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[lilfishi22]

Calling White and Holiday All Stars is a bit of a stretch, but yeah they have a nice mix of stars and role players.

I think they are like fringe all-star guys in a similar vein as the 2015 Hawks where they had dudes like Korver and Teague in there. In some weaker years, they may have made it but in most, they probably wouldn't. Both White and Jrue are 2nd team All-Defense already so they are absolutely bringing it on that end of the court, both are shooting 40% from 3, do a lot of work on and off ball and if they had a bigger role on the offensive end, their numbers would certainly look more "all-star" calibre.

This Celtics team is easily the most well-rounded team from like 1 to 8 I've seen in some time. Their road to the Finals was also a cakewalk which they absolutely dominated as expected.

They really lucked out in games 1 and 3 vs the Pacers and with Haliburton missing the last couple games. They still would have won, but I expected them to dominate more.

I mean they aren't as good as like a 2017 Warriors team that steam rolled seriously good teams like San Antonio and Cleveland on-route to a title and only dropped 1 game all post-season long but Celtics are still damn good. I don't think having a number of struggle games makes them not dominant. Ultimately, they won 64 games in the regular season and rose to every occasions when tested or lost a game in the playoffs. They are just well rounded, well coached and has the talent

[bwgood77]

I think they are like fringe all-star guys in a similar vein as the 2015 Hawks where they had dudes like Korver and Teague in there. In some weaker years, they may have made it but in most, they probably wouldn't. Both White and Jrue are 2nd team All-Defense already so they are absolutely bringing it on that end of the court, both are shooting 40% from 3, do a lot of work on and off ball and if they had a bigger role on the offensive end, their numbers would certainly look more "all-star" calibre.

This Celtics team is easily the most well-rounded team from like 1 to 8 I've seen in some time. Their road to the Finals was also a cakewalk which they absolutely dominated as expected.

They really lucked out in games 1 and 3 vs the Pacers and with Haliburton missing the last couple games. They still would have won, but I expected them to dominate more.

I mean they aren't as good as like a 2017 Warriors team that steam rolled seriously good teams like San Antonio and Cleveland on-route to a title and only dropped 1 game all post-season long but Celtics are still damn good. I don't think having a number of struggle games makes them not dominant. Ultimately, they won 64 games in the regular season and rose to every occasions when tested or lost a game in the playoffs. They are just well rounded, well coached and has the talent

Oh, I think Boston was by far the best team this season and are loaded at every position and they were crushing some of the best WC teams at every position. It's just hard to contend with a team loaded with so many all stars...current and past..even Horford is a 5x all star and Jrue a two time all star. Then White is extremely important to the team and is a beast defensively. They are just loaded.

I thought Dallas would have a tough time contending with such loaded roster and great defense, where Dallas didn't quite have the defenders or talent at all 5 starting positions. It's always hard to count Luka out. The Boston team has seemed so good this year it was weird to think we won the same # of games as them a couple years ago.

I was just simply saying they got lucky in a couple games against Indy to someone saying they rolled through the playoffs. They obviously had a bit of trouble with Indy when Indy was healthy, but were able to pull them out.

But I had Boston winning it all in my playoff predictions, beating Dallas actually. They may do it in fewer games than I predicted though.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2371919&start=20#p112472540

[sunsbg]

The bad news are the Celtics are here to stay unlike '21 Suns who had a short window with 35+yo CP3 and decided to double down on short windows with KD. If healthy Celtics are in good shape to win titles in next 2-3 years, even beyond as surrounding still young Tatum and Brown won't be difficult at all.

[lilfishi22]

The bad news are the Celtics are here to stay unlike '21 Suns who had a short window with 35+yo CP3 and decided to double down on short windows with KD. If healthy Celtics are in good shape to win titles in next 2-3 years, even beyond as surrounding still young Tatum and Brown won't be difficult at all.

