The Answers Fix Of The Celtics

It's been a while since I've posted but now is as good as a time as any. The C's
are in a bad spot. How do we fix them? Whats the best move?

Every end of the season and trade deadline for the last three years we've heard
the phrase, "blow it up." Well it sounds attractive and exciting but I ask the
same question I ask when teams fire their coach…are you making moves to make
moves or are you really improving your team? In the Celtic's case, blowing it up
makes no sense at all. The reason for this is, what's the end game? KG and Paul
Pierce make too much money for other teams to pay, the Celtics over pay just a
bit because of what they mean to the locker room and the city. However, any
contender would want KG, but at what price? This Blake Griffin nonsense isn't
even worth responding too.

In the case of Paul Pierce I say you keep him. The guy can still score the
basketball, but but he can't be your number one option. I say keep him because
of the loyalty factor, what he's done for the organization, and at a certain
point, a guy earns the right to stick with his team. (similar to Kobe in LA)
Having said that, I don't have to pay him. His contract calls for him to make 15
million next season, with only 5 million guaranteed. That 15 million really is
more 40 million because of the tax, and the Celtic's being repeat offenders.
Paul Pierce certainly isn't worth 40 million so I get the justification in
wanting to rid yourself of that massive bill. However, getting rid of Paul
Pierce gives you no more cap room to make any moves, you're really just shedding
15 million in cap room, 25 million in taxes, and getting the C's under the tax
line going into the 2014-15 season which brings the penalty back to a dollar for
dollar, as opposed to being over the tax for a third season and paying a two for
one rate on the tax….still with me? The tax shit can be confusing, but it breaks
down like this;

its a dollar for dollar tax
the second consecutive year you break the tax it goes to a two dollar per one
dollar you're over
and the third year year it goes to three to one.

Get it? Good.

So this ties Danny Ainge's hands big time here. So how do we improve the team.
Lets look at the options.

OPTION 1.

Well you can look at the glass half full, and say Rondo and Sully come back.
That improves the team greatly. Jason Terry will be more comfortable in the 6th
man roll. Jeff Green gets better by the day. Avery Bradley will actually get to
go through training camp. This is just the natural growth of the team and you
can honestly say given all that, your team will be much better. They are about a
5 seed with that roster unless Jeff Green becomes a super star, which is
doubtful. I think this makes the most sense, it's the lead risky, and this team
has proven that when healthy, in the playoffs, they can do some wild shit.

OPTION 2.

Make some minor trades. Courtney Lee makes about 5 million bucks. This makes him
very tradable although I'm not sure who would want him. I'f I'm Danny Ainge, I'm
gonna call up my good friend Rob who I just endorsed for the GM of the Suns and
say listen Rob, I'm gonna give you Courtney Lee, my first round pick for Beasly
and Kendell Marshall. WHY? Well I'll tell you. Michael Beasly can ball his ass
off. He can really do it all. His problem is off the court and in his head. The
Celtics are the perfect place for this type of player. If Doc and KG can get
this kid in line he can be huge for us now and down the road. It makes him the
backup to Jeff Green, and we can move Paul Pierce over to the 2 spot which takes
him off of the best athletes in the league. It;s a smart move all around.
Kendall Marshall is a poor mans Rondo. He's a passing wizard who can't shoot.
This gives us two young players who help for the future. What did we lose? Lee,
and a mid level pick in the worst draft in recent memory.

OPTION 3.

Trade Avery Bradley. I know, I love him too and defensively we wont get much
better. But His stock is high around the league and I don't see it getting any
higher. The guy will never be a scoring threat, and we need offense. He's
undersized at the 2 guard spot, and has proven he can't play point guard. So
what you have here is a guy who has value, but we can turn him into something
more. What we can turn him into remains to be seen. I'd live to see them bring
in some offense. Maybe make a trade with the Utah Jazz and try and get a
Millsap, Favors, or Jefferson. Any of those three guys will do. To make the
money match we'd need to throw in Lee, a draft pick will probably be needed to
make the deal, and possibly Fab Melo.

