

This yearsLakers are seriously one of the worse teams I've watched play in 30 years .....I never thought it would be a team with Kobe on it.

Celtics are losing , but the games are close and few breaks , and they could have won most .  Celtics are playing hard and not getting blown out .......well some guys are play n hard .

I'm disappointed in the poor play of KO , Zeller and Lee. In the regular season.  If they would play up to potiental Celtics can win a few games.

[MrMorrill]

I'm disappointed in the poor play of KO , Zeller and Lee. In the regular season.  If they would play up to potiental Celtics can win a few games.

My thoughts exactly... BUT I think the consistent rotation is causing issues with their consistency. No one has time to get in rhythm, Zeller is pulled within 3 minutes how can he get his mind together playing 3 minutes? Lee had a decent game last night, I like his aggression. What I hope happens is these guys get sick of the shuffle and play all-out to simply become the "starter" or the one with the most minutes.

Everyone's thoughts on the Celtics will change if they beat the Wiz. A lot of negativity but besides the Raptors game the Celtics played decently, if they can build off their second half offense last night things will get better.

[kozlodoev]

Everyone's thoughts on the Celtics will change if they beat the Wiz. A lot of negativity but besides the Raptors game the Celtics played decently, if they can build off their second half offense last night things will get better.

Oh, it will? The team's top 4 scorers are averaging .400 from the field. That's not going away with a win against the Wizards.

[MrMorrill]

Everyone's thoughts on the Celtics will change if they beat the Wiz. A lot of negativity but besides the Raptors game the Celtics played decently, if they can build off their second half offense last night things will get better.

Oh, it will? The team's top 4 scorers are averaging .400 from the field. That's not going away with a win against the Wizards.

Wizards are good. A win means the team as a whole plays better than .400 from the field.

[pearljammer10]

Realistically this team just isn't all that great. They still have a bunch of average to above average role players 1-12. Even with a good coach who can get the most out of them, they aren't particularly all that great.

Guys like Crowder, Zeller, Bradley, KO, Sullinger, Johnson, Lee, Turner. Put them on a contender and they are all 7th or 8th men. And those are the guys that are getting the bulk of out minutes. Second half of last year we had such an easy schedule, and got on a hot streak, of course we were going to have nice success. I see this team as peaking at .500 this year, of course depending on what happens at the trade deadline.