Official Celtics 2020-21 Regular Season Thread

[La Flame]

Early prediction: 16th in offense, 8th in defense by All-Star break. Then we ramp it up post-ASB. Think pre-Horford days when we were just getting by 1st half of the season and we hit a higher gear towards the playoffs. We definitely won't start 10-1 (last season) or 16-2 (three seasons ago) this season.

Just some growing pains to begin the season with Kemba out, integrating the new guys, and reliance on youth off the bench. Half-court offense will be an eye sore for the most part. Easy baskets might be hard to come by if we don't sort out our ball/player movement. Defense will slip with added offensive responsibility on both Jays and Smart.

Now for my optimistic view: CHAMPIONSHIPS!

Yeah bet after couple of horrid offensive games, Rudy Gay off the bench wouldn't look so bad after all..

[yeleven11]

Shot creation in the half court is going to be a real issue until Kemba comes back, especially when Tatum's off the court. Get ready for a lot of Teague pick and rolls, Smart postups, Brown isos. Recipe for winning games before Kemba comes back is elite defense, transition offense, and hopefully some lucky shooting nights overall.

I hope the first month or so let people who want to ship out Kemba so bad realize how valuable he is to the offense. Unless he's shipped out for another dynamic player who can create off the dribble, we need him on this roster despite his injury issues until we see some major leap from brown or smart in half-court shot creation.

[ConstableGeneva]

Early prediction: 16th in offense, 8th in defense by All-Star break. Then we ramp it up post-ASB. Think pre-Horford days when we were just getting by 1st half of the season and we hit a higher gear towards the playoffs. We definitely won't start 10-1 (last season) or 16-2 (three seasons ago) this season.

Just some growing pains to begin the season with Kemba out, integrating the new guys, and reliance on youth off the bench. Half-court offense will be an eye sore for the most part. Easy baskets might be hard to come by if we don't sort out our ball/player movement. Defense will slip with added offensive responsibility on both Jays and Smart.

Now for my optimistic view: CHAMPIONSHIPS!

Yeah bet after couple of horrid offensive games, Rudy Gay off the bench wouldn't look so bad after all..

Patty Mills too! They're a package deal!

[djFan71]

Early prediction: 16th in offense, 8th in defense by All-Star break. Then we ramp it up post-ASB. Think pre-Horford days when we were just getting by 1st half of the season and we hit a higher gear towards the playoffs. We definitely won't start 10-1 (last season) or 16-2 (three seasons ago) this season.

Just some growing pains to begin the season with Kemba out, integrating the new guys, and reliance on youth off the bench. Half-court offense will be an eye sore for the most part. Easy baskets might be hard to come by if we don't sort out our ball/player movement. Defense will slip with added offensive responsibility on both Jays and Smart.

Now for my optimistic view: CHAMPIONSHIPS!

Yeah bet after couple of horrid offensive games, Rudy Gay off the bench wouldn't look so bad after all..

Patty Mills too! They're a package deal!

Might as well go for DDR too for the trifecta! Salary cap (or Kemba) be damned!

[La Flame]

Yeah bet after couple of horrid offensive games, Rudy Gay off the bench wouldn't look so bad after all..

Patty Mills too! They're a package deal!

Might as well go for DDR too for the trifecta! Salary cap (or Kemba) be damned!

Hey, I called DeRozan for TPE when we got it. Off the bench he would be awesome if we decided to go all in this year. But probably an awful long-term move.

[djFan71]

Patty Mills too! They're a package deal!

Might as well go for DDR too for the trifecta! Salary cap (or Kemba) be damned!

Hey, I called DeRozan for TPE when we got it. Off the bench he would be awesome if we decided to go all in this year. But probably an awful long-term move.

Yeah, If it didnt put us in the tax, I'd be on board. I mentioned him a few times over the "summer". But, he's not the missing title piece short term, nor a long term guy, so I'd go more for an Evan Fournier type instead.

[GoCeltics123]

Watch on YouTube

Looks like Tristan was scrimmaging a bit yesterday

[playa-hater]

Watch on YouTube

Looks like Tristan was scrimmaging a bit yesterday

If he was scrimmaging, he should be near lock to play on opening night? I mean it would be about a week later than yesterday..

