2017-2018 Boston Celtics: No Irving! No Hayward! No Brooklyn Pick!

[Tlyons]

Hey now IBWT, I like me some White women too.... I can't fault him for that..

That was pretty good

 

[MarkyCavs88]

After the unicorn has his way with Boston tonight and the king has he way with the bulls. We’ll have both lost the same amount of games. Kyrie for MVP haha no chance

 

[Turk]

I anticipate he will ask for a trade in 2 years because he won't want to play with Tatum since he is a better leader material than Kyrie.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

So recently (last 10 games or so...) Kyrie's been on a pretty impressive scoring tear. Scoring more. Doing it very efficiently most nights.

But his assist rate is going down. Turnovers have gone up. Defense has seen what I would call "extreme slippage".

Boston is 5-5 in their last 10. (IF THE KNICKS HOLD ON) Including that game against Indiana that they basically stole/really Bogan threw it away.

Just something to keep an eye on. They could easily be the clear #3 seed (and falling...)two weeks from now. That's how things are trending at least.

 

[MediumBaller]

Kyrie is who he is. It doesn't matter if he's wearing a Cavs jersey or a Celtics jersey. He's a phenomenal talent, but he's not a leader.

 

[ChosenOne23]

Never change my man, never change.

 

[RuanuLaw]

Never change my man, never change.

Annnnnd its starting....Boston showing cracks, and the media is starting to smell blood. Pretty soon all the negativity gonna have Kyrie not "having fun" anymore. lol

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

My thing with Boston is we know they are definitely not as good as they started out. No doubt about that.

But the real question is how good are they really? Over the last 10 game stretch there 5-5. Is that them just underperforming after a hot start? Or is that their baseline and should we expect them to be a fringe .500 team the rest of the way?

My head is telling me it’s the former. They’re not the 1 seed but they aren’t a .500 team either. They’re somewhere in between. Maybe a 50 win team.

But my gut is telling me they’re maybe a 45 win team. And they’re going to come crashing down to earth.

I wonder what the media narrative on Kyrie would look like if March comes and the Celtics have manages to slip into a battle for the 4th/5th seed?

I actually think the Cavs might still cruise to the 1 seed barring a Love/Bron injury. Toronto is good but they will fall off into 47-52 win territory. The Cavs should win at least 55. Anyone really think the Celtics will win 55 now? I think winning even 50 would be an overachievement for them.

Their offense has gotten a little better but their defense is slipping and isn’t super elite every night anymore. They were #1 by a mile and now they’re headed towards dropping out of the top 5 if they have even one more week playing like this. It’s kind of a big drop, honestly. I was always skeptical in Kyrie being part of the #1 defense.


Maybe they’ll figure it all out and be fine and I’ll look silly for even asking these questions though

 

[blommen]

Annnnnd its starting....Boston showing cracks, and the media is starting to smell blood. Pretty soon all the negativity gonna have Kyrie not "having fun" anymore. lol

To be fair, HP has been skeptical of the Celtics and Brad Stevens in particular for what feels like 2 years now.

 

[chino98713104]

its pretty unlikely the celts dont make a trade.

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

its pretty unlikely the celts dont make a trade.

I don't see it, honestly. Why would they?

People need to understand that Boston was under no delusions that they were title contenders this year. What happened to Hayward was unfortunate but this was supposed to be a growing year.

Now if this was 2-3 years down the line, yes, they'd be looking at a trade.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

its pretty unlikely the celts dont make a trade.

Ehh. The Celts have a bit of problem here. Because they cleared space for Hayward, and made the Kyrie trade....they really don't have a lot of salary filler to make trades happen. So they really would have a hard time pulling off any type of significant trade. And if they do a smaller trade, they can't make it happen without trading guys that play for them every night anyways like Baynes/Morris/Smart and for their relative salaries those guys make close to the same or a higher impact than anyone they could trade for in that range.

I find it unlikely that Boston is able to make a trade that really changes anything,

 

[czvo]

Ehh. The Celts have a bit of problem here. Because they cleared space for Hayward, and made the Kyrie trade....they really don't have a lot of salary filler to make trades happen. So they really would have a hard time pulling off any type of significant trade. And if they do a smaller trade, they can't make it happen without trading guys that play for them every night anyways like Baynes/Morris/Smart and for their relative salaries those guys make close to the same or a higher impact than anyone they could trade for in that range.

I find it unlikely that Boston is able to make a trade that really changes anything,

They do have the disabled player exemption.

 

[bboy]

My thing with Boston is we know they are definitely not as good as they started out. No doubt about that.

But the real question is how good are they really? Over the last 10 game stretch there 5-5. Is that them just underperforming after a hot start? Or is that their baseline and should we expect them to be a fringe .500 team the rest of the way?

My head is telling me it’s the former. They’re not the 1 seed but they aren’t a .500 team either. They’re somewhere in between. Maybe a 50 win team.

But my gut is telling me they’re maybe a 45 win team. And they’re going to come crashing down to earth.

I wonder what the media narrative on Kyrie would look like if March comes and the Celtics have manages to slip into a battle for the 4th/5th seed?

I actually think the Cavs might still cruise to the 1 seed barring a Love/Bron injury. Toronto is good but they will fall off into 47-52 win territory. The Cavs should win at least 55. Anyone really think the Celtics will win 55 now? I think winning even 50 would be an overachievement for them.

Their offense has gotten a little better but their defense is slipping and isn’t super elite every night anymore. They were #1 by a mile and now they’re headed towards dropping out of the top 5 if they have even one more week playing like this. It’s kind of a big drop, honestly. I was always skeptical in Kyrie being part of the #1 defense.


Maybe they’ll figure it all out and be fine and I’ll look silly for even asking these questions though

Don't sleep on Toronto...I know they fold in the playoffs but they're really having a great season under the radar

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

They do have the disabled player exemption.

Yeah but the date has already passed in which they can sign a player and still use that salary in combination with others in a trade.

So they can sign a guy for ~8 million and trade him alone for another guy worth up to like 9.6 million. Again nothing that will move the needle.