Garnett a Celtic, should Bulls worry? Options

[ChicagoBullsMadi...]

what do you guys think of garnett becoming a celtic? boston gave up wayyyyyy to much though. i dont think they will win the east though cuz they have absoloutley no depth. i see the east playin out like this

1st bulls
2nd cavs
3rd celtics
4th pistons
5th wizards
6th knicks
7th orlando
8th dunno yet

[sport1016]

the east is gonna be wierd....but i like that the bulls are completely flying under the radar. It's like everyone forgot that Tyrus and Thabo are going to be so much better, and Noah and Smith and Gray will all be improvements from the people who had their role last year. Not to mention deng and gordon should continue to improve. Our improvement just from getting a year older is not grabbing the headlines like Boston, charlotte, knicks etc but we are going to be a significantly improved team.

Smith is younger and better than PJ
Noah is coming in with a ton more experience than TT
Gray is way better than....i don't expect him to get too many minutes so who cares

The celtics are now a glorified Wizards team. Their big three is a little better but their supporting cast is shockingly even worse.

The 5 locks for the playoffs (barring major injury issues) are US, cavs, pistons, celtics, and nets

But there are at least 7 more teams that could easily be 45+ win teams but more likely will all be in the .500 neighborhood
Orlando, toronto, Knicks, heat, washington, charlotte, milwaukee

The East has become the NFC-parity abounds, and what separates most teams is very little with no truly world beating team ('cept the bears when they unveil their new top 5 offense this year to go with #1 D)

[b-riann]

the east is gonna be wierd....but i like that the bulls are completely flying under the radar. It's like everyone forgot that Tyrus and Thabo are going to be so much better, and Noah and Smith and Gray will all be improvements from the people who had their role last year. Not to mention deng and gordon should continue to improve. Our improvement just from getting a year older is not grabbing the headlines like Boston, charlotte, knicks etc but we are going to be a significantly improved team.

Smith is younger and better than PJ
Noah is coming in with a ton more experience than TT
Gray is way better than....i don't expect him to get too many minutes so who cares

The celtics are now a glorified Wizards team. Their big three is a little better but their supporting cast is shockingly even worse.

The 5 locks for the playoffs (barring major injury issues) are US, cavs, pistons, celtics, and nets

But there are at least 7 more teams that could easily be 45+ win teams but more likely will all be in the .500 neighborhood
Orlando, toronto, Knicks, heat, washington, charlotte, milwaukee

The East has become the NFC-parity abounds, and what separates most teams is very little with no truly world beating team ('cept the bears when they unveil their new top 5 offense this year to go with #1 D)

you got that right. today on outside the lines, the poll question was "who will win the east?" the bulls werent even a choice

i think it will be a bulls/celtics ECF (only if pierce stays healthy), with the bulls coming out on top.

[SoxFan1]

what do you guys think of garnett becoming a celtic? boston gave up wayyyyyy to much though. i dont think they will win the east though cuz they have absoloutley no depth. i see the east playin out like this

1st bulls
2nd cavs
3rd celtics
4th pistons
5th wizards
6th knicks
7th orlando
8th dunno yet

You can't have 3 central division teams in the top 4, the south-eastern division winner has to be in there.

The only reason the Celtics are getting so much hype right now is because of ESPN. Boston will underachieve big time, especially now that people consider then a lock for the Finals.

[Rowand44]

The Celtics really don't scare me all that much.

[SoxFan1]

When contemplating both sides of the trade and whether Boston is now Finals-bound, take everything ESPN has said about the deal, and then do the math.

[hinrich fan]

next to Hinrich if I was picking sides to make a team I'd take Ray Allen anyday. Think about this after KG, Ray-Ray and Pierce the Celts don't have much depth on the bench (say hello to them in Minn.) and this is assuming everyone stays healthy...but they're a factor in the East...how much is yet to be seen.

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

You can't have 3 central division teams in the top 4, the south-eastern division winner has to be in there.

The only reason the Celtics are getting so much hype right now is because of ESPN. Boston will underachieve big time, especially now that people consider then a lock for the Finals.

