Open Discussion: Define Success

I’s already a success: we got a reason to dream; we got respect.
But we have to admit that success started from that hated tanking…that gave us Ray Allen, that help us to reach KG, that help us to add good FA role players. In my honest opinion.

The team will feel anything less than a championship is not a success. Everything to make that possible has been done. #17 or bust.

before this season- it was said- 3 year window, get to the second round, title run next year. this year= suuccess already’ 1st team to 50- great defense, the big 3 acting like the big 3, and the role players fitting in, coach doc and thom t waving wands, danny coming thru with pj and sam. if we don’t make the finals we will be crying but we still are a success because the franchise was resurrected and we have realistic hopes for the future.

I think it’s a success in my eye’s already. I’ve never enjoyed a season like this before. For me we have to get to the finals for the playoff’s to be a success, once they get there anything can happen and it’s up to them to go out and get the 4 wins needed. I really expect this team to explode in the playoffs, i mean really explode. Like they did at the beginning of the season. Ray, Paul and Kevin will have so much energy that I really believe they will run away with the thing, but i’m trying to keep myself calm incase things take a bad turn. Either way this has been the best season i’ve experienced as a C’s fan, every game is a joy to watch (even the few loses we’ve had).

Financially, this move has been a big success. That’s for sure.

I’ll be disappointed if they don’t make it to the EC finals. If they get Detroit, I’ll be disappointed if they don’t make it to the finals. If they lose to LeBron, I’ll blame David Stern and get over it.

If they make it to the finals, that’s a pretty amazing turn around from last year.

I think getting to the finals will be a successful year. Whoever comes out of the West is going to be a great team and there is no shame in losing to a great team. The Celtics of 85 and 87 lost to a great team in the finals and I don’t consider those years to be a failure. In fact, years like 80 and 82 when they lost to the 76ers before the finals were not failures. But, the Celtics in those years were a young team whose best years were ahead of them so not getting to the finals was acceptable. This team is has three all stars over 30. They need to strike while the window is open and at least get to the finals. I think they can win it this year, but there are never any gaurentees. So, I wouldn’t consider a tough loss to the Spurs or Rockets or Lakers to be a failure; disapointing but not a failure by any means. Losing to Detroit or worse yet Clevland or Orlando would be a failure. The Celtics made two of the best trades in franchise history last year to bring in two of the best players in this generation to make a three year run. If that doesn’t get you passed Cleveland and Detroit, it is a pretty disapointing year.

I will be disappointed if they don’t make the ECF. But this team has been a success already because it’s been such an enjoyable regular season.

Off topic, but…The box scores on nba.com have a column headed “BA”. Would some scholar please tell me what a “BA” is. Thanks.

I took the liberty to look up the mean of the word ‘’success” which mean (Favorable or desired outcome) also (the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence.

IMO at this point in time the Celtics have been a success. They attainment some regular season goal that all team set out to do. First they are winners of their division. They have locked up one of the top two seeds in the conference which assure them at least home court through the first 2 rounds of the play-off. They have been able to get the young guys valuable minutes and the team seem to have come together just nice.

But success in the regular season doesn’t mean they will have success in the play-offs. So in order for this season to be a complete success. The Celtics must attain their desired outcome which would be a NBA Championship.

There should only be one option in that poll. “Banner 17”. These are the Boston Celtics we’re talking about, not the New Jersey Nets. We don’t hang banners for Eastern Conference Championships. Now should we all jump of bridges if they don’t win it? No. They’ve done some great things this year and they should have as good a chance, if not better next year. But no season is a success with the amount of talent we have without a championship.

CelticsWhat35 said it loud and clear: a ring – no less.

Has anyone mentioned that GERALD GREEN has been released by the Houston Rockets !!!!

Yes I loved Dan’s column this morning for once… But just think if the ping pong balls did fall in our favor…what would this team look like….. and Gerald Green would still be a Celtic…

What a difference a year makes and what has transpired in Celtic Nation….

