Don't Sleep On The Boston Celtics This Year

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Don't sleep on the Boston Celtics this year



    The Celtics started their full rebuilding process last year when they traded Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets. The Celtics are now draft pick rich for the next 3 years including over 5 first rounders over the next 3 years. Last year played out as expected for the C's record wise but with the youth on the team beginning to emerge as legitimate ball players it really makes you wonder if the young Celtics actually have a chance in the terrible Eastern Conference to be an 8th seed. If you are a .500 team in the east your nearly a 6 seed thats how pathetic it is, but a team 7 games under .500 may be able to slide in the bracket like they always do somehow and thats what I see the Celtics as if the youth continue to develop at the pace they are.

    Rondo will be back early in the season with the broken hand and theres no doubt what production your getting out of Rondo. Your gonna get another solid 11 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals like usual. Kelly Olynik really came on strong in the final 25 games of the season nearly averaging 18 and 7 a night, and with his improved shooting in the offseason he could be versatile. Avery Bradley is as solid on ball defender as it gets in the NBA, next to Tony Allen I believe that Avery Bradley is the best defender in the NBA. He has improved in shooting drastically over the past 2 seasons shooting nearly 40% from deep , and virtually shuts down some of the NBA's best scorers. Jeff Green was the biggest disappointment on the team last year when he was expected to take the reigns of Paul Pierce as the teams leading scorer which he did accomplish however the inconsistency of his game really hurt the Celtics throughout the season when they couldn't positively know that he was gonna put up 18+ a night. Then theres the rising star that is one of my personal favorites in the NBA, Jared Sullinger. Sully is an absolute monster to say the least on the floor, he has a consistent 18 foot jumper that he sometimes tries to expand to the 3 point arch. He is an absolute bruiser in the post and wears down his matchup on a nightly basis along with his hustle on the glass. Last season Jared was one of the league leaders in offensive rebounds per game, he is phenomenal with positioning himself, grabbing boards and is developing in a force in the league quietly but swiftly. Sullinger is the X factor for the C's this season and if him and Rondo along with Olynik can form there own makeshift big three there may be an eight spot in the future in Beantown.





bob
MY NOTE:  Imagine that, going from 25 wins to a playoff spot, I don't care how crappy the east is that's pretty nice improvement (admittedly, because we're coming from so far away from one, but so what?).  This blogger irks me a bit.  He needs to spend more time on his editing (e.g. "your nearly a 6 seed" instead of "you're").  Apparently he has never heard of apostrophes and contractions.  Nevertheless, I like the underlying theme of the article.  To the best of my knowledge, this blogger is NOT from Boston nor is he a Celtics fan.  If you recognize the ball park or skyline behind the stadium in this picture, let me know.  This is on his blog page and, I presume, would give us some insight to where he's from.







.

Bob,

That's PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Notice the "P" behind home plate and the "PNC Park" above the left field scoreboard.

Who is George Fabian?  I tried googling him and found several George Fabians.  One was a shoe repairman.  Another recently died at age 84.  I think he's got the right sentiment, but it's difficult wading through his prose.  I wonder whether he ever took an English class at any level.  I usually don't care about such things.  But this was so egregious that took a lot of punch out of the story for me.

But it's important to comprehend what he means without focusing on how he writes it.  And he's on target with his theme.  Basically, the message I get is that it's even more ridiculous than usual to predict (with any degree of seriousness) how the Celtics will finish this season because there are a lot of dynamics infiltrating this team; and any one or five of those dynamics could explode in a good or bad way.

We're just two games into the preseason, and explosions have already occurred.  Not monster explosions, but positive in nature—and certainly qualifying as fireworks a little later than we expected them.  Think of all the players who have already excited us in one way or another: in particular, Sully, Kelly, Bass, Turner, Thornton, Smart, Pressey, even Wallace and Powell.  Bradley has offset some exciting defense with some unexciting offense, but the latter was much better in game 2, and his name should probably be added to the list.

The team whole is already starting to look like a totality that's greater than the sum of its parts.  Some slippage may be natural over time, but so far so good.

Sam

sam wrote:Who is George Fabian?  I tried googling him and found several George Fabians.  One was a shoe repairman.  Another recently died at age 84.  I think he's got the right sentiment, but it's difficult wading through his prose.  I wonder whether he ever took an English class at any level.  I usually don't care about such things.  But this was so egregious that took a lot of punch out of the story for me.

But it's important to comprehend what he means without focusing on how he writes it.  And he's on target with his theme.  Basically, the message I get is that it's even more ridiculous than usual to predict (with any degree of seriousness) how the Celtics will finish this season because there are a lot of dynamics infiltrating this team; and any one or five of those dynamics could explode in a good or bad way.

We're just two games into the preseason, and explosions have already occurred.  Not monster explosions, but positive in nature—and certainly qualifying as fireworks a little later than we expected them.  Think of all the players who have already excited us in one way or another: in particular, Sully, Kelly, Bass, Turner, Thornton, Smart, Pressey, even Wallace and Powell.  Bradley has offset some exciting defense with some unexciting offense, but the latter was much better in game 2, and his name should probably be added to the list.

The team whole is already starting to look like a totality that's greater than the sum of its parts.  Some slippage may be natural over time, but so far so good.

Sam

sam,


People who struggle with the English language shouldn't host blogs. Comment? Sure, absolutely, but not host.

Your write about the distractiveness of his prose. Its erksum.



bob


.

I think the Celtics will make the playoffs as the 8th seed.



KJ

Bob,

so it's OK if I keep posting here then?

