Progression

It's great to see the Celtics playing with more consistency these days. That goes a long way in fostering a situation where players thrive. They can see with their own eyes that their efforts are actually working towards something other than mediocrity. It's good for Stevens because he'll be able to gain more respect, certainly a great prospect if the Celtics happen to make a blockbuster trade come to fruition.

This push for the playoffs is what I like to see. Sure, you may not get the greatest picks, but other players may think twice before just shrugging Boston off as a viable destination.

As far as myself, I've been rather busy with school and life in general, but I have kept tabs on how things are going. Hopefully a playoff run is in the cards, that'd be pretty exciting!


KJ

kj,

Good priorities, with school and life leading the way.  Succeeding (to whatever degree it's occurring) is far better than floundering in every possible way.

Wishing you plenty of momentum as you finish out the semester.

Sam

kdp,

I agree with Sam about your priorities, although we miss your posts here. Hopefully finals will be behind you as we ramp up to the draft.

They are inconsistent, that is their biggest bugaboo, but the system seems to be working, Brad's learning curve has flattened out most impressively and they are playing like a team.

You made an excellent point about the playoffs.  We have draft picks up the yingyang but even if we get good picks it takes years for those players to develop into all-star level players.  The quicker rebuild would be to sign or trade for some accomplished proven talent and which free agent would want to come to a team that is a couple of years away from being a couple of years away?  Look at what happened with Andrei Kirilenko after he was traded to Philly.  Granted, his reaction was extreme but, given the choice, how many quality players would come here if we stink or are just a kindergarten?

Build through the draft exclusively, and I think we're looking at a 5-7 year rebuild because we have to wait a few years for all that young talent to develop (if they develop).  Build with trades and free agents and we're closer to 4-5 and making the playoffs would attract talent more than a crappy team ever could.


bob


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As to the draft

A full 25% of the 120 players drafted the past 2 seasons have not even played 1 minute in the NBA

beat

beat wrote:As to the draft

A full 25% of the 120 players drafted the past 2 seasons have not even played 1 minute in the NBA

beat

beat,

I'd be curious what percentage of lottery picks over the last 2 years are playing >20mpg (i.e. legitimate rotation players).

If you're a lottery pick it stands to reason that you should at least be a rotation player if not a starter.



bob



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Here you go Bob

from last year

http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2014.html

Top players are getting 20+MPG (6 of the top 14) and 2 others in the first round
as for the second round.......Philly has 2 players McDanials and Grant but I see that as a better "D" league team than an actual NBA team. There is one other player in the second round that is getting 20+MPG....Jordan Clarkson (Was)

beat

Here is the year prior...2013 draft


http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2013.html

beat

beat wrote:Here you go Bob

from last year

http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2014.html

Top players are getting 20+MPG (6 of the top 14) and 2 others in the first round
as for the second round.......Philly has 2 players McDanials and Grant but I see that as a better "D" league team than an actual NBA team. There is one other player in the second round that is getting 20+MPG....Jordan Clarkson (Was)

beat

beat,

Thanks!

1.  Wiggins - 35mpg, 76 games
2.  Parker - 29.52mpg, but only 25 games
3.  Embiid - 0
4.  Gordon - 16mpg, 42 games
5.  Exum -  22mpg, 77 games
6.  Smart - 27mpg, 62 games
7.  Randle - 14mpg, 1 game
8.  Stauskas - 15mpg, 68 games
9.  Vonleh - 7mpg, 19 games
10. Payton - 30mpg, 77 games
11. McDermott - 9mpg, 35 games
12. Saric - 0
13. LaVine - 23mpg, 71 games
14. Warren - 14mpg, 35 games

There's your lottery picks, in more detail.  Forgetting about Sam Hinkie's "who gives a shit if they play?" philosophy with Embiid and Saric, we're still only talking about 4 players that are playing 20-25mpg and only 2 playing 30+.  That's 6 players in last year's lottery that are solid rotation players or better.  6 out of 12.  50/50.  Coin flip.  Maybe yes/maybe no.  Say it anyway you want.

And we all know about #17 pick James Young.



bob


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beat wrote:Here is the year prior...2013 draft


http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2013.html

beat

Here's the breakdown on the 2013 draft


1.  Bennett - 14mpg, 108 games
2.  Oladipo - 33mpg, 147 games
3.  Porter - 15mpg, 106 games
4.  Zeller, Cody - 20mpg, 144 games
5.  Len - 17mpg, 111 games
6.  Noel - 31mpg, 74 games
7.  McLemore - 29mpg, 158 games
8.  Caldwell-Pope - 26mpg, 157 games
9.  Burke - 31mpg, 144 games
10. McCollum - 14mpg, 95 games
11. Carter-Williams - 34mpg, 131 games
12. Adams - 19mpg, 146 games
13. Olynyk - 21mpg, 129 games
14. Muhammed - 15mpg, 75 games


So, after a year of seasoning, a year of their GM moving pieces to free up time for them, we have 4 players playing starter 30+mpg, 4 players playing solid rotation 20-29mpg and 6 playing minor rotation minutes of <20mpg.

4 out of 14 (29%) of the 2013 lottery are starters, 4 out of 14 (29%) are solid rotation contributors and 6 out of 14 (42%) are marginal or almost rotation players and of the top 5 picks only one of them is playing starter minutes. 1 starter out of the top 5. Not very inspiring, is it?

And the teams the starters are playing on suck.  Oladipo is on Orlando, Noel is on Philly, Burke is on Utah and Carter-Williams is on Milwaukee.  Not one of them is a good team.  Of the rotation players Cody Zeller is on the Hornets (NOT a playoff team), McLemore is on Sacto (NOT a good team), Caldwell-Pope is on Detroit (NOT a good team), Olynyk is on Boston (maybe a playoff team).

A conclusion that could be made here is that the lottery picks that are sophomores now are not impact players on their teams, either because their teams still suck or because they are not getting a lot of minutes.  Adams, for example, is on OKC, which is a good team, but he was either behind Perk and is now behind Kanter.  Bill Walton, bad feet and all, played 19mpg when he came to Boston at the end.



bob


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Trading and (to a slightly lesser extent) free agency offer Danny much more control over the player acquisition process than the draft does.

Sam