Boston is a great team,
there's that word again... 'great'... when I think 'great' , I think of the old Celtics with Russell,the jones boys.... the bulls with Michael and pippen, the lakers... etc... today's boston team 'great'... they have done f...-all... depending on how the east plays out, they could be the 4th best team in the east cav's,Toronto,wash.. ahead of them... which would make them like the 15th best team in the league (give or take a few spots)...
ofcourse they do have a bunch of high draft picks for the next 10-12years, so one day they mite be...great... just not today or tomorrow ..
Great fact filled post Mafra. I said in the off season that I thought Ainge would move some of those picks he had for some vet role players but he didn't probably because he didn't like the deals coming across his desk but it would have been the thing to do since he had to stash his 16th and 22 overseas. Too many picks in the last draft which if he couldn't convert into veteran help he should have traded for picks far into the future ie 3 seconds for 2020 and beyond protected first.Not that I disagree with you, but let's be honest.... Boston is better bc of luck:
They dealt Marcus Thornton and a 1st rounder last year for IT.... then, they signed Horford this summer. Then, b/c Phil said no to his addition in the TC deal to DAL, Crowder was traded to
BOS in the Rondo deal. This is why they're good.
The Celtics didn't build this team through the draft....
Bradley looks like he's emerging as a quality 2-way player. Zeller, Smart, & Okynik are just decent meh guys (I probably wouldn't deal WHG straight up for either of those 3)....
Brown and Yabusele and Zuzik (1st rounders last draft), Rozier and Hunter (1st rounders in 2015), don't scream
Future franchise star....
Then these stud first rounders from the 2012-2014 drafts:
Smart, Young, Nogueiro, Sullinger, Fab Melo, Marshon Brooks
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Celtics_draft_history
Remember, Boston signed Amir Johnson as a free agent bc all those bigs they drafted were busts.
Now, IT, Smart, Zeller, Olynik and Bradley are all free agents next summer.... can't pay them all.
Some credit goes to Ainge for his trades and free agent acquisitions and credit Brad Stevens for Coaching up these cast-offs....
But make no mistake, BOS backed up into a good team B/c of hitting grand slams on a few trades (turning IT and Crowder into all-star quality players).
Much like TOR lucked out into Lowry (and why NYK sucks bc we didn't trade for either Lowry or IT).
So, if you are BOS.... do you really believe that the 7 first round picks next 4 years will be worth betting the future on?
Or do you go for it now, since you have the Stars.... IT and Horford are stars.... reality is, of all their draft picks lately.... they hit on really just Bradley.... the rest are a dime a dozen type guys.
Of course, jury is still out on Brown (but he could be James Young 2.0 too). Still, they would be smart to chase Cousins, Favors, George, Butler, Melo.
Ok, then Boston and Toronto are good, the Cavs and the top teams in the West are very good and the rest of the league exists on a scale from mediocre to Nets
Pretty disgusting or impressive that they're 2 games out of 1st in second in the EC. Usually teams that have a chance at the top pick are in last place but thanks to the Nets they could be picking first in the draft.Boston is a great team, but they look like that team that comes around every few years that's good enough to make the Eastern Conference finals and lose to Lebron or maybe even one year slip past Lebron and lose to a Western Conference powerhouse in the NBA finals. They have been in that rare position where they have the assets to take a great team and then add a new best player to it, but to date, they haven't made that deal happen.
In theory, it sounds great to have the possible number one overall pick in the draft and have an already great team, but in reality, it makes a lot more sense to get an established star now instead.
It's funny how the 2 seed in the East seems to employ more of a rebuild mindset than we do
Boston is a great team, but they look like that team that comes around every few years that's good enough to make the Eastern Conference finals and lose to Lebron or maybe even one year slip past Lebron and lose to a Western Conference powerhouse in the NBA finals. They have been in that rare position where they have the assets to take a great team and then add a new best player to it, but to date, they haven't made that deal happen.
In theory, it sounds great to have the possible number one overall pick in the draft and have an already great team, but in reality, it makes a lot more sense to get an established star now instead.
It's funny how the 2 seed in the East seems to employ more of a rebuild mindset than we do
The big argument by NBA announcers/writers are Carmelo Anthony replacing a injured Love in the 2017 All-Star Game when several other winning candidate players should have been elected over Melo .....
Melo is one of the most overrated bums in NBA history. He's reminiscent of Antawn Jamison, Glenn Robinson, Vince Carter, Mitch Richmond and other high scorers who lack clutch, consistency and ability to lead a winning team. Knicks need to dump this piece of trash and start Lance Thomas.
“Right now, we need players that are really active, can play every single play. Defensively and offensively. That’s really important for us. We started to get some players on the floor that can do that, you know, and that’s the direction we have to go.”
It’s unfortunate that such players would be needed to fix the defense, but the numbers support what Jackson is saying.
Anthony finished the 2016-17 regular season at No. 418 in the NBA in Defensive Real Plus-Minus. It’s also worth noting that the Knicks allowed 111.1 points per 100 possessions with the 10-time All-Star on the floor.
Of the players who were on the court for at least 1,000 minutes in 2016-17, no player on the Knicks had a worse defensive rating than Anthony.
By comparison, the Knicks had a team-best defensive rating of 104.7 points per 100 possessions with Anthony on the bench. That’s a difference of 6.4 points per 100 possessions, as well as a telling sign of his influence on the defensive end of the floor.