Surprised to see who is ahead of C's?

[mctyson]

I know I am. Didn't see Pistons who lost Monroe, Pacers who still have little support for PG, and Magic who didn't add any vets all ahead of us. Really feel C's home record is killing us right now. If they won just 65% at home they would be ahead. How are they better than this team? I know Drummond and PG are stars so they could jump over but Magic? We also have the problem of Wiz, and Knicks behind us again teams with stars. Bucks are also a team that is slumping that could surge at any point. Other than Crowder C's haven't seen any improvement for its players.

Pistons were classic 'addition by subtraction' by having 2 centers on the roster, taking time away from Drummond.  Added a guy like Reggie Jackson who was begging for a starting gig.  Have some ice shooters in Caldwell-Pope, Ilyasova and Tolliver, and some instant athleticism in Johnson.  Problem for them is keeping Drummond on the court in the 4th Q.

Pacers got a top-10 player in Paul George back, and healthy.  Remember they were a 60-win team with him before the injury.

Magic have a long way to go.  I think they are very similar to the Cs in terms of roster...no real stars but a lot of interesting guys who can play really well together on good days and poorly on bad days.

[Kuberski33]

The only reason we made the playoffs last year was because Bosh and Paul George got injured.  If they were healthy, we'd have been in the lottery.  I think overall it was good that we made the playoffs, but I don't really put that much stock into it.

Frankly, we're overachieving right now, even though we're in the lottery.  The fact that we had a losing streak is to be expected, because we're an average team playing in a good conference.  Losing games isn't Stevens' fault, it's to his credit that anybody even expects them to win against most of these other teams.  We need a massive upgrade at the starting 4 and 5, plus probably an upgrade at the 3 to start to be genuinely competitive. 

There is no way a move like adding Monroe to our team will make us stand up to the Spurs or Golden State, let alone the Cavs, Thunder, Clippers or Raptors.  Those teams are all a lot better than us.

I agree with almost all of this.  Plus we can't rebound against good teams and get killed by 2nd chance points.  You can build with IT being one of your key scorers but he needs help - and eventually hopefully a couple of players who are better than him. 

If Danny got rid of all our 4's and 5's, I'm fine with that.  There's no front line talent on the roster at those positions, though KO's a nice rotation player as long as you're not depending on him.

[oldtype]

I know I am. Didn't see Pistons who lost Monroe, Pacers who still have little support for PG, and Magic who didn't add any vets all ahead of us. Really feel C's home record is killing us right now. If they won just 65% at home they would be ahead. How are they better than this team? I know Drummond and PG are stars so they could jump over but Magic? We also have the problem of Wiz, and Knicks behind us again teams with stars. Bucks are also a team that is slumping that could surge at any point. Other than Crowder C's haven't seen any improvement for its players.

Pistons were classic 'addition by subtraction' by having 2 centers on the roster, taking time away from Drummond.  Added a guy like Reggie Jackson who was begging for a starting gig.  Have some ice shooters in Caldwell-Pope, Ilyasova and Tolliver, and some instant athleticism in Johnson.  Problem for them is keeping Drummond on the court in the 4th Q.

Pacers got a top-10 player in Paul George back, and healthy.  Remember they were a 60-win team with him before the injury.

Magic have a long way to go.  I think they are very similar to the Cs in terms of roster...no real stars but a lot of interesting guys who can play really well together on good days and poorly on bad days.

Agree with this. Magic are basically us with more than one Marcus Smart-level prospect, but without the Brooklyn picks. We're in very similar positions.

[CelticsFanFromNYC]

I know I am. Didn't see Pistons who lost Monroe, Pacers who still have little support for PG, and Magic who didn't add any vets all ahead of us. Really feel C's home record is killing us right now. If they won just 65% at home they would be ahead. How are they better than this team? I know Drummond and PG are stars so they could jump over but Magic? We also have the problem of Wiz, and Knicks behind us again teams with stars. Bucks are also a team that is slumping that could surge at any point. Other than Crowder C's haven't seen any improvement for its players.

