The Winter Of Our Discontent

This season is lost and if by some bizarre twist of fate, we still don’t end up with either Oden nor Durant, then we can flush this season as perhaps the most tragic in C’s history.More worst than the 1997 season.

I mean it just started bad…No.7th pick wasted in Telfailure,Red the C’s Patriarch dying, Doc not being fired despite fans clamoring for him to be booted even before the season began, Injuries left and right to key players, an astounding 18 game losing streak which goes down in our history books as the worst ever streak by this organization…and now this, DJ a well loved ex-celtic passing….Losing out on Oden or Durant would truly make me sick.

i say hang the “gone for holidays” sign on the banner and we will regroup come October again..

Jeff I couldn’t agree more. A season that looked so full of promise has turned horibly sour starting with the death of Red, the inuries to Paul and Tony, the dreadful losing streak,and now the untimely death of D.J. I also can’t wait for this season to end. We really haven’t had much go right since the death of Len Bias nearly 20 years ago. I really feel that we are overdue for the ping pong balls to fall are way, along with a key free agent signing to breath new life into this storied franchise. This is clearly the most important off season for the Celtics in recent history, and will go along ways in shaping their future for the next decade. My fingers are crossed ;)

People shouldn’t prepare to be disappointed. If you put that negative energy out there, that is what will come back. Deep down, hope is what gives us all the will to continue despite setbacks. It doesn’t matter at all how the draft went down in 1997. Maybe players like Jefferson, West, Rondo and Green develop solid skills during the remainder of the season. Tony Allen comes back strong next year. And if not Oden or Durant, a talented big man joins the team and its healthy leader Paul Pierce.

I don’t think the season will be a failure if we don’t get Oden or Durant, because we were never supposed to be in this situation in the first place. Any good draft pick we get now will be a bonus. Teams that have Paul Pierce are not supposed to be at the bottom of the league record-wise, especially in a division as horrible as the Atlantic.

Why get frustrated over something that will boil down to luck?

“Tanking this season has been the equivalent of placing our franchise’s future on a coin flip.” I don’t really know what else we were supposed to do. Trade Jefferson and Ratliff for a star? We don’t even know if West would have settled for that. Besides, none of the players Celtics fans have been drooling over want to come here anyway – they want to go to playoff teams like the Lakers or Bulls.

I just think some fans delusionally thought we were supposed to be big players this year in the trade market, even though Ratliff is technically still not an expiring and Ainge was never going to deal Jefferson in the first place. What happened this season is we were going to be a mediocre East team but due to injures we ended up being a really bad one. That can happen to even the good teams, just look at the Heat.

So let’s just look towards the draft and be happy with whatever happens.

Even before the tragic loss of Dennis, I was ready for this horrible season to end. I truly believe Wyc’s bottom line is the bottom line. Danny Boy has made some critical blunders that’s had a lot to do with our sorry state of affairs. I couldn’t stand the thought of rivers coaching this team when he was only a candidate. Three years of this guy has been pure torture for me.

We have a mismatched collection of players. We have one stud and one good player in the making. After that, we have a bunch of prospects, projects and some major question marks due to injuries. At best, in my opinion, we are only capable of squeaking into the playoffs in a very poor eastern conference. That’s it.

Now, we are pinning our hopes on getting a top talent on what basically amounts to a roll of the dice. Nice vision there Danny Boy. Good plan.

Injuries were definitely a factor. But the lack of D is what kills them most nights. That’s on Doc & Ainge. Teach D & get players who can actually execute defensive schemes.

I’ve blocked out the Pintino years for my own mental health, but this season seems to be as bad or worse.

I’ve stayed away from the blog to clear my head at times. There is only so much I can handle with this, but great article Jeff.

Sad listening to Mike and Lenny on WEEI last night and what Pitno did to Red when they were taking the team picture.

More than anything this team needs our support and we need for right now to stop the Doc and Danny bashing.

We need to just let go of this season and start fresh going into next. There is promise with Pierce, Green and Jefferson. I know alot depends on the ping pong ball, but we have to hope.

We’ve already hit rock bottom, or have we!

You would have to say that all in all, this is the worst season ever for this storied franchise.

