How would you feel about the team if we had no Brooklyn picks

[LarBrd33]

Imagine for a moment that all the Brooklyn picks vanished.  How would you feel about the state of the Celtics?

At first glance, the Celtics are essentially the definition of a "treadmill" team right now.  40-50 wins each season.  Two straight playoff appearances resulting in First Round beat-downs.  Always drafting in the mid 1st and hoping for a miracle.  There would be a pretty vocal group saying Boston should tear it down and tank.

But personally, I'd still be pretty enthusiastic.  It's a young team with some interesting pieces like Bradley and Crowder.  Thomas is a borderline star who is fun to watch.   We have lots of young players and two first rounders this year (#16 and #23)... Three if you include #31.  Plus a whole host of 2nd rounders.  While we failed to trade up last season, there's potential there to move up a few spots if necessary if Danny targets a gem.   We're also still in the hunt to acquire a decent upgrade if we are able to combine #16 + #23 + #31 with either Crowder or Bradley.   

Not to mention, despite having two fairly disappointing seasons, Marcus Smart remains an intriguing young prospect that you might be able to combine with the first rounders to land one of Philly's expendable bigs like Noel or Okafor. 

Lastly, Boston still has double max cap space this Summer and that gives us hope.  Even if we end up going hard after someone like Dwight Howard, there's potential to upgrade this 40-48 win team.  It's a quality team with great coaching and exceptional management... having significant cap space for the first time in our history is something to be pumped about. 

Without the Brooklyn picks, I'd still be pretty excited about this offseason.  There's reason for enthusiasm.  And because of that, I'm not going to lose sleep if the pick ends up 6th tomorrow.  Just by having Thomas, we already won the KG/Pierce trade.  We're playing with house money when it comes to the Brooklyn picks.  Even if it lands 6th, it's just a bonus on a situation that is already pretty encouraging.

[saltlover]

Who are you and what have you done with LarBrd33???

[PhoSita]

Treadmill.  Big time.

Without the Brooklyn picks I would be deeply unsatisfied with the direction of the team the last couple of years.  First round exits, mixed results developing players, and picking in the mid to late 1st.

Those picks make this "build from the middle" strategy viable by providing a pipeline of likely top 10 picks.

[CelticSooner]

Without the Brooklyn picks, I'd still be pretty excited about this offseason.  There's reason for enthusiasm.  And because of that, I'm not going to lose sleep if the pick ends up 6th tomorrow.  Just by having Thomas, we already won the KG/Pierce trade.  We're playing with house money when it comes to the Brooklyn picks.  Even if it lands 6th, it's just a bonus on a situation that is already pretty encouraging.

Dude are you bipolar because you used to really pessimistic and now you're really optimistic lol

If the C's didn't have this lottery pick I wouldn't particularly be that excited right now. I think Ainge is really hoping for the pick to end up in the top 2 so he can trade it. Outside of that the future is still too murky. Building through the draft honestly doesn't excite me as much. I want that proven star in green.

What is your dream scenario outside of Durant because that never felt realistic to begin with?

[nostar]

What is your dream scenario outside of Durant because that never felt realistic to begin with?

We land #2 and trade it for Boogie. Move additiobal assets for Butler and try to contend next season with

Thomas
Butler
Crowder
KO
Cousins

[Greyman]

Wishing we had a higher draft pick.

I would still be optimistic, though not as much. I would still be excited by the chance of this off season bringing in some star quality or building towards doing so in 2017. The trajectory would still be up.

[LarBrd33]

Without the Brooklyn picks, I'd still be pretty excited about this offseason.  There's reason for enthusiasm.  And because of that, I'm not going to lose sleep if the pick ends up 6th tomorrow.  Just by having Thomas, we already won the KG/Pierce trade.  We're playing with house money when it comes to the Brooklyn picks.  Even if it lands 6th, it's just a bonus on a situation that is already pretty encouraging.

Dude are you bipolar because you used to really pessimistic and now you're really optimistic lol

If the C's didn't have this lottery pick I wouldn't particularly be that excited right now. I think Ainge is really hoping for the pick to end up in the top 2 so he can trade it. Outside of that the future is still too murky. Building through the draft honestly doesn't excite me as much. I want that proven star in green.

What is your dream scenario outside of Durant because that never felt realistic to begin with?

I mean... We just won 48 games.  That basically matches our greatest season from the entire post-Bird stretch of 1993-2007.    Think about that.  During the entire Pierce/Walker era, we never once cracked 50 wins.  Our best season ever was 49 wins and an ECF fluke appearance.  We could have snuck into the ECF this season had we lucked into the alternate bracket.  I actually think this team would have beaten that fluke Walker/Pierce ECF team. 

The difference between the best season ever of the Walker/Pierce era and this team is that this team is continuing to improve, is deeper, and has 50 million dollars in cap room this Summer.  We never had cap space back then.  We were always over the cap.   That means with minimal improvements via free agent signings, we could pretty feasibly crack 50 wins even without the Brooklyn picks.  We have youth, we have cap space for the first time in franchise history, and we still have what amounts to basically 4 first rounders this summer even without the Brooklyn picks (#16, #23, #31 and #35).   That puts this team in arguably better position than it was ever in pre-KG. 

I'm just being real.  This team is in good shape regardless of where that pick falls.  We'd be in good shape with none of the Brooklyn picks. 

