Would last years Celtics team have made the playoffs this year?

[chambers]

How would last years team have done in this tougher Eastern Conference this season?
Are we that much better or are we really not as good as we thought? I don't think there's a definitive answer to this year, but it would be good to hear other people's opinions on how much better we are.

Considering we got IT and Crowder at the deadline, so imagine we didn't have those guys until after the trade deadline...

Would we pretty much be somewhere between the Bucks and Knicks? (about 10th-13th).

We've improved a lot this season and having Jae and IT for a full summer AND adding Amir has been huge for us...

The East is just so much more competitive this year and I'm pretty sure we'd have Justise Winslow right now if last years team was rolled out the exact same way this year.

Is the East that much better or are we not as good as we thought?

Personally I think we are much better, and we are still capable of making the top 4 in the East with a nice winning stretch, but we are also capable of finishing in 7th or 8th again and meeting the Cavs in the first round, which would not be fun.


Thoughts?

[alldaboston]

Honestly, (and I think I'll get some hate for this) this stretch of bad ball has made me hesitant to say we will even be a playoff team. Imagine the way we ended last year, if we had that team and that mentality and that good stretch, we would be having much more success that our current team.

[PhoSita]

Not if the rest of the league had gotten a chance to scout them and play against them at least once already.  The Celts took a lot of teams by surprise last year, and beat plenty of opponents that were packing it in or easing up before the playoffs.

They're not surprising anybody this year.  They still win some games with energy and hustle, but the book is out on them now.  It's not surprising that they're struggling offensively even more than last year.

[Quetzalcoatl]

If Bosh and PG13 were healthy, we wouldn't have made the playoffs.  On top of that, the East is better this year.  I think we're better than last year, but won't make the playoffs.  We need a massive upgrade at the 4 and 5, while shedding our bad players like Turner and Lee.  I also think if we had a different voach, we'd be a 25 win team.

[Moranis]

Nope, but let's not go crazy on the east is that much tougher than it was last year.  West still has more wins in the head to head (102 to 101) and teams like the Bulls and Heat have only played 14 away games (and thus will see a drop off when that balances out).  Then of course you have the two teams at the top of the West of that are artificially deflating the rest of the west's wins.  I mean if you combined the Spurs and Warriors losses it is still less than the Cavs.  The Cavs are really good, rest of the East is pretty mediocre.  May be a few more mediocre teams than last year or they may not be (may just be more dredge at the bottom).

[hagar55voa]

Absolutely, Zeller was getting to play and was a factor...

[littleteapot]

Not sure why you gave us these crappy options to vote for. The presidential election isn't for almost 2 years.

[Hemingway]

this thread is a perfect example of whats wrong with celtics fans. Why isn't there an option where we could be better than 7th? When we finalized our team last year we went on to win 2 out of 3 games from then on out. Yes the playoffs sucked but it was the Cavs. I'm not saying that the team last year isn't about the same as this year but to not even give an option... Why not make a poll do we suck or are we terrible? 

[PhoSita]

this thread is a perfect example of whats wrong with celtics fans.

I love this brand of Celtics fan exceptionalism, like if it were a different fan base you wouldn't have people expressing misgivings about a team that's hanging out in NBA no-man's land.

[Hemingway]

this thread is a perfect example of whats wrong with celtics fans.

I love this brand of Celtics fan exceptionalism, like if it were a different fan base you wouldn't have people expressing misgivings about a team that's hanging out in NBA no-man's land.

ok fine, this is what's wrong with many sports fans in general.

[GreenWarrior]

last yr. this team's sole reason for making the playoffs was the East was horrible. we were bad like everyone else in the east we were just the best of the worst.

seriously how in the world can anyone think otherwise when the roster of this team last yr. changed every other week. teams didn't know how to defend the ever changing roster and that's pretty much all we had going for us.


at the beginning of the season I stated that this team's fate will be dictated by the other teams in the East. so far, i'd say that's true.

[Hemingway]

last yr. this team's sole reason for making the playoffs was the East was horrible. we were bad like everyone else in the east we were just the best of the worst.

seriously how in the world can anyone think otherwise when the roster of this team last yr. changed every other week. teams didn't know how to defend the ever changing roster and that's pretty much all we had going for us.


at the beginning of the season I stated that this team's fate will be dictated by the other teams in the East. so far, i'd say that's true.

The glass is really half empty huh? So every game we won was because someone else lost it?

[slamtheking]

where's the option for "would just miss the playoffs"?  that's the one I'd pick.

they're not a "bottom 4" quality team even if that bottom 4 isn't completely awful this year.  They'll be competitive down to the end, just unsuccessful.

[Big333223]

Given that last year's record was amassed against a weaker conference and that record would not be good enough to make the playoffs this season, it seems pretty clear that last years team (as it played out last year) would not make the playoffs this year.

But I see all of this as a good thing. I want the Celtics to make the playoffs but I don't want to be a mediocre team suckered into thinking its good by being surrounded by bad competition. I think that happened last season. This year, either the team will make a run and prove that it's good or it'll start falling behind and we'll know for sure that the foundation of the team isn't strong enough. And because the middle of the East is so much bigger now, there are less teams fighting for a top draft pick. As good as they've been this season, it they're not far away from a top 8 pick.

I was all in on making the playoffs last season and I'm still glad the team eschewed tanking and went for it but if we're still grappling for the 8th seed with 5 other teams at the all star break, maybe Isiah Thomas should slip on the ice and hurt his back for a month.

[GreenWarrior]

last yr. this team's sole reason for making the playoffs was the East was horrible. we were bad like everyone else in the east we were just the best of the worst.

seriously how in the world can anyone think otherwise when the roster of this team last yr. changed every other week. teams didn't know how to defend the ever changing roster and that's pretty much all we had going for us.


at the beginning of the season I stated that this team's fate will be dictated by the other teams in the East. so far, i'd say that's true.

The glass is really half empty huh? So every game we won was because someone else lost it?

not at all. I think the collection players on this team last yr. was at best .500, which is exactly what they were. the fact that they made the playoffs was just a product of the teams in the east being poor. we should've been in the lottery, not in the playoffs.

the collection of players on this team this yr. really isn't much different, they are a bunch of hard playing role players. sounds like a .500 team to me, and with the teams in the east seemingly better I think this team easily finds itself outside of the playoffs.