Official Celtics 2021-22 Season Thread

[Andrew McCeltic]

Brad could have handled the players around Kyrie--and clearly didn't. I'm with L Larry on this one, the reason Brad is the GM right now is because ownership realized they couldn't roll him out as coach again next year--and they weren't willing to eat the massive extension they unwisely gave him last year. Now I think Wyc has sincerely talked himself into the genius of putting Brad in as their new PoBO, however. For the sake of the team, I hope he is proven right on that.

I think if you have Kyrie sabotaging the team like that as the best player and upcoming FA, there’s no way you can “handle” the teammates who are upset by holding them responsible.

You make the rest of the team sound like a flock of panicked chickens that Kyrie chopped the heads off of.

It just is the dynamic. You don’t have to be a panicked chicken to be pissed, alienated or discouraged by the best player and leader of the team being a jerk.

[Curmudgeon]

Until last year Stevens handled the team just fine. In Kyrie's next-to-last year they almost won the EC finals-- without Kyrie, who didn't even bother to attend the games.

Last year was an aberration. Kemba was useless and checked himself out, Tatum played half the year on a ventilator, while Thompson, Smart, Timelord, Grant Williams and Fournier also had Covid 19. And it wasn't just the Covid, it was the contact tracing. Brown missed quite a few games due to contact tracing (and then got hurt).

My guess is that Stevens, not ownership, was starting to get frustrated and the owners were afraid of losing him. The head coaching jobs at Indiana, Duke (following coach K's announced retirement) and North Carolina were there for the taking and the Pacers head coaching job was also open.

If anyone was nudged out, it was Ainge, who mishandled the draft in recent years, overpaid Kemba Walker, traded away Daniel Theis for peanuts and then did that stupid Fournier deal to eviscerate the juicy TPE.

[LoquaciousLarry]

Stevens lost certain players over the course of several seasons. Ainge saw that Stevens lost the poorly assembled team and couldn't fire him because he just gave him a stupid extension so Ainge essentially fired himself. At least thats my perspective on the situation.

[Curmudgeon]

Stevens lost certain players over the course of several seasons. Ainge saw that Stevens lost the poorly assembled team and couldn't fire him because he just gave him a stupid extension so Ainge essentially fired himself. At least thats my perspective on the situation.

That's pure speculation. Which players did Stevens lose, other than Kyrie (who could get lost all by himself) and Kemba? I don't think he lost either of the young stars.

[PussyCat]

Stevens lost certain players over the course of several seasons. Ainge saw that Stevens lost the poorly assembled team and couldn't fire him because he just gave him a stupid extension so Ainge essentially fired himself. At least thats my perspective on the situation.

That's pure speculation. Which players did Stevens lose, other than Kyrie (who could get lost all by himself) and Kemba? I don't think he lost either of the young stars.

pretty much the whole team.

[Curmudgeon]

Stevens lost certain players over the course of several seasons. Ainge saw that Stevens lost the poorly assembled team and couldn't fire him because he just gave him a stupid extension so Ainge essentially fired himself. At least thats my perspective on the situation.

That's pure speculation. Which players did Stevens lose, other than Kyrie (who could get lost all by himself) and Kemba? I don't think he lost either of the young stars.

pretty much the whole team.

Again, pure speculation.

[PussyCat]

That's pure speculation. Which players did Stevens lose, other than Kyrie (who could get lost all by himself) and Kemba? I don't think he lost either of the young stars.

pretty much the whole team.

Again, pure speculation.

It's a messageboard. No one here is Nordstrumdamas.

[Parliament10]

pretty much the whole team.

Again, pure speculation.

It's a messageboard. No one here is Nordstrumdamas.

I think you mean Nostradamus.
And yes; this is a Message Board. Speculation runs ramped.

[LoquaciousLarry]

He lost Brown when he moved him to the bench. Seemingly the best coaching Brown got that year was from KG who reached out to him to get him to lift his head up.
There were reports of friction about Haywards role. Marcus Morris talked about the culture and how guys were hanging their heads and basketball wasn't fun after a loss to the Clippers a few years ago.
It was clear to me that Irving wasn't happy with the locker room if he was skipping out on a game 7 as far as even being with the team.
Horford, Hayward, Irving, Morris all left on their own accord. I can't recall a single player over the past few seasons that has had a positive attitude as far as the culture in the locker room.
Kemba came in all smiles and was quickly turned into a punching bag.

May be its pure speculation but I'm definitely convinced the players tuned him out.

[bucknersrevenge]

Have a feelings Stevens prefers playing small ball, with a big who can shoot the 3...

I don't think they brought Horford back to be a 20 minute-a-night bit player. Moses is a cheap rangy shotblocker type who's on a cheap deal and I'm sure Grant isn't going anywhere either. I see Grant and Horford playing a ton together.

I def think al is gonna play a lot but I think he’s best now as a 25 min a night guy. I think we see a lot of minute maintenance with him throughout the year just so we can make sure he’s around for the playoffs.

This makes a ton of sense. Manage him during the regular season a bit so he can play upwards of 30 in the playoffs. That said, going back to the 82 game schedule with fewer back to backs should help him. And I still expect him to sit a few games anyway.

