Nothing Doing

Nothing done should be a quick fix. It would be done with an eye to the next three seasons, Pierce’s prime years. Anything acquired would help a little for this season but wouldn’t significantly alter the record. As long as they are in the bottom five record wise they will have a decent shot at the prize. Toronto was 5 last year, Milwaukee was 6 when they got Bogut. San Antonio was 5 when they got Duncan. A few more wins isn’t going to kill us.

If its long term planning so be it, but if thats’s the case, the for petes sake give Gerald and Leon a lotta burn. We know what Scal and Wally can do.

I would be hesitant about making any deal until these guys play for a different coach.

Trade of the day…..Since Pierce isn’t getting any younger but remains a key component, trade Green, Rondo and Jefferson (plus Ratliff) for KG. That way Pierce won’t feel slighted by being the only productive (but aging) veteran who watches his game progressively decline. The wisdom of such a move? We can be heartened that we’re also one injury away from not improving. That way we can also be assured of staying in the lottery for the next 10 years, especially if we’re smart enough to trade our developing youth for aging veteran stars (ala Iverson, a deal that almost was).

Or, now that Jefferson has had a break-out season, isn’t it time we revisit the Swift for Jefferson trade? That way Danny will feel that it’s not a completely lost season. With Swift injured perhaps they won’t consider Jefferson as being “over-valued” anymore. Besides, we get another injured bench warmer to keep Wally from feeling all alone.

i will not lay my hopes on the feet of another draft class.
this team is so young it may qualify for the little league world series.

pull the trigger, get pau. he is legit, a vet and only 26. pair him with pierce and jefferson and watch the wins start rolling in.

also, if jefferson were in this draft class he would be right in the mix for the top pick. we have our low post scorer, we need a high post center to compliment him.

argggh if we draft another kid i’m gonna start watching bowling.

did my frustration come through on that post?
if not let me elaborate
arghghfknrghpnkhggggaaa!

This is the draft to have the top pick. Don’t believe for a moment all of this stuff, “it is just another young guy”. Oden’s defense alone would get the Celtics 20 more wins next year. He would be an immediate 10 rebounder and 2 shot blocker and probably score from 12 to 18 points a game. Put that guy on the team and all of these two and three point losses become wins. As lousy as this season is, it is still the best thing that could have happened to the team. You either want to be the best in the NBA or the worst in the right year. You never want to be in the middle. All of those people who wanted the Celtics to trade Pierce an start over just think about this; now the Celtics get to have a top pick in a great year, with Wally and Theo’s contracts ending over the next two years they get to start over, and they get to keep Pierce. Compare that to what things would be had everything worked out this year. Had everything gone as planned, the Celtics would win 45 games or so, gotten maybe out of the first round in the JV east and had years of 40 to 50 win seasons and playoff exits to look forward to. With Pierce’s injury and this snake bitten season, the Celtics have a real chance to get the next great player in the league and even if they don’t they are a year older next year and one year closer to their two biggest underperforming salaries coming off the books. I like the chances with the lottery.

Forget Oden and Durant. David Stern won’t allow it.

They need to fix their horrible, horrible defense.

Wait until after finding out the draft pick # before making any deals. If the Cs dont end up with either the #1 or #2 picks, go hard after a guy like Ray Allen (if available). I may even be tempted to give up the #2 for Allen if Oden is gonna go 1.

“Forget Oden and Durant. David Stern won’t allow it.”

Oh get out. Stern is about one thing and one thing only, money. The last thing he wants is for Oden or Durrant to end up in Memphis or Totonto. It is killing the league to have all of its northeast corridor teams and nearly all of the Eastern Conference stink. The best teams in the league, Dallas, Pheonix, San Antonio, Miami are with the exception of Miami in small media markets. If Stern were fixing things, which he is not, Oden and Durrant would be headed to Boston and Phily or Chicago. Yeah, that is just what Stern wants, the next great NBA dynasty to be in Memphis or Oklahoma City.

Like what will Stern do- they aren’t going to lose 140-23 everynight…as long as they are trying and lose their games close, that is all anyone can ask for…Memphis is the team blowing it anyway…

Oden and Durant are going to big markets (e.g NY or Philly) or to teams in financial trouble or in need of a new arena.

Stern hates the Celtics and couldn’t care less what happens to the franchise. I hope that Grousbeck enjoyed the filmclips of Oden and Durant that they showed at the owners’ meeting, because that’s as close as they are going to get.

These owners have been peddling hope for the last 4 years. Maybe they ought to forget that crap, hire a real coach, and get some players willing to play defense.

Stern does not control the lottery Brick. Come on, come back to reality here. If they fixed the lottery and it came out it would be the biggest sports scandel since the Black Sox. It just wouldn’t happen. I don’t care how much Stern hates the Celtics, he is not going to risk the future of the league to keep them from winning the lottery. This is the NBA not Neckcar or the WWF. Calm down.

