Moderated by Mike

With the All-Star Break and the fleeting glory of Gerald Green’s dunk contest title in the rearview mirror, the Celtics travel west to begin the second half of what has been a disappointing season at best.

This second half will be unlike any in recent memory, where the team’s professed goal of stringing a few wins together will anger its fanbase only slightly less than quotes from the parents of certain college freshmen indicating that their son may stay in school another year. The up note of the streak-breaking win before the break has faded into memory in one short week, and the future of the team seems intertwined with the lottery drawing this summer.

As the men in green tip off the trip, we convened a panel of Celtics fans to assess some of the burning questions at the 5/8 mark of an otherwise forgettable campaign.

Q: Whose game benefited the most from the extra playing time provided by the Pierce and Szczerbiak absences?

Steve: I think that Tony Allen was the main beneficiary of the spots that opened up on the floor while Pierce and Szczerbiak were on the shelf, until of course he ripped up his knee. He was shooting the ball better than he ever has in his career (.514) this season and was especially hot just before the injury. If he can get healthy, he’s one of the few players on the roster that has now shown that he can play at an NBA level both offensively and defensively. Granted, I’m not sure he’s done both at the same time, but I was impressed by his recovery from basically being the laughingstock of the team as the season started.

Mark: I am going with Gerald Green. He went from roughly 10 minutes a night to as many as 44 against the Pacers (#2 in the loss streak). While his shooting has been streaky, he’s put in some nice performances over that time and is averaging a respectable 9.3 points per game for the season. For year #2 I think he’s progressing nicely.

Sam: Jefferson has gotten more touches and put up some good numbers, learned to see double teams and attack the basket. But can you say anyone benefited during an 18 game losing streak?

Mike: Initially Tony Allen made the most of his starring role, checking in with genuinely eye-opening improvement at both ends of the court over the last several games he played. But much like Sam I’m not sure I can use the word “benefit” with a guy who blew out his knee during this hallucinatory six week stretch.

In terms of benefit I don’t think you can overlook what Ryan Gomes has been able to do. After showing enough game last year to quiet many of the critics who said he was too small to play power forward in the NBA, Gomes showed some efficient play at small forward when necessity forced him into that role. He paired his increasingly effective jump shot with adequate defense to show that he could be a versatile contributor to a good team down the road. As always, the question is when and where he will get to play for that team.

Whose game should benefit the most from the return of Pierce and Szczerbiak to the floor (at least until they’re gone again)?

Mark: Rajon Rondo. I really like this kid’s potential, but he needs a couple consistent scorers out there to work with, and Paul and Wally are just that.

Steve: I guess this question depends on whether Pierce is going to be limited in any way due to his injury. It’s a very small sample size so far given his three game return but he’s been nonexistent on the glass. If Pierce is going to be doing his Mitch Richmond impression down the stretch at the two guard, then perhaps Rajon Rondo can be the main beneficiary because it will present a unique opportunity for a Celtic point guard to handle the ball frequently and run less of an isolation offense. That feels like wishful thinking though; in the immediate, it will probably mean more minutes for Brian Scalabrine to help free up Pierce on the offensive end by setting picks since Pierce’s first step may be a tad slow.

Meanwhile, I can’t think of anyone on the team who is going to benefit from Szczerbiak’s return, including Wally.

Mike: I’m going to go with Al Jefferson. While Al certainly racked up some nice stats during the losing streak, you could see that his status as the team’s go-to guy became difficult for him. He started making his moves too quickly to beat the double teams that were heading his way as soon as the ball reached midcourt, and his notable lack of a left hand became more of a liability. Big Al will be licking his chops when he gets the ball in the post with Pierce, Szczerbiak and/or Green spreading the floor.

Sam: Rondo and maybe Telfair (if he gets off the bench), less pressure to initiate the offense or to stick outside shots. After that Gomes, he can concentrate on scrapping and hitting 18 footers.

Which player has been the biggest disappointment so far this season?

Sam: Doesn’t seem right to point to the guy that last year was a third stringer on one of the worst teams in the league but considering the amount of hype/spin generated by the front office about the guy it would have to be Telfair. Coincidentally he is now a third stringer on the worst team in the league, it was real tough to see that one coming.