OPTION 4.

Try and get Cousins. To do this you'll have to wait for the dust to settle with
the Kings and where they'll be playing and who owns them. But once that happens,
they need just about everything. A package of Avery Bradley and Jeff Green would
be the minimum needed to get a player like this. It's a super risky move because
Demarcus Cousins is an asshole. Again, the Doc Rivers, KG, effect always applies
with the assholes of the league so thats not the worry, my worry is you trade
offense for defense and we lose the depth at the wing spot we really need. But
if this is an option, I say do it. The Celtics need to address the rebounding
issues badly and this would do it for sure. This move would require us to
acquire another wing player to play behind Paul, but thats not as hard to find
as you may think.

OPTION 5.

Trade Paul Pierce. Now, when people hear this they think Clippers. I'm not sure
that makes sense because I really don't want Eric Bledso. He's a baller, but
he's not Rondo. He need to be a starter somewhere else. In fact The Kings would
be a perfect spot for him so don't be surprised to see the Clippers make a run
at Cousins as well. Paul Pierce would need to bring back young players that can
help right now. This is the only way it works. Again, Utah comes to mind with a
Derrick Favors. But really it's a contender that would want Pierce and I just
don't see many of those around the league who have young assets besides Golden
State. With them, I don't see them parting with Harrison Barnes or Klay
Thompson, but both would do the trick. But assuming they would I'd take Barns
and Bogut for Pierce.

OPTION 6

Blow it up and try and get Andrew Wigins. Stupid idea and would never work.

OPTION 7

Trade Rondo. I think this would be so stupid. But it's always getting brought up
so lets discuss it First you have to ask yourself who replaces him at the PG
spot? Maybe with this thought you do the Pierce for Bledso and Jordan trade, so
now you have a PG. But who does Rondo bring back. First of all, Rondo is coming
off an ACL injury , so his stock is low. Secondly, I don't see a team that needs
that type of PG that has what we'd want in return. Maybe if the Celtics could
get Al Horford and Josh Smith from ATL for Rondo and a package of bull shit, you
could give that a shot. The problem is I think the Celtics value Rondo higher
than the rest of the league because of how he's grown here. When he needs to be
the number 1 scoring option I'm not sure how he'll be. I'm not sure this option
would work out in their favor at all. If you trade Rondo, you might as well
trade KG and Pierce too.

My vote is do some minor deals and keep the core in tact. If you can pull off a
heist of DeMarcus Cousins, you pull the trigger on that for sure.

What Do The Celtics Do Now?

The NBA cap is really confusing and I don't get it. However, everything I have heard is that if KG and PP are gone, the Celtics are still at the 60 million dollar cap. So I'm basing this post off that being true.

So before all of you get emotional and say blow it up we need to think of what the smartest thing the Celtics to do and remaining competitive.

First and foremost, I want to keep KG and Pierce. It's true, both are old and cannot play the minutes and do what they did in the past. However, nobody is going to give us anything for either. We aren't going to get a young star back for either, I would imagine that the KG for DeAndre Jordan/ Eric Bledsoe deal is off the table. Also, KG has a no trade clause and has made it very clear that his and Pierce's future are tied together. If Pierce is gone, KG will most likely go, but both Pierce and KG have also made it known they would rather stay with the Celtics. So the Celtics should do just that, keep them. We aren't going to get any better without them.

Secondly, Rondo is coming back. Nobody is going to trade a lot for a guy coming off a knee injury so it's worth it just to hold onto him. Rondo is the best PG in the league and I think they everyone can admit now that the Celtics are a much better team with him than without him (as the captain pointed out nicely yesterday). I guarantee that if Rondo played against the Knicks we wouldn't have only beat them, we would have swept them. The Celtics offense became stagnant, you were asking Avery Bradley to play out of position which he obviously wasn't great at doing and was a giant part of why the Celtics lost. Rondo would not only make Pierce and KG's life a lot easier out there, but Bradley would be a lot more effective offensively with being able to have off the ball cuts, Jeff Green would be able to run more, and I bet even Courtney Lee wouldn't have been as awful if he was playing with Rondo.

