Problem: Lottery picks for #3 seed Celtics

[Ogaju]

The Net's picks we are getting along with our competitive team presents a peculiar problem for this team. Are we in win mode now (which means we do not have playing time for Rookies) or are we building for the future (which requires heavy playing time for our rookies). It is really a perplexing and complex issue for the front office and coaching staff.

So Bloggers, the multiple Nets' picks, blessing? Yes. But does it not create a conundrum for the front office on a strategy going forward? Win now versus Build for future.

[PhoSita]

I think it means the team will have to accept that the bench is going to be a bit green and prone to mistakes / inconsistency for a few years.  But on the other hand, our bench will be stocked with players that have the talent and pedigree of high draft picks.

Next season we'll probably have Smart, Brown, and rookie drafted in the top 5 all coming off the bench.  Not bad.

I don't see it as a problem, though.  You can develop these players by giving them 15-20 minutes a night, with the occasional start, for at least the first couple years of their careers.

Especially true when you're drafting one-and-done players at the top of the draft.

[BitterJim]

I think it means the team will have to accept that the bench is going to be a bit green and prone to mistakes / inconsistency for a few years.  But on the other hand, our bench will be stocked with players that have the talent and pedigree of high draft picks.

Next season we'll probably have Smart, Brown, and rookie drafted in the top 5 all coming off the bench.  Not bad.

I don't see it as a problem, though.  You can develop these players by giving them 15-20 minutes a night, with the occasional start, for at least the first couple years of their careers.

Especially true when you're drafting one-and-done players at the top of the draft.

Exactly.  It's only a problem if you believe that rookies can only develop when being force-fed minutes, but that isn't true.  Good coaching, good mentors, the opportunity to play meaningful minutes and play with good players all overshadow the 10 fewer minutes per night that they play

[PhoSita]

I don't like drafting guys who spent 3-4 years in college and then keeping them at the end of the bench for a while.

Then, I feel like the pick is a waste, except for the sake of providing cheap depth, I suppose.

But when you draft a 19 year old in the top 3, you're usually drafting on potential rather than current ability to contribute to wins.  Giving them 15-20 minutes a night makes sense.

[manl_lui]

The Net's picks we are getting along with our competitive team presents a peculiar problem for this team. Are we in win mode now (which means we do not have playing time for Rookies) or are we building for the future (which requires heavy playing time for our rookies). It is really a perplexing and complex issue for the front office and coaching staff.

So Bloggers, the multiple Nets' picks, blessing? Yes. But does it not create a conundrum for the front office on a strategy going forward? Win now versus Build for future.

I don't think we are in a "win-now" mode. I think management knows this just as well as anyone here, that as long as LeBron is in CLE with Kyrie/Love and co, no one in the East can remotely challenge them, with yesterday's loss to the Raptors, they have also established themselves to be a clear #2.

With that said, us competing for playoff spot while being able to build value of our players and build through the draft seems to give us the confidence and thought that we are retooling and building through the draft every year while giving the fans a nice, competitive culture of the team.

Danny is in absolutely no rush to blow this team up or trade away key players as we are indeed improving every year.

Year 1 - trading away big 3 -> lotto team #6 pick in Smart, missed playoffs
Year 2 - trading away Rondo -> trading for IT, #16 pick in Rozier, 7th seed 1st round exit
Year 3 - no major trades, improved regular season record, 5th seed (4 way tie for 3rd seed if i remember correctly), also 1st round exit
Year 4 - signed Horford, still on track for 50 win season, playoffs/picks? TBD

most team rebuild for a couple of years AND miss playoffs, I say the Celtics are improving at a VERY VERY fast rate. there are still issues and improvements we need to make, but everyone on this team is very young, so if you want to say how fast the young players need to grow in order to really contend, like Smart, Brown, and anyone under 25-26 years old? I would say the window for them to grow in a faster rate has to be during the contract length of Horford, You want to maximize his talent in Boston while being able to build and improve. And we are seeing that in Smart and Rozier this year, heck even Bradley and IT made that jump. One can hope by next year Brown is a regular 20-25 minute contributor if not more than that. In that you now have a very very young lineup all under 25 in Smart/Brown and Rozier, with IT/Bradley/Horford being our best players until then. And who knows where our Nets pick will land this year and next year, we potentially have 2 early 1-5 pick for this year and next year.

Zizic and Yabu's oversea experience is also very interesting so next year we might even see them come over

This is really in my opinion year 5 of a rebuild, Year 5!!! look at Philly and the Lakers and how long they have been tanking, and right now they are starting to compete, how long until they make playoffs. Now add the time from them tanking and then their first playoff berth, that's almost close to a decade, and we already gave the fans playoff taste in year 2 of a rebuild with more improvements to come.

