It's a long way to go.. a season preview.

*Due to my lack of time during april I decided to post my preview a bit earlier this season. it would be a mess to post it via handy, lol. I hope pictures width and height does work for every screen, not only for my flat screen

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Last Season
After starting last season with a roster too bad for the playoffs and too good to tank, the Management decided to rebuild. There wasnt another possibility with guys like Tyrus Thomas, Gustavo Ayon and Landry Fields starting. Some here are still puzzling over stocktons (previous GM) decisions to give up guys like Avery Bradley or our 2015 first for guys like them, but stockton isnt called "the Tornado" (Quote Boris) for nothing. Enough history lets take a look into the future. The upcoming season will be a tough one, no doubt, especially not owning our this years first round pick will hurt. The 2015 season will be a transition year, our rookies need this and next years training camp to develope to be able to do serious damage. Still we are expecting some great numbers from guys like Schröder, Hayward, Young and Len.
Especially Hayward who has to be a leader for our team has to step up and we believe he will be able to. Other guys you shouldnt miss on are our sphomores Patric Young and Dennis Schröder. Schröder who is the GMs favourite player will get closer to his potentials and should be able to improve his last year stats a lot due to the fact he will be our starter right away, and Young played already last year a pretty impressive season. Expect him to average nearly a double-double w 2 blocks.

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The Starting Five

Point Guard, Dennis "Mini Rondo" Schröder
Previous Season: 10.3 Points, 3.6 Rebounds, 5.7 Assists, 1STL, 2.7 TO, 94%STP, 0.9PA/SF
Summer League: 22 Minutes, 12 Points, 3.4 Rebounds, 5.6 Assits, 1 STL, 1.8 TO, 69%FG, 100%STP, 0.9PA/SF
Summer League PER36: 19.6 Points, 5.6 Rebounds, 9.2 Assits, 2 STL, 2.8 TO
Like already said often, Dennis will be a Celtic for lifetime. Both, GM and PG, being german and named Dennis is one of the great stories in the CSL. Maybe its a coincidence, maybe destiny, anyhow its a connection you cant deny. For us Schröder is a franchise point guard and we are looking forward to the day he hits his potentials. As soon as he did he will be a great pass first guard who's able to defend and should end up as a Rondo-lite version. Looking at their potentials you cant deny the similarity between both players, Schröder: 81pass, 72HDL, 46Dreb, 55Oreb, 85Def, 75STL, 78DI, 82IQ /// Rondo: 95pass, 72HDL, 47Dreb, 62Ored, 87Def, 76STL, 85DI, 80IQ. Some proven GMs are still concerned about Schröders ability to protect the ball "They've got Dennis Schroeder at the point, but he's still extremely raw, and there's questions as to if he'll ever have the handling ability needed to become a legitimate worthy starter at the point" (Quote Tim Moungey) and Dennis even lost his biggest fan with our Korean-Mastermind (Shout out to OP) leaving the league, but we trust him, he will be great for us in the future.
Backup: Vasilije Micic, Keith Appling

Shooting Guard, Gordon "The Leader" Hayward
Previous Season: 14.5 Points, 4.4 Rebounds, 2.8 Assists, 1STL, 1BLK, 2.5 TO, 77%STP, 0.8PA/SF
"At this point, my question is still who? Who's offering that much for Hayward?" (Quote OP) - sometimes Im asking myself, "why so much?", but I still believe it will be worth it. Gordon fits into our defensive minded system and is able to score. Something we are really missing. Young and Schröder wont be scorers, so its up to Hayward and Len to get as much buckets as possible. Our gameplan is to run a slow pace to get Len involved as much as possible, so Gordons low IQ wont be a problem and as soon as we got our 3&D shooting guard he will be slided over to the small forward anyway. Playing the three GH's turnover will decrease and his stop percentage will increase, 50 handling isnt bad for a SF and being 6'8'' it isnt easy to guard guys like Monta Ellis, Gordon Hayward will look way better at small forward, trust me.
Backup: Alex Abrines, Quincy Pondexter, Vasilije Micic