So I know this makes for a boring offseason, but why not stand pat and hope that with the return of Rondo, hopefully Jeff Green stays into the player he was turning into, Bass builds off his great post season, Bradley will get better, Jared Sullinger comes back and is back to his garbageman game, Fab Melo turns into a rotation player and the Celtics can grab someone like Dgieng out of Louisville at 16 and hopefully that works out.

I would rather be a 6 or 7 seed then out of the playoffs and completely rebuilding any day.

Captain's Thoughts: Why the Celtics Lost

I'm not the most astute observer of basketball, but I do think I know why the Celtics were eliminated by the Knicks.

#1: No Rondo
Everyone who once suggested that the Celtics were better without Rondo should be forced, for one year, to wear hats and shirts that quote that absurd theory. Rondo has been especially good in the playoffs, and his ability to run the offense was a stabilizing factor that would have prevented some of the runs that the Knicks went on in this series. Losing Rondo lost this series.

#2: Age
This is an old team. Small bumps and bruises become nagging injuries. Pierce and Garnett didn't have enough gas in their tanks to play 40 minutes of great basketball every night. And it won't be any better next season. If they come back next season.

#3: No Depth
When the Celtics won in 2008 they had a good supporting cast for The Big Three. When they made other deep playoff runs, they had guys who could score, guys who could play defense. This year they had no random 25+ point nights from Ray Allen. They had Avery Bradley in a role he's not suited for (again, the Rondo injury). In Game 6, only Jason Terry scored points off the bench. When Pierce and KG needed the most support, they received the least.

It might be difficult for the most optimistic Celtics fans to realize, but this team just wasn't that good. It was old, it wasn't deep, and even with a healthy Rondo I don't think the Celtics would be a match for the Heat. Not in a 7 game series. The C's were 41-40. They nearly pulled off an historic comeback in Game 6, but they lost this series in Game 1 when they scored 8 points in the 4th quarter. They lost this series in Game 2 when they scored 23 in the second half.

And now we enter a period of uncertainty for the C's. Rondo will be back. But what kind of team will be back with him? Pierce and Garnett can still play, however they can't be the centerpieces of this team anymore. And in the NBA, unless Rondo can become pals with other great players who decide to come here, or the Celtics get a #1 overall pick, it is very difficult to rebuild.

This might be the end of a mini-era for the Celtics.

-The Captain

87 Knicks, 71 Celtics

I never thought that I would see this kind of lackluster performance from a Doc Rivers coached team, but this team is playing flat out awful. They play well in the first half, get tired in the second and can't score any god damn points. KG has been a pretty big disappointment on the offensive end, Pierce has been the most consistent but still needs to do more and Jeff Green was horrible last night. You know this team desperately needs? Rajon Rondo. It's funny, all the maniacs out there that said the team is better off without Rondo have seem to have disappeared.

In the previous game he would have made sure the offense didn't stay stagnant and last game the same thing. The Knicks figure out that we don't have a god damn point guard and so our offense is pretty one pass and shoot at times and it sucks. Plus Rondo is a big time playoff performer so missing his monster games kills the Celtics. I hope we can appreciate his skills a little bit more Boston fans.

As for last nights game again, the defense is doing fine. I have zero issue what they are doing on defense, but their offense is just miserable. Courtney Lee got buried last night and should stay that way. Jason Terry is just terribly inconsistent. I wasn't a giant fan of the officiating in the first half, but whatever, can't blame the officials for this one.

These 2 games have been mildly annoying to say the least.

Mike's Crackpot Celtics Theory

It's sort of a slow news day for Boston Sports. The Celtics have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off this week. The Bruins won last night, but I'm not informed enough about hockey where I feel like I have anything worthwhile to contribute. The Patriots restructured Tom Brady's deal, but that's been discussed at length and nothing of note has really happened since. The Red Sox are in the midst of spring training, but I've already bored you all to tears with my Spring Training thoughts. Maybe it's time to break out my crackpot Celtics theory!

