FanPost

Moving forward


What can we really learn from this year?

To me that is a Rorschach Ink Blot test question. Any answer reveals more about the respondent's perceptions than actual facts. Why do I say this? Because no definitive conclusion is consistently supported by statistics. For example, some feel that Kemba Walker is a liability on defense, but the stats show the team was better defensively in last year's playoffs against both Toronto and Miami when Kemba was on floor.

Like all of you, I have pondered why the team failed so often this year and I have developed a number of theories. I'd adopt one theory then discard it in favor a new theory, then discard that one in favor of yet another theory and so on. All of my theories were "correct" but none of them were a true and reliable answer to the question of why the team was not successful.

A general theme is that this off season should be used to solve all the problems identified in this season. But I think that would be a mistake. If Ainge tried to address every perceived problem this year, then every player would be traded, the coach would be fired and he would resign. (i know, some people are hoping this happens.)

Here's a different approach. Let's assume that this team is fundamentally a good team. After all, until this season, the team played hard, it had promising and productive talent and won at a high level. All those ingredients still exist. So I propose to move forward in the off season believing that this year was an aberration in the grand scheme.

This doesn't mean you don't make any changes. You do need to improve your bench both through player development and veteran acquisitions. You do need to trade some players who are not being as productive as they need to be. You do need to get more physical and add some interior muscle. You need to have more shooters too. You may need to reconstruct parts of the roster to give the team greater cap flexibility. You would need to do all these things anyway.

There are no sacred cows - coach or players - but I would bet on this team to be much better next year and look to fix the team, not rebuild it.

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