This team IS good....just not

[TheReaLPuba]

good enough.

Let's face it. We're the Denver Nuggets of the East with an upside of being Atlanta Hawks lite.

I have no interest in being a very good team or even a great team.

We need to be a Championship team.

We don't have a legit All-star on this team and we're never going to be bad enough to get one in the draft.

Can we sign a big time Free Agent? Chances are slim but way better than getting a stud in the draft (at this point; we'll see how the Nets pick pans out)

Before Ainge was gifted with Ray Allen and KG we were in the same exact spot.....middle of the road team fighting for a playoff spot - stuck in no man's land.

I like this team's talent floor - meaning we don't have absolute scrubs which is nice. But our talent ceiling is just not good enough.

The one big positive I love about this team is the coach.

Coach Stevens is an absolute keeper.

You can't find a better young coach well respected by his coaching peers and his players.

With some experience and some actual star talent, this coach will win his us a championship or two no doubt in my mind.

Ainge deserves much credit for this.

[dreamgreen]

Before we got KG and Allen the team sucked, if PP was health we wouldn't have sucked as bad I'll give you that but still a lottery team.

[Future Celtics Owner]

Before we got KG and Allen the team sucked, if PP was health we wouldn't have sucked as bad I'll give you that but still a lottery team.

I think we were in the lottery for 2 seasons with PP before KG and Ray. But I couldnt agree more with OP. Its not a secret that imo we need to tank, and it is almost negligent that Ainge did not waive Bass, Jonas, Gigi at the deadline and trade Avery for a first.

[knuckleballer]

That's the beauty of the Nets picks.  We don't need to tank to get top draft picks.  And with all the additional picks we have coming and young players we have, we may be able to consolidate them for an upgrade in talent.  We just need to be patient and enjoy watching good team basketball that Stevens has created.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Glad Danny doesn't care what you few think. The KG,Ray, and PP teams were only good enough once, must have cost like 5 lottery picks! If your argument is that they kept going further than we did, that means nothing, the end result was "good but not good enough!"

[td450]

I don't understand this complaint. This is something you say when a rebuild stalls for 2-3 seasons. There is no sign of that here. We have been on a steady arc of improvement since Stevens arrived, and we have a boatload of assets we can use to improve further. We have a great coach and a lot of good players under 25. Next year, even with no player changes I would expect us to be a 50 win team.

It is true that it gets harder as you improve. We are now slightly above average, and it no longer is easy to find guys that are substantially better than the guys we already have. However, Ainge is very smart and has the assets he needs. If we don't get to 55-60 wins in 2 years, then repost this.

[PhoSita]

The Celts have a top 5 defensive team this year (by defensive efficiency).  That's really good, obviously.

If a contender is a team that has an elite defense and an elite offense (most teams that win the championship do), then the question is -- how can this team rise from slightly below average offensively (16th in team offensive efficiency) to top 10, or top 5?  How can they do it without hurting the defense?

[Csfan1984]

The Celts have a top 5 defensive team this year (by defensive efficiency).  That's really good, obviously.

If a contender is a team that has an elite defense and an elite offense (most teams that win the championship do), then the question is -- how can this team rise from slightly below average offensively (16th in team offensive efficiency) to top 10, or top 5?  How can they do it without hurting the defense?

Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant?

[SHAQATTACK]

I'd like to have seen Mickey used last night .  His energy inside and hustle might have helped.


Hurry back Marcus.

[colincb]

Let's face it. We're the Denver Nuggets of the East with an upside of being Atlanta Hawks lite.

Nuggets are most likely a high lottery team, have an 8-13 record, an average margin of victory of -5.4 ppg, 24th in ppg, 24th in opponent's ppg, and they've already had an 8 game losing streak,

How did you get from that to us?

[TheReaLPuba]

The Celts have a top 5 defensive team this year (by defensive efficiency).  That's really good, obviously.

If a contender is a team that has an elite defense and an elite offense (most teams that win the championship do), then the question is -- how can this team rise from slightly below average offensively (16th in team offensive efficiency) to top 10, or top 5?  How can they do it without hurting the defense?

The defense is there no question.

And it starts with the guards Smart and Bradley.

As much as I love IT, his defense and size is a huge problem!

Plus our bigs are so slow it's just sad.

Imagine had we tanked and gotten a Wiggins or a Towns or whoever...we'd have a much better outlook talent wise.

I'm not saying this team isn't entertaining because it still is quite entertaining but I just don't see this team beating any of the top 5 teams in the East (Cleveland, Miami, Chicago, Indiana, or Atlanta).

Maybe we'll get better offensively but I don't see a go-to-guy in this bunch.

