2023-24 Boston Celtics & NBA Thread

Hard fought loss yesterday. Missed freebies...turnovers...and allowing easy layups.

Nonetheless, I liked how the Celts hung in there the whole game and Jrue Holiday made two huge trifectas late... I mean it came down to a WIDE OPEN Tatum missed tifecta...

If we make it to the finals...we probably will see these guys again. They are definitely DEEPER than we are, but in the post-season...rotations are shortened to 8 guys and I really like: Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, Holiday, White, Horford, Pritchard, & Hauser.

But the blown big leads (like @Cleveland on Tues) are a bit concerning though......


Celtics would have won that game it Tatum had played.
 
Nah. They’ll lose to the Heat before then.
I don’t think so.

I wasn’t that surprised the Heat beat them last year.

The talent gap is gigantic this year. Celtics would need to up their choking two full levels.

No offense to the Heat. Celtics are just stacked as hell and can avoid most games being dogfights.
 
I don’t think so.

I wasn’t that surprised the Heat beat them last year.

The talent gap is gigantic this year. Celtics would need to up their choking two full levels.

No offense to the Heat. Celtics are just stacked as hell and can avoid most games being dogfights.
I was mostly just trolling. Size kills us. That’s what happened in the Finals last season. It’ll happen again this season unless Porzingis gets hurt.
 
Chef Curry went down with a sprained ankle in the loss. 🤦‍♂️ Can't get any slack
 
Damn @Deus Irae punching the air right now
Lakers won without Bron


I'm getting my ass kicked on rule changes and no-brainer games that become not just close, but upsets. Right now, every game is a different way for them to kick me in the balls.
 
We lost to the Spurs without Wemby. To be fair we didn't have Curry either, but that's a 14 win team 🤦‍♂️
 
Derrick White is the best player on the Celtics.

Net Rating With/Without Derrick White
(Net Rating is +\- per 100 possessions)


Tatum wDW - 13.99
Tatum woDW - 7.29
DW Factor +6.7

Brown wDW - 11.97
Brown woDW - 0.91
DW Factor +11.06

Porzingis wDW - 17.16
Porzingis woDW - minus 2.94
DW Factor - +20.10

Holiday wDW - 9.86
Holiday woDW - 7.75
DW Factor - +2.11
 
Celtics On/Off Leaders
(Team performance when player is on/off court)


White +7.6
Hauser +3.9
Porzingis +3.7
Tatum +1.9
Pritchard -0.1
Horford -2.6
Holiday -6.1
Brown -6.2
 
Celtics On/Off Leaders
(Team performance when player is on/off court)


White +7.6
Hauser +3.9
Porzingis +3.7
Tatum +1.9
Pritchard -0.1
Horford -2.6
Holiday -6.1
Brown -6.2
Great player. Very underrated in the NBA media
 
We got revenge vs the Spurs, but Wemby is going to be the best player in the league in 2 or three years mark my words.
 
We got revenge vs the Spurs, but Wemby is going to be the best player in the league in 2 or three years mark my words.
He’s great for basketball. Hope he stays healthy.
 