The basic idea behind the theory is that after the Celtics lost in the conference semi-finals of the 2009 Playoffs a conscious decision was made to proactively preserve their aging superstars to reduce regular wear and tear on their bodies and minimize the risk of injury, at which time the Celtics would "flip the switch" and turn into a dark horse championship contender. Let's have a look at some of my crackpot evidence and reasoning.

The NBA regular season is a joke. Sixteen of the Thirty NBA Teams make the playoffs. That's 53%. That's more than half. It's identical to hockey, but compare that to the MLB and NFL Playoffs. In the NFL the regular season has a huge impact on the Playoffs. Only twelve of the thirty-two (37.5%) NFL teams make the playoffs. Add to this that in the NFL a first round bye for the top two seeds in each conference is a massive advantage in such a physically punishing sport. Also, consider that in the NFL only one game is played per round makes having home field advantage a MUCH larger incentive. By comparison, in the NBA having a higher playoff seed determines the location of a final deciding game IF such a game is even necessary. Prior to last season, baseball had the most competition for playoff spots with only eight of the thirty (26.7%) MLB teams making the playoffs. They augmented this number to ten teams last season, but that's still the lowest percentage of teams making the postseason of any of the major american sports (33.3%) and they simultaneously built in the advantage of the division winning teams being able to avoid a one-game elimination series. Despite having a very similar system, even hockey offers a greater incentive to get a higher seed as the bracket is reseeded after the first round to ensure that the highest seeds get to play against the weakest remaining seed. In basketball the bracket is followed without a reseeding. Essentially, of all the major american sports there is none where it is easier to qualify for the playoffs than the NBA and in no other sport does your seeding position matter less than it does in the NBA.

With this in mind, after Kevin Garnett went down in the 2009 season and an early exit from the playoffs in the second round Doc saw a missed opportunity. He saw a team that was very reliant on three aging Hall of Famers to be successful and he made a conscious decision to sacrifice regular season wins in the hopes of preserving his aging superstars until the games that really matter in the postseason. Let's look at how the season proceed from there:

2009-10 Season: the Celtics limp into the playoffs as a 4th seed with a disappointing 50-32 record, a full 12 games lower than their regular season record the previous season. They hit their worst 10 game stretch of the season at 3-7 and many assume they're too old and washed up.
2010 Playoffs: The Celtics flip the switch and turn it on in the playoffs. They cruise through 5 seed Miami 4-1, 1 seed Cleveland 4-2 and 2 seed Orlando 4-2. They lose to the Lakers in the finals by a slim margin in game 7.

2010-11 Season: the Celtics improve by six games on their previous season finishing 56-26 and go into the playoffs as a 3 seed. The Celtics again finish on a bad note going 5-5 in their last 10 games.
2011 Playoffs: The Celtics are able to sweep the Knicks, but can't stand up to the new big 3 in the next round and lose to Lebron and the Heat.

2011-12 Season: The Celtics finish the lockout shortened season with the lowest win% of the big 3 era at 39-27 and secure a 4th seed.
2012 Playoffs: The Celtics beat 5th seed Atlanta in 6 games (it's worth noting that Atlanta actually finished with a better record than the Celtics in the regular season) and catch a break in the second round as Derrick Rose is hurt and the 1st seeded Bulls fall apart without him. Because there is no reseed in the NBA the Celtics catch a break in the second round and play the 8th seeded Philadelphia. Finally, the Celtics lose in the conference finals to Lebron and the Heat when the Heat manage to win back to back games after going down 3-2

I think the Celtics that you see in the Regular season is just a watered down version of what this team is capable of as they seem to constantly perform better in the Playoffs than their regular season/playoff seeding would lead you to believe. It's been done subtly as throwing regular season games to rest starters is a punishable offense by the NBA (I believe it came up with the Spurs earlier this season). I think it also helps if you win enough to keep the fans/media from freaking out. There hasn't been a dramatic dropoff in the average minutes by Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen or Paul Pierce, but I think it shines through in the win totals.

