Celtics 2023 - 2024 Discussion

[thecore762]

I hope they keep this roster intact. Al has enough for another run. He won’t be a starter, so it should help preserving him for the deep playoffs.

I think they are truly a complete team now if Holliday and Porzingis stay healthy next year. I think they need to do everything possibly to extend White. The guy plays hard on both sides of the floor and he bleeds green!

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Lakers in season tournament celebration looking so cute right now.

I never hated the Lakers until LeBron. I rooted against them but always appreciated and respected them.

Hope Celtics draft Bronny James so he can sit on the bench.

 

[Kdo5]

Tatum. He played team basketball all season and elevated everyone around him. Even with pedestrian shooting (by his standard) he contributed more than ever to winning. People can talk **** but they cant take away that NBA title, and he was no passenger at the end of the day. He could've easily been MVP. It was special to see him so emotional and happy to have finally done it.

Brown. 1-9 from 3, 8 turnovers last year in Game 7. Now the ECF MVP and Finals MVP. Defense won us this championship and he was at the heart of it. Great story for him this year. He even won Ice's approval!

Al. Continuing to play at a high level for his age. It was awesome for him to finally get one. Brad deserves a ton of credit for bringing him back.

Jrue & DWhite. Both provided great offense and defense all year and provided a calmness and stability that was desperately needed. Having both these guys is a serious luxury, no championship would be won without them.

KP. Gutsy to even play with whatever that injury is. I don't think he should've been in there but I give him a lot of credit for playing. Great season, just wish he could stay healthy!

Bench. Hauser has me eating my words from just a few weeks ago, he made legitimate contributions in the Finals with some nice shots and even better defense and hustle plays. Pritchard with some timely, absolutely clutch shots, and defensive efforts.

Mazzula. He's a lot better than last season and at the end of the day is proving himself to be a good head coach.

Great championship team.

 

[Brick27]

+1 on the sentiment of adding another PF/C who can allow Al (and Porzingis) to not be too consistently heavy on minutes. Whether it be a more immediate veteran (especially if Al calls it quits entirely) or a developmental player with upside who can chip in sooner than later. Also like the lineup flexibility of having two bigs with Tatum as the SF more regularly if need be.

Ultimately, have full faith in Stevens to navigate whatever happens this offseason and they are in such a great circumstance with the roster they already have.

 

[ausbacker]

Not sure I've ever been happier to be proven wrong, but in the ECF and NBA Finals, Mazzulla proved himself as a Head Coach. Had some great strategies, drew up great plays, made great substitutions and used his timeouts well.

Great work Joe.

 

[patfanken]

IIRC, Jason will be 26 when next season starts. JB will be 27. KP will be 28 and White will be 28 as well. ONLY Jrue and Al will be in their 30's AND I think PP ,and Hauser are also under contact.

BTW I think Hauser has been the most improved bench player. His DEFENSE this playoff run has been eye opening. Just check his stats when he was the main guy covering Kyrie or Luka . He only had 2 of 6 tonight, but 3 of those misses were in and outers.

Bench players who get 15-30 are important in getting your team through the 82 game grind that is an NBA season . The minutes they play from November to may allows you to get your starters get to the playoffs rested and ready to play in that hard grind when starter minutes always go up

 

[Keep Up With The Joneses]

The guy makes play after play after play. And when he's not doing that, he's doing things that don't show up in the boxscore.

White's straight up denial of Lively at the rim is this series summed up in a single play.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Lakers in season tournament celebration looking so cute right now.

I never hated the Lakers until LeBron. I rooted against them but always appreciated and respected them.

Hope Celtics draft Bronny James so he can sit on the bench.

Yep. Going back 40 years i've always hated the Lakers....but respected them.

I don't want Bronny wasting a roster spot.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Amazing for me to consider that at age 63 they’ve won at least one title every decade of my life except the 1990s (Edit: and 2010s, see how time flies!) plus a couple(?) before I even came along. Not that it’s about me obviously.

This franchise has such a great tradition, for all the talk these days about how young adults are so different from us in older generations, the attitude of this team is so much in line with what we’ve seen from the Celtics so many times. Very happy for those guys and for the organization that helped them get it done.

Way to go Green!!!