I am excited to see what our year 5 and year 6 will be, and I can say that how our team is currently built, I say our "build" will last longer than the Raptor's reign in the Atlantic division. I will confidently say something by Brown's 3rd year or even 4th year, if Danny doesn't panic can keep most of our current core intact, we will take back what is rightfully ours in the Atlantic title. At least that is my bare minimum, and of course hopefully also by then, we are perennial ECF contenders and LeBron will have started to show his age when he hits 35-36 years old.

[Ogaju]

I am excited to see what our year 5 and year 6 will be, and I can say that how our team is currently built, I say our "build" will last longer than the Raptor's reign in the Atlantic division. I will confidently say something by Brown's 3rd year or even 4th year, if Danny doesn't panic can keep most of our current core intact, we will take back what is rightfully ours in the Atlantic title. At least that is my bare minimum, and of course hopefully also by then, we are perennial ECF contenders and LeBron will have started to show his age when he hits 35-36 years old.

Nice post TP.... How do you think we would fare with the team Philly is building especially with Coangelo (sp) heading things there.

[slamtheking]

The Net's picks we are getting along with our competitive team presents a peculiar problem for this team. Are we in win mode now (which means we do not have playing time for Rookies) or are we building for the future (which requires heavy playing time for our rookies). It is really a perplexing and complex issue for the front office and coaching staff.

So Bloggers, the multiple Nets' picks, blessing? Yes. But does it not create a conundrum for the front office on a strategy going forward? Win now versus Build for future.

this is a false assumption.  good teams with high picks have the luxury of bringing players along at a slower pace and not requiring them to produce immediately.  the idea is that it leads to better development of the player to fit with the team's structure.  I fail to see how adding top prospects to a  good team could possibly be a bad thing

[Moranis]

I've been saying for awhile that at some point in the near future, Boston is absolutely going to need to make a decision on what direction it wants to go.  I believe that decision point is this summer.  If it continues along in the current direction it will quickly enter the land of mediocrity with no way to get out.

[saltlover]

It can work all right.  Take the 2011-2012 Celtics that went to the conference finals.  Bradley was a valuable member of the rotation that year.  Yes, he was in his second year, not first, but he was also not a top 3 pick as a one-and-done, but rather a late teens pick.  If a top 3 pick can give comparable production to year 2 Bradley, that can be useful for both the team and the development of the player.

The key is picking the correct player.  If you get a good one, he should be ready to offer at least Brown level contributions (which I continue to expect to increase as the season goes on).  If you don't, that's when it gets tricky on the coach to balance force-feeding minutes to winning.

[apc]

I guess it depend how good the rookie is.
someone like Brown will get a few minutes when possible. But if the draft pick in in the level of Towens/Embiid maybe even Wiggins Parker I can see them getting playing time.

[manl_lui]

I am excited to see what our year 5 and year 6 will be, and I can say that how our team is currently built, I say our "build" will last longer than the Raptor's reign in the Atlantic division. I will confidently say something by Brown's 3rd year or even 4th year, if Danny doesn't panic can keep most of our current core intact, we will take back what is rightfully ours in the Atlantic title. At least that is my bare minimum, and of course hopefully also by then, we are perennial ECF contenders and LeBron will have started to show his age when he hits 35-36 years old.

Nice post TP.... How do you think we would fare with the team Philly is building especially with Coangelo (sp) heading things there.

i don't know to be honest, Embiid is definitely great talent and I think if he stays healthy, Philly will hit a home run with that pick. Along with Simmons, and with Saric, Okafor and Noel. They just need to make it work and figure it out. Their front office needs to put quality veterans near them and of course a coach to make it work. I am unsure if Brett Brown is their person but , let's see them make the improvement and into the playoffs first. Their record shows they are still no where near making playoffs at least this year and the next year or two, but I also think the direction 76ers will go kinda lies on if Simmons is the real deal and how well he can work together with Embiid. I say those two are their most prized assets going forward, and someone mentioned it in the "76ers missed a sell high moment" thread regarding they missed their chance in selling Okafor high, which I kind of agree with. I do think Okafor is losing value but I think he still has some sort of value. If they decided their back court is crowded with Embiid/Noel/Okafor then I am sure they can get some quality players or assets back if they send one of Okafor or Noel away.

[celticsclay]

The Net's picks we are getting along with our competitive team presents a peculiar problem for this team. Are we in win mode now (which means we do not have playing time for Rookies) or are we building for the future (which requires heavy playing time for our rookies). It is really a perplexing and complex issue for the front office and coaching staff.

