Boston Celtics (18x NBA champions)

[TRON]

2008 NBA Champs!

Thought with the big trade we should have a thread on Boston's season.

Rondo and the big three will make for this team to beat in the East this year.

(Rondo)

 

[billmac91]

I don't really think so at all.....a group of big name veterans that won't pan out IMO.....it looks good now but hows it going to play out 50 games in?

 

[TRON]

I don't really think so at all.....a group of big name veterans that won't pan out IMO.....it looks good now but hows it going to play out 50 games in?

Let's ask the Miami Heat how it all worked out for them.

I'm not saying that Boston is going to win an NBA title, but they will represent the East when the finals come around in June, barring any injuries.

 

[BuckWrestler141]

They will represent the East when the finals come around in June, barring any injuries.

That honor belongs to the Bulls.

 

[TRON]

That honor belongs to the Bulls.

MJ isn't walking through that door.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

I am 35 years old so I can remember watching the great Celtic teams of the 80's with Bird, McHale and Parrish and they have had some terrible luck (Len Bias....Reggie Lewis.....missing out on Tim Duncan) and some terrible management decisions....so getting a player like Garnett, well it leaves me with at least hope we will be in the playoffs next year......Although the NBA will not admit it, it has missed a playoff team from Boston for quite some time, it is a major market and with some other major market teams struggling like LA, New York and Phily....well it will help.

 

[billmac91]

I posted this in the KG Trade thread but I'll post here as well:

This lineup looks good on paper but Boston will be a 4-5 seed playoff team that doesn't materialize like people are thinking right now......Do people out there really understand what type of player Paul Pierce is? This guy will still take as many shots, and still play a lazy offensive game that consists of pull-up jumpers and other really bad shots

I laughed out loud today at Steven A Smith, who on ESPN Radio said "this team will now just run you out of the gym".....Does he not realize Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are over 30 and moving out of their prime.....plus KG doesn't exactly remind me of an Amare Stoudamire getting up and down the court at this point....even if they are good, it isn't going to be a "run you out of the gyn" mentality but that's another discussion for how bad Steven A is.

I'm just not seeing it....if you added another piece to KG and Ray Allen outside of a selfish player like Paul Pierce I would probably see it, but this just isn't going to work.....all Boston needs to do now is trade for Gary Peyton, and get Karl Malone to come out of retirement to fill out the line-up

 

[jimotis4heisman]

I am 35 years old so I can remember watching the great Celtic teams of the 80's with Bird, McHale and Parrish and they have had some terrible luck (Len Bias....Reggie Lewis.....missing out on Tim Duncan) and some terrible management decisions....so getting a player like Garnett, well it leaves me with at least hope we will be in the playoffs next year......Although the NBA will not admit it, it has missed a playoff team from Boston for quite some time, it is a major market and with some other major market teams struggling like LA, New York and Phily....well it will help.

agree though with the exception of the bird/magic and jordan eras the nba has been the outside of the major sports (football and baseball) with baseball on an obvious slide (more documented with african americans than kids theses days in general) the nba has realized this. good big market teams are good for professional sports. two reasons, a lot of people live in big markets and it gives everyone else someone to hate/despise/ root against...

 

[Bucks21]

Let's ask the Miami Heat how it all worked out for them.

I'm not saying that Boston is going to win an NBA title, but they will represent the East when the finals come around in June, barring any injuries.

I would bet any amount of vpoints that they will not be in the finals this year.(I don't really have that many but still.

 

[tibor75]

Team to beat?

3 aging stars can't win a title. Never has, never will. But keep dreaming...

The comparison to the Heat a few posts ago is rather idiotic considering the Heat were lead by Wade, a superstar in his prime. there is nobody of his caliber on this Celtic team.

 

[Brutus1]

I'm selling. They'll be improved, but not the conference finals. Rondo hasn't done much yet. Their depth will be non-existant and their bench is going to be weak.

For the Celts fans, they'll be fun to watch, untill the playoffs. If Rivers rides the big three hard during the regular season, they'll peter out in the playoffs.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Yahoo.com

Ainge's latest buzzer-beater

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
July 31, 2007

Danny Ainge kept talking Tuesday about "burning the midnight oil" at "until 2 (a.m.)" and you could tell by his eyes that after pulling off the biggest Boston Celtics trade since Red Auerbach was making deals, he meant it.
Ainge's most famous play as a player came when he was at Brigham Young in the 1981 NCAA tournament when, faced with a one-point deficit and a dwindling clock against Notre Dame, he took the ball, dribbled down court and laid it in just before the buzzer.
So the last-second save? No problem.
As a pro, even as he won a couple of titles with the Celtics, Ainge was best remembered not for his outside shooting but his fiery competitiveness that always seemed to be getting him into fights.

Continued...

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Yahoo.com

Garnett joins Pierce, Allen with new, improved Celtics

By HOWARD ULMAN, AP Sports Writer
August 1, 2007


BOSTON (AP) -- Kevin Garnett craned his long neck up at the Celtics' 16 championship banners above his new home court and saw that the last one was dated way back in 1986.
"'86, huh?" the 10-time NBA All-Star said.
"21 years ago," a reporter told him.
To which Garnett quickly replied: "21s a good number." A good number to end the drought on, and any team needs some luck -- whether it's avoiding injuries or getting a key foul call -- to win a title, but Boston needs a lot less of it now.
With the 6-foot-11 Garnett joining forward Paul Pierce and guard Ray Allen as the team's new Big Three, the Celtics went from the team with the second worst record in the NBA to instant contenders in the mediocre Eastern Conference.
"I thought this is probably my best opportunity to win a ring," Garnett said after being obtained Tuesday from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 7-for-1 deal -- the most players traded for one player in NBA history. "It was a no-brainer."

Continued.......

 

[Napoleonbuck]

This is an honest question. Who do the Celtics have at PF and C aside from Garnett?

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Yahoo.com

Win-win situation

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
July 30, 2007

The revelation of the rogue official ground trade talks to a sudden stop. As a stunned sport reeled over the Tim Donaghy scandal, NBA executives describe several sluggish days of relative radio silence. The pall of possible point shaving consumed conversations last week, and the league desperately needed something to restore the business of basketball.
"Everybody was in shock over the ref," one Eastern Conference official said Monday. "It was almost like we were waiting for it to get worse."
Even now, they are still waiting for arrests and the damning details about the mob and a referee. It turned out to be two old Boston Celtics out of the game's glorious 1980's, Minnesota Timberwolves general manager Kevin McHale and Boston G.M. Danny Ainge, who gave basketball its biggest trade in years on Monday.
The best Celtic since Larry Bird just walked into the Garden.

Continued......

Rumors......

The Boston Celtics, with a suddenly huge payroll, likely will seek out veterans willing to play for the minimum salary for a chance to reach the Finals and play with the Big Three – Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. Among the players Boston could bring in are free agents Jalen Rose, P.J. Brown, Malik Allen, Danny Fortson, Chris Webber and Ruben Patterson.

Source: Chicago Tribune