CAN the Celtics be Fixed this year?

[Fencer reregistered]

https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=3492206

Because of future luxury-tax concerns, Boston was apparently reluctant to offer Posey, 31, more than a two- or three-year deal starting at the league's midlevel exception (just under $5.6 million) in spite of Posey's considerable contributions to the Celtics' first championship since 1986.

I'm sorry. I didn't guess that you were referring to luxury tax four years in the then-future.

I was really upset the Celts refused to pay Posey.

Celts would've won one more championship if they kept Posey, in my opinion.

Lakers were in the same situation with Lamar Odom after the Lakers beat the Magic in the 2009 Finals.

In the end the Lakers gave in to Odom's demands and the Lakers ended up winning back to back championships by defeating the Celts in 2010.

Without Lamar Odom, no way the Lakers beat the Celtics in that 2010 Finals.

Yep. The decisions not to keep Posey and not to keep Tony Allen were two big Ainge misfires.

Kanter feels like another one. We traded a pick to replace Kanter with the more expensive Tristan Thompson. WTF??

[Fierce1]

I'm sorry. I didn't guess that you were referring to luxury tax four years in the then-future.

I was really upset the Celts refused to pay Posey.

Celts would've won one more championship if they kept Posey, in my opinion.

Lakers were in the same situation with Lamar Odom after the Lakers beat the Magic in the 2009 Finals.

In the end the Lakers gave in to Odom's demands and the Lakers ended up winning back to back championships by defeating the Celts in 2010.

Without Lamar Odom, no way the Lakers beat the Celtics in that 2010 Finals.

Yep. The decisions not to keep Posey and not to keep Tony Allen were two big Ainge misfires.

Kanter feels like another one. We traded a pick to replace Kanter with the more expensive Tristan Thompson. WTF??

Tony Allen was on Ainge, but Posey was on the owner.
The reports at that time made it clear ownership was avoiding the luxury tax.

Tristan Thompson is better on defense than Kanter, but Kanter is way better than TT on offense.
Both are excellent rebounders.

The good thing about TT is he's more tradable than Kanter.

I won't be surprised if TT is not a Celtic after the trade deadline.

Right now trading TT and another player, plus a draft pick, for Thad Young would be an upgrade.

[Fencer reregistered]

I was really upset the Celts refused to pay Posey.

Celts would've won one more championship if they kept Posey, in my opinion.

Lakers were in the same situation with Lamar Odom after the Lakers beat the Magic in the 2009 Finals.

In the end the Lakers gave in to Odom's demands and the Lakers ended up winning back to back championships by defeating the Celts in 2010.

Without Lamar Odom, no way the Lakers beat the Celtics in that 2010 Finals.

Yep. The decisions not to keep Posey and not to keep Tony Allen were two big Ainge misfires.

Kanter feels like another one. We traded a pick to replace Kanter with the more expensive Tristan Thompson. WTF??

Tony Allen was on Ainge, but Posey was on the owner.
The reports at that time made it clear ownership was avoiding the luxury tax.

Tristan Thompson is better on defense than Kanter, but Kanter is way better than TT on offense.
Both are excellent rebounders.

The good thing about TT is he's more tradable than Kanter.

I won't be surprised if TT is not a Celtic after the trade deadline.

Right now trading TT and another player, plus a draft pick, for Thad Young would be an upgrade.

But Boston DID pay the luxury tax multiple years after not re-signing Posey.

https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=5362260
http://www.shamsports.com/2012/07/201112-luxury-tax-payers.html
https://hoopshype.com/2018/11/16/how-many-times-has-each-nba-team-paid-the-luxury-tax/

[Fierce1]

But Boston DID pay the luxury tax multiple years after not re-signing Posey.

https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=5362260
http://www.shamsports.com/2012/07/201112-luxury-tax-payers.html
https://hoopshype.com/2018/11/16/how-many-times-has-each-nba-team-paid-the-luxury-tax/

That's the sad part.

I mean if they were going to pay the tax anyway then why didn't they keep Posey?

It was when the Celts lost KG for the season to injury in 2009 that the Celts realized they missed Posey.
The starters were playing too many minutes because the bench was not productive.

So for the 2009-10 season, the Celts tried to correct their mistake of letting Posey go by signing Rasheed and Marquis then they traded for Nate at the trade deadline.

