Can we stop with the excuses?

[GreenWarrior]

Because we're only two games into the season?

Seriously.

We were a top-10 offense and a top-5 defense last year. We added Horford and Brown. We'll be fine.

Has anybody said this is a finished product? We have a good team with lots of assets. Why panic?

hey if it comforts you to rely on the fact that it is early in the season - fine. but as the team is currently constituted I see issues that no amount of time is going to correct. Rebounding a big one and I also suspect that the issues the bench will have don't have much to do with who's out, but more to do with who's playing right now.

[Csfan1984]

Team definitely isn't a contender right now but they are 2 games in takes a while to gel. Plus BS is in his darn experiment stage he goes through at the start of every year.... 

I expect a 7-5 start and then things solidify. And then another ruff stretch in December.

[GreenWarrior]

ohh and don't even get me started on Avery Bradley...

[Rondo9]

They almost won the last game.  If the cleaned up rebounding (mainly boxing out across the board) and Wade and Butler, even MCW, didn't have the shooting night of their lives we would've won.  It's an overreaction.

I said it before but I think the team misses Smart quite a bit.

But that's exactly the point he's making. For all the talk about depth, this team seems particularly fragile when one of it's players goes down.

A star player, at least in theory, could compensate for this and carry team on his back when he has to.

I think they'll be fine, do you think Wade, Rondo and MCW will have the same shooting night that they had? Relax and let things play out.

[Rondo9]

ohh and don't even get me started on Avery Bradley...

 

[Celtic_Pride777]

They almost won the last game.  If the cleaned up rebounding (mainly boxing out across the board) and Wade and Butler, even MCW, didn't have the shooting night of their lives we would've won.  It's an overreaction.

I said it before but I think the team misses Smart quite a bit.

Oftentimes the Celtic players did have position. The other players were just taller and stronger and came away with the ball. As the old cliche says, you can't coach height.

The C's must be, and be close to the smallest team in the NBA. Our guards,(especially without Smart) are tiny. IT 5-9, AB 6-2, Rozier 6-1. It's asking a lot to ask them to rebound, and defend the 3. Teams with shooting guards that are 6-5, 6-6 shoot over them.

We really miss Marcus, and his in your face D.

On the interior, we have no player that could be considered a "body mover" a guy that moves players out of their favorite position in the paint.

This team needs a true center, that can defend and rebound. Not to base our style around, but to come in and set things straight in the paint. All the better if he could score a little.

Well, we had a chance to draft Dwight Howard, didn't we? 

[moiso]

They lost one game.  We aren't supposed to go 82-0 and sweep Cleveland and GS in the playoffs.  We took a step forward from last year and I'm happy with that.  We will be one of the top few teams in the east and I'm also happy with that. 

[Kuberski33]

Because we're only two games into the season?

Seriously.

We were a top-10 offense and a top-5 defense last year. We added Horford and Brown. We'll be fine.

Has anybody said this is a finished product? We have a good team with lots of assets. Why panic?

It's going to take at least half a season for this team to figure out how it wants to play.  Turner was a big big part of why they were able to win lots of close games the past 2 seasons.  That's why some of these win projections here were way too high.

That said they were sluggish on night 2 of a back to back opening the season against a team with some star power playing hard in their home opener.  And they were right there at the end despite getting destroyed on the boards all night. Patience....

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

We certainly need to give the team more than 2 games to gel and to work out the kinks, especially given the fact that Al is new and Marcus and Kelly are out.

On the other hand, lets not think that Marcus and Kelly, when they return, are going to solve the rebounding problem. Or that the team will significantly improve its rebounding just by getting deeper into the season with more games under its belt.

Also, though we're only 2 games in, I'm already annoyed with people passing off opponents' hot shooting as "just a fluky thing" that won't happen again. I've lost count of how many times, over the past couple of seasons, the Celtics either got torched by a mediocre player (Jerryd Bayless, Josh McRoberts, etc.) or fell victim to a team's "fluky" shooting ... and yet, every time it's happened, people line up on CB to say it's just a fluke and won't happen again. And then it does. And then they say it won't happen again. And then it does. It's true that any player or team can get hot at any time, but I would expect it to happen against any one team only a handful of times over the course of a full season. For Boston, though, it's a fairly regular thing.