Perhaps but they will also run into same 2nd apron issues as us as well. They just gave KP an extension last season (I believe), they gave Jrue a fat extension, White is due for one as he's expiring and Tatum will be extension eligible next month and he's going to worth $315 over 5 which will be like over $60m a year.

[sunsbg]

The bad news are the Celtics are here to stay unlike '21 Suns who had a short window with 35+yo CP3 and decided to double down on short windows with KD. If healthy Celtics are in good shape to win titles in next 2-3 years, even beyond as surrounding still young Tatum and Brown won't be difficult at all.

Perhaps but they will also run into same 2nd apron issues as us as well. They just gave KP an extension last season (I believe), they gave Jrue a fat extension, White is due for one as he's expiring and Tatum will be extension eligible next month and he's going to worth $315 over 5 which will be like over $60m a year.

Yeah the big question is if they can afford bringing back White. All the rest of their main players will be signed on expensive long-term contracts. They still have draft picks(unlike one other team) and vet min guys as options to fill the roster with cheap contracts.

[lilfishi22]

The bad news are the Celtics are here to stay unlike '21 Suns who had a short window with 35+yo CP3 and decided to double down on short windows with KD. If healthy Celtics are in good shape to win titles in next 2-3 years, even beyond as surrounding still young Tatum and Brown won't be difficult at all.

Perhaps but they will also run into same 2nd apron issues as us as well. They just gave KP an extension last season (I believe), they gave Jrue a fat extension, White is due for one as he's expiring and Tatum will be extension eligible next month and he's going to worth $315 over 5 which will be like over $60m a year.

Yeah the big question is if they can afford bringing back White. All the rest of their main players will be signed on expensive long-term contracts. They still have draft picks(unlike one other team) and vet min guys as options to fill the roster with cheap contracts.

I don't doubt they have the youth but sustainability of that roster isn't a foregone conclusion. Even if they can bring White back, that Tatum extension will very likely add $20-25m to their books. Perhaps they just pay what they have to pay for a couple of seasons and then have a warm firesale of dudes like Jrue/White if they aren't competing at this level.

[lilfishi22]

They really lucked out in games 1 and 3 vs the Pacers and with Haliburton missing the last couple games. They still would have won, but I expected them to dominate more.

I mean they aren't as good as like a 2017 Warriors team that steam rolled seriously good teams like San Antonio and Cleveland on-route to a title and only dropped 1 game all post-season long but Celtics are still damn good. I don't think having a number of struggle games makes them not dominant. Ultimately, they won 64 games in the regular season and rose to every occasions when tested or lost a game in the playoffs. They are just well rounded, well coached and has the talent

Oh, I think Boston was by far the best team this season and are loaded at every position and they were crushing some of the best WC teams at every position. It's just hard to contend with a team loaded with so many all stars...current and past..even Horford is a 5x all star and Jrue a two time all star. Then White is extremely important to the team and is a beast defensively. They are just loaded.

I thought Dallas would have a tough time contending with such loaded roster and great defense, where Dallas didn't quite have the defenders or talent at all 5 starting positions. It's always hard to count Luka out. The Boston team has seemed so good this year it was weird to think we won the same # of games as them a couple years ago.

I was just simply saying they got lucky in a couple games against Indy to someone saying they rolled through the playoffs. They obviously had a bit of trouble with Indy when Indy was healthy, but were able to pull them out.

But I had Boston winning it all in my playoff predictions, beating Dallas actually. They may do it in fewer games than I predicted though.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2371919&start=20#p112472540

I get what you're saying but even in their "most challenging" series, they were still gentlemen sweeps. No one really challenged them (ie took more than a game from them) this entire playoffs so far. On our Finals run, we were challenged in the 1st round and the WCF by the LA teams and at points, it felt 50/50 and we needed some seriously lucky breaks (ie no Kawhi, Valley-Oop, AD injury, no Murray) to get to the Finals. Not to say one team is more deserving than the other or anything like that because of our respective funs to the Finals but the C's run just showed there were no one really coming close to beating them at all. Like, as dominant runs go, this is a dominant run. Maybe not top 5 most dominant post season runs but dominant nonetheless.

