CELTICS impress the heck out of me

[Blazinaway]

Unreal performance this season and in the playoffs. Given the top tier guys they have lost this year they are still winning, simply KUDOS to these guys and their coach! I will add this, Covington gets a lot of love on the boards, maybe his D is good but he's stinkin it up on the offensive end for Philly, I see his name in a lot of trades and some Por/PHI trades, gotta say I'm not very interested.

[Epicurus]

Great coach, but some here would have demanded his firing after his second season---not a winning record and swept in the first round.

[SalemStoner]

I really liked what they did last off season. Even after Hayward went down I felt they were still strong enough to be the 2nd best to come out of the East.

Rozier has performed better than I could have expected after Kyrie went down for the year.

The likely match up next round with Cleveland is going to be crazy. Even with 2 of their 3 best guys sidelined for the year they're going play in the Conference finals. They have a top 10 pick on to of their own pick this year I think as well.

The experience Brown and Tatum have had forced upon them due to injuries is likely going to result in rapid progression for at least one of them.

[monopoman]

They have a hell of a coach that can really maximize the talent there, I also think the depth of the team is pretty underrated. People like to talk about how Hayward+Kyrie are huge losses but they have the tools to make those losses not a huge deal against most opponents.

[Sinobas]

They don't really miss Evan Turner do they, even though their GM "lost an asset for noting" in the words of Neil Olshey. I so wish we had Ainge rather than Olshey the soap opera star pretender.

[Wizenheimer]

yeah, that little snot danny ainge turned out to be an excellent GM.

Portland has a GM that talks the talk, but can't walk it. The Celtics have a GM who has been walking the walk for well over a decade. Portland's GM has talked about the importance of building and maintaining an asset base, but hasn't been able to do it. Ainge, on the other hand, has and has kept a great foundation of assets, year after year

and Ainge has shown he can build a contender in different ways. He traded picks and young players for aging veterans still in their primes and won a championship. Then he didn't fall into the trap of riding the value of those aging veterans all the way down, so did the reverse and traded aging veterans for picks and young players (it sure helped to have a sucker like Billy King in Brooklyn)

he is going to have the 'surplus' issue next season though. He'll have Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward demanding lots of minutes. But Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum will be demanding lots of minutes as well. And there's the issue of getting minutes for Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart. All 6 players have earned their playing time. There simply aren't enough minutes to go around. Ainge may have to be active trading again and there's plenty of reason to suspect he'll make more great moves

I hate the Celtics

[mighty_duck]

They don't really miss Evan Turner do they, even though their GM "lost an asset for noting" in the words of Neil Olshey. I so wish we had Ainge rather than Olshey the soap opera star pretender.

IIRC, Olshey let Aldridge, Mathews and Rolo walk for nothing in one summer, so he is no stranger to that move.
Then again, Ainge used that cap space to sign free agent All-stars in Hayward and Horford, while we got the aforementioned Turner.

[PDXKnight]

Unreal performance this season and in the playoffs. Given the top tier guys they have lost this year they are still winning, simply KUDOS to these guys and their coach! I will add this, Covington gets a lot of love on the boards, maybe his D is good but he's stinkin it up on the offensive end for Philly, I see his name in a lot of trades and some Por/PHI trades, gotta say I'm not very interested.

While I think everyone is entitled to their opinion I think just looking at covington's offensive production doesn't do justice to what he does. Cov is a lengthy premier defender who makes his team infinitely better when he is on the floor. Many philly fans swear that he is one of their biggest impact players because of what he does defensively. He does have holes in his game especially in that his offensive production isn't world beater status, but so does Cj (in his case defense is quite possibly worst in the league for an sg). I see Cov as a great option in a Cj trade if we can get something nice added

[zzaj]

Great coach, but some here would have demanded his firing after his second season---not a winning record and swept in the first round.

Who are "some"? There is no similarity between the Celtics and Blazer situations, and everybody here knows that. I don't think anybody would have called for Stevens' firing after taking the team from 25 wins to 40 wins and getting swept by Lebron and the Cavs. Let's not forget by that 3rd year in the POs the Celtics went to the ECF. What have Stotts led teams done in the POs?

Brad Stevens led teams have shown progress every year in the postseason. Which is the opposite of Stotts, despite Stevens having more roster turnover.

