CBS' Off Season Report Card - Boston Celtics

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24660495/offseason-report-boston-celtics




2014 Offseason Report: Boston Celtics
By Matt Moore | NBA writer
August 14, 2014 9:39 am ET
 


CBSSports.com's Eye On Basketball is taking a team-by-team look at the 2014 NBA offseason. We continue with the fallen empire, the Boston Celtics. Check out the rest of the offseason reports here.

How they finished 2014: The Celtics did actually have some hopes of being good last season. They were misguided, but they did have that hope. Rookie Kelly Olynyk was considered a significant contender for Rookie of the Year in preseason by coaches and his fellow rookies. Jared Sullinger was expected to anchor the offense. Avery Bradley and Jeff Green had the opportunity to thrive with bigger roles.

None of that really happened. Olynyk struggled on both ends, and while there is a foundation of promise there, it was far from an instant success. Sullinger shot 43 percent from the floor but did show real promise as a rebounder and stretch four. Bradley finally learned how to shoot, but his defense slipped and he once again had injury issues. Green slipped in and out of impact.

The Celtics were 13-18 through Jan. 1. Then the wheels fell off. They went 2-15 in January, and that was it. Rajon Rondo's return from a torn ACL failed to spark the team and they ran out the clock on the season. They finished a respectable-but-not-great 18th in points allowed per possession, but just 27th on offense.

Coach Brad Stevens got a deep-dive crash course in NBA rebuilding, having to juggle developing younger players while dealing with veterans playing to get their way into better situations or out of Boston altogether.

The Celtics failed to hit the bright landing spot of optimism, but things could have been worse, all things considered.

Offseason needs: You can argue that Boston needed to set a path ... but did it? General manager Danny Ainge has opted to not really choose between rebuilding with young talent and trading Rondo or finding a star to fit beside him. He has kept his options open. He snagged multiple draft picks and kept Rondo.

Do the Celtics need to resolve their future before Rondo hits free agency next summer? Probably. But there's also the chance that they simply keep going as they have, adding good players through the draft while keeping their flexibility open to acquire a star. There's a good chance they can re-sign Rondo even without being a contender.

So their offseason needs were simpler. They needed help on the wings to provide shooting and versatility. Plus, they needed to be able to trade Green. They also faced restricted free agency with Bradley.

The draft: Ainge talked down the draft for most of the year, going beyond the usual "it doesn't have superstars" talk and going as far as hinting it wasn't that good overall. But the Celtics kept both of their first-round picks.

First they selected Marcus Smart, and that was a pretty interesting move. If you believe Smart is a point guard, why do you draft him if you have and plan to retain Rondo? If you believe he's a shooting guard, why do you then turn around and re-sign Bradley? Can Rondo and Smart play together? And is Smart a star who could lead the team going forward?

Smart, independent of any of those questions, was a smart selection. His decision-making can be compromised by bravado, but he's strong as an ox, projects as a great defender and can create off the dribble in an underrated capacity. His ability to translate to a true point guard or a spot-up shooter position will be key in the short-term. His ability to produce beyond those roles could determine much of what the Celtics do from here on out.

James Young was a steal late in the first round. He has shooting ability, can get to the rim and projects as a quality 3-and-D guy. He provides an immediate reserve behind Green and if he works out, gives them a smooth transition to allow for a trade of Green to get his money off the books. There weren't any great bigs at either draft spot; Boston made the absolute most of each spot.

Free agency and trades: The Celtics are rebuilding, so they kept things pretty quiet. They let Jerryd Bayless go. They moved Kris Humphries to get his salary off the books.

The two big moves they made were re-signing Bradley and facilitating the trade that sent Jarrett Jack to Brooklyn and made room for the Cavaliers to sign LeBron James, and in doing so landed Tyler Zeller and Marcus Thornton in Boston.

Bradley came back at four years, $32 million, which prompted him to land on many people's early list for free-agent overpays. But the arguments against Bradley have been that he's a liability offensively, something he convincingly shook off last season, becoming a 40-percent 3-point shooter and shooting respectably from the field. He's still not a dynamic weapon you build your offense around, but that's enough of a sign to justify his price tag, if he can get his defense back to the level it was two years ago.

