BostonBob
4 Ever The Greatest
It's total " fantasyland " stuff but CBS Sports takes a look at some possible moves the Celtics could make with all of their available trade chips.
from cbssports.com:
The situation in Boston was very nearly remarkably different.
In ESPN's in-depth feature on how the Warriors landed Kevin Durant, Ramona Shelburne reported that many league sources feel that if the Warriors had won the NBA Finals, when they dropped a 3-1 lead to the Cavaliers last June, Durant would not have gone to the Bay. Instead, those executives feel Durant would have signed with the Celtics, another team that hosted Durant in the Hamptons that fateful Fourth of July weekend.
Had Durant made such a decision, of course much in the NBA universe would have shifted. The Warriors likely keep much of the team from last season together, making another run with the same core that had the best NBA regular-season record in NBA history. And Boston would have immediately shot to the forefront of the Eastern Conference, in direct competition with the Cavaliers.
In this scenario, there would be serious debate about which team would win the East, even with the dominance of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, as the Celtics would counter not only with three All-Stars of their own in Durant, Al Horford (who likely would have joined the Celtics anyway) and Isaiah Thomas, but a supporting core with players like Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart and the surprisingly capable Kelly Olynyk.
But that isn't what happened, obviously. Durant joined the superteam in Golden State, because joining a team that won 73 games is clearly not front-running because they lost in Game 7 of the NBA Finals when their megastar was hobbled and their starting center was out.
The Celtics, instead, remain stuck on that second tier. Boston lost to the Raptors, again, on Tuesday, going to 0-2 vs. the team they were supposed to topple for the spot-of "biggest threat to the Cavs in the East," which is kind of like the award for "most annoying mosquito on the elephant's back." Boston was without Bradley in that loss, a running theme for the Celtics this season. They haven't notched a win vs. one of the top teams in either conference, but then, they haven't been fully healthy for nearly any of those matchups, either. One of Boston's big advantages this season was supposed to be depth, but like a lot of teams, that depth is reliant on players being played in their role, not being asked to play above themselves when key starters go down.
And that big trade hangs out there, still.
Boston has arguably the best set of trade assets available. Basically, Boston is the Cheesecake Factory of trade partners. Whatever you want, it's on the menu.
Full story here: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/n...the-best-hand-and-heres-how-they-can-play-it/
from cbssports.com:
The situation in Boston was very nearly remarkably different.
In ESPN's in-depth feature on how the Warriors landed Kevin Durant, Ramona Shelburne reported that many league sources feel that if the Warriors had won the NBA Finals, when they dropped a 3-1 lead to the Cavaliers last June, Durant would not have gone to the Bay. Instead, those executives feel Durant would have signed with the Celtics, another team that hosted Durant in the Hamptons that fateful Fourth of July weekend.
Had Durant made such a decision, of course much in the NBA universe would have shifted. The Warriors likely keep much of the team from last season together, making another run with the same core that had the best NBA regular-season record in NBA history. And Boston would have immediately shot to the forefront of the Eastern Conference, in direct competition with the Cavaliers.
In this scenario, there would be serious debate about which team would win the East, even with the dominance of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, as the Celtics would counter not only with three All-Stars of their own in Durant, Al Horford (who likely would have joined the Celtics anyway) and Isaiah Thomas, but a supporting core with players like Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart and the surprisingly capable Kelly Olynyk.
But that isn't what happened, obviously. Durant joined the superteam in Golden State, because joining a team that won 73 games is clearly not front-running because they lost in Game 7 of the NBA Finals when their megastar was hobbled and their starting center was out.
The Celtics, instead, remain stuck on that second tier. Boston lost to the Raptors, again, on Tuesday, going to 0-2 vs. the team they were supposed to topple for the spot-of "biggest threat to the Cavs in the East," which is kind of like the award for "most annoying mosquito on the elephant's back." Boston was without Bradley in that loss, a running theme for the Celtics this season. They haven't notched a win vs. one of the top teams in either conference, but then, they haven't been fully healthy for nearly any of those matchups, either. One of Boston's big advantages this season was supposed to be depth, but like a lot of teams, that depth is reliant on players being played in their role, not being asked to play above themselves when key starters go down.
And that big trade hangs out there, still.
Boston has arguably the best set of trade assets available. Basically, Boston is the Cheesecake Factory of trade partners. Whatever you want, it's on the menu.
Full story here: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/n...the-best-hand-and-heres-how-they-can-play-it/
And they aren't getting better any time soon.
