2008-09 NBA Team Preview – Boston Celtics

2008-09 NBA Team Preview – Boston Celtics

2008 Record: 66-16
Division Finish: 1st – Atlanta
2008 Playoffs: Won the NBA Championship, 4-2, over the Los Angeles Lakers

Head Coach: Doc Rivers
Season: Going into his fifth
Record at Boston: 168-160

Offseason Acquisitions:
Forward Darius Miles
Center Patrick O’Bryant

Offseason Losses:
Center Scott Pollard, option was not picked up.
Small forward James Posey signed a free agent deal with the New Orleans Hornets.

Rookies:
JR Giddens, G, 6-5, New Mexico
Semih Erden, C, 6-11, Turkey
Bill Walker, G-F, 6-6, Kansas State

The Skinny:
Everything is right again in the world of old school NBA fans. The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers played for the NBA Championship with the Celtics coming out on top for their 17th title. But the odds of those two teams meeting in the finals in two of the next three years like in the 80’s is pretty slim.

The Celtics had a great formula in place for last year. They’ve got a great core group of superstars that plays really well together in Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Those three stir the drink and then they’ve got a great group of supporting players who know their role. This is pretty much the formula that will help you win a title.

While the formula works great, the ingredients are getting ready to expire. Those three, along with journeyman Sam Cassell have all played at least 10 years in the NBA. Now that all three have a title under their belts and they’re growing long in the tooth how hungry are they going to be to make a run like last year? It wasn’t easy as they didn’t win a road game until the Finals.

Another problem with the Celtics roster is that they seem to be at both ends of the spectrum. Fourteen out of the 17 players on their current roster have either played seven years or more or have only been in the league for two years or less. Those players that fall into that middle aren’t very good either.

Because of some of the deals they’ve made and the draft positions they’ve had, the young talent they haven’t isn’t very good either or needs a lot of work to keep this train going. The Celtics better strike while the iron is hot this year because after this season they could be back to being in the middle to the bottom of the pack in the Eastern Conference.

One problem the Celtics are going to have to figure out is how to fill the void left by the departure of James Posey. During the offseason he signed a four-year deal with the New Orleans Hornets. Posey did a great job picking up the opposing team’s best offensive player and was a good three-point shooter himself. Posey was the one responsible for D-ing up LeBron James and Kobe Bryant during the playoffs. He also had the intangible of being a winner after being a part of the Miami Heat’s NBA title run.

So how does Boston plan on filling that hole? During the offseason they signed free agent forward Darius Miles. In addition they drafted JR Giddens from New Mexico in the first round and wing Bill Walker from Kansas State in the second. These seem like more of the Danny Ainge trade that got rid of Tony Delk and Antoine Walker for Jiri Welsch, Chris Mills and Raef LeFrentz and not the ones last year that brought in Allen and Garnett and earned him NBA Executive of the Year.

Miles is just trouble, plan and simple. It’s probably an attribute of a rough childhood in East St. Louis, but he’s been trouble everywhere he’s gone. He’s going to miss the first 10 games of the season because of a drug suspension. Great first impression. Then there’s his lack of defense and problems staying health. Throw in a pension for alienating his teammates and you’ve got a great pick up. Maybe the vets can real him in, but I doubt it.

Giddens isn’t exactly a choir boy either. He had problems at Kansas and had to transfer to New Mexico. If he gets influenced by Miles you might as well write him off as well. I don’t know much about Bill Walker, but Kansas State isn’t exactly a hotbed for talent. He was recruiting there by Bob Huggins, but how many of his players have really panned out to be good NBA players?

One player who may pick up Posey’s slack is guard Tony Allen. The Celtics resigned the fourth-year player out of Oklahoma State during the offseason. He might be able to fill that role, but he’s got to stay healthy. No one is really sure of his potential because he’s been injured so much. If he can stay of the IR for the entire season he could be a great role player.

Prediction:
Too many things just don’t seem right for the Celtics to repeat. After so many years of not having a championships ring, how hungry are the aging Garnett, Allen and Pierce going to be? Maybe they know this is there last chance and they’ll throw everything and the kitchen sink at winning again.

It’s always tougher to repeat than to win the first one and the Celtics just don’t have enough of the pieces to maintain a run like this. San Antonio built such a strong core group of players that all fit into their system so if one was missing the other could pick up the slack. If Pierce or Garnett go down for a long period of time the Celtics are in trouble. They need to have a full squad healthy for the entire year to keep the home court advantage in the playoffs. If they didn’t have home court advantage for every Eastern Conference playoff series and the Finals the title might be in LA or Detroit.

Posey is going to be a bigger loss than most people realize. Maybe not over the course of an 82-game schedule, but come playoff time when defense is so crucial – that was the basis of Boston’s championship run last year – it will show. I don’t think Miles will turn his act around and Giddons won’t amount to much. There are too many question marks around Tony Allen’s health to count on him for the whole year.

Boston will go 55-27 during the regular season and win the Atlantic Division because it’s pretty weak. They will, however, get bounced in the second round of the playoffs.