Boston Celtics 2016-17 Season Discussion

So happy we're having this debate again.

Tommy made the comment that Smart isn't playing well because he's 15 pounds overweight and he kind of looks it. Not a good look by Smart when the Celtics need him the most.

This probably affects his long-term outlook for sure. It was hard to keep him with the roster crunches coming up in the next 1-2 years with payroll but it makes it that much easier to let him walk if he can't bother to stay in shape, especially at the most critical time of the year.

Smart is probably taking himself out of games because he's wearing down physically. Red flags all around here.

Yeah maybe, but some teams could see him as a 23/24 useful bench piece with more potential and still overpay him. With the prices of bench pieces escalating with the rising NBA cap, I can definitely see him walking.

If you're Hayward and your choice is Jazz or Celtics it makes a difference.  Both teams got to second round.  The Jazz have good young players.  No offense but I don't think a player like Brown is going to do anything to change Haywards mind.  I mean he had an ok rookie season.  He showed flashes, but overall players aren't looking at him as a future stud.  He has a long way to go, if he ever even comes close to that.

This years pick might help, it might not.  Depends were it ends up really.  Hayward has seen first hand that high picks don't always pan out on Jazz.  The Celtics being the clear #2 team in East would certainly help.  As would a GM sending the message that he is trying to win now, not building a team for the future!  The Jazz sent that message and had a great year, the Celtics didn't send that message.

Let's be honest with Griffins injury again it's Hayward or bust for me.  If you don't get him you could have added salary and got a player like Chandler.  A guy that seems like a perfect fit for this team.  You could have got Melo and seen what happens.  Heck you could have got both players and had the players to give Cleveland a run, without hurting our future.  We've done everything to preserve max cap space, so for me it seems silly to not do everything you can to help bring in that player that Danny is really hoping to get.

You can't go back in history. You don't add the players you suggested and take out the chance of hitting a home run. Those players you named above are easy to come by and they can go that road if they need to, if this offseason doesn't go as planned.

Also, why do you say that about what other players think of Brown?

I agree that GH is the guy but disagree on whether ECF makes the difference.

We know Boston's situation so we don't need to go any further there. But Utah's:

If we assume they release the holds for Mack and Withey and don't pick up Guarantees for Diaw and Neto, but do keep holds for Hayward ($25Mn), Hill ($12Mn) and Ingles ($4) they'll be $8.9 Mn over the cap and $9Mn away from the Luxury tax.

Hayward is getting Max so that's another $4Mn on top of his hold and Hill/Ingles will certainly make up the other $5Mn so they are right at the Lux Cap. That probably means they can't do anything but re-sign their players and add the picks they have at 24 and 30 (unless I'm wrong and Utah is willing to pay lux tax).

So look at this way, both teams had lower 50 win totals (Boston 53, Utah 51). Removing internal improvement (bc both teams have that ability), Utah can only maintain that (re-signing their own FA's). Boston can add (Hayward and a top 4 pick or whatever else you might do with that).

Gotta believe he and/or his agent are smart enough to see that is more important to the future than getting to the ECF this year.

You don't think Melo is still available and for much more than just accepting that salary albatross? Melo can score but stinks pretty much otherwise now.

And no I don't think people are coming here for Brown but you said players around the league don't think he's a budding star. There's a difference. There's no rookie any veteran is going to a team to play with. But Brown is a positive piece to the entire picture in Boston.

This is insane.

"Well, I'd sure love to play for Coach Stevens again, and the Celtics were the first seed in the East. They also look like they're going to be a great team next year and going forward. But they lost a hard-fought seven-game series to the Wizards in the Eastern Conf. semis, so I just can't sign with them!"
OR
"I don't want to play for Coach Stevens again--put the yearbook away and all that--and I really like playing for the Jazz... but the Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals by beating the Wizards! I just have to sign there!"

As for "trying to win now," you make it sound like they settled for the number 8 seed or pulled a Belichick and punted their picks into a future draft or something. How is the top seed in a conference (Cavs conceding the spot and all that, fine, but again, they were the top freaking seed) NOT trying to win now?

Give me a break.

He'd fit great in this offense and having someone like him would stop IT from getting double and triple teamed so his presence alone makes him a good fit.

Crowder to the bench would be perfect, he would excel in that position. I would also like to see Brown play more 2. As was said before, the NBA is more about wings rather than 2 and 3 these days. When the C's go small they are very small, put Brown and Hayward on the floor and that is a bigger line up. This could put more pressure on the PG to handle the ball more but that would be ok with IT.
How much can we expect out of Zizic and Yabusele next year? Probably not much but they should be part of a very good second team along with Smart, Brown, KO and Crowder. I would like to see a starting 5 of IT, Bradley, Horford, Hayward and Tyson Chandler. Then the top pick can earn minutes as the season plays out.