Mark: Telfair. I had a lot of hope for him, and he’s been a disappointment. On the other hand, I still think it’s too soon to give up on him. In a perfect world he would probably be in his rookie or sophomore NBA season.

Steve: Sebastian Telfair is the obvious answer and is of course a reasonable choice, but what about Wally? He’s had a putrid year from the field, and that’s really the only reason this guy is getting paid ten million dollars a year. How putrid? Well, had Rondo made just three more field goals this year among his misses, he’d have a higher shooting percentage than Szczerbiak this year. In general, the only person who gets dogged for his shooting ability more than Rondo is Dick Cheney (with Jason Kidd a close third – maybe Tom Brady will now make a late charge). It’s not like Szczerbiak can do much else on the court when he’s not filling it even when he’s healthy, and he’s pretty much useless defensively at half speed.

As veteran acquisitions go, Wally has been Vin Baker without the alcohol issues.

Mike: I personally am pretty disappointed in Kendrick Perkins. I was very high on him this summer after he signed his contract extension. I thought his realistic view of his place in the NBA (salary and skillwise) combined with his noted work ethic in the gym would lead to a breakout season. I didn’t expect him to be a star, but I was hoping that his sorely needed brand of toughness and interior defense would at least mature past the foul difficulties and injury troubles of his first three seasons. But the nagging plantar fascia problem has made his energy and quickness vary by the game, and he still seems to have a target on his back for the cheap foul calls from the refs. With Jefferson’s emergence inside and a hoped-for acquisition of a skilled big man through the draft or trade Perkins’ future role is by no means assured.

Q: There are 31 games left in the Celtics’ season. What is your over-under on wins?

Mike: I’ll start the bidding on the high side and say 13. I think the team’s often mismatched pieces fall into place when Pierce is in the lineup. The Rivers-era Cs have often lagged at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter, when the youth on the bench face an opponent ramping up its energy for crunch time. However, the growth of some of the younger guys and the use of Wally off the bench may just make that a thing of the past. Against the Bucks the team put a lineup of Rondo, Green, Pierce, Szczerbiak and Jefferson on the floor at one point in the second half. That’s a squad that will score some points and keep the team in the game better than any bench unit they had earlier in the season, when as Doc will tell anyone who will listen they once strung together five wins in a row.

Of course, if the team sees the light and sits Pierce down before the end, the wins will be well below my number. And I don’t think any Celtics fan would be complaining.

Sam: 10.

Mark: Well, I thought the C’s were headed to 31 straight losses before the win over the Bucks. I still think they will lose the next 12 games including a brutal west coast swing. I am going with 7 wins.

Steve: 8.5. Any short term momentum that Pierce could bring will be offset by their immediate schedule.

Q: The question everyone is waiting for: if all of the draft contingencies fall into place, should it be Oden or Durant?

Steve: I think it should be Durant because I think he has the higher ceiling from the few times I’ve seen them both play. Durant’s athleticism is too tantalizing to pass up if I have the #1 pick. Having said that, I don’t think either one is close to Duncan in terms of NBA readiness. Each will need multiple NBA seasons before they start to make a meaningful W/L impact on an NBA franchise.

Mark: Greg Oden. Make no mistake, both of these guys are supremely talented. But, given his size and the position he plays Oden is the more rare talent.

Sam: Either way it’ll be fine.

Mike: I’d prefer Durant. It seems to me that most of the arguments for Oden boil down to the position he potentially could fill (supremely talented defensive center) and the fact that he has only been able to show part of his game because of his wrist injury. But with the new NBA rules favoring guard play over the bump and grind of the 90s I don’t think you can easily dismiss a package of talents like Durant has.

Q: If given the power to fire any of Doc Rivers, Danny Ainge or Wyc Grousbeck, how many pink slips would you dole out and when?

Sam: Wyc maybe an idiot for sure but it is the two headed hydra of Doc and Ainge that are responsible for the mess this team is in. They have become codependent and a united front in their mendacious ways although it might be a stretch to say they are outright liars or just plain fools.

