2018 / 2019 Celtics Open Discussion

[borg]

they didn't spurn anything......Durant, Leonard, and Butler did not sign extensions.....and Davis is the same deal.......the only one of that bunch I would want anyway is George....I'd rather watch a home grown team develop

as for 'needle-movers'.....how many needles have these 5 moved?

Half the roster plus Tom Brady descended on the Hamptons to gather up Durant...spurned.
Celtics front office desperately wanted George until he made it clear at the time his ultimate landing would be an LA team.....not Boston. OKC made the trade anyway daring the guy to forego supermax dollars one year later.
Davis......this spurn is a prolonged one. The NBA sphere is very clear on Davis' sentiments towards Boston
Leonard....another LA or bust (LAL or LAC)....not Boston......with a one year house arrest in Toronto. Not a direct spurn....just an understanding....NEVER

Direct or indirect spurn......potato / potahto.....the reality is clear

Butler....I'll give you that one. The Bulls spurned Boston with ridiculous trade demands. But secretly, you know he hates Boston (they all do)

 

[IllegalContact]

Half the roster plus Tom Brady descended on the Hamptons to gather up Durant...spurned.
Celtics front office desperately wanted George until he made it clear at the time his ultimate landing would be an LA team.....not Boston. OKC made the trade anyway daring the guy to forego supermax dollars one year later.
Davis......this spurn is a prolonged one. The NBA sphere is very clear on Davis' sentiments towards Boston
Leonard....another LA or bust (LAL or LAC)....not Boston......with a one year house arrest in Toronto. Not a direct spurn....just an understanding....NEVER

Direct or indirect spurn......potato / potahto.....the reality is clear

Butler....I'll give you that one. The Bulls spurned Boston with ridiculous trade demands. But secretly, you know he hates Boston (they all do)

I never saw Garnett here......until I did

Players aren’t traded to places they want to go so Leonard and butler are irrelevant

 

[borg]

Great job Boston vs GS.
Unselfish ball movement (except Tatum) and precision shot making. As one of the announcers stated, the C's will go as far as Hayward takes them.
Dead weight or X factor?
When GH is on, this team has been unstoppable.....all 3 times.

OT: What happened to GS and who were half those guys? Imagine relying on Jerebko. For one night the Warriors were the NBA's hot mess.
The Boogie reliance seems an act of desperation and I think he may commit murder out on the court one night. If Durant leaves in July, Boogie is their future. Yikes!
Speaking of Durant .... freak. How this bag of bones can be so good....dominating the fast break the way he does.

 

[IllegalContact]

Great job Boston vs GS.
Unselfish ball movement (except Tatum) and precision shot making. As one of the announcers stated, the C's will go as far as Hayward takes them.
Dead weight or X factor?
When GH is on, this team has been unstoppable.....all 3 times.

OT: What happened to GS and who were half those guys? Imagine relying on Jerebko. For one night the Warriors were the NBA's hot mess.
The Boogie reliance seems an act of desperation and I think he may commit murder out on the court one night. If Durant leaves in July, Boogie is their future. Yikes!
Speaking of Durant .... freak. How this bag of bones can be so good....dominating the fast break the way he does.

Cousins is a FA after this year.......so is Thompson

they were a hot mess at this time last year.......if there's anyone that can turn it on and off, it's them

 

[borg]

Contusion?
Load management?
Simply a coincidence Kyrie given extra rest before stepping on the court in LA vs. his daddy?

 

[IllegalContact]

Contusion?
Load management?
Simply a coincidence Kyrie given extra rest before stepping on the court in LA vs. his daddy?

the drama bugs the crap out of me

 

[borg]

Bromancers Kyrie and Durant tried to duplicate Daddy Bron Bron's banana boat bonding vacation years ago with their own matching bathrobes/mini vacation in Miami after the All Star game.
It's as if Kyrie has charted Lebron's ascent and plans on mimicking it every step of the way.....except for the winning, the leadership, and ability to communicate with clarity.
That being said .....Deliver KD to Boston and I'll happily redirect my cynicism elsewhere (Pedroia? / Saux Bull Pen ?/ Tuka?)

 

[captain insano]

Bromancers Kyrie and Durant tried to duplicate Daddy Bron Bron's banana boat bonding vacation years ago with their own matching bathrobes/mini vacation in Miami after the All Star game.
It's as if Kyrie has charted Lebron's ascent and plans on mimicking it every step of the way.....except for the winning, the leadership, and ability to communicate with clarity.
That being said .....Deliver KD to Boston and I'll happily redirect my cynicism elsewhere (Pedroia? / Saux Bull Pen ?/ Tuka?)

tuka? hes playing unbelievable right now.

 

[borg]

tuka? hes playing unbelievable right now.

Tuka cuts off the angles better than any goalie I've ever seen.....but......he's not an acrobat or a glove artist who can steel games with spectacular plays.....like Tim Thomas did back in the day.
Will sound fundamentals be good enough vs the high scoring East.....TB, Wash, Tor....over multiple long series without the rest he's been allowed this season?
Let's hope
The B's need Good Tuka......not the shell that occasionally appears.

Halak is Tuka's opposite. He leaves his glove hand side of the net so exposed daring shooters to test his glove

My biggest worry is Chara. The guy has no legs left. A wobbly giraffe

 

[borg]

Better
C's 5-11 now vs West after 3-1 road trip.
Great GS beat down ....though....GS was as disinterested a team in the midst of their own mini melt down , most recently losing to Phoenix.
The final 3 games....just awful basketball, awful jump shooting, etc.
I turned these games off in the 2nd qtr

Interesting draft scenarios playing out:
Memphis, currently in the #7 draft slot, just might play well enough / combined with serious tanking efforts by most other lottery teams to fall out of bottom 8 giving Boston their #1 this year.
#'s 6, 7, 8, 9 currently have 39 or 40 losses.

