FanPost

The Hidden Benefits of a Playoff Run

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There seems to be two types of Celtics fans, or maybe there’s just two types of fans for teams that are rebuilding. Either way if your team is stuck in the middle you either want them to lose games for draft pick reasons, or win as much as possible in hope of team growth. The latter isn’t easy to achieve that’s why so many fans opt for their teams to gamble and draft a star. However, if the team can show signs of improvement and be successful as a unit, then they should try to improve as much as possible. The Celtics have managed to do just that. They are a team that has improved throughout the season and now find themselves in a playoff matchup. Besides the obvious benefit of experience as a unit, which most fans hope for when their team makes the playoffs. There are other things the Celtics can do this playoffs to help improve them in the future.

- Showcasing Talent

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One of the main points of this season was to hope for certain player improvements throughout the season. Not only is this meant to help the team overall as a unit, but it also helps improve certain player’s value. We saw what Danny did in 2008 and we expect it to happen again. Now many players on our team increased there value, maybe not all as much as we had hoped, but they did a pretty decent job I’d say. The playoffs can be a place for the Celtics players to really boost their value on a national stage. Players like Evan Turner, Jared Sullinger, and Kelly Olynyk have a chance to really show other teams what type of upside they can bring to there teams. If the Celtics can manage to make even some sort of playoff run (which I do think could be done with this team, you gotta believe!) they might be able to boost enough value to trade for an available star (Insert Demarcus Cousins pipe dreams here).

- Beantown Aint so bad

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If the whole showcasing our young talent to other teams thing doesn’t work out there’s always plan B, or plan A for some, which is showcasing our team to other players. We’ve already done a pretty good job of it this year with some big help from Brad Stevens. Boston is quickly gaining the reputation as a fast pace, ball sharing, defensive minded team first squad that seems to get the best out of every player that comes to play here. If that reputation can hold through during the playoffs, which it doesn’t even really need to other players will want to come here (hopefully…It is still Boston). But imagine if Brad Stevens impressed just one top free agent enough for them to sign here. Take Deandre Jordan for example, imagine what Stevens could do with a player like Jordan. Long, athletic, fast, BEAST who offensively still needs work, but still get the job done because he’s so gifted. If Stevens can manage to recruit just one top tier player I think this team could be a real contender.

No matter what happens this playoffs the Celtics are no doubt in a great position moving forward. They have a very young coach who is considered one of the brightest in the league, they have a number of young talent still looking to improve, and they have a great deal of cap flexibility. Lets just be thankful that that we have the great Danny Ainge running things and that our team is Boston.

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