[PussyCat]

Horford should be really healthy because he just had like a whole season off after they benched him.

[TH15]

He lost Brown when he moved him to the bench. Seemingly the best coaching Brown got that year was from KG who reached out to him to get him to lift his head up.
There were reports of friction about Haywards role. Marcus Morris talked about the culture and how guys were hanging their heads and basketball wasn't fun after a loss to the Clippers a few years ago.
It was clear to me that Irving wasn't happy with the locker room if he was skipping out on a game 7 as far as even being with the team.
Horford, Hayward, Irving, Morris all left on their own accord. I can't recall a single player over the past few seasons that has had a positive attitude as far as the culture in the locker room.
Kemba came in all smiles and was quickly turned into a punching bag.

May be its pure speculation but I'm definitely convinced the players tuned him out.

Horford and Hayward both left for the insane amount of money that other teams offered.

To me, the egos of Irving and Morris were issues and they would never defer even a little to young guys like Jaylen and allow them to play through mistakes without causing locker room/bench drama. Good riddance to both.

Danny tried to build half a team of win now veterans, some with giant egos, and half a team of young stars, some with egos (Rozier) and others requiring patience (Brown).

It was a tough balancing act that looked like a good idea on paper but completely imploded.

I’m not sure where the defensive intensity went this year but I chalk it up to exhaustion and frustration with injuries/covid. When we were healthy for stretches we looked very good. Something always happened to knock us off our win streaks and erase all positive momentum.

I’m excited to have a direction now that we‘ve moved on from Kemba and are building around the Jays. We’re still a few moves away from real contention but we have tons of young and improving talent, a couple solid veterans, and hopefully after resigning our guys to reasonable deals, enough contract flexibility to make incremental improvements and/or make a move for a star player that becomes available. “The move” isn’t always readily apparent, but the NBA is such a dynamic landscape that I’m confident now that we have a direction and hopefully some moveable pieces, we’ll be poised to capitalize while maintaining a competitive squad that should contend for home court advantage. Meanwhile organic improvements of our youngsters push our ceiling higher and improve our cache of tradeable assets.

[Curmudgeon]

27th in assists. I'm sure that Stevens did not encourage iso ball. They quit on each other.

[TH15]

When all of your offensive creators miss major time throughout various parts of the season, that’s gonna effect continuity, ball movement, and overall offensive cohesion.

That said, I am glad for the coaching change and feel a change of voice was needed.

[sam_I_am]

He lost Brown when he moved him to the bench. Seemingly the best coaching Brown got that year was from KG who reached out to him to get him to lift his head up.
There were reports of friction about Haywards role. Marcus Morris talked about the culture and how guys were hanging their heads and basketball wasn't fun after a loss to the Clippers a few years ago.
It was clear to me that Irving wasn't happy with the locker room if he was skipping out on a game 7 as far as even being with the team.
Horford, Hayward, Irving, Morris all left on their own accord. I can't recall a single player over the past few seasons that has had a positive attitude as far as the culture in the locker room.
Kemba came in all smiles and was quickly turned into a punching bag.

May be its pure speculation but I'm definitely convinced the players tuned him out.

If we could turn back time to 2018 it’s obvious what Danny should have done. The ECF run with Rozier/Brown/Tatum/Morris/Horford/Smart was special. Knowing Kyrie could walk and Hayward was redundant Danny should have traded them for best assets he could get and 100% commit to rebuild around the young talent.

There was a special vibe and a special toughness to that team and the culture was exactly what we in Boston crave.

Of course this is hindsight being 20:20 and I never once considered it at the time. I thought all was good with Kyrie and our something like 35-8 start before his knee surgery. Man what we could be right now with Rozier/Smart/Tatum/Brown and what we could have netted dumping Irving and Hayward.

That said, we are still better off than Phoenix was last year before Paul trade or Atlanta was before signing Bogdanovich.

[Boss66]

Good write-up by Forsberg
https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/checking-brad-stevens-offseason-do-list-and-sample-summer

[Celts17Pride]

Horford should be really healthy because he just had like a whole season off after they benched him.

They benched him because they were winning too many games but good for the Celtics

[Bleeding Green]

Again, pure speculation.

It's a messageboard. No one here is Nordstrumdamas.

I think you mean Nostradamus.
And yes; this is a Message Board. Speculation runs ramped.

I'm a bit of a Nordstomrackadamas.

[Bleeding Green]

27th in assists. I'm sure that Stevens did not encourage iso ball. They quit on each other.

Or they have zero good passers on the team and had one of the youngest rosters in the league.

Or yeah, they are lazy and selfish and quit on each other.

[Parliament10]

Good write-up by Forsberg
https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/checking-brad-stevens-offseason-do-list-and-sample-summer

I think that he made a few mistakes in that article?

We don't need to use the MLE to sign Rookies (Madar and Draft #45). We likely would sign them to Two-Contracts, anyway.
If we're Trading Thompson and Carsen Edwards, then it should be for someone like Satoransky, using the Hayward TPE.

The rest of the stuff, may be Semantics. But, I think that the Celtics would likely do things a bit differently, than Forsberg.