Injuries are the other concern with Bradley, but bear in mind that typically injury hasn't factored in considerably with players coming off their rookie deals. Stephen Curry's deal looks like a bargain now, but at the time, it was a lot of money for someone who had missed as many games as he had. Typically these contracts are based off of projected production, not necessarily established production.

The move for Zeller and Thornton was sneaky good. Not only did it snag a first-round pick for nothing, but Thornton doesn't hurt in the short term as a scoring presence off the bench, and has some value as a trade chip. Zeller is young, talented and reliable. He's not starting caliber on most teams, but he's immediately better than Vitor Faverani or Olynyk, which helps the overall rotation.

The Celtics were quiet in free agency after that, keeping their options open. They didn't land Kevin Love but they managed to improve their team without compromising their ability to add a star if one comes available.

Overall grade and accomplishments -- B-plus: The Celtics didn't swing for the fences this summer. They're still very much a rebuilding team and are a near-lock for the lottery as constructed. They didn't make signs of choosing between instant contention or rebuilding, but they kept their options open on both sides.

Maybe the biggest takeaway from Boston's summer is what they can do throughout the course of this season. They have expiring contracts (Brandon Bass, Thornton, Keith Bogans, who is fully unguaranteed this season and next according to Sham Sports, Joel Anthony), multiple draft picks, cap room and a star in Rajon Rondo they can trade if the right package comes along. Don't expect this to be the same Celtics team at the start of the season as it is by season's end.

But overall they drafted well, retained a good player at a decent price and added some value, current and future, without losing much of anything. Ainge might have the Celtics still hanging in limbo, but at least they'll have a good foundation whenever they decide where they're going.




bob
MY NOTE:  Well, after positive review after positive review after positive review there was bound to be someone who demurred.

We needed to find a trade for Green?  Really?  With 32-year old Gerald Wallace coming back from knee surgery we needed to trade our starting 3?  Oh yeah, that's because of his premise that you have to blow up everything all at once, like Sam Hinkie, or swing for the fences.  Sorry, now it's my turn to demur.  If you think we struggled last year try to imagine how ineffective a less-than-100% Wallace, Chris Johnson and James Young would be.  And if you're going to replace Green with another 3, to avoid that self-inflicted wound at 3, then why would the other team give them up (and who would it be?  Parsons was already gone for crazy money).  

And, of course, there's the obligatory "must trade Rondo" push.  He has a point about Smart and Rondo co-existing, but only short-term.  Short-term, as in this coming year, Marcus Smart has a TON to learn about playing point in the NBA.  I'd be just fine with Smart exploding out of the box and rendering Rondo superfluous, but don't you think we should wait until he laces up a pair of NBA sneakers before we place the crown on his head?  How much do you want to bet that, if Smart doesn't do well playing point this year, Matt Moore will be back to bitch about how Danny drafted him instead of Randle or Vonleh, pivoting away from his current "why draft Smart and keep Rondo" position?  If not Smart, then who should he have taken?  Gordon was gone (so much for the replacement for Green, that NEEDS to be traded), Embiid was gone despite his injury, Randle's a 4 and we're overloaded at 4 and Vonleh isn't a lock for being an NBA starting center either.  Imagine if Danny had gone rogue and drafted McDermott at 6?  Moore etal would be screaming about a landlocked unathletic tweener.  Saric?  He'd be bitching about having to wait 2 years for his Euro contract to expire.  Stauskas?  Then the Tyler/Thornton deal might have blown up because we wouldn't need a shooter like Thornton (or he'd bitch about the Bradley/Stauskas redundancy instead of the Rondo/Smart redundancy).  Who then?  Drafting Smart was the obvious choice, assuming you couldn't convince Flip to take the pick and that now looks, in hindsight, like it never had a real chance of happening anyway.