So Bloggers, the multiple Nets' picks, blessing? Yes. But does it not create a conundrum for the front office on a strategy going forward? Win now versus Build for future.

I don't think we are in a "win-now" mode. I think management knows this just as well as anyone here, that as long as LeBron is in CLE with Kyrie/Love and co, no one in the East can remotely challenge them, with yesterday's loss to the Raptors, they have also established themselves to be a clear #2.

With that said, us competing for playoff spot while being able to build value of our players and build through the draft seems to give us the confidence and thought that we are retooling and building through the draft every year while giving the fans a nice, competitive culture of the team.

Danny is in absolutely no rush to blow this team up or trade away key players as we are indeed improving every year.

Year 1 - trading away big 3 -> lotto team #6 pick in Smart, missed playoffs
Year 2 - trading away Rondo -> trading for IT, #16 pick in Rozier, 7th seed 1st round exit
Year 3 - no major trades, improved regular season record, 5th seed (4 way tie for 3rd seed if i remember correctly), also 1st round exit
Year 4 - signed Horford, still on track for 50 win season, playoffs/picks? TBD

most team rebuild for a couple of years AND miss playoffs, I say the Celtics are improving at a VERY VERY fast rate. there are still issues and improvements we need to make, but everyone on this team is very young, so if you want to say how fast the young players need to grow in order to really contend, like Smart, Brown, and anyone under 25-26 years old? I would say the window for them to grow in a faster rate has to be during the contract length of Horford, You want to maximize his talent in Boston while being able to build and improve. And we are seeing that in Smart and Rozier this year, heck even Bradley and IT made that jump. One can hope by next year Brown is a regular 20-25 minute contributor if not more than that. In that you now have a very very young lineup all under 25 in Smart/Brown and Rozier, with IT/Bradley/Horford being our best players until then. And who knows where our Nets pick will land this year and next year, we potentially have 2 early 1-5 pick for this year and next year.

Zizic and Yabu's oversea experience is also very interesting so next year we might even see them come over

This is really in my opinion year 5 of a rebuild, Year 5!!! look at Philly and the Lakers and how long they have been tanking, and right now they are starting to compete, how long until they make playoffs. Now add the time from them tanking and then their first playoff berth, that's almost close to a decade, and we already gave the fans playoff taste in year 2 of a rebuild with more improvements to come.

I am excited to see what our year 5 and year 6 will be, and I can say that how our team is currently built, I say our "build" will last longer than the Raptor's reign in the Atlantic division. I will confidently say something by Brown's 3rd year or even 4th year, if Danny doesn't panic can keep most of our current core intact, we will take back what is rightfully ours in the Atlantic title. At least that is my bare minimum, and of course hopefully also by then, we are perennial ECF contenders and LeBron will have started to show his age when he hits 35-36 years old.

How does us losing on the road in a game we led almost the entire way through missing our best perimeter defender and 3rd leading scorer show Toronto is clearly number 2?

[Ogaju]

The Net's picks we are getting along with our competitive team presents a peculiar problem for this team. Are we in win mode now (which means we do not have playing time for Rookies) or are we building for the future (which requires heavy playing time for our rookies). It is really a perplexing and complex issue for the front office and coaching staff.

So Bloggers, the multiple Nets' picks, blessing? Yes. But does it not create a conundrum for the front office on a strategy going forward? Win now versus Build for future.

this is a false assumption.  good teams with high picks have the luxury of bringing players along at a slower pace and not requiring them to produce immediately.  the idea is that it leads to better development of the player to fit with the team's structure.  I fail to see how adding top prospects to a  good team could possibly be a bad thing

only a false assumption if you do not want to answer the question. The question is .... are we building for future or win now team. We may be a good team, but we are not a championship team. Case in point. SA Spurs, their last championship team had the luxury of bringing along players like Leonard and Mills because they had established stars like Duncan Ginobilli and Parker. We are neither here or there, and that is my point. We are somewhere in the middle, and very soon we need to chart a course.

[Ogaju]

I guess it depend how good the rookie is.
someone like Brown will get a few minutes when possible. But if the draft pick in in the level of Towens/Embiid maybe even Wiggins Parker I can see them getting playing time.

that is in part the source of our dilemma. We have not hit the jackpot in the draft. We would be in better shape had we pulled a KAT or Embiid in the draft.

[green_bballers13]

We're 100% building for the future. IT and Horford are nice players, but I can't imagine that Danny is foolish enough to think that two borderline top 20 players are equivalent to: 4 top 15 players (GSW) or Lebron James and company. In my opinion, Lebron is the only player in NBA history who will contend with MJ's GOAT status.

My recommendation for those Boston guys: have fun watching the young C's develop, while appreciating Tom Brady's last 5 years.