2020-2021 Celtics Season

They almost won that game btw.

My feelings are: lose Wizards game by resting guys, and take your chances in the next game with a rested squad, because it has the two best possible outcomes:
1) Lottery
2) Philly R1

Winning the Wizards game has the worst possible outcome:
Nets round 1 (unless Harden is out R1 I guess, but still, like Philly matchup better)


For next season, my thoughts:
1) Get rid of Edwards, Parker, Semi, Tacko. Bring back Tremont, Kornet
2) Sniff around to see if anybody wants TT and get a center that's a better fit. Move Grant Williams to center permanently. Center rotation is Timelord, GWill, Kornet, 
3) Resign Fournier because what else do you do at this point, though I don't love it...
4) Draft best player available and plug them into 10-15 mins a game.
Personally I like :

• PG Josh Giddey, Big 6'8 aussie PG with amazing passing, reminds me of LaMelo-lite, hes not LaMelo obviously but has the passing + size skillset we need on our team. Definitely raw though, handles are really loose and athleticism is iffy for NBA, maybe a bit too much of a project given our needs
• PG Sharife Cooper (undersized PG I know, lol) 
• SG/Wing Zhaire Williams (skinny, long wing who can shoot it)
  
• I really love Keon Johnson and Scottie Barnies but almost no chance they are available unless we magically jump into the lotto

Roster moving into next year:
PG Kemba, Pritchard, Tremont
PG/Wing Smart (passing needed), Romeo (drives needed), Giddey/draft pick? 
Wing Tatum, Brown, Fournier, Nesmith
Bigs Timelord, Grant Williams, Kornet

Slide in draft pick wherever. Personally not opposed to packaging some of the young guys for a clear established upgrade at wing or big (e.g. Grant/Romeo/Timelord + picks, maybe also offloading TT or using Fournier's contract, but really don't know who that player is since I don't see Beal leaving anytime soon). Don't really want to trade Nesmith or Smart if possible unless its a very good or star player, and honestly keep Timelord if possible.

Sorry for the short book, lets see what happens in the playoffs and for now just dreaming too early. Playoffs might shock us all, never underestimate Stevens underdog teams. Would love to see the young guys lead a crazy playoff run with Tatum and Kemba. 

That's the whole point, it's not just talent. There's a bunch of they don't show up for half a game this year. D is just effort. I don't know about you, yet I blame a coach if effort is lacking.

You lose like last game because the other team just has more talent, I'm 100% okay with that. 

Losing games because of injuries/need to play with shifting line ups is expected - no issue with that.

Losing games because of lack of defensive effort, or chucking up shots that are low percentage - playing dumb, or playing lazy - that is unacceptable.

I put quite a bit of this season's disappointment on Stevens' seeming inability to motivate this particular set of athletes. Maybe their 500 record is excusable in terms of personnel - but it is not excusable in terms of so many sleep walk quarters, so many outrageous shooting percentages against them - and such horrendous shooting percentages by them in some games.\

Just my two cents - and I really like Stevens - he just may not be the right coach for THIS team at THIS time.

Then they had no effort for a half, but had like crazy effort for the second half? Why are you ignoring the other team? The Heat scored 79 or something points because they were crazy hot. It's harder to play defense consistently when your team has to shuffle the line-up all the time. I don't think Stevens is beyond criticism at all, but some of the stuff leveled at him is nonsensical. Why doesn't he play JABARI PARKER more than SEMI? Like geez man I don't know, maybe both of them are shit players.

www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/the-celtics-refused-to-play-defense-in-their-biggest-game-of-the-season/ar-BB1gxMdz

Third time allowing 70 or more points in a half in the last five games. 79 points is the most allowed in a half since 1963! This isn’t just a team was hot, come on now. Even Steven's is saying that's on me!

Parker has a career average of 14.5 points a game, has Semi ever came close to 10 points a game in a single season lol? With his 3.5 points per game career average. If a guy like Parker equals Semi for you, how are you fixing this team? I'd say those Semi for guys like Parker are the exact moves this team needs. Look at last game, that's what Parker does he scores. He's a scoring PF, what is Semi? He's a horrible scorer, doesn't rebound much and isn't close to good enough of a defender to make up for it. Semi is a 14th/15th type guy, Parker is a rotation player. Chalk this up to something I never thought would happen, acting like Semi is  in anyway equal to Parker.