Seriously impressive and were the rightful #1 contenders. Even before the season, I had them in their own #1 tier although I had Dallas pretty far down so that's on me

[King4Day]

Usually there are guys you're happy for to win a ring.
If/when Boston wins, I'll be happy for Horford and Holiday. But I don't care about anyone else. Half their bench I don't know who they are. I guess Tillman

[bullsaficianado]

Usually there are guys you're happy for to win a ring.
If/when Boston wins, I'll be happy for Horford and Holiday. But I don't care about anyone else. Half their bench I don't know who they are. I guess Tillman

Hello, Holiday was on the 2021 Bucks team that beat us in the Finals.

I don't really care who wins the Finals. I don't hate Luka he is a great player and Boston is a scrappy team that just plays the right way.

[King4Day]

Usually there are guys you're happy for to win a ring.
If/when Boston wins, I'll be happy for Horford and Holiday. But I don't care about anyone else. Half their bench I don't know who they are. I guess Tillman

Hello, Holiday was on the 2021 Bucks team that beat us in the Finals.

I don't really care who wins the Finals. I don't hate Luka he is a great player and Boston is a scrappy team that just plays the right way.

I know. I like him though and would be happy to see him win again. Bucks really messed up with that trade. Not that they could have known he'd be rerouted to Boston, but they had to know it was a possibility he'd be moved to a contender. That trade will win them a ring. They don't do this without him IMO.
Horford is the only Celtic who hasn't won that I'd be happy to see get his first ring.

[garrick]

The bad news are the Celtics are here to stay unlike '21 Suns who had a short window with 35+yo CP3 and decided to double down on short windows with KD. If healthy Celtics are in good shape to win titles in next 2-3 years, even beyond as surrounding still young Tatum and Brown won't be difficult at all.

Perhaps but they will also run into same 2nd apron issues as us as well. They just gave KP an extension last season (I believe), they gave Jrue a fat extension, White is due for one as he's expiring and Tatum will be extension eligible next month and he's going to worth $315 over 5 which will be like over $60m a year.

Yeah the big question is if they can afford bringing back White. All the rest of their main players will be signed on expensive long-term contracts. They still have draft picks(unlike one other team) and vet min guys as options to fill the roster with cheap contracts.

Boston no doubt will have salary cap issues but I would rather be in their position with players in their primes with Tatum, Porzingis and Brown who are going to be good for the next 4-5 years compared to us who have two of our max players either often injured or way past their prime.

Horford and to a lesser degree Holiday you have to worry about their age and who their replacements will be but if they have their own draft picks they can always restock through the draft to try to get a serviceable center or point guard.

Their future for the next 5 years is actually pretty bright unlike ours.

[bullsaficianado]

Usually there are guys you're happy for to win a ring.
If/when Boston wins, I'll be happy for Horford and Holiday. But I don't care about anyone else. Half their bench I don't know who they are. I guess Tillman

Hello, Holiday was on the 2021 Bucks team that beat us in the Finals.

I don't really care who wins the Finals. I don't hate Luka he is a great player and Boston is a scrappy team that just plays the right way.

I know. I like him though and would be happy to see him win again. Bucks really messed up with that trade. Not that they could have known he'd be rerouted to Boston, but they had to know it was a possibility he'd be moved to a contender. That trade will win them a ring. They don't do this without him IMO.
Horford is the only Celtic who hasn't won that I'd be happy to see get his first ring.

I would be the most happy for Tatum,Brown and Horford if Celtics go on to beat Mavs. It's good that Holiday is really helping them.

[garrick]

RIP Mavs.

Just didn't have the firepower against a stacked Celtics team.

