Bulpett: To-do list for Celtics stretch run

BOSTON HERALD

Steve Bulpett

Folks around the NBA generally call that which happens after All-Star Weekend the second half of the season, a characterization that causes a tasing sensation to everyone over at MIT every time it is uttered.

The Celtics have now played 55 of their 82 regular season games, meaning a bit less than a third of their schedule remains.

And now that we’ve cleared that up, here is what the Celts need to do over the final 32.926829 percent of their season to make what happens between now and the playoffs a success.

1. NOTHING STUPID

This refers specifically to Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.

The Celts will be very active in deal discussions as they seek to use their passel of assets to fetch a magnetic scorer or other such star. They will, of course, be very protective of the No. 1 pick they have coming from the Nets this season (as well as the one in 2018 and the right to change first round positions with Brooklyn next year), but everything in Danny Ainge’s window has a price. That means players, too. No one is untouchable.

The issue will be how far the Celts will go. We saw last June how Ainge kept throwing draft picks at Michael Jordan for the right to move up to the ninth position and select Justise Winslow, who went one place later to Miami.

The Celts caught their breath after that one and, while they still would have loved to leave the evening with Winslow, things may turn out better this way in the long run.

The belief here is that Ainge will be prudent this week. If another club believes it will not be able to keep a star in the fold, he will be there to offer players and picks to soothe the breakup.

But with so much in his pocket, Ainge must be careful not to overspend.

Surely he is familiar with the golf adage that you cannot win a tournament on Thursday or Friday -- but you can lose one.

2. HAVE TOTAL RECALL

It is extremely important that the Celtics remember what makes them successful. Or as coach Polonius said to his point guard Laertes in Hamlet, “This above all: to thine own self be true.”

The C’s fancy themselves a tough, blue collar squad that is willing to do all the dirty work that wins games, but more so earlier in the season they were prone to forgetting that and suffering an ugly loss or three.

The Celts aren’t yet at the Cleveland level -- despite the very nice win there a week and a half ago -- but they can deal with just about everyone else in the conference (and wouldn’t a seven-game series against Toronto be some delicious basketball viewing).

But the Celtics can only be an elite team if they don’t act like an elite team. They must be the Deltas crashing the Faber College parade. (Requesting a Photoshop of Jared Sullinger as the swashbuckling Blutarsky, please.)

3. MIND THE GROWTH SPURT

The focus here is quite rightly on the larger team picture, but charting the improvement of the less-seasoned C’s will be extremely important.

The club can only hope Marcus Smart is over his injury phase, for his development is critical to the club’s quest to become a true contender. To a lesser degree, the same is true for Kelly Olynyk, who has made great strides this season.

It goes well beyond numbers, but you can see the effect those two and others on the second unit have had on the operation. With Evan Turner, Jonas Jerebko and lately Tyler Zeller, they have given the Celts a more stable rotation and made the puzzle work.

We already know Smart is fearless when it comes to taking shots, but he has to gain more experience to learn whether the attempt in hand is worth the bid or if he should move the ball and find something else. That kind of wisdom comes only by placing additional information on one’s personal computer chip.

It’s evident this year how Olynyk has become more comfortable with looking for his shot and thus keeping the defense more honest.

4. SEARCH FOR HOME

The Celtics are not so deeply ensconced in the upper regions of the conference standings that they cannot possibly play themselves out of the top eight entirely. But let’s be real; it would take a catastrophic change in the tectonic plates to allow some of those below to pass.

So while Brad Stevens preaches simply the concept of getting better and letting the results take care of themselves, those on the club who like goals should be thinking about the importance of earning homecourt advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs and, if all goes well there, maybe the second.

Now that they can lean on the Nets to deliver a high draft pick and don’t have to deal with the concept of tanking, the Celts would like to make a nice postseason run and further cement their image as a team on the rise. That kind of thing could be quite valuable for Ainge and Co. as they go free agent hunting this summer. It could also make them more comfortable trading for a good player with an expiring contract, know it’s more likely he’ll want to stay.

5. GO DO THAT VOODOO

If you see Ainge sticking pins in Nets and Mavericks dolls, it should make perfect sense -- if not scientific sense.

It’s really rather amazing when you sit back and think just how much of the Celtics’ future success could be tied to where Dallas and, in particular, Brooklyn finish this season.

The possibility exists that, with some luck and Joe Johnson taking a break from hitting game-winning 3-pointers at the buzzer, the Celts could land a franchise-transforming player this June. And, with the Mavs doing fairly well and their pick protected through seven, a valuable mid-first round pick could be there for the C’s to deal or use to take a shot on a player with an injury history (see: Jared Sullinger) or a young foreigner.

And for those who say you need the No. 1 overall pick or it doesn’t mean anything, how would a guy like Kristaps Porzingis (No. 4 last June) look in Green right about now?

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Responding to Bulpitt's angle of "don't do anything stupid", I think that slightly over paying for a good player with some of the pile of draft picks could be looked at as a good thing at this time.

If a good player who has a contract beyond this year comes available giving up a later first round pick and just about any of the many second round picks is a good idea.

Going in to the draft with eight draft picks will devalue the entire lot of the draft picks. Also, there is no way that the Cs can have more than two rookies on next year's team if they really plan to threaten the Cavs. The team is already "too young" as it has four guys from the last two drafts who have yet to earn even one really significant minute of playing time.