What does that suggest for this season? I think when Rondo went down it forced the Celtics to prematurely flip the switch. They needed to keep the fans on board that a championship was possible even without Rondo, get themselves back on pace for a playoff spot and keep Danny from breaking up the team to start a rebuilding cycle. Now that the trade deadline has passed I'd expect the Celtics to do the bare minimum to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, even when they go into playoff mode I still don't think they'll have what it takes to beat Miami when they meet them in either the first or second round.

Crazy NBA Trade Rumors

So the Celtics have been linked to about 1000 trade rumors this weekend and lets sift through all of them even though none of it will happen.

1st. KG for Eric Bledsoe and DeAndre Jordan.

I originally said when the Bledsoe deal popped up that the Celtics would need DeAndre Jordan for me to consider this deal. And now that they apparently have, I'm getting cold feet. Jordan is an incredible defensive Center that can definitely be a shot blocking force and super athletic, but he shoots like 45% from the line and a lot of the time has to sit in the 4th quarter. So we would have a budding star in Bledsoe and a C we can't play for 40 minute a game, for a guy who changed the whole culture in Boston. Still not sue I would do it.

2. Dwight Howard for Rajon Rondo.

No Brainer right? Well the only thing about this that makes me hesitant is the Howard circus he brings to everything. Will he stay or will he go? Does he care about winning or does he care about his brand? Rondo currently has one of the best contracts in the game and if we give that up for Howard and he leaves that would be awful. However, if this was real, I couldn't blame Danny in hopes Howard sticks around.

3rd. Bass and Green for Josh Smith.

This is a no brainer as well. I have also heard that Pierce would need to be involved, but I want to stick with the original rumors. I love what Jeff Green has become over the past month and think that he is starting to live up to his contract. I would have no idea why the Hawks would do this, they aren't gaining a ton of talent and certainly not helping their cap situation. But if Danny Ferry wants to, why not walk with it.

So that would leave us with a line up of:

Bledsoe, Bradley, Pierce, Josh Smith, Dwight Howard and Jordan, Terry, Lee off the bench.

I could fuck with that.

But none of this will happen because the NBA and their rumor mill is the most untrustworthy thing ever.

Are The Celtics Better Without Rondo?

I told you these article would pop up, and it only took 4 wins and they are already here. ESPN has an article up today talking this very subject (CLICK HERE to read).

Listen, if you are already buying this nonsense this early you probably rode the short bus when you were younger. There are literally tons of explanations as to why the Celtics are playing better without Rondo, while still not being a better team without him.

1. Teams don't know how to play them - Everything has changed. The whole offense went through Rondo, so teams now don't really know where the ball is going to go. This could all change in a couple weeks when teams get video of how the Celtics are running their "new" offense.

2. Post Super Star Surge - We have seen this happen before. A big time player goes down, and the team responds by going on a winning streak. It's similar to firing a coach, and seeing a team rally, but it doesn't mean it will last.

3. Schedule - The win over the Heat was nice, no doubt, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Celtics have yet to go on the road, and their only other impressive win was against the Clippers who had to fly accross the country, and almost came back at the end. I'm not taking anything away from the wins, but it's such a small sample size.

My main point here is that it's just too early, and to start making the point that the Celtics are some how better off without their best player is just ludicrous at this time. If the Celtics go to the NBA Finals or something like that then we can talk, but the bottom line is that this is a dumb discussion, and I hope all of you don't buy into it..... yet.

Rondo Back By Training Camp

"Though the recovery from reconstructive knee surgery can vary, depending on the player, Ainge said he expects Rondo to be ready for the start of training camp next season.
Ainge said Rondo should undergo surgery in the next “10 to 14 days.”

I love how everyone is assuming Rajon is going to be back in record time for an ACL injury. We all know he is tough and seems to be a little superhumanish, but this will be tough. If there is anyone who I think could pull it off it would be him, it's just I fear he will be so hell bent on coming back he will return not 100 percent and then get hurt again. We all know Rondo is a dickhead, so right now he is probably penciling in Adrian Peterson's ridiculous recovery time and going to try his hardest to beat it by a few days.

