"Silver linings" suck...

[KGBirdBias]

Next years starters

Smart
Brown
Hayward
Tatum
Horford

Rookie PG
FA SG\Hunter
Semi
Theis\FA PF
Baynes\Williams

That is enough to contend in the East...and they will be better than the Knicks trust and believe. No drama, everyone plays hard.

[TheSundanceKid]

Gosh I’ll be excited when Rozier goes.

Amazed DA didn’t trade him

The chemistry issues were known at the deadline. And we know that Rozier is insurance for Kyrie walking.

It's telling that he didn't trade him. Could have been a calculated gamble, could be a lack of confidence from Ainge. Who knows. But right know it seems like the wrong decision

[tazzmaniac]

Gosh I’ll be excited when Rozier goes.

Amazed DA didn’t trade him

The chemistry issues were known at the deadline. And we know that Rozier is insurance for Kyrie walking.

It's telling that he didn't trade him. Could have been a calculated gamble, could be a lack of confidence from Ainge. Who knows. But right know it seems like the wrong decision

It could have been that there weren't any good offers for Rozier.  Also, Smart taking so long to re-sign might have been a factor. 

[nickagneta]

Next years starters

Smart
Brown
Hayward
Tatum
Horford

Rookie PG
FA SG\Hunter
Semi
Theis\FA PF
Baynes\Williams

That is enough to contend in the East...and they will be better than the Knicks trust and believe. No drama, everyone plays hard.

And we forget about contending for a title for the foreseeable future. Great.

[More Banners]

Actually I thought it was a pretty decent movie. Oh wait, you were talking about last season.

I don't think last season has had as much to do about our problems this season.

Our biggest problem this season (and there are many) has to do with the fact that no one is willing to hold Kyrie accountable. The only time a player stood up to him (Brown) he was literally pulled away by Smart.  There is a clip of him playing matador defense on Chris Paul early third quarter that Brad would have benched any other player for. But not Kyrie.  That has to demoralize a team.

I blame Brad and Danny for this situation. Brad claims he wants to empower the players to police themselves. But everyone is on egg shelves when it comes to Kyrie.  He is an immensely talented scoring guard, who can play the role of Robin to someone's Batman. But we don't have a Batman on this team yet. I don't event think Anthony Davis is the answer, he doesn't strike me as an alpha dog.

Brad and Danny are biting their tongues from giving Kyrie any criticism, for fear that it will provoke him to leave.  I would think Kyrie would respect Brad more if he called him out more when he screws up.

This is a **** mess.

TP for this.

I don't get these minutes for guys that aren't contributing to winning like Rozier, and forcing minutes might've made sense in most situations for a returning player like Hayward, but in most situations those (sunk) minutes aren't at the expense of #3 picks being called future all stars after their playoff persormances.  Even Semi earned more minutes than he has seen this year.

I've turned on Terry after not seeing him try to improve his game at all this year. His special gift is his quickness, but right now there are dozens of veterans who would make better backups because they can pace the game and set up and pass. Dude won't make it as a starter, unless the goal is lotto. Guy thinks he's Iverson.

[KGBirdBias]

Reports are the Suns wanted Rozier before the season. The Celtics wanted an unprotected #1, the Suns wanted it protected. Suns should've done it.

Hence Ryan McDonough was fired.

Ainge knows the value of players better than most GMs.

[Chris22]

The other night the announcers for Washington said that the Celtics were 0-6 in the last six games Kyrie played in, and that we were 6-0 in the last six games Kyrie did not play in.

[KGBirdBias]

The other night the announcers for Washington said that the Celtics were 0-6 in the last six games Kyrie played in, and that we were 6-0 in the last six games Kyrie did not play in.

🤷🏾‍♂️...but hes a great leader and chemistry is Rozier, Brown and Morris fault. Yeah ok LOL

[Who]

The other night the announcers for Washington said that the Celtics were 0-6 in the last six games Kyrie played in, and that we were 6-0 in the last six games Kyrie did not play in.

I saw that on an ESPN clip on youtube a few days ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EetMtpU2Sbw

It is about 4:30 into the video. Max Kellerman saying the Celtics do not want to play with Kyrie Irving and using that W-L record and these stats as proof.

Celtics 0-6 with Kyrie. Average 106.7ppg. Scoring differential of -8.7ppg over those 6 games.

Celtics 6-0 without Kyrie. Average 115.7ppg. Scoring differential of +13.0ppg.

[Triplenickle]

Next years starters

Smart
Brown
Hayward
Tatum
Horford

Rookie PG
FA SG\Hunter
Semi
Theis\FA PF
Baynes\Williams

That is enough to contend in the East...and they will be better than the Knicks trust and believe. No drama, everyone plays hard.

And we forget about contending for a title for the foreseeable future. Great.

No disrespect, but it was not Kyrie or Hayward that made them a contender, or you believing you have a  contending team.

I just don't get why Kyrie mesmerizes all of you so much.

If he averages 50 points a game with 4 assists, while bowing out in the 1st or 2nd rd...how is that seen as a step above what was accomplished?

[Neurotic Guy]

It's pretty depressing when you go into the season thinking 60 wins and a great shot at the finals, and then here we are with 20 games left feeling like the C's could easily go out in round 1.  And with a healthy team.

