Celtic pride: Rebuilding Boston and making the leap

Just what in the name of Arnold Jacob Auerbach do we make of these Boston Celtics?

17 NBA championship banners hang from the rafters of the TD Gahden and there will likely be no more added for some time yet, a vast rebuilding program from the previous era of success is into its third year with no real end date either in sight or even perhaps conceived of.

And yet there is something to be said for teams that routinely punch above their weight.

If the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers have been constructed from a mathematical perspective – and rest assured they both have, just with vastly, spectacularly differing results – then from outside appearances the Celtics have been assembled using an abacus and a set of dice.

A team distinctly greater than the sum of its parts, this odd amalgam of disparate talents has forced its way right into the thick of a top-four East conference playoff push with a curious mix of functional offence and surprisingly elite defensive menace.

Much like former Boston great Kevin McHale, whose gangly frame appeared to be constructed in a fashion similar to Frankenstein’s monster, these Celtics are built from so many different sources and what seems to be completely unworkable at first glance has fused into a strangely competent outfit that continues to catch opposing teams unawares, if not by talent then by sheer effort.

Somehow, the strangest Celtics team in recent memory has exceeded what were admittedly mediocre expectations (a low-seeded playoff berth), ranking highly at both ends of the floor but especially at the defensive end.

Indeed, the team’s 101.2 DRTG (per BasketballReference.com) ranks second in the league, trailing only the other-worldly San Antonio Spurs’ rating of 96.1 points allowed per 100 possessions.

They have forced more turnovers than any other team in the league, with opponents coughing up the ball on average more than 17 times per game. To put that in perspective, the Celtics have conspired to cause almost 300 turnovers more from their opponents than the last-ranked team, the Chicago Bulls.

Obviously, given the Bulls still sit a half-game above Boston in the standings, turnovers aren’t the be-all and end-all of defensive statistical superiority, but it is a good indicator of the constant tenacity in which the Celtics exist.

Offensively, the team – for the most part – gets the job done with an intriguing mix of line-ups.

Players who were previously regarded as middling role players with unfulfilled potential – Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder to name but a couple – have been a revelation, while the unlikely frontcourt combination of free agent signing Amir Johnson and Jared Sullinger has been, ahem, largely effective.

And just to top off the absolute weirdness, it’s a team led by a 5’9” 185-pound, volume-shooting point guard in Isaiah Thomas.

The shortest All-Star since Calvin Murphy in 1979, Thomas is also the first Celtic to be named to the mid-season classic in coach Brad Stevens’ three-year tenure.

A veritable whirling dervish, the diminutive guard, who was the final pick of the 2011 draft, is averaging 21.5 points and 6.7 assists per game and a healthy 2.41 assist-to-turnover ratio.

And remember, this wasn’t supposed to be how it went for the boys from Beantown this year.

With general manager Danny Ainge clutching an armful of draft picks – including Brooklyn’s first-rounder – and a roster full of stockpiled talent, all apparently tradeable at that, the Celtics were primed to make another franchise-altering move, much like Ainge did prior to the 2008 season, when he moved on half his roster for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

The problem has been that no viable player deal has emerged; and as much as Ainge would like to push for DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings have wisely shut that window and, if they’re really smart about it (which would be a novel experience, granted), should probably nail some plywood boards over the window, just to be sure.

There were whispers afoot that Boston had enquired as to the availability of Atlanta duo Al Horford and Jeff Teague but to what end? While both are obviously talented – and Horford would likely fit seamlessly into Stevens’ system, Teague perhaps less so – they really aren’t the moves that would push the Celtics into “very good” territory, let alone send them into the stratosphere the Cavaliers presently reside in.

Even Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck admitted on Boston radio the team was unlikely to provide any trade deadline fireworks.  “I think we’ll do something. Will it be transformative? I don’t know. There are only a few players we’d be willing to make a transformative move for because the picks could be good. I think the odds are pretty slim you do a transformative trade.”

Which leads to the second, and perhaps eventually more pressing issue: the team as presently constructed cannot possibly go deep into the playoffs; it has depth, to be sure, but not the elite, top-shelf talent that is widely considered to be crucial to a lengthy post-season run.

While not at all similar in terms of either personnel or playing style, a comparison to last year’s Atlanta Hawks is not without merit in terms of building results and maximising the available playing resources.

But you only have to look at what happened to Atlanta in the later stages of the Eastern Conference playoffs to understand how a team built on those foundations can quickly be dismantled by a team with considerably more talent.

The question for Boston is how do they balance winning now, making a nice playoff run AND using its hoard of draft picks to build another potential title contender?

Watching how various East teams are rebuilding has been fascinating; Boston, Indiana, Detroit, New York, Charlotte and even Miami (which has restructured more than rebuilt) have all gone about it in different fashion with no real dissimilarity in terms of overall record.

At least so far anyway.