The State of the Celtics

Tonight is the NBA Draft and even though the Celtics have first round picks at 14, 20 and 22 (plus a second round pick at 51) - Boston fans are in a panic. They are in a panic because it looks like both Kyrie Irving and Al Horford are choosing to leave the team as free agents.

C'st la vie - chill out. Things are still very good.

Right now the Celtics could start the following players:

Marcus Smart (PG), Jaylen Brown (SG), Jason Tatum (SF), Gordon Hayward (PF) and Aron Baynes (C). That's a pretty good - and young (except Baynes) - starting five. Plus they'd be very fun to watch. And when you have Robert Williams playing at center - that's one of the best defensive lineups in all of the NBA.

Most Celts fans would like Kyrie Irving to leave at this point. The most common sentiment is "I'd be happy to drive him to the airport." Al Horford deciding to leave was a surprise and I for one will remember him fondly as a pro's pro who did all the little things and did them right. But going forward don't be surprised if the most common description of Horford in Boston will be "33-year old" Al Horford. But that's getting ahead of ourselves because Horford hasn't left for sure. He could just be testing the waters (unlikely but possible).

If Horford does leave then suddenly the Celtics have about $30 million in cap space (assuming Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier also leave as free agents) to use on one or two solid players. Add in whatever player(s) Danny Ainge drafts tonight and suddenly you are looking at a pretty deep 9-10 player roster. Sure they won't be top heavy with stars like Kyrie and Anthony Davis but it will be a solid lineup that will hopefully be (mostly) drama free.

Plus Boston still have Memphis' top pick in either next year's or the 2021 draft. That should end up being one of the best picks in the draft. Things are good in Boston. Celtics fans should all take a deep breath.

2020 Boston Celtics

What the 2020 Boston Celtics look like is completely down to if Kyrie Irving wants to come back and if the Celtics want him back.

If Kyrie comes back then Danny Ainge has some moves to make. I really hope his first move is to sign Al Horford to a cap-friendly extension. And then maybe do the Anthony Davis trade.

If Kyrie decides to leave then the Celtics pretty much might be bringing back the rest of the roster as is (plus whatever new draft picks come to camp). Boston has no cap space and if Kyrie leaves the Celtis don't have the room to sign a top free agent. So keeping the team as is would have to be the course.

You'd be surprised at how much more popular option B is to many Celtics fans right now. Let Kyrie walk and keep the rest of the guys together. My head says keeping Kyrie is the right move but I'm honestly torn. Though I must say that I'm really fine either way. There's much more important things in life to fret over besides where Kyrie Irving decides to play basketball next year..

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

CNN's rating were down 25% in May compared to May last year. Just saying but if CNN ran reruns of Larry King from their archives their rating would probably improve... Cardinals TE Jermaine Gresham seems like a cool guy... Is there anything dumber than a website asking you to turn off your ad blocker so that they can autoplay a video commercial every time you visit their site? Dumbass that's why I got an ad blocker in the first place... Normally not a fan of gimmicks but I really love The Freeze at Atlanta Braves games... Happy birthday to the Celtics Al Horford who was the team MVP this season... 17 secrets to living a life without regrets... Just a reminder - you're not required to have an opinion on everything...

State of the Celtics

The state of the Celtics right now is fantastic! Fresh off a beating of the World Champion Golden State Warriors - Boston now has a 14-game winning streak going. Not only did the Celtics beat Golden State -they held the high scoring Warriors to just 88 points! In a now "3 and D" league nobody in playing better "D" than Boston.

The team was led the other night by second-year star in the making Jalyen Brown who turns out was playing despite the fact his best friend committed suicide the night before. Danny Ainge took a lot of heat for taking Brown with the 3rd overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft but Brown is shaking out to be at least the clear 3rd best player from that draft class and an argument can be made that he's the best overall with many preferring him over the second pick Brandon Ingram and 1st pick Ben Simmons not yet showing he's durable enough for the NBA. (Don't sleep on Milwaukee's Malcolm Brogdon who was the 36th pick in that draft either.)

Ainge should also be praised for clearly winning the trade that brought Kyrie Irving to Boston. Even if the Nets pick ends up being number 1 overall in this year's NBA Draft and even if Isiah Thomas returns from injury to once again be an All-Star - Kyrie Irving has been the perfect fit for Boston on and off the court. How can you not like a guy who picks number 11 for his uniform to honor his dad whose number 11 is retired by Boston University. A dad who insists on letting his son be the "big baller" on the court while he quietly supports his son from the stands.

Oh and about that Nets pick - right now the Lakers (6-10) actually have a worse record than Brooklyn (6-9) and the Celtics own LA's pick. There's currently 8 NBA teams with a worse record than the Nets. Danny Ainge knew what he was doing.

Speaking of Ainge knowing what he's doing - how about Jayson Tatum? Tatum was the 3rd pick in this year's draft but he's easily been the best player out of that draft so far. Trading the first overall pick for Tatum and the Lakers' number one next year is making people think of the Joe Barry Carroll trade for Parrish and McHale. Ainge knows what he's doing.

Ainge clearly knew what he was doing when he signed Brad Stevens to be the coach. You cannot mention the best coaches in the NBA without bringing up Stevens' name. Players now want to come to Boston because they know Stevens will make them better players.

I'm going to end this State of the Celtics by bringing up Al Horford. This is not an afterthought. Horford to me is to the Celtics what Phil Hartman was to SNL. He's the glue that holds the show together. Al Horford quietly does so many things well - 15.5 points per game, 9 rebounds and 4.4 assists - that he's easy to overlook. Celtics fans know his importance and how good an overall player Al is. And we appreciate that as a free agent he chose to play here.

The State of the Celtics right now is fantastic! Danny Ainge knows what he's doing.

In Danny We Trust

Been thinking of the Celtics recently but have held off saying anything (until today). It bugs me that some in Boston won't be happy with Danny Ainge even if he lands Kevin Durant (he won't) but the fact is next year's team will be better than this year's version. And this year's version was on the cusp of being a real contender in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics have essentially lost Evan Turner and Jared Sullinger (soon) but have upgraded those players with Jaylen Brown and Al Horford. This new roster is a 50-win capable team with Danny still having the assets and cap space to make another impactful move. The Celtics right now are probably the second best team in the East and a LeBron James hamstring injury away from being the best.

I've been stewing about how the media treats the Celtics since the NBA Draft when Boston took Jaylen Brown with the 3rd overall pick. That announcement was met by boos from yahoos who wanted the Celtics to mortgage that pick and half the roster for Jimmy Butler or at least to pick a guy like Dunn or Heild that the watch college ball only during March Madness yahoos knew of. I had not seen a single minute of Brown in college and did not have him in for private workouts but you know who did see lots of film on Brown and who did have him in for private workouts? Danny Ainge. And you know who is really excited to have Jaylen Brown? Danny Ainge. Do you know who's basketball judgement I trust more than a bunch of braying yahoos? Danny Ainge.

Some compared the yahoos booing the Jaylen Brown pick to the Knicks fans booing the Porzingis pick last year. To me it brought back memories of Paul Pierce getting picked 10th in the 1998 Draft. That pick was made by Red Aeurbach which I guess puts Ainge into some good company for getting booed by know-nothing yahoos.

Three years ago yesterday Boston signed Brad Stevens to be their coach and this offseason the Celtics signed him to an extension. This young Celtics team has been built for long term success and Danny Ainge is the architect of that success.