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If they had not made the Allen or KG trade would they be a playoff team this year? I think so.

Pierce/Jefferson/Rondo/Gomes/West/T. Allen/Perkins/J. Green or G. Green would be a a decent group. Yeah, probably at least.

A first round and out team. So to your answer your question, yes.

In the East, they would be the fifth seed.

yea thats actually a pretty good young up and coming team.

only concerns would be pierce wanting out because this is a youth movement, and would rondo be as good without the big 3 on the floor.

Why do you guys assume they would make the playoffs with the same team? The East was horrible last year too, and they won what, 20 something games? Pierce didn't miss THAT many games.

lukeridenour wrote:yea thats actually a pretty good young up and coming team.

only concerns would be pierce wanting out because this is a youth movement, and would rondo be as good without the big 3 on the floor.

Rondo has actually been far better without Ray Allen playing, because he is way more aggressive. I'd say playing with 3 all-stars causes him to go through games where he is just invisible because he doesn't want to take too many shots. I know I've wished he'd be more aggressive even when all 3 are healthy.

And yes, the Celtics would likely be a playoff team with no trades (I assume they get to keep defensive guru Tom Thibodeau and hirings/signings are allowed), but they'd win at most 1 playoff round.

I don't think so but that's just my opinion. I think Pierce would have been traded if they didn't get KG and Allen.

asdfgh wrote:I don't think so but that's just my opinion. I think Pierce would have been traded if they didn't get KG and Allen.

You're probably right... but even then, they still could've made it in the East with whatever they got in return.

Actually... Now that I think about it the Celtics defense would be horrible if they didn't trade for KG or Allen...

They would be a 4th seed in the Leastern Conference.

We'd be trying to work Yi into the lineup as well. In my opinion, we'd be fighting for the 6-7-8 seeds, but I don't think we'd have any shot at a championship. Doubt if we would have been able to snag Thibideaux, but even if we did, not sure it would have mattered. its the commitment of PGA to defense that has inspired our young 'uns

Nup, jeeze they only won 20 games last season.

Last year they had injuries.

NetsForce wrote:Actually... Now that I think about it the Celtics defense would be horrible if they didn't trade for KG or Allen...

Last season they were 16th in defensive rating, without a trade why would the defence go from around average to horrible?

Pierce missed about half of the games last year. That's about 18 more wins. Wich means 38 wins wich is about 7/8 place in East.

Piere WOULD have been traded for sure though.

So basically they would have been the timberwolves of this year [with minn's extra talent as the ratio of return for Pierce and Yi/Wright as draft pick]

they'd be in the group with the hawks, pacers, and nets. (6,7,8)

They would have a chance because they would be in the East but they still would not make it.

Definitely. They would've won the division last year if Pierce hadn't gone down. They were already ahead.

No playoffs. They would be like the Heat.