The Celtics are a lock to get out of the 1st round

[Chief]

I'll admit I missed a few games this year but the others that I watched every moment of tells me more of Turner. At times in the fourth quarter he was the only one creating his own offense and making things happen out there. The fact you believe in players that have proven absolutely nothing in the NBA to this point doesn't make me feel any better at all. I have hope but zero proof! And I'm sure as hell not going to expect a 19 year old rookie to come in and make things happen on a playoff team. It would be awesome if he does but in my mind he's a bench warmer until proven otherwise. So if you think I'm nuts for being realistic and logical so be it but that's why I'm right more often than wrong!

Turner was a useful player who plugged some gaps, but overall he hurt our offense and defense when he was out there. Ideally we'd bring in another backup to fill at least some of the hats he wore in addition to asking Smart to do more.

But with our roster situation we may just be handing that off to Brown/Smart, which will cause some heartache. But then again Turner's contract would cause the C's a heck of a lot more heartache.

What a bad contract my word.

As much as Turner likes to dribble, I'm not sure him and Lillard will be a good fit.

[iadera]

No other team in the east really improved their roster except the Bulls

Are you kidding me?? Improved? With whom or what? Wade? Rondo? By letting Gasol go? Noah maybe?
The only thing that everybody knows now is that the Bulls don't know what they are doing. I call it a circuis. 3 ball-handlers with 1 ball. Finally, when Butler was set free by sending Rose to Knicks, they brought him 2 Roses. Poor Hoiberg, too...

[BringToughnessBack]

I definitely do not believe we are a lock to get out of the first round unless we have 2 strong scoring options at the end of the games to take the double teams/pressure off of Thomas. Maybe KO will take the next leap this year or a healthy Avery Bradley will provide that at the end of the games, maybe our rookie will grow faster than expected and turn into that driving force at the end of games..or Smart develops a more reliable shooters touch...maybe a reliable Horford could help, but I truly feel we still do not have that consistent end of the game star that is desperately needed to be successful against teams like the Cavs. Durant would have definitely provided that.

In the end, it will depend on who develops as a reliable shooter this year, and who we face in the first round.

[Fafnir]

As much as Turner likes to dribble, I'm not sure him and Lillard will be a good fit.

No not at all. Both of Portland guards are best with the ball in their hands adding a poor spacing Turner at SF is so dicey to me.

Especially given that I think Turner is best when he doesn't have to guard SFs full time.

[nickagneta]

I dont buy into the "all our young guys will develop and get better this year" stuff. Sometimes players just dont get better. Sometimes a lot of times that happens, especially on late first round and second round picks. Simply put, Hunter, Young, Rozier, and Mickey might just be what they are and not get better. Olynyk may have reached his peak as a professional role playing bench player that will give you 10/5 with good shooting and a lack of interior defense. Marcus Smart just might be that bad of a shooter.

You never know about these things but I hope for the Celtics sake every player does develop. But to rely on them so much as to guarantee a trip out of the first round, I wouldnt go that far. There's a fair chance that Hunter and Young are what we saw last year and Olynyk has peaked. But I think we,could see better shooting and ball handling from Smart and development in Jaylen Brown's and Terry Rozier's game. Mickey, I have no idea. It could go either way.

And I wouldnt count on any other rookie seeing playing time other than Brown.

I don't see anyone claiming that every player develops significantly. But what do you think the odds are that none of them significantly develop? That's probably just as likely as that every one of them takes a leap in development. Both are long shots. But the Cs don't need all of them to develop to get better. The Cs need one of them to develop to get better than last year. I'll take those odds.

Note I am not claiming that the Cs are a lock to get out of the 1st round of the playoffs. Nothing is a lock - that's why they play the games. But I do think that the Celtics are significantly better now than they were at this time last year and I think there's a high likelihood that they will continue to improve throughout the season and be significantly better at the end of this coming season than they were at the end of this past one.

You will notice that I said it might happen that none of the players develop and that I thought at least three would develop, though I am not sure about significantly, but it is possible Smart has a breakout year and Brown plays at a level that puts him into the all rookie team. Those would be my guesses for significant development from the C's players. I have no faith that any other rookie or Mickey, Hunter or Young will develop. Rozier I think could very well develop and help. I like Rozier as the back up point guard. Olynyk, I think he is what he is, a nice backup big that can give you 20-24 MPG and 10/5/2 with above average shooting.