The Celtics have a top-tier GM and coach. The Blazers do not. The Celtics have a GM who assembled good talent. The Blazers do not. The Celtics have a coach who created a system that gets the most out of his players strengths. The Blazers do not.

[Epicurus]

I tune out whenever I read a personal belief that claims "everybody knows" or " everybody agrees." Heck, my comment was tongue and cheek, certainly not requiring a lecture about Stevens, which I had in my comment called a great coach. You are part of thee some, a group ruled by their emotions and biases, seeking information merely to confirm such. And from what I've heard many in the profession regarded Stotts as one who gets pretty damn much out of little. So telling also that you so easily regress to an either/or stance, when a both/and is probably more appropriate. Nice to see I hit home so easily.

[zzaj]

I tune out whenever I read a personal belief that claims "everybody knows" or " everybody agrees." Heck, my comment was tongue and cheek, certainly not requiring a lecture about Stevens, which I had in my comment called a great coach. You are part of thee some, a group ruled by their emotions and biases, seeking information merely to confirm such. And from what I've heard many in the profession regarded Stotts as one who gets pretty damn much out of little. So telling also that you so easily regress to an either/or stance, when a both/and is probably more appropriate. Nice to see I hit home so easily.

First part, yep! Like most regular humans. Second part, nope! But thanks for playing. You have no idea why I seek out information. In fact you don't know anything about me or any other poster, other than what we allow you to know.

IMO, Stotts is a fine coach. He has a reputation for getting a lot out of his players, but my suspicion is that has a lot to do with simply surpassing league-wide expectations for the team after the Aldridge/Wes/Batum split.

My reply of "everyone knows" was in response to your assertion that there were people on this board that would have drawn parallels. I disagree with that notion. It's a moot point anyway because I didn't realize you were being tongue-in-cheek about drawing a parallel between Celtics/Stevens and Blazers/Stotts.

[Sinobas]

yeah, that little snot danny ainge turned out to be an excellent GM.

Portland has a GM that talks the talk, but can't walk it. The Celtics have a GM who has been walking the walk for well over a decade. Portland's GM has talked about the importance of building and maintaining an asset base, but hasn't been able to do it. Ainge, on the other hand, has and has kept a great foundation of assets, year after year

and Ainge has shown he can build a contender in different ways. He traded picks and young players for aging veterans still in their primes and won a championship. Then he didn't fall into the trap of riding the value of those aging veterans all the way down, so did the reverse and traded aging veterans for picks and young players (it sure helped to have a sucker like Billy King in Brooklyn)

he is going to have the 'surplus' issue next season though. He'll have Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward demanding lots of minutes. But Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum will be demanding lots of minutes as well. And there's the issue of getting minutes for Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart. All 6 players have earned their playing time. There simply aren't enough minutes to go around. Ainge may have to be active trading again and there's plenty of reason to suspect he'll make more great moves

I hate the Celtics

Why didn't the Blazers go after him? He's an Oregonian, former Blazers...Allen should offer him 30 mil a year to be our GM rather than wasting money on the bums Neil Olshey signs.

[PDXKnight]

yeah, that little snot danny ainge turned out to be an excellent GM.

Portland has a GM that talks the talk, but can't walk it. The Celtics have a GM who has been walking the walk for well over a decade. Portland's GM has talked about the importance of building and maintaining an asset base, but hasn't been able to do it. Ainge, on the other hand, has and has kept a great foundation of assets, year after year

and Ainge has shown he can build a contender in different ways. He traded picks and young players for aging veterans still in their primes and won a championship. Then he didn't fall into the trap of riding the value of those aging veterans all the way down, so did the reverse and traded aging veterans for picks and young players (it sure helped to have a sucker like Billy King in Brooklyn)

he is going to have the 'surplus' issue next season though. He'll have Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward demanding lots of minutes. But Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum will be demanding lots of minutes as well. And there's the issue of getting minutes for Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart. All 6 players have earned their playing time. There simply aren't enough minutes to go around. Ainge may have to be active trading again and there's plenty of reason to suspect he'll make more great moves

I hate the Celtics

Why didn't the Blazers go after him? He's an Oregonian, former Blazers...Allen should offer him 30 mil a year to be our GM rather than wasting money on the bums Neil Olshey signs.