[Moranis]

Without the Brooklyn picks, I'd still be pretty excited about this offseason.  There's reason for enthusiasm.  And because of that, I'm not going to lose sleep if the pick ends up 6th tomorrow.  Just by having Thomas, we already won the KG/Pierce trade.  We're playing with house money when it comes to the Brooklyn picks.  Even if it lands 6th, it's just a bonus on a situation that is already pretty encouraging.

Dude are you bipolar because you used to really pessimistic and now you're really optimistic lol

If the C's didn't have this lottery pick I wouldn't particularly be that excited right now. I think Ainge is really hoping for the pick to end up in the top 2 so he can trade it. Outside of that the future is still too murky. Building through the draft honestly doesn't excite me as much. I want that proven star in green.

What is your dream scenario outside of Durant because that never felt realistic to begin with?

I mean... We just won 48 games.  That basically matches our greatest season from the entire post-Bird stretch of 1993-2007.    Think about that.  During the entire Pierce/Walker era, we never once cracked 50 wins.  Our best season ever was 49 wins and an ECF fluke appearance.  We could have snuck into the ECF this season had we lucked into the alternate bracket.  I actually think this team would have beaten that fluke Walker/Pierce ECF team. 

The difference between the best season ever of the Walker/Pierce era and this team is that this team is continuing to improve, is deeper, and has 50 million dollars in cap room this Summer.  We never had cap space back then.  We were always over the cap.   That means with minimal improvements via free agent signings, we could pretty feasibly crack 50 wins even without the Brooklyn picks.  We have youth, we have cap space for the first time in franchise history, and we still have what amounts to basically 4 first rounders this summer even without the Brooklyn picks (#16, #23, #31 and #35).   That puts this team in arguably better position than it was ever in pre-KG. 

I'm just being real.  This team is in good shape regardless of where that pick falls.  We'd be in good shape with none of the Brooklyn picks.

All true, and yet no realistic chance at a title.  So what would the point in that be.  The Brooklyn picks give Boston a much better chance at winning a title because they provide the opportunity to acquire a franchise changing talent either by using the picks or trading them.

[vgulab]

Still good. Young team, fast pace. Winning games.

Even the later picks are not bad and you can get solid players there. Plus there is big salary cap space to be used. Anyway i feel good for this team.

It hurt when KG/PP got traded but look at us now

[slamtheking]

I mean... We just won 48 games.  That basically matches our greatest season from the entire post-Bird stretch of 1993-2007.    Think about that.  During the entire Pierce/Walker era, we never once cracked 50 wins.  Our best season ever was 49 wins and an ECF fluke appearance.  We could have snuck into the ECF this season had we lucked into the alternate bracket.  I actually think this team would have beaten that fluke Walker/Pierce ECF team. 

To address the primary question you raised, if we didn't have the Brooklyn picks, I'd be concerned we were not going to improve much over what we already are.  As much as I like our players, they're limited in their abilities.  Our only real opportunity for improvement would be free agency which would be a tough method for us to improve since we would have little to draw top players away from their current teams --> an 'all-star' shoot-first PG and a bunch of role players with little talent or prime picks with which to make trades to get better talent. 

As for the point I quoted, this team wouldn't beat that Toine/PP team in a playoff.  My reasoning:
-that team had PP as its closer.  This one has IT.  As has been on prime display, IT is no PP when it comes to scoring, especially in the 4th quarter where PP was second in the league in 4th quarter points.
-Antoine had more leadership than anyone on this team.  He's the force behind that amazing comeback against the Nets in the playoffs.  Not to mention Antoine was a better rebounder than anyone on the current roster.
-The Toine/PP team had phenomenal hustle D.  This team is very good on D but that one was better.
-The Toine/PP team had more shooters.  I cringed on of lot of those 3 point lovefests that team had but they had a lot more players that could get hot and hit them.  PP, Toine, Rogers, Delk, Mccarty.  They also had Kenny Anderson who could actually run point and score as well as Eric Williams to work inside.  This current team doesn't have the number of scorers which was painfully evident against Atlanta.

[dannyboy35]

A lot less optimistic. This is why Ainge ,not Stevens, is our best asset.

[Csfan1984]

Treadmill.  Big time.

Without the Brooklyn picks I would be deeply unsatisfied with the direction of the team the last couple of years.  First round exits, mixed results developing players, and picking in the mid to late 1st.

Those picks make this "build from the middle" strategy viable by providing a pipeline of likely top 10 picks.

+1 tp

[wdleehi]

Not as good at the moment.


The current team needs more top level talent.  The three Nets picks give them the best draft/trade possibility to get that talent.


Those picks (in terms of bringing in players most likely through trades) also can make the team more attractive to a top FA who may think that trade bait will bring to the team more top level help.



Still would be happy the way the team played. 

Worried about making the next few steps in the future.

[TheTruthFot18]

Interesting theory but I doubt we'd be in this exact spot if DA didn't have a couple valuable first rounders lined up in the next few years. I feel this team is the product of what these picks can become or be traded for. If we didn't have those picks I don't think DA would have a team like we see now. It would either have been stripped down to a Marcus Smart lead team that continues tanking or a swing for the fences/ overpay in FA team that is reliant on Hortford/ Eric Gordon/ Dwight Howard type player that won't win you a championship alone but is/could be a star and possibly all-star.

But for the sake of argument, if this was our team without the Brooklyn picks I'd be worried about the future.

[hwangjini_1]

What is your dream scenario outside of Durant because that never felt realistic to begin with?

We land #2 and trade it for Boogie. Move additiobal assets for Butler and try to contend next season with

Thomas
Butler
Crowder
KO
Cousins

i think you may have just negated the premise of this thread.