Lol I agree completely. Is Gordon,Kirk, and Deng really that far behind Pierce, Allen and Garnett scoring wise? I find that hard to believe. Our three studs are better defenders and probably right up there as a scoring tandum. Now that they have given away basically all their talent they won't have a bench and we all know you need depth to win a finals as history tells us, not to mention neither of these guys have ever tasted a finals appearance let alone a Finals Championship.

[Steve9347]

OK.

Boston had the WORST record in the Eastern Conference last season. (24 wins) They acquired Ray Allen, who has never been the guy to make a team better (look at the struggles of the Bucks and the Supersonics).

however, his addition is big, and adding him gives them what? 8-12 more wins? We'll be generous... 36 wins with Ray Allen.

Next, add Kevin Garnett, but you lose ANYTHING you had off the bench, AND Al Jefferson, who personally I think was already becoming one of the best big men in the league last season... of course KG is an upgrade, but how much? Adding KG but losing Jefferson and any and all bench depth (think of the scrubs they will have in when their "big three" are resting).

KG bonus for another 6-8 wins, we'll be generous again, putting them at 45-37.

NOW, subtract 2 wins because of the age of their three stars and their perceived decline, and you get my Celtics 2007-2008 regular season record prediction of....

43-39, good enough for 6th best record in the Eastern Conference, 2nd in their division, so they will be the 5 seed behind Chicago, Orlando, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, Miami, New Jersey.

You heard it here first.

EDIT: You have to love the hype though... the only ring KG is going to be AIMing for would be a three-on-three tourney ring.

[ZoomSlowik]

Lol I agree completely. Is Gordon,Kirk, and Deng really that far behind Pierce, Allen and Garnett scoring wise? I find that hard to believe. Our three studs are better defenders and probably right up there as a scoring tandum. Now that they have given away basically all their talent they won't have a bench and we all know you need depth to win a finals as history tells us, not to mention neither of these guys have ever tasted a finals appearance let alone a Finals Championship.

Um, yeah, they are. The Bulls have one 20-point scoring average season among them, and only two of them even have a chance to crack 20 this year. The Celtics trio has 25 such seasons, as well as 7 over 25 a game. Even if you take longevity out of the equation, each of the 3 guys Boston has have scored at least 20 a game over the last 3 years. You're not going to find a better scoring trio in the league, PERIOD. And while Allen and Pierce aren't much defensively, Garnett is a beast, and you can argue Gordon isn't that great either.

As for the finals thing, the only reason the Bulls have any is that they overpaid for Wallace. One guy won't make THAT big a difference in that regard. As for depth, the Lakers put up several titles there without a whole lot of depth either, it's not like Ron Harper or Lindsay Hunter or Brian Shaw were difference makers.

I could definitely see them being like the 03-04 Lakers though in their current form, just not having enough dependable options to get past the better teams, though they still have some time and the exemptions to add another competent player or two. They need to add at least one Robert Horry/Rich Fox type, another dependable veteran that will do the dirty work

[ZoomSlowik]

OK.

Boston had the WORST record in the Eastern Conference last season. (24 wins) They acquired Ray Allen, who has never been the guy to make a team better (look at the struggles of the Bucks and the Supersonics).

however, his addition is big, and adding him gives them what? 8-12 more wins? We'll be generous... 36 wins with Ray Allen.

Next, add Kevin Garnett, but you lose ANYTHING you had off the bench, AND Al Jefferson, who personally I think was already becoming one of the best big men in the league last season... of course KG is an upgrade, but how much? Adding KG but losing Jefferson and any and all bench depth (think of the scrubs they will have in when their "big three" are resting).

KG bonus for another 6-8 wins, we'll be generous again, putting them at 45-37.

NOW, subtract 2 wins because of the age of their three stars and their perceived decline, and you get my Celtics 2007-2008 regular season record prediction of....

43-41, good enough for 6th best record in the Eastern Conference, 2nd in their division, so they will be the 5 seed behind Chicago, Orlando, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, Miami, New Jersey.

