Massive NBA Conspiracy Continues To Unfold! Loss vs DET 10/26

[Larry_Russell]

Jaylen Brown, D. White, and Pritchard are all Quality and Proven Players. And Tatum is going to come back, this Season.
Tanking is not in the cards (so far). But this ragtag fleet that we have now? It's not going to cut it.

How does this Core, and this Team as a whole, Start off 0-3?

Because the team sucks.

White is not a second option
Brown is not a 1st option
Simons is not a winning playet
There is no front court
There is no true point guard
And Joe is not a great coach that can make something of nothing

[jmr07019]

I was surprised to see that Boston is 13th in defensive efficiency. Offensive rebounds don't add an extra possession so the rebounding problem should be reflected in the defensive efficiency number.

Celtics are 25th in offensive efficiency.

Doesn't seem to match my eye test. To me the defense and rebounding is the main issue, not the offense. But looking at the numbers Derrick White needs to shoot better. A lot of FGA at low percentages.

[steefP2]

I was surprised to see that Boston is 13th in defensive efficiency. Offensive rebounds don't add an extra possession so the rebounding problem should be reflected in the defensive efficiency number.

Celtics are 25th in offensive efficiency.

Doesn't seem to match my eye test. To me the defense and rebounding is the main issue, not the offense. But looking at the numbers Derrick White needs to shoot better. A lot of FGA at low percentages.

updated for the pistons game, theyre 23rd on defense and 21st on offense.

[Celts17Pride]

This is on Brad now.
How this team moves forward will depend on what Brad and the owners decide.

Those who were thinking Tatum is not a franchise player, look at the team now.
Not only do the Cs miss his ability to run the team, his rebounding is also sorely missed.

The Cs have the personnel to be competitive.
But Joe is going with seniority, like PP and Sam over the young, bigger, and more athletic players like Mynot, Boucher, and Hugo.
So as long as Joe is going with a soft lineup, with Sam and PP, the Cs will lose a lot of games.

Simons is not being used properly because Joe has him behind PP on the depth chart.
It's time for Brad to trade Simons for a player with a lower salary.
We can see Simons can score, even with limited playing time and shot attempts.
He just doesn't fit in because of how Joe runs the team.

What now, Brad?

No team wants Simons, Celtics are stuck with him for this year

[Celts17Pride]

Same thing could happen to Giannis and the Bucks or Jokic and the Nuggets.

Difference is we are already not good. The Nuggets have a better roster than us right now. The Bucks yes are probably a Giannis injury from disaster

Do I think we are going to tank? Probably not.

Do I think Brad will go out of his way to trade or sign players that are going to help us win a couple of extra games this season? Absolutely not.

You'll be surprised.

Brad will make a trade or trades.

The only trades that Brad Stevens is going to make is at the trade deadline when he starts selling players for draft picks. Could easily see guys like Boucher, Garza, Minott, Scheierman and even Hauser being sold for draft picks. The mid-season trade deadline the full tank will be on.

[jfs1000d]

Random, but Joe benching Tillman with tons of family in attendance seems cruel. I know, minutes are earned, but we suck and if Baylor can get a few minutes of burn, surely Tillman can get a few minutes somewhere.

Back to back. Tillman doesn't play back to backs.


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[jfs1000d]

I feel like if we were truly trying to tank, we would have sold high on some of this roster to ensure we actually get a worthwhile lottery pick instead of getting stuck with a middling pick. Sure, we've looked awful through three games but this roster isn't bad enough to out-tank the bottom feeders of the league.

Exactly!

If this was a tanking year, Brad would've traded DWhite for a lottery pick, like what that report about Toronto offering the 9th pick for DWhite.

This roster can compete if they can get rebounds.
Only way to do that is to play bigger players like Mynot, Boucher, and Hugo.

A single injury to Brown or White would be enough for this team to really drop off a cliff.

It is not that good.

Brown goes down we are bottom 5 team
In nba.


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[Celts17Pride]

I was surprised to see that Boston is 13th in defensive efficiency. Offensive rebounds don't add an extra possession so the rebounding problem should be reflected in the defensive efficiency number.

Celtics are 25th in offensive efficiency.

Doesn't seem to match my eye test. To me the defense and rebounding is the main issue, not the offense. But looking at the numbers Derrick White needs to shoot better. A lot of FGA at low percentages.

updated for the pistons game, theyre 23rd on defense and 21st on offense.

A mediocre team, just like most expected

[cl2117]

I'm gonna be "that guy" and say this is in a way the best of both worlds (if you squint).

The bones of this team are still good but early indications are that we're going to lose a lot of close games en route to a decent lottery pick. In the context of everything that's happened (JT's injury, 2nd apron casualties of KP/Jrue, sale of the team etc.), this isn't really as bad as it seems.

JB may not be good enough to drag this team across the finish line every night be he still looks like a legit #2. White is the perfect 3rd banana for a contender with his ability to do a bit of everything and connect the dots. PP looks like he is still improving, Queta could be a depth C steal, Hugo has flashed some potential. There's just a lot of things to be positive about in spite of it all.