[BitterJim]

ohh and don't even get me started on Avery Bradley...

Please, do get started on Bradley. I'd like to see what you have to say about a guy averaging 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds(!), and 5 assists with 48.1% shooting (57.1% from 3)

I'd guess it's about his defense, which hasn't been stellar, but has still been better than average and better than any non-star putting up similar numbers on the offensive end

[greece66]

I could understand a thread like this had we lost both last games by 20+ points.

We had a really good run in the fourth quarter against the Bulls, despite the L, it was not a bad game.

[moiso]

We certainly need to give the team more than 2 games to gel and to work out the kinks, especially given the fact that Al is new and Marcus and Kelly are out.

On the other hand, lets not think that Marcus and Kelly, when they return, are going to solve the rebounding problem. Or that the team will significantly improve its rebounding just by getting deeper into the season with more games under its belt.

Also, though we're only 2 games in, I'm already annoyed with people passing off opponents' hot shooting as "just a fluky thing" that won't happen again. I've lost count of how many times, over the past couple of seasons, the Celtics either got torched by a mediocre player (Jerryd Bayless, Josh McRoberts, etc.) or fell victim to a team's "fluky" shooting ... and yet, every time it's happened, people line up on CB to say it's just a fluke and won't happen again. And then it does. And then they say it won't happen again. And then it does. It's true that any player or team can get hot at any time, but I would expect it to happen against any one team only a handful of times over the course of a full season. For Boston, though, it's a fairly regular thing.

Our perimeter defense with Smart playing is outstanding.  Some player gets hot in just about every basketball game from the YMCA to the NBA.  Perimeter defense is a strength of this team.

[green_bballers13]

Because we're only two games into the season?

Seriously.

We were a top-10 offense and a top-5 defense last year. We added Horford and Brown. We'll be fine.

Has anybody said this is a finished product? We have a good team with lots of assets. Why panic?

hey if it comforts you to rely on the fact that it is early in the season - fine. but as the team is currently constituted I see issues that no amount of time is going to correct. Rebounding a big one and I also suspect that the issues the bench will have don't have much to do with who's out, but more to do with who's playing right now.

I will take patience and thoughtful action over panic moves 10/10 times. I don't want to go out and sign the big man version of Evan Turner just for this year. If we play our cards right, we will have the assets and cap space to trade and/or sign a legit stud.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

We certainly need to give the team more than 2 games to gel and to work out the kinks, especially given the fact that Al is new and Marcus and Kelly are out.

On the other hand, lets not think that Marcus and Kelly, when they return, are going to solve the rebounding problem. Or that the team will significantly improve its rebounding just by getting deeper into the season with more games under its belt.

Also, though we're only 2 games in, I'm already annoyed with people passing off opponents' hot shooting as "just a fluky thing" that won't happen again. I've lost count of how many times, over the past couple of seasons, the Celtics either got torched by a mediocre player (Jerryd Bayless, Josh McRoberts, etc.) or fell victim to a team's "fluky" shooting ... and yet, every time it's happened, people line up on CB to say it's just a fluke and won't happen again. And then it does. And then they say it won't happen again. And then it does. It's true that any player or team can get hot at any time, but I would expect it to happen against any one team only a handful of times over the course of a full season. For Boston, though, it's a fairly regular thing.

Our perimeter defense with Smart playing is outstanding.  Some player gets hot in just about every basketball game from the YMCA to the NBA.  Perimeter defense is a strength of this team.

I agree—Boston's perimeter defense with Smart is strong. But even with him on the court last season, there were still (IMO) too many of those "fluky" scoring performances happening against Boston. That's how it seemed to me, anyway.

[Roy H.]

ohh and don't even get me started on Avery Bradley...

Bump.

But seriously, a little reactionary?