You heard it here first.

You also need to factor in how much time Pierce missed last year though, and the fact that Boston was blatantly tanking at the end. Plus you have more minor injuries, Jefferson and West both missed 13 games, Sczcerbiak missed a ton (not a great player, but he's productive), plus Tony Allen missed most of the year.

That's conservatively 6-8 more wins, which pushes that up to 49-51. That seems a little high to me right now, but it's not out of the realm of possibility given the star power that they have.

I'd put it this way: the only teams I feel REALLY comfortable putting ahead of them are the Pistons and Bulls. After that you have a bunch of teams like Boston: one or two stars and not a whole lot else. Orlando, Cleveland, Miami, and Washington all fit that mold, and if they have injury problems again so does New Jersey (and their guys have proven to be more fragile).

The one odd-ball is Toronto, they have Bosh and a pretty decent core. While I think they're #3, their wings don't impress me a whole lot (unless you count Bargnani, he's more of a 4 that plays outside), and their win total could drop in a deeper conference this year.

[sport1016]

their win total could drop in a deeper conference this year.

yep. We also have to factor in that a lot of easy wins in the east last year (boston, milwaukee, charlotte, atlanta) are all going to be much mcuh more competitive this year.

Im surprised no one is putting charlotte or milwaukee in the playoffs. The truth is that between miami, washington, and jersey one team will have injury issues that could drop them out of the playoffs. The same could be said for the cavs.

The bucks were horribly riddled with injuries last year. A healthy redd, simmons, and villanueva along with an improving bogut and Yi (cough). Two seasons ago when they were healthy, they were a very competitive 8 seed.

And the bobcats. You have to like their wing athleticism and scoring ability with a rotation or richardson, gerald wallace, carroll and maybe the stauche. Felton and okafor are solid too. They could be make a toronto like rise this year.

[madisonsmadhouse]

Anytime a team adds an all-world player, who doesn't mind defferring to his teammates, you should worry. The only guy that worries me chemistry wise on that team is Paul Pierce, but you also have the selling point of being able to win something if he plays within the system. Adding Kevin Garnett isn't like adding a scorer, the guy is one of the best big men in the NBA. Not many teams in the East are going to be able to contain that, especially when your doubleteaming ability is limited by two great shooters in Pierce and Allen. They might not be deep, but when you have three guys used to carrying a team, all playing together, they aren't going to expend nearly as much energy as they are used to doing. Even playing their typical 40 minutes, they should be an easier 40 than they are used to.

[sport1016]

for 20 million a year, no one better even try to play an "easy" 40.

[Chicago Bulls Fr...]

You also need to factor in how much time Pierce missed last year though, and the fact that Boston was blatantly tanking at the end. Plus you have more minor injuries, Jefferson and West both missed 13 games, Sczcerbiak missed a ton (not a great player, but he's productive), plus Tony Allen missed most of the year.

That's conservatively 6-8 more wins, which pushes that up to 49-51. That seems a little high to me right now, but it's not out of the realm of possibility given the star power that they have.

I'd put it this way: the only teams I feel REALLY comfortable putting ahead of them are the Pistons and Bulls. After that you have a bunch of teams like Boston: one or two stars and not a whole lot else. Orlando, Cleveland, Miami, and Washington all fit that mold, and if they have injury problems again so does New Jersey (and their guys have proven to be more fragile).

The one odd-ball is Toronto, they have Bosh and a pretty decent core. While I think they're #3, their wings don't impress me a whole lot (unless you count Bargnani, he's more of a 4 that plays outside), and their win total could drop in a deeper conference this year.

nah, all of them are over 30, once they realize they have crap for subs, they'll be needed to play hefty minutes and will be worn down by seasons end. I also think Ray Allen will be a bust this year, hes over the hill. Garnett definitely helps but I fail to see how much better they are than Kirk,Ben, and Deng, atleast what people seem to make it out as. Sure there better players but we atleast have a supporting cast which will help in the postseason.

I agree with the poster earlier, 43 wins seems about right.