The plan was pretty well set in the Celtics [team stats]’ minds. The club would ride the wave as best it could this season and next, then be in a position where it could squeeze out another year or rebuild almost from scratch.
Whatever that call might be, at least in the summer of 2011, the Celts would be looking back on at least one championship with the possibility of more. Four years as a top contender would have infused the organization with great revenue streams, and with a young point guard and center in place, the chance for a quick reconstruction project would be strong.
But the best laid plans of general manager Danny Ainge and friends have been hit with a case of uncertainty. The way the C’s have played these last months, alternately with brilliance and utter mediocrity, has left the franchise wondering if it may have to make more serious moves this summer.
Ainge is watching the same things you are, and he’s well aware the time is coming when he’ll have to hold, draw or fold.
“I’m constantly thinking about that,” he said. “But I think what happens beyond this season will be based more on how this team performs from here on out than what’s happened to this point.
“I think we’ll know a lot more about this team over the next few months. All we can do now is speculate.”
And be ready to cut in widely divergent directions based on the findings.
“I’m prepared in either scenario,” Ainge said. “We’ll either add to this team or change it.
“And,” he added, “change it big or small. It will become more clear as the season winds down.”
For now, nothing is clear.
“My take is simple,” Ainge said. “My take is that we do a lot of things right. We’re getting leads against top teams on the road and at home. And then we’re doing a lot of things consistently wrong to let those leads go by the wayside.
“If we were not getting the leads, it would be a simpler conclusion. But we’re playing good basketball.”
And then the Celtics do not play good basketball.
“We’re somewhat consistent in how we respond to adversity, and that’s a big problem,” Ainge said. “When things start going in the other direction, we’re not doing a good enough job of stopping the bleeding.
“(Thursday) night was a good example,” he went on, referring to the Cavaliers game in which the C’s led by double figures before losing by 20. “We were ready to play. We came out and we were playing good basketball. We didn’t play great in the first half, but we were playing good. Then in the second half we looked bored. We gave up four layups, and it’s like, where is the urgency?”
Like everyone else, Ainge has tried to pinpoint the root of the problem. Like almost no one else, his diagnosis is discussed in the dressing room.
“There are always little things you can point to,” Ainge said. “We didn’t shoot the 3 (well), we didn’t make free throws, or the bench didn’t come in and play well. But the one consistent pattern is that our starters have to come out and set the tone and they have to play better down the stretch of games, and that hasn’t happened.
“Our starters have been together three years, and age is not a factor. They have to do a better job of finishing games and playing better as a unit. But they haven’t, and that’s the pattern that has developed. I do believe that pattern can be rectified, because I’ve seen it. But that has been the theme song the last month and a half - not getting it done when we have to.”
The question now is whether this is a team dribbling toward its demise like the Pistons of a few years ago or whether it’s one of those Celtics [team stats] squads of the 1960s that stumbled into the playoffs and then just kept winning.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Ainge said. “I don’t know what the real case is. I don’t know if we’ll know the answer until we get to the playoffs. Until this team runs its course, all we can do is speculate. The playoffs is when this team will be defined, and I still have hope.”
And questions.
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