Steve: It may sound perverse, but Grousbeck has not had a bad year. The team has been atrocious yet they’re still doing OK at the box office and the fan base seems to be taking this season in complete stride. I think it is clear that Wyc’s been a little Ainge-struck, but Bob Kraft had some similar tendencies when he first bought the Patriots (and it would be a mistake to judge Kraft’s savvy solely by his public speaking ability). Wyc stays.

Ainge is a tougher call. We all thought he was trying to emulate the ‘03-‘04 Pistons with his team building strategy, and he has delivered the ‘96-‘97 Celtics. He’s had a very poor last twelve months between the Davis trade and (probably) misjudging how the first seven picks of the NBA draft would go in terms of Brandon Roy being available. He stays – hopefully with the caveat that Jon Niednagel is given the GG Allin treatment and ends up banned in Boston.

Rivers should be fired at the end of the year. It will be funny if the gets the Grady Little “good soldier” bonus from Wyc and Ainge. He’s proven that he’s not a particularly good coach and it’s questionable whether his heart is really in it. His intensity is directed in all the wrong places.

Mike: If it’s up to me, Doc has to go. I think he’s done a good job, and ironically was the right person to keep a group of young guys upbeat during such a trying season. But Doc’s general mediocrity through his first years in Boston screams for a change to be made, if only to show the youngsters that losing has consequences. Besides which, there are better choices out there. To Ainge I’d send an Isiah-style ultimatum: you’ve got one draft and one season to pick up whoever it is you want to build around Pierce. If there isn’t progress toward a contender by the deadline next year, it’s time for a new man with a new plan. Wyc can stay, as long as he stops feeding Steve Pagliuca whatever drug it is that causes him to see Al Jefferson as a budding Karl Malone.

Mark: I think Doc has been a good coach at developing our young talent, something his predecessors only did by mistake. But, I think it’s time to get a stonger Xs and Os coach. If it were up to me, I would part ways with him and hire Paul Westphal who has a 62.7% win percentage vs Doc’s 50% (before this season).

Q: Finally, who should the team send to represent it at the lottery drawing?

Mark: Leo Papile, but only if he wears a velvet sweatsuit.

Mike: Joe Barry Carroll. The draft has never gotten better for the team than it was in 1980, let’s bring back the magic.

Steve: In keeping with the spirit of the event, they should hold a lottery among their season ticket holders and send the winner. Anyone who had to pay thousands of bucks to watch them deliberately lose games this season should have a shot at 15 minutes of fame.

Sam: Heinsohn should go but a good guess would be that they send him if they don’t get one of the first two picks as a public relations sacrificial lamb. If they get the first pick Wyc Grousbeck will no doubt see the blinging spotlight and take to it like a snake to a heatlamp.

By Dylan

As the once storied Boston Celtic franchise approaches the 20th anniversary of their last trip to the NBA Finals, the C’s are on pace for one of their worst records in team history. However, not all is bleak. With the potential for one of deepest drafts in NBA history coming up, the Celtics have a chance to turn around the franchise in a hurry. This opportunity is based on the basketball talents of two players: Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. While I’m sure this space will cover in more detail both players, there is a consensus of all basketball people that these two players are the real deal.

After floundering about for the first part of the season, the collective light bulb went off in the heads of Celtic Management. With at best a marginal shot for the playoffs and no Allen Iverson, the C’s decided it was time to put Paul Pierce on the shelf and try to tank the season in hopes of landing one of the two potential superstars. To date, the plan has worked to perfection. The young players are getting a chance to play minutes and in the time I’ve considered writing this column, the Celtics have gone from the fifth worst record to the second from the bottom.

In the grand scheme of things, this development has been huge. With how the lottery works, it is important to have one of worst records to increase the chances of landing one of the high sought after first two picks. Other than watching Al Jefferson develop, the most important thing to watch over the rest of the season is how the Celtics stack up against their competition. The rest of the column will examine potential threats to Boston’s chances of having the worst record in the league.