Concerning things for me are that Hauser seems like he's plateaued if not regressed, Simons looks like exactly the player he was sold as (not exactly a compliment) and Baylor/Walsh are looking more like write-offs the longer they are on the team.

I'm not going to be mad though if this is like the Patriot's season last year. Lots of moral victories in scoreboard losses with an eye on taking a leap back up to the top the following year on the back of a healthier roster and cap sheet plus some solid draft capital. For an 0-3 team I'm still feeling pretty positive.

[jfs1000d]

Difference is we are already not good. The Nuggets have a better roster than us right now. The Bucks yes are probably a Giannis injury from disaster

Do I think we are going to tank? Probably not.

Do I think Brad will go out of his way to trade or sign players that are going to help us win a couple of extra games this season? Absolutely not.

You'll be surprised.

Brad will make a trade or trades.

He's got to. = We have a competent Core. And a Star Player in the Injury Wings.
Either Brad was told to do this, or he's up for removal.

Here is Brad’s rules of engagement.

Constraints:

1. Cut salary (did it get under second apron)
2. Do not acquire players with multi year Contracts
3. Do not add salary this season to o back over apron
4. Do not trade ant assets that can be used this offseason with healthy Tatum

So.

I ask. With those constraints. What is out there to do? Can't spend money, can't trade firna contract that isn't an expiring.

I wound see if I could get an expiring big for Simons.


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[jfs1000d]

Tatum is going to come back, this Season.

Read on Twitter

Tanking is not in the cards (so far).

0-3 start. Tatum torn achilles. We slashed payroll over the summer.

And one of the best drafts in NBA history coming up in June.

We might be tanking.

How does this Core, and this Team as a whole, Start off 0-3?

JB is not a no. 1 option..white is not a no. 2.

We have no starting center on the roster.

Simons and other new guys still getting adjusted..

My preseason predictions had us as the 8 seed in the east. Sixers 7, Pistons 4, Knicks 2. So we're 0-3 because we lost to 3 teams who are simply better than us.

also. Tanking is intentionally losing games. Like the 76ers did.

By resetting the roster and playing young guys, it is not tanking.

We don't need to tank. We gonna lose naturally.


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[Fierce1]

Only way to find out is to let the trade deadline pass.

Once the trade deadline passes then that will give us a definite answer on what direction the Celtics are headed.

I learned my lesson back in 2015.

The previous year the Cs ended up with the #6 pick in Marcus Smart.
I thought 2015 was going to be the same.
In fact, before trade deadline 2015, the Cs were on pace for the 8th to 10th pick of the draft.
But after the Cs traded for IT, the Cs went from lottery team to playoff team.
One trade and the Cs lost a lottery pick.
And that was team who's best players were Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, and Jae Crowder.

This current Celtics team is losing because Joe refuses to use the bigger and more athletic players like Boucher and Mynot.

The 2014-15 Celtics were 20-32 before trade deadline.
After trade deadline the Cs ended up 40-42 and the #7 seed.

So 3 games is too early to say it's going to be a lottery team.

I said all summer that Simons will play for the Celtics and he will eventually get dealt on or before trade deadline.
Right now Joe is favoring PP over Simons and it's looking like Simons is not fitting in.
It's just a matter of time before Brad trades Simons.

[Larry_Russell]

1 loss closer to a

White/Pritchard
Brown/Hugo
AJ/Minot
Tatum/Hauser
???/Queta

Lineup.....



XD

[Celts17Pride]

JB may not be good enough to drag this team across the finish line every night be he still looks like a legit #2. White is the perfect 3rd banana for a contender with his ability to do a bit of everything and connect the dots. PP looks like he is still improving, Queta could be a depth C steal, Hugo has flashed some potential. There's just a lot of things to be positive about in spite of it all.

Agree, and this is the year to build on these things.

[Hal14]

Difference is we are already not good. The Nuggets have a better roster than us right now. The Bucks yes are probably a Giannis injury from disaster

Do I think we are going to tank? Probably not.

Do I think Brad will go out of his way to trade or sign players that are going to help us win a couple of extra games this season? Absolutely not.

You'll be surprised.

Brad will make a trade or trades.

He's got to. = We have a competent Core. And a Star Player in the Injury Wings.
Either Brad was told to do this, or he's up for removal.

Up for removal? lol.

Brad and Presti have the most job security in the entire NBA, among front office people.

Why is it so hard for people to understand?

It's a bridge year.

Ever since this article on March 24, the writing has been on the wall.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/03/24/celtics-grousbeck-no-nba-team-will-stay-in-second-apron-more-than-two-years/

They're slashing payroll this season because of the 2nd apron team building penalties. There's tons of stuff we can do now to build the roster now that we got under the 2nd apron. But we have to stay under it for the whole season since the tax is calculated at the end of the season.

That means no adding payroll, no using TPE's.

Because we had to slash payroll to get under the 2nd apron, that left our roster depleted. It meant we couldn't bring back Luke or Al..and the only FA we could sign were dirt cheat minimum signings (Boucher, Minott, Garza). Add in Tatum's injury (Wyc says he's not playing this season) and the expectations for this team should be very low.