I am known to not only butcher the English language but to have more typo's than anyone ever could hope to in one line of  text.



oh yeah....I'm waiting for the real games before I start to talk playoffs.....playoffs!......PLAYOFFS!!!!

never mind

kdp59 wrote:Bob,

so it's OK if I keep posting here then?

I am known to not only butcher the English language but to have more typo's than anyone ever could hope to in one line of  text.



oh yeah....I'm waiting for the real games before I start to talk playoffs.....playoffs!......PLAYOFFS!!!!

never mind

kdp,

You don't butcher the language. For example, you wrote, above, "so it's ok...", not "its". That shows you know the difference. We all do typos. I edit my posts almost obsessively before I post them and still find myself re-editing them afterwards because I missed something. And then, the next day when I read it again (did I mention "obsession"?) I find it still isn't well written, it's written in my brain-to-keyboard shorthand that tends to omit pronouns and the odd preposition.

Besides, quality of posts count as well. I wish you'd reconsider your decision to retire from the "college draft projection" business. As I pointed out, with solid evidence to support my conclusion, you did better than the pros.

Playoffs? This year? Coming off a 25 win season and no major additions to the roster? That would be impressive. Doable? I think we'd need a little help (Atlanta falling apart, the Knicks and the Nets being, well, the Knicks and the Nets and maybe Toronto and Charlotte turning back into pumpkins). Philly will be ugly, Orlando should be too. Detroit won't be moving up much this year, I think, and I don't see Parker elevating Milwaukee enough.

So, that's 4 dogs out of 15 EC teams. We need help from 4 of the teams in parenthesis because we're not going to get any from Cleveland, Indiana (even without Paul George, they should make the playoffs), Washington, Chicago and Miami.





bob



.

Bob,

It's one thing for people who aren't professional writers to make errors of syntax, grammar, spelling, etc.  Heck, I know I've made more than my share, and I've never once remarked on any poster's writing errors with here or at BDC.  But someone who's even posing as a professional writer should be more accomplished.  Look at Outside's writing.  It's virtually perfect, and he's a professional writer.

So writing gaffes are not only acceptable on this forum.  Theyr'e encouraged hear.

Sam

Regarding typos, misspellings, punctuation, and the like, I use the Navajo rug weaving philosophy as my guide, which is to include at least one flaw in a rug. It's just that they include their flaws intentionally.

This is shaping into an excellent season already. Even the preseason chatter is compelling.

There's probably no one anywhere who does a better job of massacring the rules of grammar than cowens and yet I find myself eagerly reading and rereading everything he has to offer. You write like you think and cow's writing is so direct, so straightforward and so commonsensible, it's a thrill to read. Keep it up, cow. Luvya.

I said it before and I'll say it again: You cannot compare this team to last year's team. First, there was the trade which ripped out the heart of the team - imagine removing Pierce and Garnett, two of the most charismatic leaders in the game! With Rondo rehabbing, last year's team had no leadership. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Green's a nifty player, - as Tommy said, tremendously athletic, but he's not a leader. He leads by doing, which is fine by me. It seems as though Sully and Kelly are the same way. Climb on my back, sure, but don't expect me to yell at you.

Last year, Sully was coming back from serious back surgery, didn't have time to get in shape, and was asked to play out of position. It appears that he's a little ashamed of how he played last season and this year he's going to make up for it by destroying any and all comers. Can't wait. You ain't seen nothin' yet! Same goes for Kelly: last year he figured out that he can use all his tools and nobody out there can stop him. He hasn't even begun to sense how good he can be. These two alone are going to lift this team to the upper echelon. Who's going to stop them?

Rondo's injury, (thanks to the loansharks, btw) is a blessing in disguise. Coach Stevens can change the team's philosophy to a 60s style run and gun and Rondo will either have to join the bandwagon or sit. No more rolling the ball or walking it up the floor, no more fiddling and diddling or pounding the ball, waiting to make the hero pass. The coach has spoken: "Move it, move it, move it!" I don't think Rondo has the leadership ability he thinks he has, but I do believe he will see what the coach is trying to do and buy into it. In which case, this team is going to be dangerous, or, dangerouser. Sometimes it's fun to massacre the language.

When the true leaders emerge (Mahcus Smaht, anyone? maybe even Thornton?), it's going to be as a result of extreme defense. Other teams will have their heads spinning, like the Knicks did the other night. They'll be looking over their shoulders, not knowing what to expect.

The biggest advantage this year's team has is Coach Stevens. You can just tell he's psyched. He has so many weapons! He has guys just buying into what he wants them to do. Everyone league-wide thinks a team needs superstars to win. Teamwork wins. It's a new dawn, San Antonio showed that, it's a new day, yesterdays solutions are not working, it's a new life, for Celtics fans, anyway, and I'm feeling GOOD!

Oh yeah, they'll not only make the playoffs, but shock the league. That's my prognostication.

Spike thanks, I enjoy being a role player on this board.

Good call on Rondo's injury possibly being a blessing in disguise, I think he was hitting the heavy bag, and it takes just one wrong punch....the team is looking good, a young hungry team with alot of upside and deep at every position except the 5. Evan Turner could be a steal, for year 2 of a rebuild were one role player away. a Rudy Gobert type of doing serious damage to this league. Smart, Bradley, Sully, KO all have all star potential.

Its gonna be a good year, just watching Rondo, AB, Smart and Turner/Young evolve in the backcourt should be exciting....Sully is gonna be a beast. Hopefully by this time next year we have acquired a real defensive presence at the 5 to make life in the paint easier for Sully and KO.

Cow, the only typo that bothers me is when you misspell the word "fick."

Sam