Celtics Get Graded With C's

With the All Star break upon us, the well respected Britt Robson grades out the league. Our C's got an average C. Hard to argue with that.

Heat, Spurs, Timberwolves get high marks in NBA midseason grades - Britt Robson - SI.com

The Celtics can neither be counted on nor counted out, as the ravages of age and the resilience of pride wage an epic battle to determine what defines their season. Although they got the better of the Glen Davis-Brandon Bass trade, the season-long loss of Jeff Green, as expected, opened a void between the old stars and the callow kids that contributes to the team's inconsistency. The spectacular defense of second-year point guard Avery Bradley and the silky skills of forward JaJuan Johnson promote hope for the future. But in the present, the Celtics must rely on jump shots for points and a maniacal defense for wins, a grueling, ultimately impossible way to get where they want to go.

I keep forgetting about the Jeff Green situation but that really did hurt us quite a bit.

I'm not sure he would have had a breakthrough season or anything, but he would have likely been better than the average replacement level guy (see Sasha and Marquis) at the backup 3. Maybe he could have been the difference early in the year without Pierce. Maybe he could have given us a little extra push with his young legs to sneak out a few more wins. We'll never know.

If there's one thing that I've learned in the last 3.5 years it is that we were very lucky in 2008. Very, very good, but also very lucky to be mostly healthy all year long. You have to be very good and very lucky to win it all in this league. Lately we've been less lucky than our mascot might suggest.

Note: In related news, Jeff did start his rehab recently and appears to be in good spirits on twitter. So good for him.