But given all that, I dont think its a lock the C's make it out of the first round. If Vegas had a line on it I would put money down that it will happen, but I wouldnt consider it a lock

[Granath]

I'll admit I missed a few games this year but the others that I watched every moment of tells me more of Turner. At times in the fourth quarter he was the only one creating his own offense and making things happen out there. The fact you believe in players that have proven absolutely nothing in the NBA to this point doesn't make me feel any better at all. I have hope but zero proof! And I'm sure as hell not going to expect a 19 year old rookie to come in and make things happen on a playoff team. It would be awesome if he does but in my mind he's a bench warmer until proven otherwise. So if you think I'm nuts for being realistic and logical so be it but that's why I'm right more often than wrong!

Except you're not being logical at all.

It's an undeniable fact that Hortford is a significantly better player than Turner. So even if everything else was the same, by this simple measure the Cs got better. Thus you aren't being logical in this regard.

You have no expectation that the #3 pick in the draft and/or no fewer than 4 young non-rookies (Smart, Rozier, Hunter, and Mickey) will have absolutely no increased positive impact on the team because they're not "proven"? That's not logical either. By that standard you would never, ever expect any young player to help any team because they're not proven. In that same regard, do you expect Philly to win just 10 games forever? Because Simmons, Okafor, Noel and Embiid are unproven. Life, and the NBA, doesn't work that way. While it's not logical that all of them will make large jumps in their abilities and contributions, it is logical to assume that one or more of them will.

The simple math is that the Celtics got better to a degree that the teams they competed with didn't (with the exception of Indy). That's really the only logical conclusion a person could make at this point. Of course, free agency isn't over and things may change significantly and quickly.

[slamtheking]

I dont buy into the "all our young guys will develop and get better this year" stuff. Sometimes players just dont get better. Sometimes a lot of times that happens, especially on late first round and second round picks. Simply put, Hunter, Young, Rozier, and Mickey might just be what they are and not get better. Olynyk may have reached his peak as a professional role playing bench player that will give you 10/5 with good shooting and a lack of interior defense. Marcus Smart just might be that bad of a shooter.

You never know about these things but I hope for the Celtics sake every player does develop. But to rely on them so much as to guarantee a trip out of the first round, I wouldnt go that far. There's a fair chance that Hunter and Young are what we saw last year and Olynyk has peaked. But I think we,could see better shooting and ball handling from Smart and development in Jaylen Brown's and Terry Rozier's game. Mickey, I have no idea. It could go either way.

And I wouldnt count on any other rookie seeing playing time other than Brown.

I don't see anyone claiming that every player develops significantly. But what do you think the odds are that none of them significantly develop? That's probably just as likely as that every one of them takes a leap in development. Both are long shots. But the Cs don't need all of them to develop to get better. The Cs need one of them to develop to get better than last year. I'll take those odds.

Note I am not claiming that the Cs are a lock to get out of the 1st round of the playoffs. Nothing is a lock - that's why they play the games. But I do think that the Celtics are significantly better now than they were at this time last year and I think there's a high likelihood that they will continue to improve throughout the season and be significantly better at the end of this coming season than they were at the end of this past one.

You will notice that I said it might happen that none of the players develop and that I thought at least three would develop, though I am not sure about significantly, but it is possible Smart has a breakout year and Brown plays at a level that puts him into the all rookie team. Those would be my guesses for significant development from the C's players. I have no faith that any other rookie or Mickey, Hunter or Young will develop. Rozier I think could very well develop and help. I like Rozier as the back up point guard. Olynyk, I think he is what he is, a nice backup big that can give you 20-24 MPG and 10/5/2 with above average shooting.

But given all that, I dont think its a lock the C's make it out of the first round. If Vegas had a line on it I would put money down that it will happen, but I wouldnt consider it a lock

I agree, it's definitely not a lock.  Based on current rosters and team expectations, I'd think it's likely they get to the second round at least but injuries and underperformance can occur (as we saw last year).  also, with free agency still ongoing, the C's may not be the second best team in the East (as they are currently considered by a number of people) by the start of the season.

[Androslav]

The Knicks are better.  Brooklyn and Philadelphia are both a lot better.  Remember those were the 3 worst teams in the East last year and all were in the Atlantic.  It helps the W/L record when you have more games against the worst teams than anyone else (aside from Toronto of course).  I certainly don't think Brooklyn and Philadelphia will be better than Boston, just better.  The Knicks though are an interesting team.  They still have Anthony and Zingis should be a lot better.  Who knows what Rose and Noah will be.  They have a shot to be pretty good. 