Which is fine - we'll get a better draft pick this way.

The goal for this season is slash payroll, stay under 2nd apron, regain roster building flexibility, develop the young guys, load manage the vets, and figure out which of these players will be part of the next iteration of the Celtics (next season in 26-27) that will hopefully get back to competing for a title.

I hope there won't be this level of confusion / uproar after every loss.

Read on Twitter

[flintsky21]

I kinda wanna put the blame on Brad.

All those draft trade-downs and trade-outs and now we're absolutely bereft of any young player with potential. Walsh and Scheierman don't look like NBA players at all. Jury's still out on Hugo. He's looking good defensively but he still needs to prove he can at least be a contributor offensively. And it's quite a huge slap to the face of Brown and White to go into the season and just give them a rotation of third stinger big men to work with. I was optimistic about Queta but it's bewildering how someone of that size and athleticism can't simply dominate the boards.

I know it's just 3 games in, but it looks like the team is already falling into the "loser's mindset," which is all too familiar to the Wizards and the Hornets of the league, where even if you build up a big lead, you know at some point that you're just gonna collapse and lose it. The team has no true PG and no true center, and while that has been the case for far a while for this team, (who's the last true PG we had? Rondo? Who's the last legit double-double big we had? Garnett?) the loss of Tatum just amplified it even more.

I love JB, but he's just being exposed right now as the top guy. If we had Tatum instead of Brown, I believe this team would be much better. JB doesn't make anybody better. If he wasn't in Boston, he would've been seen as one of those empty stat scorers in the mold of Derozan or pre-GS Wiggins.

[Celts17Pride]

It's just a matter of time before Brad trades Simons.

You keep saying this and you leave out one important factor, THERE HAS TO BE A BUYER.

Stevens tried all summer to move Simons and no one was interested.

[Fierce1]

I kinda wanna put the blame on Brad.

All those draft trade-downs and trade-outs and now we're absolutely bereft of any young player with potential. Walsh and Scheierman don't look like NBA players at all. Jury's still out on Hugo. He's looking good defensively but he still needs to prove he can at least be a contributor offensively. And it's quite a huge slap to the face of Brown and White to go into the season and just give them a rotation of third stinger big men to work with. I was optimistic about Queta but it's bewildering how someone of that size and athleticism can't simply dominate the boards.

I know it's just 3 games in, but it looks like the team is already falling into the "loser's mindset," which is all too familiar to the Wizards and the Hornets of the league, where even if you build up a big lead, you know at some point that you're just gonna collapse and lose it. The team has no true PG and no true center, and while that has been the case for far a while for this team, (who's the last true PG we had? Rondo? Who's the last legit double-double big we had? Garnett?) the loss of Tatum just amplified it even more.

I love JB, but he's just being exposed right now as the top guy. If we had Tatum instead of Brown, I believe this team would be much better. JB doesn't make anybody better. If he wasn't in Boston, he would've been seen as one of those empty stat scorers in the mold of Derozan or pre-GS Wiggins.

Those trading down moves were due to financial reasons.

Don't count out Brad just yet because he will still make a move on or before trade deadline.

[GoCeltics123]

Brad still had thye 32nd pick after getting Hugo in the Brad. Brad trading out of number 32. Ryan Kalkbrenner was still there. I love Brad but was pissed at that move. He moved down and got Shulga and Amari.

We'll see. Kalk might be something, but he was getting toasted pretty bad against Philly the other night. I don't really see it with him, he'll probably be an ok backup, but nothing special

What you just described is a significant upgrade to any big the Celtics currently have on the roster.

Great, we're tanking so I don't really care about missing out on a backup lol

[jmr07019]

I'm gonna be "that guy" and say this is in a way the best of both worlds (if you squint).

The bones of this team are still good but early indications are that we're going to lose a lot of close games en route to a decent lottery pick. In the context of everything that's happened (JT's injury, 2nd apron casualties of KP/Jrue, sale of the team etc.), this isn't really as bad as it seems.

JB may not be good enough to drag this team across the finish line every night be he still looks like a legit #2. White is the perfect 3rd banana for a contender with his ability to do a bit of everything and connect the dots. PP looks like he is still improving, Queta could be a depth C steal, Hugo has flashed some potential. There's just a lot of things to be positive about in spite of it all.

Concerning things for me are that Hauser seems like he's plateaued if not regressed, Simons looks like exactly the player he was sold as (not exactly a compliment) and Baylor/Walsh are looking more like write-offs the longer they are on the team.

I'm not going to be mad though if this is like the Patriot's season last year. Lots of moral victories in scoreboard losses with an eye on taking a leap back up to the top the following year on the back of a healthier roster and cap sheet plus some solid draft capital. For an 0-3 team I'm still feeling pretty positive.

Good post. I'm certainly a little concerned but gonna stay patient. The schedules been tough and if things bounce a little differently this team could easily be 2-1. We'll see where the team is after 15 games.