Current C's #1 pick slots for 2019
14.....Sac
20....LAC
21.....Bos
51.....Bos

The Daily Kyrie:
One day after admitting he needs to STFU, he waxes poetically about LAC and Doc Rivers. The guy is either the most calculating / diabolical chess master....or.....a semi- eloquent ra tard afflicted by diarrhea of the mouth.

 

[Boston Boxer]

The defense is terrible. The one thing we could count on when we were a champion caliber team was great defense. Now. Not so much

 

[borg]

A finesse jump shooting team incapable of securing second shots.
An offense reliant, for the most part, on historically sub par outsider shooters.
Most absent....well choreographed easy buckets at the rim.
Instead, the plan is: create open outside looks....for their, for the most part, sub par shooters.
Yikes

 

[captain insano]

The defense is terrible. The one thing we could count on when we were a champion caliber team was great defense. Now. Not so much

on the bright side pasta is back in the line up tonight.

 

[Boston Boxer]

on the bright side pasta is back in the line up tonight.

can he shoot a jumper consistantly?

 

[Boston Boxer]

I doubt this team gets out of the first round in the playoffs. I would be shocked

 

[captain insano]

I doubt this team gets out of the first round in the playoffs. I would be shocked

I agree. they are underachieving bums. danny needs to think long and hard about keeping Kyrie around. I think his LeBron attitude 2.0 is the cause of a lot of the Celtics problems.

 

[captain stone]

on the bright side pasta is back in the line up tonight.

can he shoot a jumper consistantly?

Better then half the team, I'd guess.

 

[borg]

If the Knicks do get the #1 and draft Zion......from strictly a basketball standpoint.....it would be crazy for Irving and Durant not to go to NY.
Three best in categories on a roster with no perceived anchors (Hayward, Brown, etc) pulling them down....excluding Dolan of course.
My biggest question.....how would Kyrie handle being the third wheel. Zion will get most of the NY + national press, Durant will be the featured scorer, and Kyrie will be the little guy who no longer has the full spot light on him unless he goes full crazy and the media can't stop rubber necking.

Note:
In the last 20 games, Celtics are 10-10.......yet the media narrative is the C's have righted the ship.
A month ago, self appointed leader Kyrie publicly stated the rest of the regular season is pointless....and his flock have seemingly embraced this mindset. Who says he cannot lead?
I keep reading and hearing how the C's should still emerge from the Eastern Conference playoffs....completely ignoring their recent .500 winning percentage.
These same experts continue to dismiss the Bucks who are +35 in wins compared to Boston's +14.
So much for you are what you're record says you are.
Oh, by the way, of the top 5 Eastern teams, guess who has the worst home record?

The Boston Jump Shooters will finish up the season, playing without their only banger for who knows how long. The team has indicated the guy they intend to offer super max riches to will be given multiple load management days down the stretch. I expect Max salary Al to get nights off as well
My point....this team will enter the playoffs with little to no momentum and continuity....and emerge NBA title contenders?

I do expect the C's to dispatch Indiana.
I view the Bucks as having too much inside game for Boston to handle.
I think the Raptors are starting to feel the strain of Kawhi Leonard's imminent departure

It will be interesting to see how many more NBA stars check out.
Lebron and Anthony Davis checked out months ago
Durant and Irving have shown signs at points during this season.
Kawhi checked out last season but has been a good citizen so far. The question is how invested he will stay if Toronto falters a bit

Go Bruins

 

[borg]

Didn't watch last night's implosion but that has never stopped me from offering blind opinions.

Self appointed leader and post game finger pointer Kyrie had a nice game, at least according to the box score.
Leading team scorer....31 points.
It would be difficult for even the most cynical Kyrie critic to dispense blame on Boston's go to guy....aka.....the C's Closer.......but not impossible.

Most notably referenced: In the team's last 20 possessions, Boston scored 5 points.
Not sure sure who elevated their game to achieve these 5 points....and.....not sure what constitutes proper "Closer" stats.......but I will argue 5 points and 10% accuracy from the field during crunch time just misses the criteria for successful Closer output.
Is it a surprise the Flat Earther deflects the post game?

To be fair, several Celtics players who don't refer to themselves as "closers" had atrocious stat lines...Smart, Tatum.
And to be fair about the post game finger pointer, the C's defense disappeared in the 4th and I don't doubt Kyrie's public critique of Steven's 4th quarter defensive strategy. The Brad has been reluctant all year to double opponents leaving wide open teammates who too often have career 3 point shooting nights against Boston. And the C's trapping game, a staple of their starless 2017-18 playoff run, has been virtually nonexistent all season.

To summarize: The C's couldn't score and couldn't defend......and phantom Closer Kyrie is comfortable blaming the coach.

Updated Kyrie checklist:

Teammates don't listen
Coach sucks
I'm a leader
I'm a closer
I don't owe anyone sh*t

 

[borg]

It doesn't even take a team to throttle Boston anymore....just one quality big and a coach who values the inside game.

Draft position update:
#14 Sacramento (locked in lottery pick position though 0.5% chance @ #1)
#18 Boston (#18-#23 separated by 2 games in loss column)
#22 LA Clippers (essentially swapped position w/ Boston)

Note:
Memphis still #6 (protected) though #6-#9 all share same number of losses (44) and only 2 games separate this group in the win column

Note 2.0:
New narrative emerging from the ranks of the kinder Boston media who only months ago pounded the table together, chests puffed out....... the C's would be Finals bound.
Now......
"Ainge didn't assemble a team, he assembled assets"