C Us Fall

The Boston Celtics have officially hit rock bottom. After a home loss to the awful New York Knicks the Celtics have a 9-9 record and sit as an 8 seed in the Eastern Conference Standings. Before the beginning of the season this Celtics team was widely considered to be the second best team in the league and even have a shot at beating the Warriors. What a disappointment it has been. Almost nothing is going right for what is possibly the most talented team in the league on paper. There are so many issues to get to, but I guess I'll start by complaining about Gordon Hayward. Woof. How much is this guy making? To put it simply the man who makes about 30 million dollars a year has sucked. He looks slow, hesitate, and looks like Manu Ginobili did last year when he was like 47. I am defiantly willing to give it time because he's coming off a horrific injury, but there is little optimism. He's not done much with the minutes Brad gives him and has even played his way to coming off the bench. The other big disappointment has been Jaylen Brown. Since they've drafted him I've never been a big fan and this season he is not performing well. He's averaging just about 11 points a game and just doesn't seem to have that big of an impact on games. Last year he made a huge jump and it was encouraging, but this season he has plateaued or perhaps even taken a step back. Another player who is a shell of himself is Terry Rozier. Now I don't blame Terry because Kyrie Irving and Marcus Smart eat up a lot of minutes and deservingly so. But, Scary Terry went from starting in the Eastern Conference Finals and being the buzz of the NBA landscape to having limited minutes and sending out cryptic tweets about being traded. It's almost an impossible situation for Rozier who deserves more minutes but there are just none to be had. Danny Ainge probably should have sold high on Terry after the playoffs last year, now he'll either have to trade him for nothing or keep him and hope he doesn't become a problem in the locker room. Jayson Tatum has the brightest future on the team but his shot selection this year has been questionable to put it nicely. Perhaps the lone bright spots on the team have been Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris who have each consistently contributed. Last but not least is Brad Stevens. Throughout his tenure with the C's every team he has coached has had the underdog mentality and overachieved. He has even been called the best coach in the NBA. Well, it's time to prove it. This is his first team with real expectations and they are not meeting them. No matter the groupings the Celtics have just not played well and it is up to Brad to find the right lineups and get the team back on track. The underdog, just happy to be here mantra won't work anymore. It almost feels like this team has a sense of entitlement for no reason at all. They act like they won the East last year and that it runs through them. It really pisses me off because none of them have achieved anything yet as Celtics. Jaylen Brown even said in an interview that he'd have 5 rings by the time he's 28. That's nice. Great mindset to have, they just want to be given the NBA Championship because they look good on paper. Well, if they don't drastically improve soon they will lose serious ground in the East and lose home court advantage in the playoffs. We couldn't win a road game in Milwaukee last year so a game 7 in Toronto versus Kawhi is not something I'd feel great about. Unlike the Celtics teams of the past three years I find this one hard to root for and frustrating to watch. I have already hit the panic button and I'm starting to lose hope. They obviously have the talent to turn it around, but will they? Time will tell if the 2018-2019 Boston Celtics can meet expectations and make the Finals or become an extraordinary disappointment.