I just hope that he can just get healthy enough to lead us to a championship next year.

Rondo Injury Reaction

Much like most of the Celtics players I was shocked to hear Rondo would be out for the year with a tonr ACL. Hell, I didn't even think he was going to miss a game let alone miss the entire season. From the coaches and players reactions I guess I wasn't the only one.

Right when I heard it I thought, "Well, there goes this season", and maybe it's time to start blowing it up. It's not like this season was going well, and now they lost their best player. Yet, what are they going to do? People keep talking about Pierce to Memphis. Sorry, I just don't see it. KG would have a ton of value, but he has a no trade clause, and I can't see him going anywhere unless Pierce is dealt.

Here is what I think will happen. I agree with DP that I don't see them doing anything. I think they will make the playoffs, and actually play better ball without him. We have seen this happen before when a main player is out, and the team rallies. It doesn't mean they will win it all, as I have always thought for them to go that Rondo would be the key, but they can still have a very strong end to the season. I bet they actually end up being at least a 6 seed.

What will be interesting is the casual's fan reaction to this. Will we start to hear the dreaded "they are better off without Rondo?" I mean we hear Rondo trade rumors every year anyways. I think you will hear some of that, but it won't change the course of the Celtics. I think Rondo will still be the center piece of this team going forward, and call me crazy, but I think they could be a good thing for guys like Bradley.

Rajon Rondo Out For the Year

Rajon Rondo is out for the year with a torn ACL.

It happened during the Hawks game apparently, and for some reason he was able to practice the next day and shoot around yesterday. Then before the game we found out he was getting an MRI for a hyper extended knee, then later his ACL is torn.

So that happened, now what.

I know that I am a homer and bleed green, however, this team is not dead yet and the Celtics have showed against the Knicks earlier this year and Heat last night, there is still a lot left in this team.

This Rondo injury gives more opportunity for Courtney Lee, Jason Terry, Leandro Barbosa and even more minutes for Jeff Green. I believe in that. They have to and will step up like they did last night. They still have Paul Pierce, they still have Paul Pierce, they still have Avery Bradley, they still have an up and coming Jared Sullinger and Doc Rivers. This certainly hurt, but the next person needs to fall in line. Rondo is not only the best player on this team, a top 5 PG and a top 10 NBA player, but this team still has something left in it and I'm not ready to "blow it up". It's hard to replace 40% of your offense, but it's a good challenge.

I have got calls and texts all day yesterday from my friends and family saying, "It's over", "trade Pierce?", "well that was fun". I don't think Danny Ainge will blow it up because I don't think he can. In today's basketball no teams ever trade young pieces for aging stars aka we are getting nothing close to worth for Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett. Nobody will be giving us any young talent for them. Rondo can't be traded now, Jeff Green's contract is a lot for a team to take on and what is really the worth of Courtney Lee and Jason Terry right now? Nothing.

If that's the case Danny Ainge just should hang up the phone if somebody asks about Avery Bradley and Jared Sullinger.

If anything I would think that Ainge is going to try and add to it rather than admit defeat. I know its a real tall task for the Celtics to win it, but if any team can show the type of Grit and Balls, it's these Boston Celtics.

89 Knicks, 86 Celtics

At this point I am looking for anything positive to say about the Celtics, they have been playing awful of late, can't shoot, can't defend, can't win. They have now lost 5 in a row.

Last night was a little different, they defended a lot better, and they played pretty well just missed shots, like the old saying it's a make or miss league. Last night for the Celtics, it was a miss league.

The positives, Rondo did everything in a losing effort, 23 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Everyone else, was awful, yes Paul Pierce scored 22, but turned the ball over in 2 key parts of the game. That pretty much did it.

Jason Terry is really pissing me off, I'm trying my hardest to defend him because he is a nice guy, but he has been a disaster. I almost am thinking that Barbosa should get more PT over him until he works his shit out.

Carmelo also killed us in the 4th and finished with 28 and there was nothing between he and KG.