Charlotte should be better than last year and were a 48 win team.  Chicago and Indiana should both be a good deal better though not sure they will pass Boston.  Detroit was a better team than Boston down the stretch after the Harris trade, I would expect they will only get better.  Cleveland and Toronto should both still be better than us.  Atlanta is interesting as they basically swap Howard for Horford and turned the keys over to Schroder.

So as of right now, I would put Boston in the 5 to 7 range clearly behind Cleveland and behind Toronto, Charlotte, and Detroit and right in the same general range as Chicago and Indiana.  I think Atlanta, Miami, Milwaukee, and New York will be fighting for the 8 spot.  There is a lot of parity outside of Cleveland again in the East.

Indiana really improved their roster. Add

Teague
Big AL
Thad Young

To

Monta Ellis
Paul George
Myles Turner
Ty Lawson

Rumor is Lance Stephenson is returning too.

Well done Larry Bird.

I dislike just about every of Indianas off season moves.
They wanted offense, fired their coach, hired another that isn't an offensive coach and then brought no one with 3pt range;
Teague, T. Young, Jefferson, J. Evans, and now probably Lance.
Add that group to already existing Stuckey and Monte and you have only PG13 and a green Turner that are "plus-spacers" at their position.
They also had a very good defense last year.
It looks like a downgrade to me on that part of the court as well.
See these plus defenders that left the team;
George Hill, Mahinmi, S. Hill.

Paul George is good enough to deliver a playoff spot almost by himself, so they will compete.
But to say they got better is IMO false even at the short term approach.

We are a lock to be 2-3 seed and to win in the 1st round.

[nickagneta]

In what way is Brooklyn "a lot better"?

Yeah, he lost me on fhat statement too.

[Evantime34]

I dont buy into the "all our young guys will develop and get better this year" stuff. Sometimes players just dont get better. Sometimes a lot of times that happens, especially on late first round and second round picks. Simply put, Hunter, Young, Rozier, and Mickey might just be what they are and not get better. Olynyk may have reached his peak as a professional role playing bench player that will give you 10/5 with good shooting and a lack of interior defense. Marcus Smart just might be that bad of a shooter.

You never know about these things but I hope for the Celtics sake every player does develop. But to rely on them so much as to guarantee a trip out of the first round, I wouldnt go that far. There's a fair chance that Hunter and Young are what we saw last year and Olynyk has peaked. But I think we,could see better shooting and ball handling from Smart and development in Jaylen Brown's and Terry Rozier's game. Mickey, I have no idea. It could go either way.

And I wouldnt count on any other rookie seeing playing time other than Brown.

The thing is everyone doesn't need to develop. Our starting 5 is full of veterans and two of our bench spots will be manned by guys with experience. We essentially need to have two or three of our young guys to improve/be ready to play and our rotation is fine. I think it's a safe bet that 2 or 3 out of Smart, Rozier, Brown, Hunter, Young, Jackson, Mickey or Bentil will improve/be ready to give us minutes.

It wouldn't bother me if we signed a veteran so we had to count on one less young player, but all in all I think it's a safe bet that we will get enough production from enough young players to at least provide the same bench production as last year.

[Fafnir]

In what way is Brooklyn "a lot better"?

Yeah, he lost me on fhat statement too.

I mean their outlook is much better given they have a GM who has a mandate and plan to move out of hole that has been dug. But overall talent wise I don't see them winning too many more games.

Just depends on how scrappy they are during the dog days of the season.

[dannyboy35]

On paper, Indy got better. If the Knicks are healthy( that's a huge if) I think they are more of a threat in the playoffs than us. In the regular season no way. But melo, a healthy rose and Porzingis is TO me more than we can boast. I realise it takes more than 3 players and I don't consider either us of ny to win anything of significance but I don't think it's nuts to say a healthy ny team could beat us.

[dannyboy35]

I'm factoring in NY having nothing at point for a long time and Porzingis I expect to improve.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Not sure why people set themselves up this way for a letdown. Hopefully it doesn't happen, but not sure why some do it.

[dannyboy35]

If I was a betting man I would say yeah, I'll put dough down on celts to make it out of the 1st round but I wouldn't consider it a lock by a mile.