Currently, there is one team “below” the Celtics: Memphis. The Grizzles have been a team in tank mode all season. With their top player, Pau Gasol, out the first part of the year due to an injury sustained at the World Championships, the Grizzles stumbled out of the gate. As a result, they’ve positioned themselves from the start of the season as one of the main players in the lottery. The Grizzles even took tanking a step further when they fired respected head coach Mike Fratello. The firing of the defensive minded Fratello resulted in a mid-season change of philosophy by the team. Now employing a more wide open, fast break attack, the Grizzles might catch some teams playing the second game of a back-to-back. However, the outlook still looks bleak. With trade rumors swirling around Gasol, the Grizzles will be the top competition in vying for the worst record.

The team sitting third from the bottom is the Celtics’ longtime rival the Philadelphia 76ers. When any early season hope was dashed by problems with Allen Iverson and Chris Webber, the 76ers realized it was time to start over. One problem, since struggling early at the start of the Iverson trade saga, the team has played somewhat respectable ball. The highlight is the emergence of Andre Iguodala who gives Philly some hope for the future. The key thing to watch for the Sixers as the trade deadline nears is how they will approach the Andre Miller situation. Miller has plenty of value around the league, such as to a team like Miami. Does Philly ensure a poor season and trade their point guard? Or do they keep Miller as part of the puzzle? Either way, this team should finish with more wins than the Celtics.

Currently, the next team in line is the Seattle Supersonics. The Sonics are up in the air right now mostly due to not knowing where they will be playing in the future. Of the bottom teams, right now their roster has more talent that the Grizzles and 76ers. But with their shaky ownership situation, they could also dump Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen and go into a full tank. If they do this, then there is little doubt they will be in the mix for a very high draft pick. If they stay the course, they will likely win a few more games, but due to the strength of the West, the Sonics will be in the hunt for a high lottery pick.

The Charlotte Bobcats are next in line. This young and upcoming team has a nice core of emerging talent. As with any inexperienced team, the Bobcats have had their ups and downs. After a nice stretch of winning four of six games, the BCats have dropped four in a row. However, with Gerald Wallace finding his game after a slow start to the season and Emeka Okafor taking his game up a notch this season, the Bobcats should stay above the four teams already mentioned.

As for the rest of the teams in the next tier, the only team that could make a downward move is Sacramento. With rumors circulating that the Kings are fed up with Ron Artest and Mike Bibby, the team be trying to move the both of them before the trade deadline. Currently, holding the eighth worst record in the league, the Kings possess a smart GM who could see the door has closed for them and it is time to blow it up and grab a top young talent.

Ultimately, I see Boston and Memphis finishing 1-2 in the worst record category. The 76ers should follow next in line. What follows should be interesting to see teams play for a few extra ping pong balls down the stretch.

Whatever the case, at the end of the season, the Celtics will have done their part. It will be up to the ping pong balls from there.

By Mike

There I was, minding my own business on a sunny Sunday afternoon, trying to maintain a weekend-long news blackout to avoid the Super Bowl hype machine, when the phone rang with a call from my father.

After catching up on each other’s comings and goings since our last talk, the conversation took its usual turn to the Boston sports scene. Now that we had spent a couple of calls dissecting the second half of the Pats-Colts game, it was clear that we would be moving on to a new topic. My Dad has become a “call me when they’re relevant” style Celtics fan, an approach I can’t really question based on recent results, so I was half expecting a reasoned argument about why the Red Sox should tell Schilling to quit negotiating through the media. Instead, he wanted to talk about the foundering Cs.

“Did you see Peter May’s column today?”

“No, I didn’t. Let me guess, he’s preaching patience for the Celtics.”

Pause. “What?” Apparently chalking my sarcasm up to a bad connection, he moved on. “He thinks Ainge put together a team of stiffs. No guys on the rookie-sophomore all star teams…No heart to win a close game or two…They still can’t figure out how to defend a pick and roll…”

As he continued listing the deficiencies of a team he doesn’t watch very often I considered asking him if these were his thoughts or May’s, but I held off. Not because I’m not interested, but because from a several years of reading May’s work I have a certain level of confidence about what he would write even without reading it. For me the only question would be whether the Curse of Tony Parker would be mentioned, or if instead May would stick to lamenting The Day the Music Died. I guessed the latter.