The Bill Russell Celtics are one of the most dominant dynasties in NBA history, but just how dominant were they?
All Star Caliber Players From From 1957 to 1969: 10
1) Bill Russell (1957-1969)
Notable Accolades: 12 Time All Star, 11 Time All NBA, 4 Time Rebound Champ, 5 Time MVP, Fantastic Rebounder, Greatest Defender Of All Time
Regular Season Averages: 15 Points, 22.5 Rebounds, 4.5 Assists
Playoff Averages: 16 Points, 25 Rebounds, 4.5 Assists
2) John Havlicek
Notable Accolades: 13 Time All Star, 11 Time All NBA, 8 Time All Defense, 1974 Finals MVP, Won two titles without Bill Russell, one of them as arguably the best player on the team, Top Wing defender in the NBA, arguably the best
Years Played With Bill Russell: 7 (1963-1969)
Regular Season Averages: 19.5 Points, 6 Rebounds, 3.5 Assists
Playoff Averages: 22 Points, 8 Rebounds, 4.5 Assists
Times All NBA Without Bill: 7
Times All NBA with Bill: 4
Times All Star With Bill: 4
Times All Star Without Bill: 9
3) Bob Cousy
Notable Accolades: 13 Time All Star, 12 Time All NBA, 8 Time Assist Champ, Won an MVP the same year Bill Russell was drafted, very good defensive PG, best passer in the league for an entire decade.
Years Played With Bill: 7 (1957-1963)
Regular Season Averages: 17.5 Points, 4.5 Rebounds, 8 Assists
Playoff Averages: 17 Points, 5 Rebounds, 9 Assists
Times All NBA Without Bill: 5
Times All NBA With Bill: 7
Times All Star Without Bill: 6
Times All Star With Bill: 7
4) Sam Jones
Notable Accolades: 5 Time All Star, 3 Time All NBA, Fantastic Offensive Player
Years Played With Bill: 12 (1958-1969)
Regular Season Averages: 17.5 Points, 5 Rebounds, 2.5 Assists
Playoff Averages:19 Points, 4.5 Rebounds, 2.5 Assists
Times All NBA With Bill: 3
Times All Star With Bill: 5
5) Bill Sharman
Notable Accolades: 8 Time All Star, 7 Time All NBA, Great Offensive Player
Years Played With Bill: 5 1957-1961)
Regular Season Averages: 20 Points, 4 Rebounds, 2.5 Assists
Playoff Averages: 19 Points, 3.5 Rebounds, 2 Assists
Times All NBA With Bill: 4
Times All NBA Without Bill: 3
All Star Games With Bill: 4
All Star Games Without Bill: 4
6) Tom Heinsohn
Notable Accolades: 6 Time All Star, 4 Time All NBA, Very Good Rebounder, Good Scorer
Years Played With Bill: 9 (1957-1965)
Regular Season Averages: 18.5 Points, 9 Rebounds, 2 Assists
Playoff Averages: 20 Points, 9 Rebounds, 2 Assists
Times All NBA With Bill: 4
Times All Star Wilt Bill: 6
7) Clyde Lovellette
Notable Accolades: 4 Time All Star, 1 Time All NBA, Very Good Scorer, Very Good Rebounder
(Note: Though Clyde's stats may be underwhelming wigh Boston, that is more to do with him playing a lot less behind a deep roster. He went from playing 30 minutes a game the previous season averaging 21 points and 9 rebounds to playing 9 minutes averaging 6.5 and 3. Despite that, he was still very much all star caliber.)
Years Played With Bill: 2 (1963-1964)
All NBA Without Bill: 1
All Star Without Bill: 4
😎
Bailey Howell
Notable Accolades: 6 Time All Star, 1 Time All NBA, Very Good Rebounder, Very Good Scorer
Years Played With Bill: 3 (1967-1969)
Regular Season Stats: 20 Points, 9 Rebounds, 1.5 Assists
Playoffs: 16.5 Points, 7 Rebounds, 1 Assist
Times All NBA Without Bill: 1
Times All Star With Bill: 1
Times All Star Without Bill: 5
9) Frank Ramsey
Notable Accolades: 7 Time Champ, The Original 6th Man, Very Good Scoring Threat Off The Bench, Averaged 19 Points In A 4 Game Stretch With Boston
(Note:Though he didn't make any all star or all NBA teams, Frank Ramsey was a fantastic bench player for Boston, averaging 19 points for them from 1958 to 1961, and he was a key contributor to the team. Basically the Manu Ginobili of the Celtics.)
Years Played With Bill: 8 (1957-1964)
10) Red Auerbach (lol)
Notable Accolades: 10x Celtics Coach With Bill Russell, Top 5 Coach Of All Time
Years With Bill: 10 (1957-1966)
Number Of All Star Caliber Players In Total:
1957: 5
1958: 5
1959: 6
1960: 6
1961: 6
1962: 5
1963: 7
1964: 6
1965: 5
1966: 3
1967: 4
1968: 4
1969: 4
Average All Stars Per Year: 5 (+ Red Auerbach)
Other Very Good Role Players:
Tom Sanders (1961-1969)
Larry Siegfried (1964-1969)
Don Nelson (1966-1969)
K.C Jones (1959-1967)
Boston Celtics SRS (1957-1969)
Bill Russell's Celtics from 1957 to 1965 were by far the most dominant team in the NBA, being the best team in the NBA by a wide margin in this span with only one or two teams with even a punchers chance of beating them going into the playoffs on a year to year basis, while the other teams were horrible and pretty much had 0 shot, and there were seasons such as 1960, 1962, 1963, and 1965 in which basically no team in the league had a shot at beating them.
It wasn't until 1966 that Wilt Chamberlain and the Philadelphia 76ers had a team that rivaled Boston, but this team had been together for a decade and obviously had amazing chemistry and knew how to play together, which matters a lot when two teams are evenly matched as the more experienced team will probably win.
In 1967, Bill Russell's Celtics finally weren't the best team anymore, but they were easily the second best team and very dominant in their own right, but were no match for Wilt and the 76ers.
In 1968, Boston was very much an underdog and wasn't even a top 2 team in the league, yet despite that would beat the best team in the NBA, Wilt's 76ers, in a hard fought 7 game series, and the second best team in the league the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals in 6 games. This was byfar their most impressive title yet.
In 1969, Boston was back to being a top 2 team, second only to the New York Knicks by a slim margin. They would best them in the very first round and go on to win it all.
All in all, this Boston dynasty was incredibly overpowered and puts any other super team to shame with how much it ruined parity for a decade straight. In my opinion, it is the greatest dynasty of all time, not only for it's great individual seasons, but for how long it lasted, and how much better than everyone else they truly were.
May be an image of 6 people, people playing basketball, basketball jersey and text that says 'CELTICS 18 CELTICS 19 ELTIC CELTICS 20 2 CELTICS 6'

