Celtics 2023-24, Season Thread, (con't)

[Fencer reregistered]

Asa a team over the second apron their only way to improve is to draft and develop.

Or minimum-salary FAs, whether undrafted rookies or some other kind.

Most recent trades the Cs have done would have been impossible under second-apron rules. (Walker/Horford is the only exception that comes quickly to mind.)

But most recent FA signings -- including Hauser and Kornet -- would still have been possible.

[steefP2]

Asa a team over the second apron their only way to improve is to draft and develop.

Well they can still make trades as long as they don’t take back more salary than going out. They can resign their own guys with bird rights.
They currently have 12 guys on the roster who can legit play…only two of them are over 30 years old.
Additionally Queta can play meaningful minutes and Walsh and maybe Davison have a bright future.
They have set themselves up nicely to deal with the challenges of the second Apron.

Important to note you can’t also aggregate salary anymore next season as a 2nd apron team so coupled that with the new matching salary criteria in trades; it becomes essentially impossible to add salary to a 2nd apron team. This is why getting Tillman and springer was important to do this season. We can resign Tillman and even overpay him to have some trade able salary outside of Pritchard and our top 6.

[Fencer reregistered]

He’s not gonna win MVP because he takes too many awful shots that tank his efficiency and his usage is not as high as other candidates. At the end of the day, it’s about counting stats/efficiency and his numbers just don’t stand out

There's no official criteria for MVP but I've always thought of it as Most Valuable To Winning.

The Celtics are winning the most games by a comfortable margin and JT leads the team in points, rebounds, assists and steals. So take that for data haha.

I agree he will most likely not win it but I'm not exactly sure why. He's a very strong candidate imo. The only other players who've had Tatum's stats for a team that won 75% of its games are Giannis, Malone and Kareem - all 3 won MVP.

Stats were harder to come by decades ago. And Giannis, rightly or wrongly, is seen as a better defender than Tatum.

[snowman]

In looking at the standings for the Eastern conference, to determine home court advantage through the Eastern Conference finals, Boston has already won the season series verses every team in the current top 10 except the Bucks and the Hawks. We have two games left against both teams, and the series is tied at one each with both teams. As far as the Hawks go, I don't think we will have to worry about them. We need one more win against the Bucks to capture that series. As long as we don't do something stupid, the Bucks are the only team that has a chance to get home court from us. We do however have an 8 1/2 game lead on them with just 24 games left to go, 11 home, 13 away, 3 back to backs, 9 against non-playoff teams, 15 against playoff teams. The Bucks have 23 games left, 11 home, 12 away, 4 back to backs, but just 6 against non-playoff teams, and 17 against playoff teams.

Homecourt advantage is determined by overall record not by head to head. The Celtics are on pace to lose 17 games this season. Everybody else in the conference has already lost at least 20. There isn't anything to worry about on that front.

I know that. That is why I added the "as long as we don't do something stupid", like go on a losing streak of 4 or 5 games.

[Fencer reregistered]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-celtics/2024/03/01/joe-mazzulla-celtics-coach-chad-finn-column/

Good article, but not quite accurate. Brad tried to trade Brogdon instead of Smart, and he had no idea Jrue would be available. I think he was sincere about trying to build what is basically this year's team, but with Smart and Timelord instead of Jrue.

That said, he would have jumped at the chance to trade Smart and Timelord for Jrue, had things worked that way.

[playa-hater]

I say don't even bother picking anyone up for the last roster spot. Absolutely no need. Hard enough to even get the talent we have any playing time and the locker-room is great right now.

Also feel that Boston has enough quality depth that it can survive any short-term injuries.

[KamikazeK]

The 70 win dream is technically still alive.

[Fierce1]

The 70 win dream is technically still alive.

Not a good idea.

Just go for 65 or 64.

[Smart2Nesmith43]

The Celtics are +127 over their last five games. That's a point differential over 25 per game for those that don't want to do the math (aka members of the Nets, Bulls, Knicks, Sixers and Mavs)

[Parliament10]

The Celtics are +127 over their last five games. That's a point differential over 25 per game for those that don't want to do the math (aka members of the Nets, Bulls, Knicks, Sixers and Mavs)

Read on Twitter

[Celts17Pride]

I say don't even bother picking anyone up for the last roster spot. Absolutely no need. Hard enough to even get the talent we have any playing time and the locker-room is great right now.

Also feel that Boston has enough quality depth that it can survive any short-term injuries.

You pick players up not for playing time but for potential injuries or future playing time like Springer.

Might be better to pick up a younger player like Hayes, Knox, Bouknight etc. and give them a non guaranteed deal for next season and see if you can turn them into something useful.

