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.
First, riddle me this: Who is the Celtics’ best player? Who are the Celtics’ best three players? Isaiah Thomas? Marcus Smart? Avery Bradley? Amir Johnson? Jae Crowder? Evan Turner? I have spent an unhealthy amount of time trying to answer those questions this summer. You can’t really move forward with a rebuild without that guy. You can make the argument for Thomas, but there are specific matchups (big backcourts) in which he’s a liability defensively and he remains a sixth man. Even if you don’t think starting is important, it’s hard to say a guy is unequivocably your best player if he’s not one of your first five.
CBSsports.com – Different paths to rebuilding: A view of the Sixers, Celtics, Magic
On a morning where the abundance of fresh Celtics’ news is scarce, Matt Moore provides commentary on three teams with three different rebuilding strategies. We’ve spent a lot of time on the state of the Celtics’ rebuild since the dust settled on free agency. If you want his entire take, which is more pessimistic than hopeful, feel free to explore the article.
Instead, let’s turn our attention to Moore’s question: Who is the Celtics best player? Who are their three best players? I’ll attempt to answer these along with: who are the Celtics three most indispensable players? Five years from now, if the Celtics are a title contender, whom would you hope are still playing meaningful roles on the roster? By the way, this was just as hard to do as Moore said it was. I’m sure my choices will get the comments section going. Here we go:
The Celtics best player: (Isaiah Thomas) If he was coming off a year playing meaningful minutes by the Bay, I might have been persuaded to select the newly acquired David Lee. Alas, Lee is approaching his mid 3os and is coming off a year during which he mostly rode the pine. By the end of this season, it could be Marcus Smart if he makes a sophomore leap. Right now, the Celtics best player is Isaiah Thomas. He’s the only pure scorer on this roster and he was the obvious catalyst that vaulted the Celtics into the hotly contested 8th spot in the East. He’s the best playmaker on the roster. The only guy right now who can consistently get his own shot and also get shots for others. By the end of this season, I hope that I answer this question with a different name. Ideally, Thomas is best known as the instant-offense sixth man on a competitive playoff team, because if he’s the Celtics’ best offensive weapon, they won’t be anything more than a first round welcome mat for Cavs again in the playoffs.
Who are their three best players: (Thomas, Amir Johnson, David Lee) Best players right now are three veterans who have already proved themselves on big stages. Thomas in last year’s playoff run, Johnson with the Raptors and Lee over a career of posting double-digit scoring and rebound numbers. I could be way off on his inclusion on this list, but I’m of the belief that his lack of playing time was much more about the depth of the Warriors and the emergence of Draymond Green than about Lee’s decline. If he gets squeezed out of the crowded Celtics frontcourt then I’ll look incredibly foolish, but I think his scoring and rebounding ability will be valued this season. There’s less doubt about Johnson. He’s here to start and play a very important role at a position that needed more defensive toughness last season. I’ve selected three of the Celtics’ four oldest players as their “best” players coming into this season.
Who are the Celtics three most indispensable players: (Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder, Jared Sullinger) I worded this question in a way that directly affected the three choices I made. There’s a fair chance that if the Celtics are title contenders five years from now, the Cs will have included a promising young guard like Smart or an untapped potential guy like Sullinger in a deal for a disgruntled star. I chose to answer this question without considering the context of a franchise-altering trade. These are the guys who I could see fitting into important roles on a contending team a few years from now. Whether it’s as a pure point guard, or playing off the ball, Smart should become a defensive player of the year candidate and should also continue to refine his offensive game: both as a shooter and as a finisher at the rim. Crowder already has the feel of a championship team glue guy, which is why the Cs made it a priority to lock him up this off-season. I wouldn’t have included Sully on this list a week ago, but in wanting to choose one of the Cs glut of young bigs, Sully seemed like the safest choice. He can score in the most ways and rebounds well for his position. Including one of the rookies on this list is a leap of faith that I personally wasn’t ready to take.
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