Why not just find our own ainge rather than pay Danny 30 mil?

[Downtown]

When I watch the Celtics the one word that comes to mind is poise. For such a young team they really stick to their plan and never seem to get rattled regardless of momentum swings. Jayson Tatum is showing up Ben Simmons in this series.

[tester551]

Why didn't the Blazers go after him? He's an Oregonian, former Blazers...Allen should offer him 30 mil a year to be our GM rather than wasting money on the bums Neil Olshey signs.

Why not just find our own ainge rather than pay Danny 30 mil?

It's not like the grow on trees...

It's very rare to find someone truly elite at what they do. Finding that person is much easier said than done

[Shem]

Great coach, but some here would have demanded his firing after his second season---not a winning record and swept in the first round.

Yeah, but the particular coach you are trying to defend has been swept out of the playoffs in his 5th and 6th seasons while riding a 10 game playoff losing streak.

[Epicurus]

Great coach, but some here would have demanded his firing after his second season---not a winning record and swept in the first round.

Yeah, but the particular coach you are trying to defend has been swept out of the playoffs in his 5th and 6th seasons while riding a 10 game playoff losing streak.

Umm, you realize that I was talking about the end of Stevens' second season. Thus your comment really isn't very relevant. Besides I was not defending anyone, but poking fun at those ruled by emotion when following basketball. Maybe you know someone like that.

BTW, were the Blazers the only team swept last playoffs by GSW?

[Gant]

yeah, that little snot danny ainge turned out to be an excellent GM.

Portland has a GM that talks the talk, but can't walk it. The Celtics have a GM who has been walking the walk for well over a decade. Portland's GM has talked about the importance of building and maintaining an asset base, but hasn't been able to do it. Ainge, on the other hand, has and has kept a great foundation of assets, year after year

and Ainge has shown he can build a contender in different ways. He traded picks and young players for aging veterans still in their primes and won a championship. Then he didn't fall into the trap of riding the value of those aging veterans all the way down, so did the reverse and traded aging veterans for picks and young players (it sure helped to have a sucker like Billy King in Brooklyn)

he is going to have the 'surplus' issue next season though. He'll have Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward demanding lots of minutes. But Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum will be demanding lots of minutes as well. And there's the issue of getting minutes for Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart. All 6 players have earned their playing time. There simply aren't enough minutes to go around. Ainge may have to be active trading again and there's plenty of reason to suspect he'll make more great moves.

I hate the Celtics

This is an interesting question. If they keep the roster mostly intact:

Starters will be 5 of: Horford, Kyrie, Brown, Hayward, Tatum, and Baynes (assuming he's re-signed, he's still a likely short minute starter).

Bench: One of the above, plus Smart, Morris, Rozier, Theis, and Ojeleye.

Figure Monroe and Nader are gone, though who knows. That leaves spots for Yabusele, Larkin?, Jabari Bird who looked great and is poised to be upgraded from 2-way, and probably a first round pick rookie.

There are 240 minutes total. Horford, Kyrie, Brown, Hayward, Tatum, Smart, and Rozier could average more or less 30 each . That leaves 30 minutes for the role man centers and deep bench. Add in injuries and rest, and it's doable keeping everybody happy.

Of course Ainge could do anything.

[Shem]

Great coach, but some here would have demanded his firing after his second season---not a winning record and swept in the first round.

Yeah, but the particular coach you are trying to defend has been swept out of the playoffs in his 5th and 6th seasons while riding a 10 game playoff losing streak.

Umm, you realize that I was talking about the end of Stevens' second season. Thus your comment really isn't very relevant. Besides I was not defending anyone, but poking fun at those ruled by emotion when following basketball. Maybe you know someone like that.

BTW, were the Blazers the only team swept last playoffs by GSW?

So are you saying you weren't comparing Brad Stevens to Terry Stotts in your original message? And if you weren't, to whom were you referring to other than Brad Stevens?

[Epicurus]

I already told you the intent of my original comment here, and that it was not for the purpose of coach comparison; rather it was to tweak the impatience and emotionality of some posters. It really isn't that complicated, but then again most folks don't require two hours to watch "60 Minutes."