2008 Celtics vs. 2008 Pre-Trade Team

The Diesel · Post #1 » by **The Diesel** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:36 am

Hey guys,

Let's assume that the team never made the Shaq trade during the 2007-2008 season and the team won the West.

How would they have done against the Celtics in the Finals that year? Would they have won?

Share your opinions.

Thanks.

Post #2 » by **Qwigglez** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:47 am

No. We wouldn't have even made it out of the first round.
And if we somehow did that, we wouldn't be able to pass the Lakers.

The Celtics obviously dominated that season. KG was too hungry, Pierce was hungry, and Ray Allen was hungry. They are now full.

MaryvalesFinest · Post #3 » by **MaryvalesFinest** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:51 am

This current Suns team is better than the pre-trade team as long as Amare comes back healthy. Alot of Suns fans are forgetting what an underachiever Doris Meow was, remember all the times he was in the post for open layups but passed the ball out? How about Raja Bell's decline where he shouldn't even have been starting or Marion's declining athleticism.

J-Rich only played two games with Amare under Gentry, he's going to be open all day when teams are double-teaming Amare and can hit jumpers all day but Bell wasn't a shooter, and also add depth like Channing Frye who's way better than Brian Skinner. Take rookies like Earl Clark, Goran Dragic and even Robin Lopez, all added depth, they can go 10 + guys deep while back than they only had like 7 guys play.

The Diesel · Post #4 » by **The Diesel** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:54 am

But the pre-trade team was also in 1st place in the West before the trade...

DirtyDez · Post #5 » by **DirtyDez** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:54 am

Boston would have made us their b*tch, at least we saved ourselves the embarrasment

Post #6 » by **Qwigglez** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:12 am

The Diesel wrote:But the pre-trade team was also in 1st place in the West before the trade...

Yeah it was weird. We were a struggling 1st place team. The Lakers also didn't have Pau at the time (Still one of the most controversial trades)

Post #7 » by **lilfishi22** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:19 am

We put points up on the board and played a bit of defense, but we were soft as marshmallows. That Boston team would've eaten us up mentally even before we start the game. Those guys were hungry, they had great team chemistry and they played defense.

MaryvalesFinest · Post #8 » by **MaryvalesFinest** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:24 am

The Diesel wrote:But the pre-trade team was also in 1st place in the West before the trade...

Alot of other teams in the west were weaker than

JohnVancouver · Post #9 » by **JohnVancouver** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 6:09 am

I'm actually more interested in what if we had made it past SA?
I still can't believe how it all turned to crap so fast ...

DirtyDez · Post #10 » by **DirtyDez** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 6:43 am

If Duncan doesn't hit that miracle 3 in game 1 i think we win that series, we were up by 15 in games 1 and 2 just couldn't finish plus we won the season series 3-1... Boston would've raped us though

Post #11 » by **rsavaj** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 6:56 am

Their defense was just too good that year...

the_warden · Post #12 » by **the_warden** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:31 am

MaryvalesFinest wrote:This current Suns team is better than the pre-trade team as long as Amare comes back healthy.

Really?

MaryvalesFinest · Post #13 » by **MaryvalesFinest** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:37 am

the_warden wrote:
MaryvalesFinest wrote:This current Suns team is better than the pre-trade team as long as Amare comes back healthy.

Really?

On the other team the Suns basically only played 7 guys and their only big outside of Amare was Brian Skinner. They basically lost Diaw (underachiever), Raja (who wasn't a great offensive player and defense was declining) and Marion (who's athleticism was declining). They replaced those three guys with Frye, Clark, Lopez, Dragic, Richardson and Dudley who all add more depth to the Suns team.

Post #14 » by **Qwigglez** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:39 pm

MaryvalesFinest wrote:
the_warden wrote:
MaryvalesFinest wrote:This current Suns team is better than the pre-trade team as long as Amare comes back healthy.

Really?

On the other team the Suns basically only played 7 guys and their only big outside of Amare was Brian Skinner. They basically lost Diaw (underachiever), Raja (who wasn't a great offensive player and defense was declining) and Marion (who's athleticism was declining). They replaced those three guys with Frye, Clark, Lopez, Dragic, Richardson and Dudley who all add more depth to the Suns team.

In this case, quantity over quality is good..?

JohnVancouver · Post #15 » by **JohnVancouver** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:01 pm

DirtyDez wrote:If Duncan doesn't hit that miracle 3 in game 1 i think we win that series, we were up by 15 in games 1 and 2 just couldn't finish plus we won the season series 3-1... Boston would've raped us though

Yes, it would have a been a good old-fashioned ass-raping. That woudl have been too much to bear, getting tot he Finals and being pounded like that.

ElGrandeA · Post #16 » by **ElGrandeA** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 5:25 am

I think it is a real possibility that the Suns could have made it to the Finals. And I think they matched quite good with the Celtics. That being said, I think the Celtics were a team on a mission and no one could have beaten them, but you never know.