It’s possible that coaching candidates would prefer Pels and Nets over us. Nets definitely, Pels less certain

Nets definitely? I don’t think everyone in the league would be that excited to coach Kyrie.

They’re better than us. Does Jo seem like a treat to coach to you as well? Idk

Nets will hire whoever Kyrie and Durant want which I’m guessing will be someone bad.

Going into 2021-2022, we are what the 7th best team in the East?

Bucks
Celts
Raps
Miami
Pacers
Nets

No better than 6th?

We’re better than the pacers and I think better than the heat (pending any offseason moves), though that’s certainly arguable. Not as good as the other teams. A long way away from the Bucks at the moment

You’re probably right about miami but it’s close.

Bring me Juwan Howard. Ex-player (which seems to be most important in the NBA) and steeped in the Miami hard work and accountability culture.

SwingOnThis wrote:They just needed time to grow.

Do either Embiid or Simmons strike you as having changed in any way for the better since the last time the Celtics bounced the Sixers from the playoffs?

Wolfgang622 wrote:

SwingOnThis wrote:They just needed time to grow.

Do either Embiid or Simmons strike you as having changed in any way for the better since the last time the Celtics bounced the Sixers from the playoffs?

I made this exact point earlier in the week. The answer is really no. Embiid has regressed while Simmons has improved defensively. Offensively Simmons is unchanged materially speaking.

Simmons averaged 22 a night in January. Part of that was picking up the slack with Embiid out but he was playing great before he got hurt.

MoBettle wrote:Simmons averaged 22 a night in January. Part of that was picking up the slack with Embiid out but he was playing great before he got hurt.

He does show glimpses of greatness

Stay_Disappointed wrote:

MoBettle wrote:Simmons averaged 22 a night in January. Part of that was picking up the slack with Embiid out but he was playing great before he got hurt.

He does show glimpses of greatness

Yeah in that January stretch he gave you A- Giannis with better passing

Simmons is a lot better than the last time they played the Celtics in the playoffs, offensively and even moreso defensively

That first Celtics series set the franchise back so much. That team was the template for how to surround Simmons/Embiid-shooters who can play off the ball. They blitzed the league in the second half and the Miami series and then Brett got pantsed by Stevens and the mantra became add more star power.

Augustus wrote:That first Celtics series set the franchise back so much. That team was the template for how to surround Simmons/Embiid-shooters who can play off the ball. They blitzed the league in the second half and the Miami series and then Brett got pantsed by Stevens and the mantra became add more star power.

I mean, it worked. They made the horrible decision to trust the coach and not the players. If they run it back with a different coach, we are probably having a very different conversation RN.

Well that team was pretty limited too, it was really counting on Fultz to be the lead guard to fill in for Embiid's and Simmons's limitations. Once he busted they started to scramble.

People were pretty annoyed they didn't add anything to the team at the beginning of last year.

Well we lost Ily and Belinilli so it wasn’t by any stretch a good offseason.

For the Xs and Os mavens: I've heard a lot about Ilyasova being a good fit offensively with Embiid and to a lesser extent Simmons. Why was that, and could Tobias pick up some/much of that?

Fultz not panning out hurt but that team went 28-6 from February on with a 9.3 point differential. Covington was on his very cheap contract. Stevens exploited our dumb PNR coverage to get his scorers matched on JJ/Marco/TJ and schemed a defense to take Ben away. The answer should have been to find/develop more two way wings and get a real coach.