Pistons were classic 'addition by subtraction' by having 2 centers on the roster, taking time away from Drummond.  Added a guy like Reggie Jackson who was begging for a starting gig.  Have some ice shooters in Caldwell-Pope, Ilyasova and Tolliver, and some instant athleticism in Johnson.  Problem for them is keeping Drummond on the court in the 4th Q.

Pacers got a top-10 player in Paul George back, and healthy.  Remember they were a 60-win team with him before the injury.

Magic have a long way to go.  I think they are very similar to the Cs in terms of roster...no real stars but a lot of interesting guys who can play really well together on good days and poorly on bad days.

Agree with this. Magic are basically us with more than one Marcus Smart-level prospect, but without the Brooklyn picks. We're in very similar positions.

Not trying start a argument here but Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic  aren't your everyday trade chips now. I don't think we have 3 players set for the long run yet. Id put Magic in the same tier as the Jazz at this point.

[slamtheking]

I know I am. Didn't see Pistons who lost Monroe, Pacers who still have little support for PG, and Magic who didn't add any vets all ahead of us. Really feel C's home record is killing us right now. If they won just 65% at home they would be ahead. How are they better than this team? I know Drummond and PG are stars so they could jump over but Magic? We also have the problem of Wiz, and Knicks behind us again teams with stars. Bucks are also a team that is slumping that could surge at any point. Other than Crowder C's haven't seen any improvement for its players.

Not surprised at all.

called it before the season started that Indy would pass us this year as well as Miami.  Also said that Milwaukee would be better (no idea how they could be playing this badly with that much talent).

also mentioned that the entire East except Philly and Brooklyn would be better since they did one of the following that the C's didn't do:
1) add a solid FA
2) removed a player that hindered team progress
3) got a top player back from injury
4) added a top draft prospect and/or had top prospects that figured to develop faster or better than ours.

The only team that did one of those things that is not doing better than last year is Milwaukee.  C's will not slide into the playoffs this year without a lot of solid play where they beat all the teams they're better than and steal some wins against better teams while holding their own against equal teams.

Jae Crowder was a pretty darn good FA signing.

Jae Crowder was acquired in the Rondo trade so, no, he wasn't a good FA signing

[mef730]

Sort of surprised.

On the upside, I got Indiana and the Knicks right. Also thought that Orlando would challenge for a playoff spot.

On the downside, I missed huge with Detroit and Milwaukee. Thought Detroit would be awful and that Milwaukee would finally put things together. Also thought Washington would be better than it looked, even before the injury.

Mike

[Lucky17]

I know I am. Didn't see Pistons who lost Monroe, Pacers who still have little support for PG, and Magic who didn't add any vets all ahead of us. Really feel C's home record is killing us right now. If they won just 65% at home they would be ahead. How are they better than this team? I know Drummond and PG are stars so they could jump over but Magic? We also have the problem of Wiz, and Knicks behind us again teams with stars. Bucks are also a team that is slumping that could surge at any point. Other than Crowder C's haven't seen any improvement for its players.

Not surprised at all.

called it before the season started that Indy would pass us this year as well as Miami.  Also said that Milwaukee would be better (no idea how they could be playing this badly with that much talent).

also mentioned that the entire East except Philly and Brooklyn would be better since they did one of the following that the C's didn't do:
1) add a solid FA
2) removed a player that hindered team progress
3) got a top player back from injury
4) added a top draft prospect and/or had top prospects that figured to develop faster or better than ours.

The only team that did one of those things that is not doing better than last year is Milwaukee.  C's will not slide into the playoffs this year without a lot of solid play where they beat all the teams they're better than and steal some wins against better teams while holding their own against equal teams.

Jae Crowder was a pretty darn good FA signing.

Jae Crowder was acquired in the Rondo trade so, no, he wasn't a good FA signing

Pretty sure Crowder was a free agent last summer. Just because the Celtics kept him doesn't mean he wasn't.