Small Forward, Shabazz "Bazz the upredictable" Muhammad
Previous Season: Rookie
Summer League: injured
Pre-Draft Tournament: 13 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 0.25 turnover on 46% shooting, 25 Minutes
"If I keep #4 I doubt I take Bazz. He seems like the lovechild of Maggette/Redd. Do not want." (Quote BlackIce) - with that said everybody knows what Bazz looks like. He's a scorer. Thats it. Muhammad wont be a burden on the defensive end because his height-weight combination is nearly perfect (6'6'' w 222lbs) to stay in front of opponent small forwards and he should be able to defend on a level of Brandon Rush, who has nearly the same height-weight-defrating combination like Bazz. Nevertheless he wont be a defense-master and his DI will cause problems, he will force some bad shots and will be facing foultrouble often. We need to find a way to let him defend strong without fouling out in 25 minutes. But we believe we are able to, like Jeff already said "I'm sure with the D already in place, he will be just fine."(Quote Jeff).
Backup: Quincy Pondexter, Gordon Hayward, Gerald Wallace, Kyle Korver

Power Forward, Patric "Mini Ibaka" Young
Previous Season: 9.6 Points, 9.0 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 1STL, 1.8BLK, 1.7 TO, 54%FG, 60%STP, 0.8PA/SF
Summer League: 22 Minutes, 8.4 Points, 6.0 Rebounds, 1.6 BLKs, 36%FG, 56%STP, 0.8 PA/SF
Summer League PER36: 13.7 Points, 9.8 Rebounds, 2.6 BLKs
Looking back at the start of last season we started at power forward with Tyrus Thomas, now having Patric Young seems to be a huge upgrade. He wont take away shots from our scorers, cleans up the boards and plays strong defense. On the trail of Dennis Rodman?
Patric already averaged nearly a doube-double last year, so expect him to put up 10/10 w 2.5 blocks most of the nights this year. Young will be a Celtic for a long time, because he's the type of player that fits perfectly into our system.
Backup: Kevin Garnett, Kaleb Tarczewski

Center, Alex "The Future" Len
Pre-Draft Tournament: 9 Points, 7,5 Rebounds and 1 Block, 25 Minutes
Summer League: 21.2 Minutes, 10.4 Points, 4.0 Rebounds, 1.2 Assits, 1,2 BLK, 1.8TO, 58.8FG%, 0.9 PA/SF
Summer League PER36: 17.7 Points, 6,8 Rebounds, 2,0 Assists, 2,0 BLKs
It was sad to miss on Andrew Wiggins who is looking like he will be named on a same level like Michael Jordan, LeBron James or Kevin Durant, but nabing Alex Len at #2 doesnt seem to be bad either. He will maybe never be a Star like Andrew Wiggins or Marcus Smart, but his combination of rebounding, scoring, defense and shot blocking is a combination we havent seen for a long time. Like already mentioned before he fits perfectly into our system. Having Schröder at point guard we needed a Center able to score in the paint and Len will score while he wont be a liability on the other side of the court.
Backup: Gorgui Dieng, Kaleb Tarczewski

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The Other Rookies

Point Guard, Vasilije "The Old Kidd" Micic
Pre-Draft Tournament: 6 Points, 2.5 Rebounds ,3 Assists w 1 Steal, 45%FG, 20 Minutes
Summer League: DNP

Point Guard, Keith Appling
Pre-Draft Tournament: 6.5 Points, 1.8 Rebounds , 4.5 Assists,  36%FG 20 Minutes
Summer League: DNP

Shooting Guard, Alex "Matador" Abrines
Pre-Draft Tournament: 6 Points, 3 Rebounds , 1.5 Assists, 19 Minutes
Summer League: 23 Minutes, 7.2 Points, 2.6 Rebounds, 1.2 Assists, 1.2 STLs, 1.2TO, 72%FG, 80%STP, 0.7 PA/SF
Summer League PER36: 11.3 Points, 4.1 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 2 STLs

Center, Gorgui "Eraser" Dieng
Previous Season: 3.5 Points, 4.4 Rebounds , 1 Assists, w 1.5 BLKs, 70%STP, 0.8PA/SF in 17 Minutes
Summer League: 22.2 Minutes, 13.8 Points, 7.8 Rebounds, 1 STL, 1.6 BLK, 60%FG, 100%STP, 0.6PA/SF
Summer League PER36: 22.4 Points, 12.6 Rebounds, 1.7 STL, 2.6 BLK

Center, Kaleb Tarczewski
Summer League: 20.8 Minutes, 10.6 Points, 7.4 Rebounds, 1.4 STL, 0.6 BLK, 42%FG, 89%STP, 0.7 PA/SF
Summer League PER36: 18.3 Points, 12.8 Rebounds, 2.4 STL, 1.0 BLK

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The Legend

In high school, Garnett was a 1995 McDonald's All-American at Farragut Career Academy and won a national player of the year award. Garnett entered the 1995 NBA Draft, where he was selected with the 5th overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves and became the first NBA player drafted directly out of high school in 20 years.