He describes the Zeller/Thornton trade as "sneaky good".  Apparently "sneaky good" isn't good enough for Matt Moore, he needs to be gobsmacked with a 2x4 to the bridge of the nose to feel the impact.  We got a young, legit NBA center (not a tweener), which we didn't have last year (ergo the less than productive year and the difficulty both Sully and Kelly had on the defensive end) and a scorer (to help offset that #27 offensive rating he slapped us down with) and a first round pick for a TPE that was about to turn into a pumpkin but, because we couldn't pry Kevin Love away from Flip (who wasn't going to let him come to us because Phil Taylor, the owner, was having  recurring episodes of "KG-leaves-and-gets-a-ring-while-we-continue-to-suck" nightmares) or convince LeBron that coming to Boston would rehabilitate his rep better than going back to Cleveland, the air escapes his balloon.  I'll take "sneaky good" everyday for a month of Sundays because that's how you gain more value than you give up without leaving a residue of hard feelings because your trading partner feels like he got taken to the cleaners (like the way Phil Taylor feels).  Isn't that the definition of "sneaky good"?  The price of being better at your job than your peers is that you need to be "sneaky good", so they can't see you coming.  I'll bet there are no shortage of examples where deals got harder and harder for Red to do because the rest of the league was scared stiff he'd shear them like sheep.  Again.

Which part of "multi-year rebuild" don't you get, Matt?  If we're too young and inexperienced to make noise, then the cure for that is more time and experience.  Time and experience for our young'uns to get better (and play their real positions) and more time and experience to make them more valuable as trade bait.  Sure, it'd be great if a GM took our callow youth off our hands in exchange for an All-Star but, unless you're critiquing sportswriters, you can't count on stupidity and short-sightedness. What's wrong with Bradley, Smart and Thornton competing for minutes at 2? I know Thornton's a rental, but what's wrong with him pushing the other two to excel?  What's wrong with Smart breaking in slowly into the most difficult position on the court, the one with the longest learning curve?  Sure, we'd all have been ecstatic if Danny pulled off a coup (Damn Wyc and his big mouth!), but you need a partner to trade with and, quite frankly, I think some of the GMs around the league are afraid of getting "Ainge'd".  My gut (and it is nothing but that) is telling me that's why Daryl Morey traded Asik to an intra-division rival rather than to Danny, someone he had up close and personal experience watching him fleece cooperative GMs.  All the more need, and value, of "sneaky good".

Patience, grasshopper Moore, patience.  And maybe some consistency?  Did we fill holes at our two biggest weaknesses, center and scoring, or not?


.

The Celtics should get a very high mark for this past offseason. Good moves were made in spite of the lack of "fireworks." The draft was beneficial and a center was added, a much needed commodity. I also expect that this team will be more athletic than last year with the influx of wing players.


KJ

Were gonna make the playoffs. Were gonna have the best defensive backcourt in the league, Sully is gonna be a double-double guy, AB and KO will make another jump.

Once again, Danny got the most for the least, and he had no better alternatives.  This writer is like most of them—fans who took an English course and have a relative who owns a newspaper or something.  He makes the popular error of mistaking players for toy soldiers and judging each on his own merits (in a vacuum).

He has no feel for the fact that Danny's assembling a team, meaning a collectivity that will hopefully outperform the sum of the parts.  He regurgitates the popular theme that it's essential to get rid of Green without considering how Jeff might be able to contribute without so much weight of scoring responsibility placed upon him.

Who expected Sully to "anchor the offense?"  Personally, I hoped he'd help solve the team's rebounding problems.  He did that; and, playing against guys more his size, he ought to do it even better.  And his defense should pick up as well.

Where is it written that Smart will be a good floor general any time soon enough to displace an all-star at the position?  But early indications are that he could have sufficient skills, physical attributes and defensive abilities to give all other Celtics shooting guards a strong run for their money. 

Moore (his parents erred by not making his first name "Les") makes the error of judging the future by what has already occurred despite the fact that Danny has changed the balance of the team considerably.  Nowhere in the universe is there a better example of a guy who needs to realize that then is not now.

Sam

The true compass reading for the Celtics will take place between late December through early February.

This is when every team in the league establishes a rhythm, playing pattern, execution of their game plan, and everyone is now familiar with their teammates. 

We'll see if the Celtics can put together a steak of winning basketball in this time frame.  If not, the weeding process begins and trade deadline will be just a few weeks away.

I think it is a roll of the dice on any winning record, however if we reach 35 wins, it could be a step forward. Baring any major talent coming to us in trades,  I am calling for 28 - 32 wins by the Celtics.

112288

112288

Geesh Bob, when I read the piece I thought it was about right.

he even gave the team a B plus for the off-season.

do you REALLY think Ainge gets an A?

come on.