At age 65, I have been alive for 16 NBA titles, 6 Super Bowl wins, 4 World Series wins, and 3 Stanley cups.. although I really have only been aware of 8 NBA titles ( '69,74,76,81,84,86,08,now). Not too shabby.
(EDIT- was born two weeks after title #2)
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This championship was won w defense. Dallas was I think 1-15 this season when they scored less than 100 points and 4 of those losses were in the finals... I love busting people's chops here when I remind them that Holiday was drafted by Philly and traded for Nerlins Noel....

 

[1960Pats]

PP can't hit a 3 and is a liability defensively. But what else are the options? Ride or die.
Let's hope he hits a couple of 3's tonight to help the starters. I would also think the starters go deep in minutes especially if game is close. My worry is Big Al may be spent. The crowd hopefully gives him some energy. Leave it out there big man but remember it's a long game.

After a win is a great time to go back and rehash what was posted. Pritchard ended up hitting another fluke 3 and by the response of some of the Mavs it took the life out of them. It also ignited the crowd.

 

[aluminum seats]

After a win is a great time to go back and rehash what was posted. Pritchard ended up hitting another fluke 3 and by the response of some of the Mavs it took the life out of them. It also ignited the crowd.

100%. What a great championship, so many contributors. Pritchard had just that one bucket last night, but what a huge one it was—were going to go into the half up 17 where maybe a couple of Dallas 3‘s makes it a game, instead it’s 21, lights out.

The Celtics weren’t going to be denied yesterday either way, but just so great to have so many guys contributing. What a team.

 

[1960Pats]

He just tipped that ball all the way down the court, sprinted back, and came within an inch of blocking Irving’s 3 pointer. So ridiculous.

I noticed one hustle play on a C's foul shot when he started to sprint to the basket as the shot was in the air just in case it was a miss. It wasn't but if it was he was in position to make a play.

 

[1960Pats]

18 baby!!!!

 

[denverpatsfan]

Most impressive organization in Boston sports. Front office absolutely has been crushing it. Head coach dismissed with a nasty scandal and they picked the right guy to replace him. Not afraid to spend the money to sign players. Making aggressive trades. Just an amazing job.

 

[bresna]

That was an awesome ending to an awesome season. So great to see JT & JB get one together. So many media talking heads said they couldn't do it. I'm one happy camper.

This game & this team proved again that defense wins championships. Shutting down the NBA's leading scorer won this series.

My only complaint about this last game was the NBA commissioner handing the O'Brien trophy to Celtics brass first.

 

[Clonamery]

Yep. Going back 40 years i've always hated the Lakers....but respected them.

I don't want Bronny wasting a roster spot.

If you're a Celtics fan of age (breathing or not), you must hate the filthy McNasty Lakers and respect them if you care to.

 

[bresna]

If you're a Celtics fan of age (breathing or not), you must hate the filthy McNasty Lakers and respect them if you care to.

McFilthy McNasty was the Bullets' Jeff Ruland & Rick Mahorn but Johnny ramped it up when Mahorn joined the Pistons, where Johnny hated that whole Pistons team..

 

[raduray]

Brad Stevens deserves all the accolades he's getting, but the Celtics should also mail Danny Ainge a ring for his trade that netted the Jays.

 

[raduray]

That was an awesome ending to an awesome season. So great to see JT & JB get one together. So many media talking heads said they couldn't do it. I'm one happy camper.

This game & this team proved again that defense wins championships. Shutting down the NBA's leading scorer won this series.

My only complaint about this last game was the NBA commissioner handing the O'Brien trophy to Celtics brass first.

That's how it's always done. The owner gets the trophy. I remember as a young immigrant from a communist country hearing about how a team owns this or that player and getting my head around that.

 

[RobertWeathers]

If you're a Celtics fan of age (breathing or not), you must hate the filthy McNasty Lakers and respect them if you care to.

HATE them...but respect the hell out of them and find their 80s run fascinating.

On Hulu there is a 10 episode documentary on the Lakers. Starts w/Jerry Buss buying the team and ends w/ their last title. I thought it was very good. Larry is in it.

Hated Magic but now I love him.

It's a shame rivalries like that don't exist like that anymore.