Is Parker an actual rotation player? There’s a reason a guy who can score like him didn’t have a team.

On the right team? Yeah 100%, have you seen anything that shows he's not? He's perfect if Tatum is your starting PF. He fits this team perfectly, his mid range game and not just heaving up tons of three's like most of the team.

Didn't have a team for a few weeks? He was finally smart and waited for the right fit over money.

Honestly, I think the Walker/Pierce comparisons are unfair to both parties.

Tatum and Brown are way more skilled as a duo.

But Pierce was a dog. We need dogs. Tatum and Brown are not dogs. They have always been top 3 or 4 players in the world since they were freshmen in high school. And they play like their lives and reputations don’t depend on the outcome of the game. Because for them, they don’t.

You see a similar thing with Kyrie. Imagine Tom Brady saying to reporters, right before the playoffs “my focus is not on football, it’s on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” No one is arguing with Kyrie that a 70 year war is more pressing or important than sports. But then again, no ones arguing that Kyrie has an insatiable desire to win, either.

I like Aaron Nesmith. Every time he is on the floor making a play he is screaming and staring down his teammates. Tatum makes a play and he waits for Tristan Thompson to come do it for him. It’s so weird.

I have no doubt you can build around Tatum and Jaylen, and this year doesn’t make me think otherwise. If they don’t show progress as leaders next year, then maybe it’s worth having a conversation. But the Antoine/Pierce comparison is premature given that this is the first year they’ve truly been asked to be leaders (and Tatum clearly wasn’t himself for a portion of it). That lightbulb didn’t go on right away for Pierce - and in fact, there was an offseason when everyone wanted him gone - but eventually he figured it out. I expect we’ll see different versions of Tatum and Jaylen next year after a longer offseason to rest and recover.

There are two big things I’d like to see heading into next season:
1. Surround the core with some guys who bring more toughness and effort. As cliche as that is, it’s no coincidence this team finds itself trailing by 10-20 almost every night. Right now, the closest thing they have to tough players is Nesmith, Thompson, and Marcus - and I think Marcus’ time here has run its course.
2. Stevens needs to implement meaningful changes in their system and style of play (no, I don’t think he should be fired). I don’t put 100% of the effort issues on the coaching staff, but the exact same problems continue to persist year after year. For instance, they’re still be the bottom of the league in free throws, and that indicates their offensive system needs tweaking. It’s on the coaching staff to identify and fix those types of issues, and they haven’t been very good at that.

Parker is decent offensively but is one of the worst defensive players in the league.

How do you judge a player defensively? When you play on good teams that value D or when he plays on crappy teams that don’t? Go look at Parkers numbers during that epic seven game series against us in the 2018 playoffs. Second best defensive rating on the team during those seven games. That means a lot more to me than his play on the Bulls and Hawks. It shows you what he can do when he plays hard and it's not one of the worst defenders in Basketball when he's a reserve player. Well that's the player I see right now watching him. He chased money on bad teams and he wasn't a fit. Yet he picked the perfect team fit wise and a coach that values D. He's playing for his career and it shows. He's playing so he can have the Celtics pick up a veteran minimum deal for next year. Exactly the type of player you want and perfect given our up coming cap issues.

I certainly get questioning effort levels. Yet some of this is crazy, given the players history. Blame the coach who all season has talked about keeping guys healthy versus winning games. Blame the coach that has Tatum playing more SF than PF this year. When I watch that Heat game, I blame the coach, not the players. I'll give Brad credit for saying that exact same thing. Don't let this season overshadow epic playoff runs. Yeah it's an issue, yet it doesn't mean more than last year's playoffs.

I say Tatum and Brown have shown more fight in there young Careers than Paul Pierce did at the same age. I feel people need to go pop in some 2018 and 2020 playoff tape. They played like Pierce did 2008 and on during those years.