Not so hot, hot take: Celtics have flat out better talent. Masai should rebuild like the Celts.

[TheAlchemist]

Was really thinking about this the last couple of days, and it occurred to me that the Celtics have flat out better talent.

Look at the Celtics starting lineup;

Jason Tatum
- 2017 First Round pick, 3rd overall
- 2020 First-time All-star
- Best talent (or at least tied with Donovan Mitchell) in his draft class
- 2018 all rookie team
- Averaging 23.4, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 20.8 PER with an .567 TS% for the season

Jaylen Brown
- 2016 First Round pick, 3rd overall
- 2017 All rookie second team
- Averaging 20.3 ppg, 6.4 rebounds, .583 TS% for the season

Kemba Walker
- 4× NBA All-Star (2017–2020)
- All-NBA Third Team (2019)
- 2011 First round, 9th pick overall (a lot of people wanted him here)
- Averaging 20.4 ppg, 3.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 20 PER with an .575

.. All three are under 30, two of which are MUCH younger than the majority of our team. All three can shot create AND shoot the ball at a blazing hot level. Pepper in Marcus Smart, Theis, Hayward with Brad Stevens, and it's fair to say the Celtics have a higher talent level then us.

And why wouldn't they? The Celtics 3 all stars consist of the 3rd overall pick, 3rd overall pick , and 9th of their respective draft classes.

The point isn't to make an excuse up, but to use the scenario of the Celtics post Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce/ Ray Allen, as a template for success. Especially when transitioning from an aging championship core to a young perennial contender. I honestly thought this year we had that chance, and if we re-sign Iabka / Gasol to long term deals, the next as well would be a great opportunity.

Considering we already have guys like FVV / Siakam and OG, you got to think, did we do the best job at accumulating assets to make ourselves a contender for the next couple of years?

We're going to run into the same issue year after year, if we don't have shot creators. Scoring by collective committee can be stopped easily in the playoffs, and without game breaker type of talents, it'll be hard.

[carnage24]

Finally someone is saying it

[Mak]

what are you going to copy or duplicate that Celtics did?

is Billy King coming back as GM of another team? Nobody thought Nets were trading consecutive top 3 picks in back to back drafts when they traded for Pierce.

Meanwhile, Masai is drafting at 20 and 27 and signing undrafted players. Just do what Celtics did why did not every other team think of this? Insane.

[Scott Hall]

It's hard to keep up with Bostons talent level when they keep on getting high picks from all these other
dumb ass NBA franchises every year. I saw they have the 11th pick in this upcoming draft and was like WTF??

Right now they just have our number and we're coming off a year where we lost a top 3 player and one of
the biggest assets in the world for nothing. And still this series is going 6-7 games.

We still finished with the 2nd best record in the NBA while being among the league leaders in injuries.

Honestly do Tatum and Brown really scare you that much? Kemba has always been a Raptor killer since
we passed on him in the draft for Valanciunas but he's been in the league almost 10 years now.

Kawhi being an LA nut hugger dropped us down a peg so it was inevitable that we were gonna drop off a
bit but we haven't fallen off a cliff. Give Ujiri some time and a chance to recover and build it back up again.

[Duffman100]

We just won a title and lost our best player. No crap they have better talent than we do.

Masai has work to do to build the next title contending generation. Let's give him some time to do that.

This season was found money anyways.

[HeadtopChunes]

you are comparing pretty much the end results of the Cs rebuild to the start of ours.

This team will look drastically different in 2 years

[Danny1616]

Celtics never did a rebuild, lol.

Ainge basically owned the Nets by getting rid of Pierce and Garnett when they were at the end of their careers for a bunch of draft picks.

They remained a competitive team regardless.

Masai did something similar with Bargnani and has made the most of of having late draft picks or finding undrafted gems.

Further, you need to wait a few years to see which teams really ends up better. Can the Celtics afford to have Brown, Kemba and Tatum together? If Celtics don't pay Brown max money, does he bolt for a bottom feeder who will? Will we resign Fred and if so does he emerge as an all-star? Will Pascal take the next leap? Will OG emerge as a potential all-star? Do we resign Ibaka or Gasol? If we don't resign any of them, does Masai go for an all-star caliber big? I mean many things are unanswered.

Also, I think posters here don't understand how difficult it is to win back-to-back championships.

Spurs never repeated despite winning 5 championships over 20 years. In fact, between 2007 and 2013, they got bounced in the 1st round three times and couldn't win a chip.

Pistons won in '04, made the finals again in '05 but couldn't get over the hump again in 06 and 07.

Dallas had many playoff disappointments until finally getting over the hump in 2011. Do people forget when Dallas won 67 games, Dirk was MVP and they lost to Golden State in the 1st round? Dirk was atrocious that series.

[jimmy keys]

So what do you suggest pray for some team to hire Billy King then trade Lowry and Ibaka for 3 FRP's? Using Boston as a template seems like a waste of time considering they outsourced their rebuild in essence and made many mistakes themselves along the way. The Raptors consistently hit on late picks and undrafted talent. Boston not so much. Their situation is completely unique, but they deserve credit for hitting on the two 3rd overall picks. Neither is a future superstar though in my opinion.

[Joker]

There's absolutely no shame in losing to this celtics team with the top 3 guys they have compared to ours.

[xAIRNESSx]

Most unrealistic team/scenario to use as an example

[Brinbe]

Yep. Facts 100%.

[C_Money]

We should try and do it without rebuilding first. Rebuilding is the last resort.

[niQ]

Obviously we would be in a better position if we had two 3rd overall picks and a 9th overall pick (don't forget Marcus Smart was a 6th overall pick and Hayward was also a 9th overall pick). So how do you propose we get that?

[Pooh_Jeter]

Masai has had to use picks to move off the terrible contracts he signed. The Kawhi deal falling into his lap because of the Bobby Webster connection has people thinking he is a gunslinger when in reality he is loyal/safe to a fault. People are really going to talk themselves into a capped out team with Siakam/FVV and OG as the three best players.

[tdotrep2]

celtics got gifted top picks, god forbid the sixers take tatum they probably only have jalen brown and fultz.

What masai is doing is perfect, keep in it and look for great deals/players, dont try to lose games ever.

[MixxSRC]

Yeah after Lowry, Ibaka and Gasol leave this team will be on a bottom of the East. So just stay patient and build from draft

[joseph227]

Masai should do what Masai did when he got hired in 2013 and eventually led his team to a championship.

[SFour]

Masai said don't lose a second of sleep....Giannis 2021

[tdotrep2]

Masai should do what Masai did when he got hired in 2013 and eventually led his team to a championship.

exactly, and we are in a vastly superior position now.

[MixxSRC]

People should realize this **** takes time. Trying to make moves to win every year is not realistic.