Your Morning Dump... Where the End was Inevitable

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

For a few inspired quarters in Cleveland, the Celtics had the idea to put the seemingly inevitable on hold as they won Game Three in a miraculous comeback and were up 10 points at the half in Game Four.

But as each 3-pointer rained down from the Cavaliers in Thursday night’s Game Five, that idea became more and more faint until it ultimately dissolved into the finality of a 135-102, season-ending loss.

“I told the guys that we made a lot of strides,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “But this pain is part of the path to where we ultimately want to be.”

The top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics never led for a second of the three games of the series played in Boston as the second-best team in the conference showed itself to be a distant challenger to LeBron James and the defending champions.

Providence Journal

It was fun while it lasted. Maybe the ending wasn’t so much fun, but we knew this season had an expiration date. For the third time this series, the Cavaliers came to Boston and showed no mercy. Behind LeBron James’ 35 points on 13/18 shooting, the Celtics were no match for the defending champs, and while the organization has countless options and envious flexibility this offseason, it remains uncertain how to overcome the LeBron James hurdle.

Cleveland built a 20 point lead by the early stages of the second quarter. Boston never quit, but without Isaiah’s scoring, they couldn’t match Cleveland’s offensive firepower. A Kevin Love three-pointer with 3:30 left in the third quarter made it 100-70. Both benches were cleared for the entirety of the final period, and Cleveland won 135-102.

The Cavs hit 19/41 threes and shot 56.5 percent overall, leading by as many as 39 in the fourth quarter. Avery Bradley scored 23 points on 10/20 shooting, and Terry Rozier played good minutes off the bench, scoring 14 points and dishing 7 assists. Boston lost its three home games by a combined 90 points, as the Cavs scored an insane 128 points per 100 possessions for the series.

We knew Cleveland was the clear favorite in the East, but late season struggles left many questioning whether Cleveland was vulnerable in the playoffs. They silenced any doubters with a convincing 12-1 stretch, proving again that they exist in their own class within the conference hierarchy. This was the farthest Boston would go, and as we prepare to watch the Cavs and Warriors battle in their third straight finals, the Celtics have an exciting but uncertain future, and this offseason will provide clarity to many of those uncertainties.

Page 2: Boston Fans Know to Trust the Process

“Let’s go Celtics,” they caroled again. They were like the inhabitants of Whoville on Christmas morning, and LeBron had become their Grinch. His Cavaliers had ransacked their home – the Celtics had never led in any of the three games here while losing them by a combined 90 points – and yet they didn’t appear to care about any of that.

“Our offensive mistakes led to bad defense, and it just kind of snowballed on us,” said coach Brad Stevens after his young Celtics had ended their extraordinary season with a 135-102 loss Thursday in Game 5 of the Eastern finals. “It’s a good step forward as a season as a whole, but I leave with a little bit of a taste in your mouth … You want to play well here because there is really no place like TD Garden in Boston. The fans at the end of the game — man, it’s just amazing.”

Their fans were neither naïve nor ignorant so much as they were appreciative of how NBA championship teams are built. It is a hard, slow process. James, arguably the most talented player ever, had needed nine seasons and a change of uniform to win his first title. The Warriors, who will be opposing Cleveland for a third straight NBA Finals, had invested six years in developing a championship roster around Steph Curry.

The Celtics, in year four of their renewal, had reached the conference finals before using the upcoming No. 1 pick, before spending their cap space this summer, and before cashing in another potential high pick that may yet arrive next year via their 2013 swindling of the Nets.

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And yet they had finished No. 1 in the East. They had won the first round after mourning the death of Isaiah Thomas’s sister, they had won a Game 7 against the Wizards in spite of the hip injury that would end Thomas’s season, and they had won Game 3 in Cleveland (and threatened to steal Game 4) in his absence. They had won the lottery without tanking, and their young players had developed while winning 53 games.

For other franchises, the NBA’s Final Four is a destination. For these Celtics, at this particular place and time, this postseason run was prologue.

NBA.com

The Celtics trailed by 30 for most of the fourth quarter. The rag-tag lineup of James Young, Jordan Mickey, and Tyler Zeller was the equivalent of Brad Stevens waiving the white flag. But the TD Garden faithful stuck with the team until the final buzzer, chanting “Let’s go Celtics” as the season ticked away. As Ian Thompsen details in his column, this conference finals elimination was a prologue for a greater story.

