2015/16 Finish – 62-20, NLL Finalists

Season Highlight

The season highlight for the Celtics would undoubtedly have to be their Eastern Conference Finals series victory against the 76ers.  In doing so much like the apprentice who finally betters the master they were able to vanquish their arch rival avenging their first round defeat from 2015. 

Season Lowlight

This came in the NLL Finals.  Much has been written about how the Celtics went in as favourites on paper but faltered at the last hurdle succumbing to the defending Champ Lakers in six games.  Gm jmac had a great season and has really turned this team around since taking the helm but he will just have to chalk this one up as part of the learning experience.

Best Trade

The Boston Celtics send Pau Gasol and Shaun Livingston to the Detroit Pistons. The Boston Celtics send Al Jefferson to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Detroit Pistons send Al Horford and DeJuan Blair to the Boston Celtics. The New Orleans Pelicans send Trevor Ariza to the Boston Celtics.  The Boston Celtics send a 2nd-Rounder (Bos) to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Detroit Pistons send a 1st-Rounder (Det) to the Boston Celtics. The New Orleans Pelicans send a 1st-Rounder (NO) to the Boston Celtics.

Part of a bigger deal, lets distil this down for the Celtics. Added: Horford, Blair, Ariza, 1^st (Det), 1^st (NO); Lost: Gasol, Livingston, Jefferson.

This is another jmac special where not only does he get the best player in the deal in Horford but he also ends up with two 1st rnd picks.  You beauty!

Worst Trade

This is a gm who seems to have the midas touch when it comes to deals, heck he dealt Durant for Batum a few seasons ago!.  So it’s no surprise that he made a lot of deals during the season.  Most of them were pretty decent however here is one that given the leagues premium on shooting, I am sure gm jmac would re-consider given the chance.

The Boston Celtics send Ryan Anderson to the Orlando Magic. The Orlando Magic send Mario Chalmers to the Boston Celtics.

Mario could be out the league and Ryno looks to be still on the rise.  Jmac was able to parlay Chalmers off in a subsequent deal later in the season for a 2^nd rnder and some gm points though.

Other Notable Trades

The Boston Celtics send Lance Stephenson to the Chicago Bulls. The Chicago Bulls send Al Jefferson to the Boston Celtics.

 

A nice deal here as Lance’s star has pretty much faded whereas Big Al helped the C’s nett Al Horford.

 

The Boston Celtics send Kendall Marshall to the LA Clippers. The LA Clippers send a 1st-Rounder (Pho) to the Boston Celtics.

 

Not a bad deal here as the oft-injured Marshall was dealt in exchange for an eventual lottery pick in this deal landing Al-Farouq Aminu from the Bulls.

 

The Boston Celtics send Randy Foye, Wayne Ellington and Cole Aldrich to the Chicago Bulls. The Chicago Bulls send Al-Farouq Aminu to the Boston Celtics.
The Boston Celtics send a 1st-Rounder (Pho) to the Chicago Bulls.

Best Free Agent Signing

The Celtics best signing was locking up restricted free agent Nikola Vucevic for 4yrs, ~$45M – an absolute bargain in todays NLL.

Worst Free Agent Signing

The Celtics were not that active in free agency, after signing OJ Mayo and Pau Gasol in previous seasons, the Celtics were not able to make a similar splash in 2015 only able to secure the signatures of journeymen Lou Amundson and Devyn Marble.

The Star – Kevin Durant

No surprise here.  Kevin Durant was a monster for the Celtics averaging 26.9 points on 51% shooting while pulling down 6.7 rebounds per game and dropping 4.5 dimes.  After coming off an injury plagued season he was able to suit up in 78 games, the most for 3 years.  Durant was able to win eastern Conference Player of the Week 5 times during the course of the season and come season’s end was voted as the NLL MVP, the 2^nd time he has earned this lofty accolade.  He led his team to the NLL finals coming oh so close to his 2^nd career title.

Surprise – Ty Lawson

Many felt that Lawson may not fit as a starting PG alongside KD however he held his nerve playing in 70 games, starting 54 whilst averaging 15.1 points on 46% shooting – very good for a PG in the NLL.  He also handed out 6.6 assists per game and collected 1.7 steals.  Overall considering some of his off court issues, he was surprisingly effective.

The Goat – Michael Beasley

‘B-Easy’ spent a lot of the season over in China and tore it up in the far East against inferior competition.  He even won MVP over there.  It was enough for the NLL to notice and gm jmac, not averse to taking a punt threw him a lifeline.  However, instead of making a case to resurrect his NLL career he came in and stunk it up, only appearing in 9 games but shooting the ball at an atrocious 23% from the field.  Surprisingly, despite this the C’s have still not given up on this kid and have exercised their team option making it look likely that he may see another season in Celtics green, while hopefully staying away from the green stuff.  Will he ever fulfil his potential?

Draft Report Card

The Celtics brass don’t like rookies preferring to acquire tangible assets with them.

Looking to the Future

Once again the Celtics are primed to make run at the NLL title.  When you have KD you have to go all in.  And gm jmac will.  Heck he has already dealt away last years Finals teams’ starters Ariza and Gibson for Tyreke Evans.  (This deal officially not included in this tbt writeup since it belongs in this new season).  Also currently sitting on 3 future 2018 1^st rnders, (CHI, DET, POR) – all previous lottery teams you can be sure these will be parlayed into players who can help win now fairly quickly.

The ‘current new’ starting lineup of Vucevic-Horford-Durant-Evans-Lawson looks formidable.  However both KD and Horford have made it clear to Celtics owners that they want a big pay day and will leave town to get it.  Can gm jmac conjure up enough collateral to keep his star core intact?  We assume he will.  Can Evans play more than half a season without being injured?  And will Lawson be as reliable as 2016/17?  Will B-Easy take the next step and can the bench of Roberson, Jack, and Diaw do enough to give the starters a breather whilst keeping games close?  The Celtics will be hard up against the cap so can they be a player in free agency to add to this bench unit?

So many questions, but only time will tell whether this team can do one better than last years and hold the trophy aloft in July.  Then again by January we may well be looking at a completely revamped roster as gm jmac has shown that he is not afraid to wheel and deal to make things happen.