Garnett made an immediate impact with the Minnesota Timberwolves leading them to eight-consecutive playoff appearances. In 2004, Garnett led the Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals and won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Since his second season in the NBA, Garnett has been named to 15 All-Star Games, winning the All-Star MVP award in 2003, and is currently tied for 2nd-most All-Star selections in NBA history. He was awarded the regular season's NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the 2007–08 season and has been a nine-time member of the All-NBA Teams selection and a twelve-time member of the All-Defensive Teams selection. Garnett currently holds several all-time Timberwolves franchise records.

After spending 12 seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Garnett was traded to the Boston Celtics in a blockbuster trade in 2007. In his first year with the Celtics, he helped lead them to their first NBA championship since 1986, while also finishing third for the MVP award

After retiring next year KG will have played only three Seasons in the CSL and for three different teams. 2012 Garnett played 35 games for the Boston Celtics before he was traded to Atlanta together with Avery Bradley and Jason Terry for Andrei Kirilenko and John Lucas (Hi @Tornado Stockton). For Atlanta KG started 49 games and averaged 10 Points and 7 Rebounds and 2 Assists during the regular season and 8 Points and 9 Rebounds during the playoffs. In 2013 Garnett joined San Antonio and played only a minor role for them putting up 7 Points and 5 Rebounds in only 22 minutes. In 2014 he joins his former team the Boston Celtics again, the team he won his only Championship with, to retire next offseason.

NBA/CSL Achievements:
1x MVP
1x DPOY
4x All-NBA 1st Team
3x All-NBA 2nd Team
2x All-NBA 3rd Team
9x All-Defense 1st Team
3x All-Defense 2nd Team
15x All-Star
1x Champion
(CSL + NBA) Rebounds: 14.362
(CSL + NBA) Points: 25.753

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Q/A with Josephine Gobbalz and DennisJ
Q: Hey Dennis, you are looking great tonight!
A: Thanks Josephine, but just wearing what germans are wearing day in, day out. But you are looking gorgeous today! By the way your are my nominee for the perfection thread, because you are just perfect.

Q: Sycophant.. Lets take a look at the upcoming season, what do you expect with all those rookies on your team?
A: No doubt, like already said its a transition year. We need at least two more trainingscamps and stats updates to be able to compete for the playoffs again.

Q: Still tanking isnt a possibility because stockton traded away your this years first..
A: Yeah, it hurts. I believe bt is having a big party all season long. But its something we cant change anymore. We just can try to be as good as possible, one of the reasons we traded for Gordon Hayward.

Q: Hayward, nice keyword. Guys like OrangeParka said they would never pay that much for a guy like Gordon..
A: No doubt, its an overpay. But what to do if you are at the bottom and need to get a win now mentality to be attractive for next year free agents? We are unbelievable talented, but we need to show we are able to win too.

Q: So you do believe you will be able to do some damage with Hayward on board?
A: Always expect the unexpected. Everybody needs to figure out their new teams, so we are still believing we are able to do some serious damage. Take a look at the NLL, my Knicks were ranked #29 in preseason power-rankings, now we are unbeaten on the top of our division. Lets see if we are able to suprise here too.

Q: Whats the plan for the time after the transition year?
A: We got ~20m capspace next offseason. All those great teams are going to bid for LBJ.. We dont expect him to join such a young Celtic team, so lets see if we are able to nab some serious talent in the shadow of LeBron while all other teams are fighting for James. Next year the goal will be playoffs, no doubt.