A wise man once said “the ceiling is the roof,” and that logic fits well for this current iteration of the Celtics. As fans screamed “let’s go Celtics,” they chanted knowing this isn’t a capped-out, win-now team. By winning 53 games and reaching the conference finals, this group realized its potential, and some may argue they exceeded expectations. There still exists untapped potential on this roster, and with the $30 million of cap space, Danny Ainge can add a top-of-the-line free agent to bridge the gap with Cleveland, and place Boston in the contender conversation.

Figuratively speaking, there are two teams on this Celtics roster. There’s the win-now team, with Isaiah, Avery, Crowder, and Horford. Then there’s the young team, with Jaylen, Smart, Rozier, and Olynyk, players on their rookie deals who are still finding their games but contributing to a competitive team.

The front office will add to the win-now group in free agency. Gordon Hayward is the top target, but if he elects to stay with Utah, the Celtics may test the waters with Blake Griffin. If they cannot add an all-star in free agency, they may pursue a player with potential that fits their scheme, someone like JaMychal Green.

The top pick will join an already talented young core. Additionally, adding Ante Zizic might solve some immediate rebounding problems. Guerschon Yabusele may need to stay overseas another season for the Celtics to maximize their cap flexibility, but Abdel Nader could prove to be a valuable, low-cost rotation player.

The Celtics season is over. LeBron James and the Cavs embarrassed us at several points through the series. It should feel worse, but with this Celtics team, we know losing the conference finals is not the final destination.

Page 3: How much will this roster change?

“Maybe they were right about us. Maybe we don’t belong here.”

If we’re being intellectually honest, there is no maybe. These two teams shared the same stage in the last week, but they are on different planets.

The Cavaliers are built to defend the NBA championship they won last season. The Celtics are built to build some more.

Danny Ainge essentially told everyone that when he avoided making a deal at the trade deadline that could have made his club marginally better now but might also have hindered its chances to the kind of larger moves that he’ll be looking for in the offseason that begin officially late last night.

In light of that need for roster enhancement, this could have been the last parquet party for a fair number of those in uniform. And while it’s a lock that Greenhearts will offer their affection quickly to the next edition, it’s worth noting that even the jaded local sports fans who have seen more parades than presidential elections this century managed to find a lot to like in a club they knew wasn’t ready to stitch a banner.

And though the players know what’s coming and those who leave will still make more money than us at their next place of employment, the parting won’t be easy.

Herald

When the Celtics traded Pierce and Garnett in 2013, they took back bad contracts and unprotected draft picks. The long rebuild seemed inevitable, and barring a blockbuster trade, fans would not see a contender for another five or six years.

When LeBron returned to the Cavaliers in 2014 and the team traded for Kevin Love, everyone expected a contender in Cleveland for the next half-decade. Boston and Cleveland had met in the playoffs in past years, but after LeBron went home, it looked like the two franchises were headed in opposite directions.

Fast forward to 2017, Boston trades for Isaiah and he becomes a star, Crowder and Bradley become above-average rotation players, the team signs Al Horford, and the young players take steps forward in their development. Even through the Celtics operated on a different rebuilding timeline, they outpaced the rest of the conference and found themselves as the best non-Cleveland team in the East.

The Celtics are not true contenders, but their situation is desirable. They have a top five roster, max cap space, the top draft pick, and their core players are under contract. Next season, Avery Bradley ($8.8 million) and Jae Crowder ($6.8 million) will represent two of the league’s better salaries, and Isaiah Thomas’ $6.2 million salary might be the best. These valuable contracts allowed them to sign Horford last year, and it may enable the team to sign Gordon Hayward.

Boston is living in a sweet spot of roster flexibility, potential, and winning, but it won’t last forever. After next season, Thomas, Bradley, and Smart will be free agents, and we cannot keep them all, especially if the team drafts Markelle Fultz (as widely expected).

The 2017-2018 Celtics will have five guards who deserve playing time: Thomas, Bradley, Smart, Rozier, and Fultz. That’s 96 minutes for five players. If Thomas and Bradley each play 30, Smart/Rozier/Fultz would average only 12 minutes a game. Smart is in a contract year, Rozier wants an increased role, and Fultz would obviously need minutes. Something has to give.

It gets even trickier if Hayward is added, as he would play minutes at guard and forward. Smart could slide over to the forward spot, but regardless, the rotation is crowded, and somebody might have to go.

In this scenario, the most popular option is for Bradley to be the fall guy. A small subset of Celtics fans think Isaiah should be traded at his current peak value. Rozier would be the easiest subtraction, but he’s on a cheap contract for two more years and keeps flashing potential. Some fans may be happy to see Marcus Smart go, but he might not yield a much value on the trade market.

The season is over, but the excitement surrounding this team is just beginning. The draft is in three weeks and free agency begins a week after. The Celtics will be in the middle of it all.