Why doesn’t the NBA show the ping pong balls bouncing around on stage, as they do in virtually every state lottery? Instead, they do the “drawing” behind closed doors and deliver envelopes to Stern in that ridiculous “Hollywood Squares” format. Why do it that way unless they want to reserve Stern’s ability to tweak the results?

Let me add that its a very good thing that the Celtics are staying out of the trading market, because it avoids the possibility of Ainge getting fleeced yet again by the likes of the Nelsons or Kevin McHale. Can you imagine Ainge trying to do a deal with the likes of Geoff Petrie or Rod Thorn? It would be a bloodbath.

Boy, oh boy….what a long season this has turned out to be.

-Downers:
1. Missed on Pau
2. Might miss on Oden/Durant
3. Missed on RAlderman

-Uppers:
1. 25%(best case) of getting Oden/Durant
2. three(3) more seasons of developing for GG..and then we’ll get our
own AHouston(to build on….yeeehahh)
3. Wally will have one less year on his contract
4. One more year of coaching experience for Doc

…help me hear fellas…keep adding to the list…..lol

  Stern can’t fake the lottery results alone. He HAS to have help and someone would have talked by now. No way they (The NBA Honchos – Owners) would allow it. This would be assuming that Brick was right, and Stern WANTED to fix the lottery – which I personally doubt.

In the majority of years Stern does nothing. But I believe that in certain situations he has tweaked the results to favor certain franchises, as when the Knicks got Patrick Ewing against all odds. I believe that he also manipulated the 1997 draft, not with respect to Tim Duncan, but with respect to the #2 pick, which went to the Nets (I believe that Philly ended up with it after they swapped picks with the Nets as part of a trade).

Why can’t Stern fake the results? Only he and the partner at some accounting firm know them beforehand.

Is Rico Petrocelli still doing Candlepins For Cash? When does the season start? I hope it’s now, ‘cause there’s nothing else to watch.

Yep, it’s just a theory, since David Stern doesn’t confide in me. But I believe it to be true based on a reasonable inference from the way the lottery is conducted. If Stern wanted to put the conspiracy theories to rest, he would let us see the ping pong balls for ourselves.

Not that I am defending Stern but the reason they do the lottery in private is because they have made a event out of it. If you do it live it makes it a non event. The first number pulled gets the first pick, where’s the drama? plus, the pulling of the next two numbers can be complicated as they may have to redraw if the team that got the first pick is pulled again. It’s not very fun to watch.

http://www.nba.com/features/inside_lottery_050524.html

this link would show how the pingpong balls were drawn with some members of the media as witness…now it may sound that the drawing may not be fixed but there are certainly flaws…What if the members of the media invited where in to the fix…or what if they don’t invite neutral sides in the forth coming draft considering it involves Oden and Durant…remember, there were no real prize in 2005, hence the transparency, i doubt it would be the same with Oden and Durant on the line.

I heard Stern was the real father of Nicole’s baby.

Why do we need Big Man help at this point in the season? Despite the fact Scal, Perk, and the Candy Man are 9-12 on a good team Let it be, ride the ping pong balls and then deal.

Wait?!?!?! Stern manipulated the 1997, but didn’t prevent the first pick in the draft, from going to one of the smallest media markets in the NBA? When there was a massive, massive gulf between the first and second picks, that year. I have to admit, i’m completely baffled by that one

This is the draft to have the top pick. Don’t believe for a moment all of this stuff, “it is just another young guy”. Oden’s defense alone would get the Celtics 20 more wins next year. He would be an immediate 10 rebounder and 2 shot blocker and probably score from 12 to 18 points a game. Put that guy on the team and all of these two and three point losses become wins. As lousy as this season is, it is still the best thing that could have happened to the team. You either want to be the best in the NBA or the worst in the right year. You never want to be in the middle. All of those people who wanted the Celtics to trade Pierce an start over just think about this; now the Celtics get to have a top pick in a great year, with Wally and Theo’s contracts ending over the next two years they get to start over, and they get to keep Pierce. Compare that to what things would be had everything worked out this year. Had everything gone as planned, the Celtics would win 45 games or so, gotten maybe out of the first round in the JV east and had years of 40 to 50 win seasons and playoff exits to look forward to. With Pierce’s injury and this snake bitten season, the Celtics have a real chance to get the next great player in the league and even if they don’t they are a year older next year and one year closer to their two biggest underperforming salaries coming off the books. I like the chances with the lottery.

I agree with JohnK, trading is not the way to go, especially when you’re in contention for the top ping pong balls in this year’s draft. It might hurt for PP, but we should build around the core of players we have (or others give the impression we have) in AJ, RR, GG, et. al and hope others can become role players, provided Doc gets demoted to assistant or something.