I was wrong. While trying to avoid the Super Bowl pregame photo essay on The Year Class Came Back to Miami, I pulled up May’s column and read it. Wonder of wonders, I found myself nodding in agreement.

I agree with May that the rising tide of losses have concealed some modest improvement among the Celtics young players. They aren’t stars, and they will probably wind up helping a better team more effectively in a smaller role than they will carrying the unfamiliar heavy loads they have been with Paul Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak nursing their respective injuries. This team is Not Good right now, and they have earned that title.

But after my initial surprise passed, I read further and found myself back in my familiar position of questioning May’s underlying argument.

May seizes on a quote that Ainge made to Chad Ford about how he “never envisioned having this many young players on the team at once” to ask incredulously, “[Ainge] drafted them. He traded for them. If he didn’t envision it, who did?” Now, if Ainge actually was trying to pass responsibility for the makeup of this team to some unnamed Architect, I would be right there with May on this one. (And before I go too much further, I have not read the Ford article nor have I ever subjected Ainge to a lie detector so the following is simply my educated guess as a long-distance follower of the team).

But I think instead what Ainge was trying to illustrate was that their “plan” (a word that has taken on far too much meaning for both Ainge’s supporters and detractors) was to develop their young assets in order to be in ready to put a trade offer together to bring a veteran all star or other package of players in that would both improve the team’s overall talent level as well as add experience. Commendably, in my view, they have kept their powder dry and have not offered too much (yet) for players of questionable marquee value like Pau Gasol. At the same time Ainge has reportedly been very aggressive in his pursuit of Allen Iverson, which I believe was doomed from the start because of the all-too-predictable outcome of Iverson destroying his former team from within their division. No GM wants to give a competitor like Iverson such an easy path to retribution after things went sour in Philly, much less a guy like Billy King who was unwinding an extremely expensive mistake in Chris Webber at the same time.

Based on those rumored trade talks and his historic willingness to shake things up with potentially unpopular moves I think it’s difficult to argue that Ainge has decided to stand pat with this group of players on purpose. Pierce’s extension over the summer gave the team a three year window in which to develop a winning combination around him. I think it’s pretty safe to say the team’s management knows that this group is not it. But you can’t make trades if you don’t have a dance partner, and as several news outlets have noted in recent weeks there aren’t too many good looking prospects at this year’s NBA square dance anyway.

Many fans are already several weeks into the chase for the lottery ping pong balls, salivating over every gaudy stat line put up by the presumptive top picks. However, with Pierce coming back the team’s efficiency at losing will diminish somewhat. While they certainly were not a league power at the time, the team had separate winning streaks of five and three games while Pierce was healthy. Not exactly stop the presses material, but on the other hand last year’s team never challenged for the worst record in the league and never achieved either of those marks. If the jump in numbers over the past 6 weeks for Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Delonte West was due to their improvement as players and not solely due to their added minutes, this team may have more fight in it than people expect.

So, this is shaping up to be an intriguing two and a half weeks leading up to the deadline. Unlike most years, when a team is a buyer or a seller but not both, the Celtics can go any number of ways. They could look to package their much-discussed assets (including Theo Ratliff’s contract) to seek some veteran help that can stabilize the team as it moves forward beyond this year, possibly looking to grow further by keeping their pick in a draft that is deeper than just the two names at the top. At the other end of the spectrum, they can seek to assure the best odds of the top two picks and find an offer for Pierce that provides them with younger players who can join the core of the future team built around Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. Or they can choose a less drastic option and find a pretext for sitting Pierce down for some or all of the remainder of the season.

While all of those options have good reasons for and against, the one path that holds the least promise is to remain on the course the team is on. Allowing Pierce to come back full time and full speed serves only to vaporize a few more of the team’s ping pong balls with every win he helps these youngsters eke out. The lottery odds are risky enough without the specter of other, more “motivated” teams doing more to improve their chances while the Cs obliviously pick up a win or two down the stretch.

