Old = veterans = more experienced.

Young = new = inexperienced 

I think the most important side of the ledger with not making a trade is - we didn't lose anything.

Sit back and watch what this team can do (should be fun). Then DA will make the deals and it will be onward and upward. A part of me is quite relieved we didn't waste assets and the players who have the team going so well get to show what they can do.

I am not one to think the sky is falling.   I think that although we are solid in almost the middle with the elite teams, that we will lose a series with the elite teams.  It is that simple.  Perhaps this year we will not get swept.   Playoffs as we found out last year are a whole new beast.

Quote from: Celtics4ever on February 19, 2016, 07:22:52 AM

I am not one to think the sky is falling.   I think that although we are solid in almost the middle with the elite teams, that we will lose a series with the elite teams.  It is that simple.  Perhaps this year we will not get swept.   Playoffs as we found out last year are a whole new beast.

TP.
To be third in the East shows just how great a coach Stevens is. But the difference between reg season and playoffs is like night and day.

You know, people say that there's a huge difference between the regular season and the playoffs, but guess what? The best teams in the regular season are the same teams that win championships.  In the last 10 years, every champion has had a top-5 record during the regular season, and 8 of 10 have had one of the two best records in their conference.  And I stopped checking at 10 years.  If you were to go to Vegas and bet on any team outside of the top 5 regular season teams, you'd be a fool.

Granted, the Celtics are not in that top 5, and there's a clear delineation between the Cavs and Raptors with the Celtics.  I wear my green goggles a lot, but it is unlikely the C's will get past one of those two teams to make it to the conference finals, and highly unlikely they make the NBA finals.  Still the point of this entire thread is to show that the Celtics are arguably the closest team to breaking into that top 5, and are very likely going to be a better team next year just by the natural improvement of the majority of their players, with declines unlikely amongst any key contributors barring a major injury.  Furthermore, several of those top teams could lose important pieces, chiefly OKC with Durant and Toronto with DeRozan.  It is additionally conceivable that some of that talent leaving a top team could flow to us.

This year we are not a title contender, but we should have a couple more weeks of playoff enjoyment than last year.  And then we get to enjoy lottery night to boot.  Next year we could very well be in that top 5 group.  We won't be the favorites by any stretch (the Warriors have that locked up for a bit), but we could be deservedly in the conversation of teams who will get their shot to take them down.  And that's a good place to be.

The great thing about this team is that we are getting into their prime while the power teams are going past their prime.  Eventually we'll catch up

Except that GS, Toronto, even Cleveland are hardly "old".  That said, I like where we're sitting.