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Goals for the upcoming Season

• beat LA once, maybe twice
  
• Schröder averaging 8+ Assists per game
  
• Young averaging a doube-double
  
• Proving Len is a great inside-scorer
  
• 35 wins
  
• Get Russel Everythingbrooken injured
  

Nice season preview bud. I'm eager to see what this Celtics team can do, and watching them grow as a team. Specifically, seeing how Hayward plays on a team where he'll be the primary scorer.

bestnamezRtaken (DAL) wrote:Nice season preview bud. I'm eager to see what this Celtics team can do, and watching them grow as a team. Specifically, seeing how Hayward plays on a team where he'll be the primary scorer.

Thanks man! Just took ~4 hours to find all those quotes + to calculate the stats, haha.
Really thrilled to get the season started.

A lot of this season depends on how Len plays for you. Hopefully everyone was right in saying he's the #2 guy behind Wiggins, but who knows. If he really is the franchise center, with all of the pieces you have around him, I think you might be able to make a run at the 8th seed, given you're in the weaker conference.

I still don't necessarily agree with paying Hayward 13 million though. Paying above-average players huge salaries to play on rebuilding teams is exactly how you create mediocrity. You just drafted Shabazz, it probably would have been smart to just let him have all the playing time he can get and develop, because with or without Hayward, you're not contending this year.

While you definitely will not beat us, and it's likely Westbrook puts up 50 on the Rondo wanna be; you've definitely collected a ton of assets moving forward which you will be able to play with in trades to keep the team moving in the right direction.

Jake0890 (MIN) wrote:A lot of this season depends on how Len plays for you. Hopefully everyone was right in saying he's the #2 guy behind Wiggins, but who knows. If he really is the franchise center, with all of the pieces you have around him, I think you might be able to make a run at the 8th seed, given you're in the weaker conference.

I still don't necessarily agree with paying Hayward 13 million though. Paying above-average players huge salaries to play on rebuilding teams is exactly how you create mediocrity. You just drafted Shabazz, it probably would have been smart to just let him have all the playing time he can get and develop, because with or without Hayward, you're not contending this year.

To be honest I like Gordon as a SF and in the long run he will end up being our SF. Bazz will get all the minutes he needs to develope this season. But not sure if he will stay here for a long time. I like what he's able to do, but he just doesnt fit into the team I want to build. I love teams like SA, a team with a great chemistry.
Anyway, looking at what Pek, Sap, etc get Im still okay with his contract and to be honest Im pretty sure if Im not winning at least a few games this season no PA would allow a "top" FA to sign with us. How to explain LBJ, Rondo, Love are joining a team with a 11-71 record in the previous season.

About my rooks. Cant really rate my Rooks for now, still waiting for their true potentials, thats why I want the FA to be done soon, haha.

LakeshowAK7 (LAL) wrote:While you definitely will not beat us, and it's likely Westbrook puts up 50 on the Rondo wanna be; you've definitely collected a ton of assets moving forward which you will be able to play with in trades to keep the team moving in the right direction.

No doubt, its way more realistic Russel will be headed to the locker room because Bazz took care.    

God writeup and I really like the makeup of your team. You have a bright future ahead of you and think that you did a good job of making something out of nothing with this team.

Great read man, lots of time invested in writing that so definitely took time out to read it.

I like how you were proactive in getting Hayward and I think he'll do fine in Beantown, outside looking in I would've liked to have seen you get a defensive-minded or scoring SG to be surrounded by those defenders but none really available in FA other than Kobe but if you can manage to get a young perimeter scorer then look out for this team very soon cause I think Schröder Len Young Hayward are perfect compliments to that style of player (Monta Ellis type etc).

Like the outlook of your team and yeah it definitely hurts not having that 1st but who knows, you guys may overachieve. Good luck from Houston!

Incredible preview DennisJ!!

I love how this young team looks like. I'm really anxious to see Len play and see how good he can be.
Willing to follow you man Schröder's development too. I like that his in rebuilding situation where he'll get the minutes to fully develop. Expect big things from him, hopefully he can reach the +8apg mark this year!

Finally Hayward looks great in green to me. Young as he is, he'll be the 'veteran' of the team, carrying most of the scoring load on his shoulders. His presence will help the young rookies, as he can be your go to guy and team leader.

emplep7 (DET) wrote:God writeup and I really like the makeup of your team.  You have a bright future ahead of you and think that you did a good job of making something out of nothing with this team.  

Thanks for the kind words Jon. Really great what I got for Rondo in return, "splitted" him a few times to get a great core to work with.