It almost worked, but Celts fell short in Game 7.

[Fencer reregistered]

Here's a blog post decrying lack of ball movement, with two clips of bad possessions and one of a good one.

All three bear out what I've been saying: Ball movement depends upon player movement. In both of the bad clips, slight repositionings (in both cases away from the baseline) would have made a kickout pass much easier. In the good clip, players moved to actually receive or threaten to receive passes.

https://www.celticsblog.com/2021/2/16/22283317/lack-of-ball-movement-becoming-major-problem-celtics-boston-nba-detroit-pistons-washington-wizards

[ballup]

Kemba makes fixing the Celtics difficult. He's the biggest salary maker on the team and his production can break it. Now in terms of fixing the rest of the roster, low usage specialists are needed. Those can be hard to get because you can end up with Johnathan Simmons when you're really looking for an Ariza.

Grant is fine if he was a 3rd stringer with someone better infront of him. I'm with agreement with everyone that he's not needed on the roster. Same with Javonte and Semi. Teague can essential go as Edwards is more desirable as the 3rd string pg.

There's one too many of TT, Theis, and Timelord. Yes Theis can slot into the 4, but he's not a Illysova type yet. TT is probably the odd man out, but does he even have a market and can we even get a productive backup wing/4 for him? Maybe one of Langford/Neismith can be the sweetner in a deal. It's just really tough matching salaries with the disparity.



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[JediMasterRevan]

To get back to topic.

This team has terrible ball movement - 28th in the league
Terrible rebounding - 19th in the league
Terrible at blocking/altering shots - 20th in the league

Offensive rating is sub par - 16th ranked
Defensive rating is OK - 9th ranked
Opponent Second chance points 25th ranked, bad

Bench scoring is 27th in the league

3pt% - 6th
3pt attempted - 26th

So the needs are a ball handler who can make plays and set up teammates for easier looks (or a better system)
A big man who can rebound as well as defend at the rim/alter shots
More scoring from outside, spread the floor for attacking the rim.

Targets:
Playmaking, assist man - Ball, Demar, Lowry, Wall, Rubio
rebounding bigman - Vucevic, Valanciunis, Dieng, Wood, Carter Jr
Shotblocker - Turner, Noel, Homes, Wood

Bench Scoring - Ross, Lamb, E Gordon, JJackson, Will Barton, Thad Yound

[ballup]

One player I haven't seen mentioned is Kyle Slow Mo' Anderson. Not the most eye popping name, but he is very affordable, the Grizzlies have had a decent trade history with the Celtics, and he can fill the void of the 3/4 positions.

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[Red2]

We are stuck with Kemba’s salary so let’s start with that assumption. The second assumption is that we aren’t trading Brown or Tatum . So how do you improve with no cap room? We aren’t a Mecca for free agents and again we don’t have cap room other than our TPE so I think the only viable way to improve is through the draft . This years draft is supposed to be pretty strong . I say play Nesmith and Romeo ( when healthy ) and don’t worry about wins. Even if we were to land Harrison Barnes or Reddick or whoever that’s not going to make us a contender . Go for the lottery and get another young good player

[return2glory]

I would say let’s tank but I don’t want us to waste Semi’s prime years.

[captain green]

I'll say this ainge said it himself needed to address the bench last year he didn't on paper he tried grabbing tt and teague and drafting nesmith and pp one out four is bad. The problem is most the bench is playing out of position for example edwarfs as a pg gwill starting at times and should be at best 8 or 9 off the bench. Our bench is still at 27th in pts. Most of this mess is ainges fault now hopefully he gets a actual bench. Because nobody is scared of a team of 17 when they only have 2 consistent scorers and a highly paid scorer kemba who is a shell of himself. Smart is gone and he is the motor. We are pretty on the outside but the car won't start so..start with moving kemba is my answer. And just maybe start to transition away from ainge for zar

[Fencer reregistered]

We are stuck with Kemba’s salary so let’s start with that assumption. The second assumption is that we aren’t trading Brown or Tatum . So how do you improve with no cap room? We aren’t a Mecca for free agents and again we don’t have cap room other than our TPE so I think the only viable way to improve is through the draft . This years draft is supposed to be pretty strong . I say play Nesmith and Romeo ( when healthy ) and don’t worry about wins. Even if we were to land Harrison Barnes or Reddick or whoever that’s not going to make us a contender . Go for the lottery and get another young good player

Seriously? Tank out of the playoffs?