If we by a miracle had made it to the finals we probably would have been swept with the Celtics winning by 30 and then in game 4 we would probably have been blown out by 40+ lol

If the Mavs in their current form have no chance against the Celtics what hope do we have with a team that lacks size and toughness at every position?

[King4Day]

Hello, Holiday was on the 2021 Bucks team that beat us in the Finals.

I don't really care who wins the Finals. I don't hate Luka he is a great player and Boston is a scrappy team that just plays the right way.

I know. I like him though and would be happy to see him win again. Bucks really messed up with that trade. Not that they could have known he'd be rerouted to Boston, but they had to know it was a possibility he'd be moved to a contender. That trade will win them a ring. They don't do this without him IMO.
Horford is the only Celtic who hasn't won that I'd be happy to see get his first ring.

I would be the most happy for Tatum,Brown and Horford if Celtics go on to beat Mavs. It's good that Holiday is really helping them.

What's crazy is, this would be the conclusion of the KG/Pierce to the Nets trade. They gave away the world for those guys and Tatum and Brown were 2 of players Boston drafted with those Nets picks. In the end, it will have led to a title.

[King4Day]

Certainly not something to make Suns fans feel better but it's fascinating that Book (and the Suns) will have had the better NBA finals showing than Luka and the Mavs.
Both were injured so we'll eliminate that being an excuse.
And I realize each opponent is different, but the Bucks were no slouch.
I feel like the Mavs have better defense and a deeper bench. Maybe Boston is that far better than everyone else.

[sunsbg]

Celtics are really good. Both Suns and Mavs could have won a title if they faced a team like Heat in the finals. Sometimes it's a matter of (lack of) luck.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[bwgood77]

RIP Mavs.

Just didn't have the firepower against a stacked Celtics team.

If we by a miracle had made it to the finals we probably would have been swept with the Celtics winning by 30 and then in game 4 we would probably have been blown out by 40+ lol

If the Mavs in their current form have no chance against the Celtics what hope do we have with a team that lacks size and toughness at every position?

Just think, the Mavs are getting manhandled by the Celtics, or at least can't pull anything out, much like the TWolves couldn't against Dallas, going down in 5, after the TWolves took out the defending champ Nuggets by winning game 7 in Denver after sweeping us. Not only would we have gotten crushed by the Celtics, but we got crushed by a team that got crushed by the team getting crushed by Boston.

[lilfishi22]

Mavs are similar to the 21 Suns in the sense that we were both led by a young star, supported by an older star and had the complementary role players step up all throughout the playoffs. But it wasn't until we both met a true championship calibre team built to be able to defend at the highest level did our 2 star offense no longer cut it. The major difference is that no one guy on the Celtics really went superhuman and it was pretty well rounded dominant performances

[garrick]

RIP Mavs.

Just didn't have the firepower against a stacked Celtics team.

If we by a miracle had made it to the finals we probably would have been swept with the Celtics winning by 30 and then in game 4 we would probably have been blown out by 40+ lol

If the Mavs in their current form have no chance against the Celtics what hope do we have with a team that lacks size and toughness at every position?

Just think, the Mavs are getting manhandled by the Celtics, or at least can't pull anything out, much like the TWolves couldn't against Dallas, going down in 5, after the TWolves took out the defending champ Nuggets by winning game 7 in Denver after sweeping us. Not only would we have gotten crushed by the Celtics, but we got crushed by a team that got crushed by the team getting crushed by Boston.

This is why I think we just don't have the assets to make a deep run in the playoffs next season even if we make all the rights moves it just ultimately won't be enough to solidify the bench because due to a lack of assets we can only make a couple moves which won't bring us to the level of the top 6 teams in the league.

We can use the #22 pick to fill one of our needs whether it's a point guard, center or forward and then maybe we could trade Grayson for another player but even then we still have to shore up our bench which is going to be hard to do when you only have the vet minimum to offer free agents.