Yeah, unquestionably the year’s been a success. The team went from patsies to contenders. The chemistry has worked, the stars are producing, the others are buying into their roles, and even if the team doesn’t win a title, it’s developing young players and has a solid future.

Many thanks, Fox. As for Master Po, sad to say the counting takes place in a New York minute.

Championship or bust! Although I wouldn’t be mad at them if they were to lose in the finals.

"Has anyone mentioned that GERALD GREEN has been released by the Houston Rockets !!!! "

Wow. What a waste of talent. If there was ever a player who should have gone to college for a couple of years at least, it was Gerald Green. I hope he invested his rookie contract well.

By the looks of thing it seems that most of us are in agreement. Championship or Bust! Even if they get to the finals and don’t win the season was a bust in my mind.

Master Po said it best “It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that ring”

Seeing the brilliant, unselfish, team-oriented, intense, and impassioned play of this team has been a real treat. Kevin Garnett is just amazing. The team is a title contender. We are in the hunt for #17. Any game this team plays with a shot to win the title will result in these players leaving everything they have on the floor. As a fan and lover of the game I cannot ask for more. If we lose in the playoffs it wont be because of lack of effort, it wont be because some team primadonna tanked games on us, it wont be because the egos on this were greater than winning, it will be because some other team was better, injury (God forbid), or lack of experience. I can live with any of those.

No one can bet this team in a 7 game series…….. they might be able to win one or two games but no way 4 games

I am going to put it like this.
-Right now, the Celtics have been successful.
-If they make it to the ECF and lose, I’ll call the season pretty successsful.
-If they make it the NBA Finals and lose, I will call it very successful (there are a lot of very good teams in the west if you haven’t noticed)
-If they win it all, I will call it “Iamsoabsolufrikkinridiculohappy” Successful.

Number 17 is all that counts.

Most NBA fans can tell you the Celtics have won 16 championships.

Few people can tell you who lost in the finals the most times.

Yes it’s been a success, of that there can be no debate..I’ve thought this would be the season that we fine tuned the players around GPA…however Perk and RR have really kicked in and with House, Posey, Po’s favorite (Sam) and PJ.. I have raised my expectations..NBA finals will be a success..

Guys this is Boston and this is the Boston Celtics. I see things black and white. The last 22 years have been failures. If we don’t win the Championship this year the only difference from last year would be a much lower draft pick.

How about success is that we are sitting here with 20 games to play and we are still talking about the post season? Still talking about championship possibilities. Because of that I say this has been a successful year already.

As far as the players are concerned though, success can only be achieved I am sure with banner 17. When you step on that floor you want to win. Every game, no matter who the competition is. They don’t want to be an also ran… I hope they get their success as it will make ours even sweeter!

Interesting that there is a certain constant poster on here without a comment on this topic! I guess when you are never satisfied with anything, why try?! We could win the rest of the games, sweep through the playoffs, and he would still be upset over something…

excellent question. id say this team has definitely been a success give the context of last season. that said, for this team i would like to see AT LEAST an ec finals appearance. given what this team has shown i see no reason to expect any less than that. theres no team in the east we cant beat 4 times. NONE.

I define the success of the team a bit differently…

The team has re-constituted its prestige and reputation around the league..their financials are in order and the team is lined up to be able to re-build around the current core as the 3 stars age and fade…

Regardless of whether or not this team wins a title, (I think they’ll go 3 years in a row, whether they win or not is different) the season has been a success becuase its re-vitalized the franchise…

I think fans of this team have gone so long without seeing a functional organization that they fail to realize the full weight of what Ainge has done here…

By bringing back the winning and mystique of this team, Ainge has established something that is sustainable beyond the length of GPA’s prime years…

We are at the beginning of a renaissance for the Celtics…I doubt they will ever see a 20 year stretch like they just had ever again…the CELTICS, as we use to know them, are back…to me, that is the ultimate success…

To me, as a fan, this season is already a huge success. What`s not to love about the team? I never had more fun in the last 15 years.

That said, I would be really disappointed if the team feels the same way.

As long as there is another moment to play this season, nothing short of banner#17 should even be remotely considered a success.