How would we even do that other than by playing Jeff Teague 32 minutes per game?

[akidlittle]

Team will get much better with Tatum getting through post Covid issues

[LewisnotMiller]

We are stuck with Kemba’s salary so let’s start with that assumption. The second assumption is that we aren’t trading Brown or Tatum . So how do you improve with no cap room? We aren’t a Mecca for free agents and again we don’t have cap room other than our TPE so I think the only viable way to improve is through the draft . This years draft is supposed to be pretty strong . I say play Nesmith and Romeo ( when healthy ) and don’t worry about wins. Even if we were to land Harrison Barnes or Reddick or whoever that’s not going to make us a contender . Go for the lottery and get another young good player

Seriously? Tank out of the playoffs?

How would we even do that other than by playing Jeff Teague 32 minutes per game?

Three big lineups.
Three midget lineups.

Oh...wait...you were making a point, not asking for tank strategies...nevermind.

(In seriousness, hell no to throwing games from me)

[Bleeding Green]

We are stuck with Kemba’s salary so let’s start with that assumption. The second assumption is that we aren’t trading Brown or Tatum . So how do you improve with no cap room? We aren’t a Mecca for free agents and again we don’t have cap room other than our TPE so I think the only viable way to improve is through the draft . This years draft is supposed to be pretty strong . I say play Nesmith and Romeo ( when healthy ) and don’t worry about wins. Even if we were to land Harrison Barnes or Reddick or whoever that’s not going to make us a contender . Go for the lottery and get another young good player

Seriously? Tank out of the playoffs?

How would we even do that other than by playing Jeff Teague 32 minutes per game?

Even that wouldn't be enough. They would have to hold Tatum and Brown out of the rest of the season at least. In the East the last playoff team is currrently on a 33 win projection (for an 82 game season). The Celtics are still three losses out of the ONE SEED.

[djFan71]

One player I haven't seen mentioned is Kyle Slow Mo' Anderson. Not the most eye popping name, but he is very affordable, the Grizzlies have had a decent trade history with the Celtics, and he can fill the void of the 3/4 positions.

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I threw his name out a week or so and got no response, lol. So, I’ll at least save you from that fate. But, he’d be a good get at the right cost. Not sure if MEM would let him go for that, though.

[Fencer reregistered]

The next time all three centers are healthy, I'd like to see Brad experiment with playing Theis and Timelord together again. If it works well, then the idea of trading Thompson for a better center could actually make sense.

[philing00]

I would say let’s tank but I don’t want us to waste Semi’s prime years.

More like Prime game. He can’t even have back to back good games haha.
When we move the ball and play with energy, we win.
Jaylen and Jayson really need to get their assists up. We have 6 players shooting higher than 39% this season. Grant Will is shooting like 42%, only problem is we and his teammates only remember him bricking wide open 3s.

[ballup]

One player I haven't seen mentioned is Kyle Slow Mo' Anderson. Not the most eye popping name, but he is very affordable, the Grizzlies have had a decent trade history with the Celtics, and he can fill the void of the 3/4 positions.

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I threw his name out a week or so and got no response, lol. So, I’ll at least save you from that fate. But, he’d be a good get at the right cost. Not sure if MEM would let him go for that, though.

My bad, I couldn't find anything from the search bar. The Grizzlies have needed him due to the JJJ injury, but I do think it's a tad more realistic than say Gordon.


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[Gomes3PC]

Here's the stuff we can control:

1. We need Smart back and healthy. He's the lynchpin of our perimeter D, and his ability as a ball-mover is critical
2. Tatum needs to cut the **** with his midrange game. His best step forward last year was getting rid of that, but it is creeping back in. He reduced 10-23 foot shots from 31% of his shots his sophomore year to 21% last year, but it's moving back up to 26% this year. Those shots (A) are bad from an efficiency standpoint and (B) freeze up the offense
3. We gotta find a real big wing to fill minutes at the 4 and when the Jays are on the bench. We know the trade suspects here, it's on Ainge to fill the need, even if in some stopgap way with a guy like Thad Young.