Triple-whammy loss if DA gives up on AD.  No AD.  Kyrie likely gone.  AD goes to LA with Lebron and Lakers have their superstar for the next 10 years.

I hear what many are saying about Kyrie, but he is by a good distance the most talented player on the C's and his talent won't be replaced any time soon if he walks.  I don't agree with those who are giving up on Hayward.  He has shown glimmers -- and that's enough for me to believe he may get back to his old self next season. But without KI (or AD) this team is a solid playoff team and not a contender.

Not sure if it's really a silver lining, but at this moment in time, the C's 2019 draft is about as good as it's likely to be.  Sac still in the lottery.  Clips give us #18.  C's at about 21.

[CptZoogs]

Reports are the Suns wanted Rozier before the season. The Celtics wanted an unprotected #1, the Suns wanted it protected. Suns should've done it.

Hence Ryan McDonough was fired.

Ainge knows the value of players better than most GMs.

You are saying the Suns should have offered the unprotected pick???  I don't know that they had any reasonable expectation of making the playoffs coming into the season.  So they would need to have been willing to give up a lottery pick for Terry.  As good as his run in the playoffs were, I don't blame the Suns for wanted the protection.  The real question is what protections they were offering.

[Triplenickle]

Actually I thought it was a pretty decent movie. Oh wait, you were talking about last season.

I don't think last season has had as much to do about our problems this season.

Our biggest problem this season (and there are many) has to do with the fact that no one is willing to hold Kyrie accountable. The only time a player stood up to him (Brown) he was literally pulled away by Smart.  There is a clip of him playing matador defense on Chris Paul early third quarter that Brad would have benched any other player for. But not Kyrie.  That has to demoralize a team.

I blame Brad and Danny for this situation. Brad claims he wants to empower the players to police themselves. But everyone is on egg shelves when it comes to Kyrie.  He is an immensely talented scoring guard, who can play the role of Robin to someone's Batman. But we don't have a Batman on this team yet. I don't event think Anthony Davis is the answer, he doesn't strike me as an alpha dog.

Brad and Danny are biting their tongues from giving Kyrie any criticism, for fear that it will provoke him to leave.  I would think Kyrie would respect Brad more if he called him out more when he screws up.

This is a **** mess.

TP for this.

I don't get these minutes for guys that aren't contributing to winning like Rozier, and forcing minutes might've made sense in most situations for a returning player like Hayward, but in most situations those (sunk) minutes aren't at the expense of #3 picks being called future all stars after their playoff persormances.  Even Semi earned more minutes than he has seen this year.

I've turned on Terry after not seeing him try to improve his game at all this year. His special gift is his quickness, but right now there are dozens of veterans who would make better backups because they can pace the game and set up and pass. Dude won't make it as a starter, unless the goal is lotto. Guy thinks he's Iverson.

His gift was actually in transition, and getting them all to run. They have transformed themselves into a halfcourt team with a ball dominant point guard who refuses to get anyone involved.

How does Terry change their direction? And how can he coming off the bench...and seeing everyone jacking 3's while playing no defense?

[CptZoogs]

Sorry, not the most inspired title for a post, I know.

I've just done a lot of thinking lately about last season, and about how the injuries to Kyrie and particularly Tatum were supposed to be silver linings.  The thinking was that Tatum and Jaylen would get more playing time, and would develop faster.  Then, when Kyrie went down and the team played well, the positive outlook was that Rozier had either become a key piece of the rotation, or had boosted his trade value significantly.

Here were are a year later, and it's as if we're looking at a worst case scenario.  There is no silver lining to the Hayward injury.  He's still not fully recovered, and seemingly has lost his aggressiveness.  Worse, the young guys getting more minutes has caused the a trifecta of issues:

1.  There are chemistry problems / fit issues with guys who have "proven" themselves now coming off of the bench.  Rozier, in particular, is almost certainly looking to free agency;

2.  After a year of starting, it's harder to ask Brown and Tatum to take a back seat, in turn making it harder for the team to justify force-feeding Hayward (which in turn might aid his recovery.);

3.  For better or for worse, our guys showing that they can play has made them desirable around the league.  If Tatum and JB had played fewer minutes last season, maybe the Anthony Davis trade talks would have been less prominent, and the team could have kept it's focus on this season, rather than worrying about the off-season.

We haven't heard the same type of rationalizations this season.  I think people recognize that very little good comes out of a regular season like this.  But, for the sake of symmetry, allow we to offer a silver lining:  this is probably the very last season we have to worry about Terry Rozier playing for the Celtics.

The Hayward injury was devastating.   I can't help but wonder how the team would have gelled had he been healthy last year, but we will never ever know the answer to that question.

Point 3 could be the blessing or the curse.  We won't know until at least the Summer and probably not for another 2 years (if we can land Davis.

[SparzWizard]

Next years starters

Smart
Brown
Hayward
Tatum
Horford

Rookie PG
FA SG\Hunter
Semi
Theis\FA PF
Baynes\Williams

That is enough to contend in the East...and they will be better than the Knicks trust and believe. No drama, everyone plays hard.

And we forget about contending for a title for the foreseeable future. Great.

That lineup will get you to maybe the eastern conference finals LOL. But not beating powerhouses in the West.