This is truly a low point in the history of this franchise. But I for one will not forget this season anytime soon. The memories of this season will just make it that much sweeter when we finally get up off the floor and reach the top again. Dont give up people

that’s a good start… I like it

While the focus has been on our “tanking” this season and upon the kindness of the upcoming ping-pong ball drop, we’ve overlooked the “siver-lining” in the breakout season Jefferson is having and the PT that West, Green and Rondo are getting. Back in December the chant was that no one valued our youth like Danny did. Now we learn that there was trade interest in Jefferson, West, Rondo, Green and not surprisingly, Pierce.

While Jefferson seems to be the only young player having a break-out season, let’s not forget Tony Allen and the splash that he was about to make. Unfortunately, While Tony and Al were approaching their potential, Perkins and Wally were in fast retreat with nagging injuries.

Part of Doc’s mismanagement could also be his reluctance to use Kandi especially on those occasions when 4th quarter defense became a necessity. We certainly were undersized inside and another big body could have helped….but then again, had we already decided to tank the season?

I am disappointed as well Jeff and wish the season could end now. However, I will watch and cheer the celtics on and suffer with them. as I understood it “tanking” is voluntary and intentional thus i don’t be;ieve we are tanking. at least I hope not. I still hope the guys play to win as many games as they can. the lottery and the summer will take care of itself. We can not and should worry about waht we can’t control. we must wait to determine where we are to draft before we know waht to do with the pick. specuation now will only fuel depression and dejection such as that uttered by Roy Hobbs

Ancient Red, I’m sort of in your court with what you say. (I didn’t hear WEEI}, but I’m pretty much with you on the rest except that I might be a bit more optomistic. Of course, I expected more this season, but my expectations were probably set too high. Forgetting the injuries (except Perk, which I’ll discuss later), Everyone says we can’t use youth as an excuse, but that is the problem NOW. It takes many years for a four year college player to excel in the NBA. Of course there are exceptions. We have 4 high school players and at at times they were all on the floor together. This is unheard of and we expect to get into the playoffs with this situation. This is not a hit on Danny who took, in my opinion, the only route to improve this team once he took over. It’s not a hit on Doc, whom I’ve constantly said is doing a great job in this situation. He’s not a coach, but a teacher teaching a remedial course in basketball. I can’t wait until he really does have a chance to be a coach. What I look at is mainly the individual improvement of players who will be the key to our future, the coming together of a team which needs more time together to become truly cohesive and great leadership by Paul Pierce who is doing everything he can to try to win games, which is important, but also in helping these students to learn by utilizing his skills to make them better and by encouraging them. As to Perk. If he can resolve the problems with his foot he is part of the team’s future. We’re doing to him this year what we did to Al last year. We’re saying they are not good players because they are trying to play with debilitating injuries. I’ve had plantar fasciaitis and it’s not a pleasant chore just to stand up. Imagine playing pro basketball with it. Perk is a better player than he’s shown and he has the heart of a lion. I’ve watched every game and I find something good in practically everyone of them; Al’s second half conversion against the Sun’s, GG’s great shooting when under pressure in the previous game, DWest’s improved shooting of late, Gome’s improved outside shooting, etc. I hate it when they lose, but you can see them improving. Add a healthy TA, PP, Wally (yes Wally, a 50% shooter when healthy), and Perk who can defend opposing bigs with his use of strength and we really have alot more than what we are now seeing.

“GG’s great shooting when under pressure in the previous game”

As much as you can look for optimistic signs, this team hasn’t played under pressure in 2 months.

The second the other team exerts thier will on the game, its over.

1. This is not the worst season in Celtics’ history. That honor goes to 1996-97. That team had no hope, really, except Duncan. This team has hope without Oden or Durant.

2. I don’t view Red Auerbach’s death as tragic. It was sad, but he was nearing 90 and his passing was part of the cycle of life. DJ’s death was more tragic because he died at age 52.

3. I’m not counting on Oden or Durant, and I’m not looking forward to the moaning and gnashing of teeth on this site when those two players are selected by the Heat or the Knicks. There are plenty of other good players in this draft.

4. As so many here have noted, what is depressing about this team is the culture of losing. There is no urgency to win on the part of management, and the coach simply does not know how to win. That is what is so depressing about this season.

TrueGreen, Brickowski

Keep up the good work, always enjoy your readings.

I do see hope in our future, I will follow this off-season like no other in the last 20 years. So all I have now is my memories of before watching Russell, Cowens, Bird & Company.