He rightfully pointed out that Both draft picks look like good ones and that the Zeller and future first rounder were sneaky good pickups.

as for Green, well last season there sure was a lot of bemoaning Green and his play all season , that I remember. Of course anyone that has followed Green's career would have told you that we got what he IS.

I have read more than one so called Celtic fan/fans who wrote they'd like to see Green gone also.


I mean what do you guys want from the national press...a Celtics lovefest?

as for this current roster being a playoff team...well I just need to post this link I think for that one.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7fjDS0jKiE

I'll take sneaky good as a compliment.

I don't think Boston is better than any of the 8 teams that made the playoffs in the East last season.
Add in that Cleveland will jump Boston this season, and I think Boston finishes about 10th in the East.

I think a B+ is a fair grade for Danny and the Celtics.
They did about as good as they could have.
The big moves just weren't there.

kdp59 wrote:Geesh Bob, when I read the piece I thought it was about right.

he even gave the team a  B plus for the off-season.

do you REALLY think Ainge gets an A?'

come on.

He rightfully pointed out that Both draft picks look like good ones and that the Zeller and future first rounder were sneaky good pickups.

as for Green, well last season there sure was a lot of bemoaning Green and his play all season , that I remember. Of course anyone that has followed Green's career would have told you that we got what he IS.

I have read more than one so called Celtic fan/fans who wrote they'd like to see Green gone also.


I mean what do you guys want from the national press...a Celtics lovefest?

as for this current roster being a playoff team...well I just need to post this link I think for that one.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7fjDS0jKiE

kdp,

I guess where he lost me was in the impression he left that an A (or A-) is unachievable without getting Love.  You play the hand you're dealt, as magnificently as you can, and Danny didn't have Cleveland's luck in landing 3 1st round picks in 5 years.

Take the whole Kevin Love thing out of the equation, let's assume that Love signed an extension with Minny and the topic of him leaving never came up.  Would Danny earn an A- then?  If not, why not?  How do you do better than what he did with little cap room and young'uns who have not yet impressed the league?  Would he have to land LBJ (not going to happen) or Melo (I'm glad he didn't)?  At the risk of repeating myself he got a legit 7'0", 250# center with starting experience (and still on his rookie contract!) and a scorer with an expiring contract and a 1st round pick for an expiring TPE.  He parlayed Hump's move to another team into another TPE, one that's almost big enough for a mid-level exception player, which means that the Pierce/KG deal is still paying forward for us.  He drafted Marcus Smart who, I think, was the obvious choice at #6 (unless you want to roll the dice with Saric, draft-and-stash him for 2 years in Europe until Jeff Green's contract expires and then bring him over to replace him, but that would be a very bold, even shocking, strategy which would NOT move us forward this coming year and then he'd take heat for that).  What more, given the hand he had, do you expect from him?  Last year, we all knew the roster was going to be screwed up and we went along with that because we knew there was nothing Danny could do about it then.  He played the hand dealt to him as well as he could.  I say that's true this year too.  You go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had.

You can't trade a player if you don't have someone to take them.  You can't trade Green if nobody wants him.  Washington was talked about as a potential suitor for him but they chose to go with another Celtic instead.  Some people are disappointed that Rondo wasn't traded to Sacto for some spare parts and a bag of donuts.  Personally, I'm ecstatic they are disappointed.

The only thing I can think of where you could say "Danny might have screwed that up" is in the Asik-to-NOP shocker.  I honestly don't understand how that happened.  Danny almost certainly offered more than what Morey ended up getting from NOP.  If so, then how is it Danny's fault and not Morey's?

No, I don't expect a Celtic lovefest from the national media, that's our job.  The value of sportswriters, with a few exceptions like Wojo and Jackie Mac, is they allow us to say exactly what we think without having to be concerned about conviviality.  Conviviality applies to board members/posters, not jerks and dumbasses at-large.



bob



.

well Bob,

I thought the piece was fair on most accounts , myself.

maybe my grading scale and yours are different.

I would give Cleveland an A off season.

hard to say Boston gets the same grade for me.

that's not a hit on the Celtics or Ainge to me at all.

maybe I miss understood your comments there, but you seemed pretty upset that he didn't heap high praise on our off-season and have us competing for a championship. Perhaps I read too much in your comments.


