Who’s to blame for the Celtics lack of success?

[LeonfromNC]

Please delete

[KhalDrogo]

Tatum and Brown.

These two have had a loaded roster for years, and have zilch to show for it.

[jcardstore]

Tatum has been terrible and Mazzulla is a rookie head coach. The deck was stacked against them.

[bloodwings19]

Tatum has James Harden disease. Game 3 loss is on the coach, you have 57 rebounds to Heat's 37, you should win game, not in a blow out loss. Coach Udoka coaching point has risen. Seriously, I never thought the Celtics was this good.

[I only pull for]

Eric Spoelstra, Jimmy Butler, and Bam Adebayo

[ck6599]

It's on Mazzulla and Tatum.
Tatum is a top 3 talent in the league, but he does not have the intangibles, he doesn't have the mentality, the killer instinct. He's not (as Butler describes the Heat) "a dog." It's a player driven league........but if you have a talent that doesn't have the killer instinct then you need a coach that can get it out of you. Mazzulla is not that guy.......frankly he probably isn't that guy for any team, he should be coaching D3 college. He looked good early on because the Celtics were winning early season games (AKA low pressure games), but frankly I could have rolled a ball out there and told them to do their thing in October/November and probably would have had a winning record.
I'm a HUGE Celtics fan, but this talent is going to be wasted......I don't see this team winning anything.
This team is SOFT....the only one that has shown any balls is Smart and Grant Wiliams, and those guys aren't the ones that need to do it. They need to bring in a strong coach, and even then, if the coach is too strong, Tatum and/or Brown may not like being challenged......it's their makeup that is the problem. I'd trade Tatum for a guy like Butler (he's too old at this point to do straight up for Tatum), but a true "dog" along with Brown, Brogdon, White, Williams.....woud definitely be better.
Tatum will be great for years.....he'll have 50 point games and maybe win a regular season MVP, but he shrivels when the pressure is at its highest.

[msink28]

I'd put it on Mazzulla and Stevens. Mazzulla is out of his league, Spoelstra is picking him apart. Quin Snyder also picked him apart in the first round for what it's worth.

Stevens needs to have the guts to trade Jaylen Brown. Everybody in the NBA knows it's your turn, my turn with Boston. Brown is also redundant with White, Smart and Brogdon. I like Brown, it just isn't working anymore with Boston. It has to be Tatum's team. But Boston is scared to trade Brown because there's no way to get equal value for him and he'll be much more dangerous somewhere else.

I'm not quite ready for a referendum on Tatum yet. He just scored 51 in a game 7.

[the mesiah]

Ime Udoka

[MJGOAT23]

Brown and Tatum just need tpo run more PnR together. The your turn my turn absolutely is not working.

[bmf]

Originally Posted by bloodwings19

Tatum has James Harden disease.

Bingo. Tatum is a great regular season player, but when the games really count…

[mc1]

5 ECF appearances in the last 7 seasons. Only have 1 Finals loss to show for it. They just dont have enough to get over the hump.

[BGT Masters]

Originally Posted by bmf

Bingo. Tatum is a great regular season player, but when the games really count…

He put up 16 in the 4th quarter of an elimination game on the road and in the close out game 7 he put up 51 points. Sure he is up and down but I mean those two games literally just happened a couple weeks ago and they sort of really counted.

They'd struggling now because they ran into the buzzsaw that is Jimmy Butler.

[bradical]

Robert Williams is making Bam look like SHAQ out there. Bam is the greatest illegal screener of our time and Starlord is lost trying to guard a screen-setting center. It's a bad combo for Boston.

[bmf]

Originally Posted by BGT Masters

He put up 16 in the 4th quarter of an elimination game on the road and in the close out game 7 he put up 51 points. Sure he is up and down but I mean those two games literally just happened a couple weeks ago and they sort of really counted.

They'd struggling now because they ran into the buzzsaw that is Jimmy Butler.

You mean the 2nd-round game 7 they should’ve never had to be in?

Harden has had a few terrific playoff games here and there, too. But obviously neither one of these guys is someone you can count on in the playoffs.