[Parliament10]

I say don't even bother picking anyone up for the last roster spot. Absolutely no need. Hard enough to even get the talent we have any playing time and the locker-room is great right now.

Also feel that Boston has enough quality depth that it can survive any short-term injuries.

You pick players up not for playing time but for potential injuries or future playing time like Springer.

Might be better to pick up a younger player like Hayes, Knox, Bouknight etc. and give them a non guaranteed deal for next season and see if you can turn them into something useful.

I'm thinking that we should still go with Queta, even despite the injury.

[Celts17Pride]

I say don't even bother picking anyone up for the last roster spot. Absolutely no need. Hard enough to even get the talent we have any playing time and the locker-room is great right now.

Also feel that Boston has enough quality depth that it can survive any short-term injuries.

You pick players up not for playing time but for potential injuries or future playing time like Springer.

Might be better to pick up a younger player like Hayes, Knox, Bouknight etc. and give them a non guaranteed deal for next season and see if you can turn them into something useful.

I'm thinking that we should still go with Queta, even despite the injury.

Queta is a RFA. Celtics can match any deal he gets. No real reason to make Queta the 15th guy.

[Curmudgeon]

You pick players up not for playing time but for potential injuries or future playing time like Springer.

Might be better to pick up a younger player like Hayes, Knox, Bouknight etc. and give them a non guaranteed deal for next season and see if you can turn them into something useful.

I'm thinking that we should still go with Queta, even despite the injury.

Queta is a RFA. Celtics can match any deal he gets. No real reason to make Queta the 15th guy.

Unless you think you might need him in the playoffs.
Or if you can get him for less money now.

[165bows]

I say don't even bother picking anyone up for the last roster spot. Absolutely no need. Hard enough to even get the talent we have any playing time and the locker-room is great right now.

Also feel that Boston has enough quality depth that it can survive any short-term injuries.

You pick players up not for playing time but for potential injuries or future playing time like Springer.

Might be better to pick up a younger player like Hayes, Knox, Bouknight etc. and give them a non guaranteed deal for next season and see if you can turn them into something useful.

Milton’s not young, not old, wouldn’t shock me if they look at him for a 15th man.

[BK_2020]

I'm thinking that we should still go with Queta, even despite the injury.

Queta is a RFA. Celtics can match any deal he gets. No real reason to make Queta the 15th guy.

Unless you think you might need him in the playoffs.
Or if you can get him for less money now.

We are in trouble if we need Queta in the playoffs.

[Grahf]

It's insane how far this roster has progressed in the last few years. To put it into perspective, consider: we wanted to make Irving our number one guy, the face of the franchise just a few years ago. But on the current Celtics roster, he wouldn't even start.

[ryan in Maine]

Jrue Holiday is our 4th, 5th option lmfao!

[Memokerobi]

He’s not gonna win MVP because he takes too many awful shots that tank his efficiency and his usage is not as high as other candidates. At the end of the day, it’s about counting stats/efficiency and his numbers just don’t stand out

There's no official criteria for MVP but I've always thought of it as Most Valuable To Winning.

The Celtics are winning the most games by a comfortable margin and JT leads the team in points, rebounds, assists and steals. So take that for data haha.

I agree he will most likely not win it but I'm not exactly sure why. He's a very strong candidate imo. The only other players who've had Tatum's stats for a team that won 75% of its games are Giannis, Malone and Kareem - all 3 won MVP.

I mean even if you base it on this argument, the Mavs without Luka would be a top 5 pick team and the Bucks without Giannis would be the Blazers. No Tatum definitely makes this team so much worse but they'd still be competitive in the East, maybe similar to NYK. So I get the argument of him having a good team. Love Tatum, he's playing the most mature and best ball of his career which benefits the Celtics but I understand why he isn't a serious MVP candidate

[Memokerobi]

In looking at the standings for the Eastern conference, to determine home court advantage through the Eastern Conference finals, Boston has already won the season series verses every team in the current top 10 except the Bucks and the Hawks. We have two games left against both teams, and the series is tied at one each with both teams. As far as the Hawks go, I don't think we will have to worry about them. We need one more win against the Bucks to capture that series. As long as we don't do something stupid, the Bucks are the only team that has a chance to get home court from us. We do however have an 8 1/2 game lead on them with just 24 games left to go, 11 home, 13 away, 3 back to backs, 9 against non-playoff teams, 15 against playoff teams. The Bucks have 23 games left, 11 home, 12 away, 4 back to backs, but just 6 against non-playoff teams, and 17 against playoff teams.

Bucks might get scary down the line but they ain't catching us in the regular season. That seed is as good as locked in