Believe it or not, I not giving up on Green, Jefferson, or Rondo. I’m still holding out faith that another key addition via trade and a good pick from the draft will bring us back to some respectability

Although I am no fan of dancing girls per se, you can’t fire them
because on many nights they seem to be the only ones who look like
they know what they are doing. Celtic games for me have taken on the aura of varsity-jv scrimmages.

Hey guys, Truegreen as always your like my clone and shorten my need to post. I agree with everything you wrote, and I remember during the past drafts, I wanted the C’s to draft Perk, Al and Green. As I felt then and as I do now that with our mid round picks I felt we had to take that chance to find diamonds in the rough. I knew we were looking at a easy 4 years for a return, and I was nervous each time trades went down that we’d give up on these high schoolers. I have always felt that Al would develop into a Howard like player and he’s just under it now. The 4th year I forsee him becoming that. I always said that Perk was following Jermaine Oneal in his development, unfortunately this has been a set back year becuase of his foot. But I am encouraged hearing Duncan came back from this. I feel for one to really grow in life one has to learn from the set backs, wisdom comes from negatives and how you deal with it. When the life is great we go along missing the important aspects.

On Doc, his most valuable contribution to this team has been his ability to keep this team in a positive frame of mind. In all my years I can’t think of a team that has dealt with such adversity without imploding on itself. This team has been in war, horrible war, like Band of Brothers, when they were near freezing in battle and all looked lost they held together. This team will rise from the fires of this year and come out stronger, both in thier skills, but more importantly thier bond! The link that Jeff put for the hoopsworld article on Building for a Championship says it all. I loved the last sentence. “It’s been said that those who play together stay together, but in the NBA, those who stay together, win.”

Acient Red, like you I stopped going to the comment section, maybe not the home post, but the negativity in the comments. If Truegreen is my clone, then StillaCeltsfan is our anti-christ. LOL,

I first watched DJ live in a Sonics uniform in the year they won it all (at the home games in Seattle, wife was from there) to when he played all the years for my beloved Celtics. Now even more I will continue to KEEP THE FAITH, and help, RESTORE THE PRIDE! I feel no finer honor or tribute I could give to a man and a team that has given me so much, from childhood to now. Peace!
 :D

Here are links to the two articles in the Austin paper.

http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/other/02/23/23golden.html

http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/toros/02/23/23johnson.html

I was a substitute teacher at a middle school today and a couple of kids were reading the paper. When I asked if they had read the article they told me about how much fun they had at the Torros game they’d been to. The highlight of the game for them was getting DJ to sign his bobblehead.

TrueGreen,
Way to see the positive in all this mess.
I agree with most of what you say but I clearly differ on the opinion of Doc.

Ancient Red, Alaska, Little D—Good to see some positivity here. I love the Celtics and it would be too depressing not to see the plus side. It keeps me going. Little D, my thinking about Doc is that I like him as a person. As to his coaching I’m unable to say if he’s good or bad at it. I don’t think he’s really had a chance to be a game coach yet. You can’t make strategic moves during a game if yourplayers don’t even know the fundamentals and if they are inconsistent. As to whether or not he should or should not have called a “time-out” those are usually debatable decisions. From what I can get from player comments after a loss is that they are prepared to execute a game plan and just don’t do it or didn’t do it all the time; i.e., stopped moving the ball and tryed to win a game by individual players. I think the time to judge Doc’s coaching ability is when the roster has had time to get healthy and get used to each other, the learning process of individual players is at or near completion, and there is consistency by individual players. To me, if we can fix the injuries and make some roster changes we are nearing that point. I judge Doc on player improvement and his constant teaching, even during games We’ve seen improvement by many individuals. They play hard. Doc is constantly talking to players during the game and even when it’s over. I’m sure he’s pointing things out to them. You can often see a player answer back so it is a discussion and not a tongue-lashing (with some apparent exceptions). It’s been mentioned by others, but many coaches would just throw up their hands, quit working hard and just show up. Doc doesn’t just show up.

I agree with Brick. The acceptance of losing, the lack of defense is what is really depressing to me. I hope for a top 2 pick but if it’s not to be, there will be other good players, either via the draft or trade. Ainge scares me now with his lack of acumen. He didn’t before. I defended him from the beginning but cannot as the years have gone by now. PS Did someone mention defense and the Kandiman in the same sentence??