Rondo => Millsap, Dieng, Micic
Millsap => Vucevic, Hill
Vucevic, Hill => Bazz, Young, Abrines
So overall: Rondo => Dieng, Micic, Young, Abrines, Bazz

WillyJakkz (HOU) wrote:Great read man, lots of time invested in writing that so definitely took time out to read it.

I like how you were proactive in getting Hayward and I think he'll do fine in Beantown, outside looking in I would've liked to have seen you get a defensive-minded or scoring SG to be surrounded by those defenders but none really available in FA other than Kobe but if you can manage to get a young perimeter scorer then look out for this team very soon cause I think Schröder Len Young Hayward are perfect compliments to that style of player (Monta Ellis type etc).

Like the outlook of your team and yeah it definitely hurts not having that 1st but who knows, you guys may overachieve. Good luck from Houston!

Thanks man, yeah it definitely took a lot time, but wanted to write a great Preview to encourage others to do the same. I love reading previews like BI's.

No doubt, a guy like Kobe would be the missing piece. Already taking a deep look at Jeff and Ledo. Maybe Jeff is open to flip Ledo for Micic (pass first PG to feed Andrew) and Tarczewski (defensive minded C to let Noel play PF) or something, because I dont believe Ledo/Wiggins will be a great fit.
Would be great to have somebody like Ricky here. Lets see whats possible as soon as day90 has passed.


Edit:

Jamal (NYK) wrote:Incredible preview DennisJ!!

I love how this young team looks like. I'm really anxious to see Len play and see how good he can be.
Willing to follow you man Schröder's development too. I like that his in rebuilding situation where he'll get the minutes to fully develop. Expect big things from him, hopefully he can reach the +8apg mark this year!

Finally Hayward looks great in green to me. Young as he is, he'll be the 'veteran' of the team, carrying most of the scoring load on his shoulders. His presence will help the young rookies, as he can be your go to guy and team leader.

Man, I would love to have your paint skills...
You will get a deep insight into our team, because you have to run it for a few weeks this month:P.
Looking forward to a great Rubio/Schröder matchup:D!

DennisJ (BOS) wrote:Man, I would love to have your paint skills...
You will get a deep insight into our team, because you have to run it for a few weeks this month:P.
Looking forward to a great Rubio/Schröder matchup:D!

It wasn't me this time, just found it on the internet  
You know I can make it look even more real  

Rubio/Schröder will be fun to watch, but I guess we'll need to find a good shooting coach for both of them  

Read this quickly when you posted it, but went over it again more closely. This must have taken a lot of work and time so I tip my hat to you.

I like the frontcourt a lot, rebounding and offense/defense balance provides a nice core PF/C with Young/Len. Schröder looks like he's going to live up to the pre-draft hype - OP actually called that last year - if he can improve his outside shot he'll be dangerous in a few years. I liked the Hayward signing despite the cost, but I would play him at SF and grab a young 3&D SG. I really don't like Bazz.

Outside of that this team has one of the brightest futures in the league, goodluck this season.

Great season preview. You have collected some serious assets with tons of potential. I think 35 wins could be a stretch for a core this young but I wish you nothing but the best with my hometown Celtics.

blackice (ATL) wrote:Read this quickly when you posted it, but went over it again more closely. This must have taken a lot of work and time so I tip my hat to you.

I like the frontcourt a lot, rebounding and offense/defense balance provides a nice core PF/C with Young/Len. Schröder looks like he's going to live up to the pre-draft hype - OP actually called that last year - if he can improve his outside shot he'll be dangerous in a few years. I liked the Hayward signing despite the cost, but I would play him at SF and grab a young 3&D SG. I really don't like Bazz.

Outside of that this team has one of the brightest futures in the league, goodluck this season.

Yeah a 3&D SG would be awesome for the team. Still hating Rizzo for reaching to grab Gary Harris. I love that kid so much.. Hoped he was still available at #13.
Lets see if Im able to work out a trade for a guy like Gary Harris, Jamaal Franklin and Co. We are quite until day90 due to TR but afterwards we are going all in to get the last piece for our starting five.

Rizzo (NO) wrote:Great season preview. You have collected some serious assets with tons of potential. I think 35 wins could be a stretch for a core this young but I wish you nothing but the best with my hometown Celtics.

No doubt, 35 wins maybe impossible, but we are trying to get the best out of this season.