I don’t know about anyone else, but it’s time for me to let my inner Gary Tanguay out, and give every internet trade rumor or pained facial expression from Pierce more credence than it deserves, rooting fervently for any stoooryline that takes the Cs to a different path.

It may not be as fun as watching the ’86 Celtics, but it beats watching the Pro Bowl.

The Celtics are in the midst of one of their toughest seasons as injuries and inexperience have led the team to the current 13 game losing streak. I knew that the ML Carr 15 win season was 10 years ago, but I took a few minutes and went back through Celtics teams 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 years ago this season to see where each of those editions of the Celtics stood. I found it interesting that many of these teams found themselves at crossroads, much as the team is at now. Here’s how those clubs stacked up:

10 Years Ago…

1996-97 Season
Record: 15-67
Playoffs: None

To this point, this was the low point in franchise history. The Celtics were clearly playing for the Tim Duncan sweepstakes from the get-go, with coach/GM M.L. Carr trotting out Brett Szabo for 70 games, and using names such as Nate Driggers, Michael Hawkins, Steve Hamer, and big free agent signing Frank Brickowski to fill time during the course of the season. Rookie Antoine Walker led the team with 17.5 points per game, and Rick Fox, David Wesley and Eric Williams each also averaged over 15 points per game. Todd Day shot 39% for the season on his way to 14 points a night.

20 Years Ago…

1986-87 Season
Record: 59-23
Playoffs: Lost in NBA Finals to Lakers

The long painful decline of the franchise started with this season. After winning their 16th NBA title, the Celtics drafted Len Bias, whom they thought would extend the career of Larry Bird well into the 1990’s. We know what happened. Without Bias, Bird and the rest of the aging Celtics starters were forced to play 40 minutes a game and simply wore down as the playoffs went on. They played back-to-back seven game series with the Bucks and Pistons and didn’t have much left for the Lakers. Kevin McHale played on a bad foot in the playoffs, and it affected him for the rest of his career. This was the Celtics last appearance in the NBA finals.

30 Years Ago…

1976-77 Season
Record: 44-38
Playoffs: Lost to 76ers in Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Celtics were again coming off an NBA title and on their way down. Don Nelson retired as a player prior to the season. The John Havlicek era was winding down, and Dave Cowens and Charlie Scott missed significant time during the season. Jojo White had his last great season with the Celtics, averaging 19.6 point per game, along with 6 assists a night. Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe were on this team, and averaged double figures in points each. It wasn’t worth their presence. The Celtics lost in the second round of the playoffs in seven games to the Philadelphia 76ers.

40 Years Ago…

1966-67 Season
Record: 60-21
Playoffs: Lost to 76ers in Eastern Conference Finals.

An interruption in the dynasty. Wilt Chamberlain and the Philadelphia 76ers finally put it all together and stormed through the regular season before dispatching the Celtics in a shockingly quick five game series in the Eastern finals. Red Auerbach had stepped down as coach after winning the title the previous season, handing the reigns to star Bill Russell. Many declared the Celtics dynasty dead after this season.

50 Years Ago…

1956-57 Season
Record: 44-28
Playoffs: Won 1st NBA Title, over St. Louis Hawks

Finally, a season where things went right! Thanks to some shrewd maneuvering from Auerbach, the Celtics acquired the pick with which they drafted Bill Russell, but also drafted two other Hall of Famers in Tom Heinsohn and KC Jones. They had to wait for Russell to finish up playing with the US Olympic team in Australia, and then inserted him into a team that was coming together. After a number of years of coming up short in the playoffs, Russell provided what the team needed to get all the way to the top.

60 Years Ago…

1946-47 Season
Record: 22-38
Playoffs: None

The very first edition of the Boston Celtics wasn’t much to speak of. Their leading scorer, Connie Simmons, tore it up at a 10.3 points per game clip. Future “Rifleman” Chuck Connors broke a wooden backboard in warm-ups prior to the very first game. That was probably the most memorable moment from this season. Connors played in 49 games that season, averaging 4.6 points.