Boston Celtics 2014-15 season

To be clear, I'm not stating this because of their preseason record (largely meaningless) but I do wonder of pundits are underestimating this team (admittedly, some may be making their predictions with the assumption that Rondo is traded). Looking at the East, I see Philadelphia, Orlando, Indiana, New York (outside of Melo, how many of their players would you take over their counterparts in Boston?) and Milwaukee as potentially (in some cases, certainly) worse than Boston. Utah, LAL, Sacramento and Minnesota are possibly/likely worse in the West. While most put Boston in the Bottom 5, I can easily see a scenario where they'd be better than 9 other teams (ie 10th headed into the lottery). That's not going to help the rebuild.

I'm not sure what I'm rooting for this year. Do I want Boston to be terrible and get as high a pick as possible? Do I want them to trade Rondo (I don't see a trade that would make me happy but maybe he goes off and, for one reason or another, a better trade partner surfaces). Or, do I want Memphis to suck and decide that they should trade Gasol (if he won't sign) and put Koufos in the lineup + add assets to what Boston would send?

Following last season, I thought this offseason would answer all my questions as to the direction of the franchise. Now, I think there are more than back in June.

I don't care. This team is fun.

I really do like watching the Cs this year. The offense looks surprisingly good and both Sully and Kelly have been doing a great job on the offensive boards so far. They actually have the 3rd best offense in the league so far. However their defense is horrible which is somewhat surprising given how good Avery and Marcus are on the perimeter. I guess it really shows the value of a good rim protector. The Rondo-Bradley-Smart-Green-Olynyk lineup is really fun to watch though.

The Evan Turner thing is very frustrating. There was one game where he just looked awful and had 5 turnovers and 2 bad fouls in like 12 minutes. But then he goes out and plays really well against the Bulls. I don't know what to expect from him.
Either way, Ainge really does have a lot of options with a lot of solid players who could contribute anywhere and lots of future assets from the Nets (lol).

It's only 7 games in, but it's never too early to micro analyze things. Early returns on the Avery Bradley extension?

Basically, by most advanced measures, he's been a below average player both offensively and defensively. His mid range game has been good, unfortunately, that's the least valuable shot in basketball according to some. He's scoring a bit, but is mostly an empty box score with seemingly over-rated defense, probably due to size and strength limitations.

It's only 7 games, but some of the numbers are eerily similar to last years numbers. Something to watch going forward as it was a somewhat controversial extension in that some people thought it was a clear overpay and some thought it was right on or even a little cheaper than he should have gotten.

Yeah Avery really seems to get caught on screens pretty badly. He's a defensive monster from the inbound pass up the court until he gets screened and it's downhill from there. Marcus Smart is much better at getting around or just going through screens cause of his size and strength. 

With the increased salary cap coming due to the new TV deal the salaries of average players is only going to go up. It's even happening now. Look at Alec Burks' extension with the Jazz. Avery is arguably better than him in almost every way, except maybe passing, but Burks got a 4 year, 42M extension a few weeks ago, and they are pretty much the same age. So overall I don't think it's a bad deal.

Eh, that's two horrendous losses in a row. Stevens should maybe start thinking about that defense thing.

The Celtics are about to play the Sixers and I think it's apt to wonder how many games will Philky win this year. It's a guarantee they will finish with the fewest wins in the history of the NBA for an 82 game season breaking the record of the 72-73 Sixers who went 9-73. However, you honestly have to wonder if they will actually win a game. I'm going with yes only because they have already lost 3 games by 3 points or less. It's dumb to debate because they are an NBA team and NBA teams will win some games just because of that, right? But then you look and you have to ask yourself, are they really an NBA team? Check this stuff out. It's gross.


They effectively have 1 players over 25. In Mbah a Moute (28). The 25 year old is Alexey Shvrd and then 5 guys 20 or 21. They have rostered 9 undrafted players already.

They have 24.44m in salary and over 10m of that won't even see the court his year in Embiid and Richardson. They are basically running with a 14m roster.

Michael Carter Williams won ROY but he's not a very good player at least not yet. He's got talent but not the sort of guy who can go off and just win a game because he catches fire.

Noel is a great prospect, mostly defensively and in the boards but his offensive game is sub par right now.

Tony Wroten may be the best chance they have to win a game by going off offensively.

It's only a matter of time before they get worse too. Shved and and Moute are both on expiring deals and playing well enough that in sure Philly will move them at first chance for a second round pick or two.

This is the worst team ever assembled and it's so pathetic that you can openly question whether they'll win more than a game or two and not be foolish. I'm hoping they go a long one without a win and win as few games as possible so that discussion gets real momentum to stop something like this from happening in the future. Need to redo the lottery. Maybe make the entire thing a lottery and even out the odds making it a good chance a team like this ends up way down with like the 10th or a 11th pick. Take he incentive for tanking that bad out of it.

Philly makes me wish there was a relegation system of some sorts. The stuff they are pulling is unjustifiable.

I wonder if he's focused too much on offense and not enough on his D.... His tenacity and quickness were his strengths. Hopefully, his focus on offense and several ankle injuries aren't taking those away. His size and strength are always going to be weaknesses of his that he needs to overcome with those things.

Normally, I might question desire once a player gets paid, but it's clear he works hard. His shot couldn't improve as much as it has if not. My guess is he picks it up defensively once Smart is around and it shows on film how much better he is. Avery will turn it around. He's just got to pick up the "effort" in that area.

Apparently Green and Bass are drawing trade interest around the league. I'm sure they will move Bass for anything of value as long as it doesn't add future salary.

Green is interesting. The question of will he lot out it nit us a curious one. The inky reason I can see that he wouldn't is because he wanted to because free agent a year later because of more cap space projected. However, he's playing well enough that he knows he can cash in and being a year younger may be more valuable. If Danny can get real value (first rd pick) I'd trade him if they don't have to take on future money. If he opts out, you can always try to resign him.

I'm trying to figure out who might want Green via trade and best team I can find is New Orleans. I think a Davis, Anderson, Green, Gordon, Holiday starting 5 with Evans on the bench is good. Wonder if they'd trade Asik for him straight-up. They have Center depth and Green may fit them better. Getting Asik gives Celts better shot of signing him and it's nice to try the player out.

This team is bad. Rondo is not looking like a Max Contract Candidate and not helping his trade value. This Coach needs help.

I haven't watched enough of the games, unfortunately, but it would seem to me that both the scorer and rim protector are the huge needs (and, I would think, both impact the ability to close out games).

I know the perimeter problems have been discussed but I would think (again, this is only conceptual as I haven't watched enough) a rim protector impacts how the perimeter plays on D (more aggressive knowing you have someone to cover your butt???)