2013-14 Finish: 55-27

Season Highlight 

Where do we start?  The Celtics had a great season filled with many Highlights.  After being a bottom feeder for the best part of a decade they finished Season 2013-14 with a franchise record 55 wins – good enough for 5^th place in the brutal Eastern Conference.  And this was after they had traded away Kobe Bryant – the greatest scorer in NLL history!  For most teams this would be the highlight but after a crushing defeat in the 1^st Round of the Playoffs to their nemesis Sixers the Celtics pulled off what will perhaps go down one day as the greatest heist of NLL history when they topped off their stellar season with this:

Acquiring the NLL’s reigning MVP at the season’s death knell sent a shockwave which reverberated through the entire community as a once in a generation athlete in his prime was now set to be a Celtic for life.

Season Lowlight 

The season lowlight for the Celtics would have to be the aforementioned loss in the 1^st Round of the Playoffs when after trailing 3-1 the 76ers reeled off 3 straight victories as the Celtics somehow managed to steal defeat from the jaws of victory.  Needless to say gm jmac was a shattered man.

Best Trade 

As already mentioned above but it’s worth repeating:

‘Nuff said!

Worst Trade 

The Celtics didn’t make too many glaringly bad trades but perhaps digging through the pile this relatively minor / fringe trade could be considered one that didn’t fall in their favour as the young man Bogdanovic looks like he could have some game;

The Boston Celtics send Sammy Mejia and Bojan Bogdanovic to the Utah Jazz. 
The Boston Celtics receive 4 GM points. The Utah Jazz trade -4 GM points.

Other Notable Trades 

In isolation each of these deals was important but as a wise man once said “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.  As can be seen Celtics management did everything but turn water into wine when you look through these deals below.

Here the Celtics pounced on the opportunity to parlay off an oft-injured euro big in Bargnani for another little gem, (ie: Chi’s 1^st).  Boston’s gamble paid off as the Bulls went on to stink it up again turning their pick into a gold nugget which would be leveraged again to create further value in this deal;

The Celtics had effectively turned Bargnani into another euro in Marc Gasol.  Not a bad exchange!  But it gets even better as history now shows that Gasol was a critical piece in acquiring Durant.

This trade doesn’t seem like much but on closer inspection it contains the critical 1^st Rounder (Min) which was perhaps the cherry on the cake which helped to trigger the Durant deal.

Best FA Signing 

The nod here probably goes to O.J Mayo who was acquired in a watershed signing as the Celtics set a new standard in free agent bidding, dropping 99gm points on the shameless gunner whilst perhaps more significantly triggering ‘Pout-gate’ or ‘The Great Pout of ‘13’ and the beginning of the end in Miami.

Another solid signing and perhaps more important signing was Samuel Dalembert who anchored the middle for the C’s until Gasol arrived mid-season.

Worst FA Signing 

No biggie here but since he didn’t end up really even contributing and played only 21 games this one goes to Louis Amundson who collected $1.2M for basically riding the pine – nice one Louis.

Star 

Clearly the star of the show in Boston last season was gm jmac.  He made a number of major moves in both free agency and in the trade market which secured him not only the best record in Celtics history but then capped it all off with a transcendent deal to acquire Kevin Durant.

Surprise 

The biggest surprise in Boston was Nicolas Batum.  This guy put up crazy All-Star numbers across the board, 26.8pts, 7.6rebs, 3.2 asts, leading the C’s into the Finals.  I think it would be fair to say that everybody was surprised, (except perhaps TOR gm juvenile) and only time will tell whether this was a massive aberration in the career of Batum or whether he can continue this type of output in Toronto.

Goat 

OK, so I have given jmac some major props here for his good work during the season but is it possible that he could also be the Goat – even if only for a short while before becoming a Star again – as he looked on perhaps too confidently whilst the burgeoning Sixers stormed back in to win 3 games straight in the playoffs – sending the Celtics packing prematurely.  What do they say again about sleeping dogs?

Draft Report Card 

The Celtics traded away all their picks although they did end up picking up the rights to athletic rookie KJ McDaniels from the Raptors.  McDaniels may actually end up seeing some time in Boston as the back up to Durant and Mayo on the wings.

Looking to the Future 

It would appear that Boston fans can look forward to a bright future as a franchise which has been tainted with a sordid history of being raped and pillaged by its rivals for over a decade may finally be having its turn in the sun.  Perhaps the days of the Celtics being the whipping boys of the Atlantic are over as now with Kevin Durant on board this team looks to be a perennial playoffs contender.  The team still lacks a fair bit of depth at most positions and will be relying heavily on the shoulders of KD to carry the load though.

It will also be interesting to see now how gm jmac backs up this season after his stellar year last year.  Now that his cagey tactics have been shown will he be able to cajole rival gm’s into similar deals or will his rivals play a tighter hand when the inevitable phone calls come in from Boston?

Upcoming Free Agents 

Jordan Hamilton – Hamilton was a solid performer for the C’s in limited time and I am sure management would like him back.  But unless jmac throws a bunch of gm pts at him it is quite likely that he will test free agent waters.

James Johnson – Johnson, like Hamilton is also likely to walk in free agency.

Hedo Turkoglu – Looks like old Hedo may end up making the roster on a veteran’s minimum deal.

Toure Murry – Looks likely to walk in free agency as well

Quincy Pondexter – Pondexter will be a Celtic next season.