[31to6]

Watch on YouTube

Looks like Tristan was scrimmaging a bit yesterday

If he was scrimmaging, he should be near lock to play on opening night? I mean it would be about a week later than yesterday..

Hamstrings are finicky so I wouldn’t read too much into this. We'll have to wait and see imo.

Lol @Semi’s finish at 2:15 of this video. One of my pet peeves — he never tries to go strong on how weak side, but instead always tries that gross reverse that he flips a mile high from right under the basket. He’s made it a time or two in games but missed it many more. Here it goes and he slow-mo yells to celebrate, but it’s a lousy shot Semi! Go up strong from your left, you’re built like a tank!

[UNCBlue012]

Seems like FiveThirtyEight loves the Celtics: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2021-nba-predictions/.

Predicts they'll sit atop the East with the Bucks with a 46-26 record and gives them the best chance of an Eastern Conference team to face the Lakers in the finals.

The General Board won't like this. LOLOLOL

[ConstableGeneva]

Wow, a 52-win team would be a 1-seed? I doubt that. I predict Cs at a 54-win pace but something like 3rd in the East like last season.

[ParticleMan]

Wow, a 52-win team would be a 1-seed? I doubt that. I predict Cs at a 54-win pace but something like 3rd in the East like last season.

don't forget there's 10 less games this year

[ConstableGeneva]

Wow, a 52-win team would be a 1-seed? I doubt that. I predict Cs at a 54-win pace but something like 3rd in the East like last season.

don't forget there's 10 less games this year

Yep, took that into account. A 46-win team this season would be a 52-win team in a normal season. We won 48 last season, good for 55 wins in a normal season. 538 above is essentially saying Bucks would lose 10 more games this season.

[GoGreen]

Shot creation in the half court is going to be a real issue until Kemba comes back, especially when Tatum's off the court. Get ready for a lot of Teague pick and rolls, Smart postups, Brown isos. Recipe for winning games before Kemba comes back is elite defense, transition offense, and hopefully some lucky shooting nights overall.

I hope the first month or so let people who want to ship out Kemba so bad realize how valuable he is to the offense. Unless he's shipped out for another dynamic player who can create off the dribble, we need him on this roster despite his injury issues until we see some major leap from brown or smart in half-court shot creation.

More like Smart 3 ball chucking

[leper-con]

Wow, a 52-win team would be a 1-seed? I doubt that. I predict Cs at a 54-win pace but something like 3rd in the East like last season.

don't forget there's 10 less games this year

They just need to change it to a home and home and be done with the season.

[GoCeltics123]

Read on Twitter

More context

[Kalela]

I wonder if the Grizzlies would be willing to trade Dillon Brooks. I have always been a fan. With how intense he plays in every game he would be a very good fit here.

[flintsky21]

Shot creation in the half court is going to be a real issue until Kemba comes back, especially when Tatum's off the court. Get ready for a lot of Teague pick and rolls, Smart postups, Brown isos. Recipe for winning games before Kemba comes back is elite defense, transition offense, and hopefully some lucky shooting nights overall.

I hope the first month or so let people who want to ship out Kemba so bad realize how valuable he is to the offense. Unless he's shipped out for another dynamic player who can create off the dribble, we need him on this roster despite his injury issues until we see some major leap from brown or smart in half-court shot creation.

More like Smart 3 ball chucking

Interesting to see how Smart looks as a legit 3rd option. Celtics would surely need more offense from him, but not necessarily by chucking 10 3s a game.

[itrsteve]

Seems like FiveThirtyEight loves the Celtics: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2021-nba-predictions/.

Predicts they'll sit atop the East with the Bucks with a 46-26 record and gives them the best chance of an Eastern Conference team to face the Lakers in the finals.

The General Board won't like this. LOLOLOL

They also gave us the best odds of winning the finals too.

We saw how that turned out.

[Scoonie]

I wonder if the Grizzlies would be willing to trade Dillon Brooks. I have always been a fan. With how intense he plays in every game he would be a very good fit here.

Agreed. He would be a very good fit here, and give us solid wing depth. But he has 3 years left on his current contract at an affordable price for Memphis, so I don't know why they would trade him.

And he's another guy we easily could've drafted. We picked Semi at #37 in the 2017 draft, and Brooks went 8 picks after him at #45. Infuriating. Big miss.

He also played with Payton Pritchard his final year at Oregon.