I will note that the off-season is not over and we may see more moves before the real games start.

for instance I have read (as I am sure many of you have) that the Turner deal not being done could mean a sign and trade is in the works between Ainge and Bird.

maybe its just so Bird can get a trade exception that he can move for help in replacing George, or perhaps a wider trade could be involved.

kdp59 wrote:well Bob,

I thought the piece was fair on most accounts , myself.

maybe my grading scale and yours are different.

I would give Cleveland an A off season.

hard to say Boston gets the same grade for me.

that's not a hit on the Celtics or Ainge to me at all.

maybe I miss understood your comments there, but you seemed pretty upset that he didn't heap high praise on our off-season and have us competing for a championship. Perhaps I read too much in your comments.


I will note that the off-season is not over and we may see more moves before the real games start.

for instance I have read (as I am sure many of you have) that the Turner deal not being done could mean a sign and trade is in the works between Ainge and Bird.

maybe its just so Bird can get a trade exception that he can move for help in replacing George, or perhaps a wider trade could be involved.

kdp,


Difference of opinions are what make for good horse races.



bob



.

Shit load of water needs to flow under the bridge.

Grades now are little more than wasted thoughts on paper but with nothing else to write about have at it.

If we develop and the rooks and 2nd year guys step it up. And we avoid injuries ( biggie ) I see little reason we could not sneak into a low seed playoff spot. The east still sucks much more so than the west. The problem is we will be under the gun from the get go to keep that spot within shooting distance, as Bob I believed mentioned in the schedule thread a 3-15 start is not out of the question.

Angie might be able to pull the colt45 out of the holster, aim it, and pull the trigger.............but we still lack some bullets.

Still gonna have to live with shooting blanks for a bit but sure appears the moves we were able to make will help give us a few more wins..........just how many?? Give me some darts and a blindfold.

beat

It seems that many people implicitly use conventional criteria to evaluate what Danny is doing.  This team is currently constructed not to be a contender but to be juggernaut in its developmental stages.  Cleveland lucked out by having Mr. Revolving Door decide to take his talents back there.  They were serendipitously forced into a "win it now" situation, and the presence of Mr. Door plus a great young floor general was major in the acquisition of Love.  Perhaps they deserve a high grade for taking advantage of their great fortune and being willing to sacrifice a high draft pick in the process.

But that doesn't mean Danny—without the benefit of good luck (as witness the recent ping pong ball fiasco) deserves less of a high grade for building a very interesting and (I keep using these words) better balanced team in the stage of development.  Because of the lack of luck, the absence of compelling human trade chips (with the possible exception of his only proven floor general), and perhaps the contrariness of Daryl Morey, he was forced to settle for a roster that should provide an interesting season and will hopefully point the team in a more desirable direction.

I don't recall a single person on this board or off this board who foresaw the Zeller signing.  All I recall is that, when Asik and Gortat became available, there was a lot of teeth gnashing and wailing about how unlikely it would be that Danny would acquire even a serviceable center.  Well he did acquire one, plus a sharpshooter, plus another draft pick, for practically nothing.

I'm not suggesting that Zeller is anything like a cornerstone for the future, although I'm anxious to see what he can do under Brad Stevens.  But I am stating that Danny has done the very best he could—and far better than he might have done—under the circumstances.

I don't really care about grades, which I believe are just a way of spicing up sports writing.  What I care about is that Danny has done a great job of putting together a team that will be fun to watch and evaluate this season.  And, for those who believe he's finished for the summer, I offer this little ditty: "If you think Danny won't find another fella, remember the case of Tyler Zeller."

Sam

I'll take my grading system from Hogwarts.

Danny Ainge exceeded expectations.

Looking 2-3 years out, not specifically at next year, I think Danny is on course to assemble a formidable contender. As a fan, I give him an A, not only for the moves he made, but those he didn't. I'm okay with some writer offering a lower mark however; time is on our side. Hawk

Drafting well is an integral part to this process. I thought that the 2014 draft was great for the C's. In 2013, Pressey and Olynyk turned out to be pleasant surprises. Hopefully there is a gem next year, too.



KJ

kj,

Pressey went undrafted, but Danny was on the phone with him immediately after the draft was over.

That doesn't mean he wasn't a pleasant surprise and a nice pickup, though.

gyso

gyso,

You're right, thanks for the correction.


KJ