Back to the point JohnK was making. I’ve done a quick breakdown of the stats here http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg79hfxd_52frtbhf and here’s what I got:

Blowouts: 7

Losses with between 11 and 15 points: 9

Losses with between 6 and 10 points: 13

Losses less than 5 points: 10

If you take JohnK’s argument into the mix here and we get lucky with Oden or Durant, our 13-39 record turns into a possible 36-16 record, if all the pieces (TA coming back, PP being healthy, AJ continuing to develop, etc) come into place and they are the immediate contribution they’re projected to be.

Conclusion: leave everything in place, give the youngs some more floor time and pray we get one of the top picks.

Stern didn’t think he could get away with letting a NY team get another dominant center after what happened with Ewing. Besides, there were knowledgable people in the draft who rated Van Horn fairly highly.

If you people want a conspiracy read and try to solve the Kennedy Assassination. The reason they do the lottery behind closed doors is it takes so long. There are many, many drawings, not like we were use to seeing back in the early days of the lottery when they had 13 pingpong balls.

Pls, I know it’s hard but use some common sense. If you were an NBA owner would you allow your team to be cheated by the league. Hell Al Davis sued the NFL and won $100M. So why don’t we just forget the David Stern is not going to let the Celts win the F#$%^&* lottery.

The fault, dear Brick, is not in our stars,
But in our coach, that we are underlings.

I would think at this time, Nazr Mohammed would be the type of player and four year contract we would not want.
That means Danny’s probably interested.

We have a back up center, it’s Perk.

I do agree with the comment about the Celts poor defense. I’ve written several posts where I’ve praised Doc for keeping this team playing hard. But he certainly has no defensive concept. Their defense is worse than that played by 8-10 years old kids.

I played a lot of hoops. On some teams you over play the wings. Pressure the ball. Force the ball to the middle or to be baseline. Maybe you front the post. Double team on the wings on in the corner. The only consistent thing I see them do is blitz the pick and roll and normally foul the ball handler.

The other thing that I consistently see is that we are very soft. Would somebody knock somebody down please. When somebody drives to the basket we get all these little freaking touch fouls for 3 pt plays. Knock some of these guys on the ass and make them shoot free throws. People who get knocked down will think twice about driving. I GUARANTEE IT!!!!!! Last nite all these freaking touch fouls gave the Kings almost 50 foul shots. Give me a break!!! If a team ever shot 50 free throws against one of my teams (never happened)they would have players in cast, traction, and extended hospital stays.

Another thing that I see and it’s probably because of how bad we are, we get no calls from the refs. Last nite they called Perk for walking in bounds before he inbounded the ball. No problem with the call, but Brad Miller twice handed the ball to Mike Bibby with no call, that is a violation too. It’s obvious to me that the game was not meaningful enough for the refs to give us a good game. There were blatant calls that we just missed and no one cared. Even the refs knew they screwed up when Doc yelled and screamed at that one for 4 or 5 possessions. He should have been T’d up and probably ejected. How many times did Al get fouled in the post, with no calls. They were 2 horrible missed calls. I’m not saying that we should be winning and the refs are jobbing us, it just seems that we don’t get our share of calls and that comes from being a poor team.

I said it the other day Mohammed is only a tad better than Perk.
If you move Delonte than get Nene or Najera in return. Take a look at his shooting last night. He is the perfect “2” guard on a team with a talented PG.

Oh by the way I was thinking during the All Star Game wouldn’t it be great if we had Billups, Johnson and PP still on the Celts. My cry is BE PATIENT lets learn a lesson from these two guys bring moved too soon. Gerald and Al are keepers.

It was nice to see Al get one shot attempt in the 4th quarter last night. Nice game plan Doc. No wonder we scored 13 points.

Sorry Jeff, I didn’t mean to steer the thread awry with my theory about the lottery (which I realize is a minority view) but there is an idea being pushed by some (with the encouragement of Celtics management) that Oden, Durant or the right trade will fix what ails the Celtics.

It won’t. For the umpteenth time, there is no quick fix. If they can’t defend a bloody chair, they won’t win no matter what roster changes they make. Their offensive schemes are pretty awful too. As soon as Pierce gets in the game, the ball stops going inside. They want to leave the middle open for him to drive, but if that gets cut off (as it does when the other team simply switches to zone), they have no options other than jacking up shots on the perimeter.

When Rivers talks about how much he’s looking forward to playing those exhibitions in Europe, I just want to throw up.

Imagine if Danny just went nuts and traded Al, Gerald, DWest, our #1 this year, Theo, Wally for both Pau Gasol and Ray Allen.

G$, DWest, and Wally for Ray Allen
Al, Theo, and #1 pick for Pau Gasol

Let’s say we were left with Rondo and Perk and maybe Gomes and a healthy Tony next year. I’d do this in a heartbeat. Gasol, Pierce and Ray Allen would be an instant contender for the Eastern Conference.

Imagine if Danny just went nuts and fired Doc and then resigned.

Let’s say we then went out and got a competent GM and a real coach. I’d do this in a heartbeat.