[TheReaLPuba]

Glad Danny doesn't care what you few think. The KG,Ray, and PP teams were only good enough once, must have cost like 5 lottery picks! If your argument is that they kept going further than we did, that means nothing, the end result was "good but not good enough!"

That team was robbed of at least 2 Titles due to injuries and won their only title in the FIRST year together.

It was a historically GREAT team in YEAR ONE.

The end result was a Championship....more than good enough!

[Granath]

Glad Danny doesn't care what you few think. The KG,Ray, and PP teams were only good enough once, must have cost like 5 lottery picks! If your argument is that they kept going further than we did, that means nothing, the end result was "good but not good enough!"

That team was robbed of at least 2 Titles due to injuries and won their only title in the FIRST year together.

It was a historically GREAT team in YEAR ONE.

The end result was a Championship....more than good enough!

I agree with you in that a Championship is the goal and if that was achieved, it's hard to say that any price was too high of a price.

Not to mention that the only way it would have cost "5 lottery picks" would be for the Cs to lose a LOT the next 4 years. After all, the only direct lottery pick as part of the Allen and KG trades was the #5 for Allen. KG was Jefferson (15th pick), Green (18th) and a host of late round 1sts.

Of course, the team wasn't "robbed" of titles due to injuries. The simply fact is that injuries happen, especially to older players (or big guys named Perk). That's the big risk when you trade for an older player. Or two.

They won one Championship and that was a great accomplishment. Danny was exceptionally smart that year and took a giant gamble. He recognized that there were some very unique circumstances in regards to KG, PP and Basketball Jesus. That's 3 HOFers who all were still very good but clearly on the downside of their careers who had never won a title. That's not a normal occurrence. He had one. He couldn't get #2 (KG). So he made the deal to get the third (Ray) giving away his #5 pick to do it with the hope that that would be enough to get KG to move. It was a HUGE gamble and one that could have cost him his job had he failed. After all, a team of PP and Ray Allen wasn't going to make much noise in the playoffs. Danny rolled the dice and it came up big. It took smarts and guts to make that call and Danny can't be praised enough for doing it.

At the same time, that kind of opportunity is rare. Danny knows this. So he's slowly improving the team without sacrificing assets or future flexibility so when the opportunity does come around again he can jump on it. He's been smart (and lucky) enough to give himself a real chance to hit the jackpot in either the draft, trades or even free agency.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Glad Danny doesn't care what you few think. The KG,Ray, and PP teams were only good enough once, must have cost like 5 lottery picks! If your argument is that they kept going further than we did, that means nothing, the end result was "good but not good enough!"

That team was robbed of at least 2 Titles due to injuries and won their only title in the FIRST year together.

It was a historically GREAT team in YEAR ONE.

The end result was a Championship....more than good enough!

I agree with you in that a Championship is the goal and if that was achieved, it's hard to say that any price was too high of a price.

Not to mention that the only way it would have cost "5 lottery picks" would be for the Cs to lose a LOT the next 4 years. After all, the only direct lottery pick as part of the Allen and KG trades was the #5 for Allen. KG was Jefferson (15th pick), Green (18th) and a host of late round 1sts.

Of course, the team wasn't "robbed" of titles due to injuries. The simply fact is that injuries happen, especially to older players (or big guys named Perk). That's the big risk when you trade for an older player. Or two.

They won one Championship and that was a great accomplishment. Danny was exceptionally smart that year and took a giant gamble. He recognized that there were some very unique circumstances in regards to KG, PP and Basketball Jesus. That's 3 HOFers who all were still very good but clearly on the downside of their careers who had never won a title. That's not a normal occurrence. He had one. He couldn't get #2 (KG). So he made the deal to get the third (Ray) giving away his #5 pick to do it with the hope that that would be enough to get KG to move. It was a HUGE gamble and one that could have cost him his job had he failed. After all, a team of PP and Ray Allen wasn't going to make much noise in the playoffs. Danny rolled the dice and it came up big. It took smarts and guts to make that call and Danny can't be praised enough for doing it.

At the same time, that kind of opportunity is rare. Danny knows this. So he's slowly improving the team without sacrificing assets or future flexibility so when the opportunity does come around again he can jump on it. He's been smart (and lucky) enough to give himself a real chance to hit the jackpot in either the draft, trades or even free agency.

Talk about the point being missed. It is HARD to win a championship, EVERY team will lose way more than they win. That team was good but not good enough for like 6 seasons they didn't win the chip, I still loved cheering us on the few years I got to see even though we didn't win! My point is, just because we aren't good enough to win a chip (no matter what round it ends in) doesn't mean it is a lost season! If you call last season a lost season/opportunity then you have to say the same for any season we don't win the chip the because the results from losing is the same, no lotto pick!

[Hemingway]

I can't take a poster seriously that starts out by saying he has no interest in being a great team.