[brothertona]

This is just a badly built roster - no PG to slow things down, coaching is a major weakness - (basically what the Hawks had with Nate and Sixers with Doc) against probably the smartest coach in the league in Spoelstra. Conflict as well with Tatum/Brown. They are sharing way too much oxygen - one needs to go and Tatum is obviously much better so he's staying. Way too many smalls - with Brogdon/White/Smart/Pritchard/Williams and not enough bigs to bang down low. Horford isn't that dude at this stage in his career.

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by BGT Masters

He put up 16 in the 4th quarter of an elimination game on the road and in the close out game 7 he put up 51 points. Sure he is up and down but I mean those two games literally just happened a couple weeks ago and they sort of really counted.

They'd struggling now because they ran into the buzzsaw that is Jimmy Butler.

Tatum is the textbook definition of inconsistent. Inconsistency doesn’t win championships.

[rifleman69]

Ime Udoka's urges.

[SupermanBrandon]

Kobe texted him back



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[wubh]

The roster is talented but poorly built, there are not enough touches to go around to soothe all of the egos/future contract extensions on the table, and overmatched coaching (both X’s and O’s and ego management).

Some recent win now moves look good in a vacuum (like Brogdan and White for poopoo platters plus future picks) but haven’t moved the needle. Depth signings like Hauser and Kornet help in the regular season but not the playoffs (at least without a great coach like Spo). The real move would have been trading JB last summer to balance out the roster.

I agree with the poster who said they also need a savvy PG who can slow down a game and control a 4th quarter, almost the kind of guy that Joe Mazulla was in college (but with a lot more basketball talent). Instead they have 3 combo guards and two iso wings.

That your turn, my turn crap hasn’t changed one bit since last years finals but now, there is also less hustle, worse defense and poor chemistry.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by LeonfromNC

Please delete

A lot of Celtics fans agree.

From my little patch of turf:

I trace the issues back to ones I delved into deeply due to my investment in Nesmith. Instead of activating the best play makers on the floor on a nightly basis (ala Pritchard, who could be a Reeves style PG, minus a few inches) they rely on winded vets. Last conference finals, I remember distinctly Nesmith making a couple of game saving defensive stops against Miami when Smart was out, G1--and getting benched the rest of the series as a reward (ok his shooting was not there, as a result of no reg season playing time). And yeah, Celtics soundly defeated in the Finals.

The Celtics have no talent coming up. No rookie would ever want to get drafted there, a total dead letter box. The trade Pacers made for no-name Nesmith a year ago? Put Brogdon vs. Aaron 1 and 1 and the younger, hungrier player would clean the floor every time. Imagine a whole team of haingry players like that. That's Miami.

I was watching the TNT broadcast and they kept the camera on the Celtics during break, when the whole starting unit, except Smart, was taken out wholesale. Never seen that level of shame and dejection, a couple shirts and towels completely covering the heads.

[BGT Masters]

Originally Posted by bmf

You mean the 2nd-round game 7 they should’ve never had to be in?

Harden has had a few terrific playoff games here and there, too. But obviously neither one of these guys is someone you can count on in the playoffs.

I don't even like the Celtics, or any Boston team for that matter. Just pointing out your statement was quite wrong. Regardless of whether they should have been in a game 6 or 7, he did just show up in two must win games in a big way.

Inconsistency can still win championships if you catch fire at the right time (see end of game 6 and game 7 last series). However you have to have another superstar to pick up the slack at the right time as well. Multiple key inconsistent/streaky players is a no go.

[boxbuster7]

Originally Posted by the mesiah

Ime Udoka

*his mistress

[JeffG1954]

Who’s to blame for the Celtics lack of success?

This year the easiest answer is the Miami Heat.

[bmf]

Originally Posted by SupermanBrandon

Kobe texted him back

Lmao that’s funny. It’s cringe every time Tatum mentions Kobe.

[AwesomeBrian]

Shannon Sharpe mumbled a good point today... nobody was screaming about the coaching when they smoked Milwaukee by 41 in late March. But now 10 Ply Tatum and Brick Brown play like trash and it's the coaching?