There is always room for improvement in regards to intensity, concentration, and teamwork…The entire exercise is quite simply geared from this point on in order to win it all…Until such time there’s no time to consider anything but improvement and fluidity…

Once the season is over, there’s time enough to rearrange the past to suit oneself…Until then, it’s as PO so succinctly puts it: “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that ring!”

[Should the Celtics sign Gerald Green to the roster?][/b]

This team has been a success in the regular season.

My post season “success” goal remains unchanged: reach Eastern Finals

Since the beginning of the season, I thought next year would be the Celtics’ year. But with the other powers looking a little shaky, there is an opportunity to strike and get the title this year.

Here’s my take, if we make it to the finals and we’re down, 1-3, and we exit in 5 or 6 games, then we’re a success because effectively, we’d been outsmarted by a more experienced, high caliber team. That would be the best way to go out with full honors.

On the other foot, if we’d split the series 2-2, and then we lose the finals in 6, then we didn’t get over the hump (where the match could have swung either way) and it would be a failure. Now, if it goes a full 7 games, it would have to be a harrowing game 7 loss (where Stoudamire or Ginobili gets an OT on the buzzer and the C’s can’t keep the differential within 3 for the entire period (due to persistent foul trouble [ w/PP & KG & Perks are off’ed ] w/ opponents getting to the line and them scoring lights out with no clear defendable territory) losing 111-103, then that would also be a successful year because that would essentially be like falling to a werewolf (sans the silver stakes of PP/KG/Perks) with nothing to lose.

We’ll definitely be tough with home court. This team is good enough to win the ECF. I would call the season a success getting there. This has to be the biggest turnaround in NBA History.

This team started with 8 or less players from last year with only 1 being all-star caliper. I think only Scals had 5 or more years of experience. I don’t count Perk because year 1 was a wash and most other years were affected by injury. The rest of the team is all new and the whole team had never played together before. We’ve seen the best basketball played since the Bird era. These are all solid or character guys. They play hard, even diving to the floor or into the timekeeper with 2 minutes left and a huge lead. If the season ended today it is certainly a success. Of course the definition of success by the Celtic organization is a championship, so by the team’s standard they are not a success. YETTTT!!!!

The success of a season shouldn’t be judged by the result alone but the journey itself and, as a secondary, the result. The journey has been a resounding success so far, it’s been a great season and the players have done themselves proud.

I’d consider the season a success even without a ring but I’d be disappointed if the team didn’t at least make the finals. There is no team in the Eastern Conference that is better than Boston, there’s a few that are capable of beating them but none are better. Losing in the East would mean the players played below their abilities and you can’t look upon that favourably. It’s hard to say from there because just about anyone could come out of the West but the C’s have a legit shot.

This team has enough talent to be a championship caliber team. You cannot ever turn your eyes or minds away from that. You cannot ever presume that the chance will still be there in a year’s time (what if Pierce gets injured March next year for two months? Then age is a factor and the team is suddenly off to the races doing anything possible to win one ring during the KG-Ray-PP era). The chance is there now and they have to consider it their success this season year is inevitably tied to that. Any level of under-performance would very disappointing which means at the minimum taking the Eastern Conference and having a good shot at winning the title in the next round.

I think the season is a success already but I’m not and I don’t think the team should be fulfilled, they can achieve more and should achieve more. The level (varying of) success will depend on their final position and additional time will only treat them harsher (goals wise).

yes this team has been successful this year – and its not because of records or playoff potential. i had this conversation with my father the other day and we both agreed – we look forward to watching celtics games again. we both are die hards, he lives in maine and gets to watch all the games and never misses one, i live in DC so i’m glued to my satellite radio every other night. the success of this team is that it has convinced the fans – die hards and fairweather alike – that basketball is fun in Boston again.

Ancient Red, I for one would like to see Gerald Green back here. The odds of him succeeding are certainly down from a year ago but I think there is Tracy McGrady potential in that body. Like an investment, if you can get something with a big upside on the cheap then the complete bust scenario doesn’t cost you that much.