 
Celts are up 9 in the loss margin with 18 games remaining.

We are wrapping up our west coast trip with a game in Utah...then come back home to face the Suns again.

From that point on...we have these tough games in the final 16 games: Milwaukee, @Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, and @New York.

I love our chances for home court throughout the playoffs.
 
Okay tell me why Derrick White isn’t a superstar worthy of All NBA? Because I listened to the Blazers broadcasters last night who gave the typical gushing about how “he isn’t Tatum or Brown but…” and praised him as a scrappy team role player guy. Then later a Blazers analytics guy pointed out he likes Denver because Jokic-Murray have a net rating of +14 while Tatum-Brown are only about +10.

Oh wait, Tatum-White are also at +14. As good as Jokic-Murray

Here are the RAPTOR rankings at the end of 2022-23. This is a widely used stat that combines on/off with box score stats and it aligns with what we see.

“But White is just an anomaly” they say…really? So the formula just happens to get everyone else right but not White?

“Tatum and Brown draw double teams!” Then where is Marcus Smart? Why are other teammates over the years not getting free rides to analytics heaven?

He did have less minutes though, which people say is the reason because his efficiency will sink with volume.

1710261966715.png

Fast forward to now. Now starting and playing lots of minutes, Derrick White is #9 in the NBA.

“But he’s on a super team!” Really? Then where’s Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, etc? Surely they should be on there.

Why does Tatum also have the same relative ranking as before too, if teammates are massively inflating these stats?

Derrick White is criminally underrated. Watch a game and just focus on him and you’ll fall in love with the game of basketball. It’s annoying how everyone always dismisses White as a superstar player because they just look at boxscores and point totals. This is why White is my favorite player…he is the most team focused superstar in the NBA. He is as good as these rankings suggest but most people don’t know how to assess players outside of who is shooting the ball.

1710271852817.png
 
Last edited:
Back
Top