Introduction
Two games in, and like clockwork, the #Celtics fan-base is jumping off the deep-end. Checking in with chat radio and bloggers all over New England, I have heard the cries: “Danny Ainge needs to go!” “Brad Stevens can’t coach!” “We need to trade for Harden!”, and my personal favorite: “Relax!”
Passionate Fan Base
Two games, just two games, and I get it, we are fans, we have expectations. We added a scorer off the bench, we added a “real” Big, we drafted two hyped college players. We finally got rid of that logjam on our wing from last year. Certainly, we should be kicking butt and taking names.
Back to reality
We were a better team in the bubble than we are right now. We have a 20 point per game 3rd threat that hasn’t played. And yes, I like the Teague pick-up, but I like him as a back-up to Kemba Walker, not as our number 1 ball handler. I liked the addition of Thompson to give us a little more size and the ability to go a little bigger. However, he doesn’t even have his legs under him yet. He was huffing and puffing so loud, you could hear him over the fake crowd noise.
Gordon is gone! Some people like that chant, other hate it. Doesn’t matter how you feel about it, we still must adapt to a missing Swiss army knife. Someone needs to score; someone needs to facilitate, and someone needs to eat those minutes. Brad needs to figure that out.
Growing Pains
I know some people feel it is almost our job, as fans, to criticize every short-coming. I say, fight that tendency, as we are playing the long game. I’m sure everyone is aware of the schedule we face. I’m not mentioning it as an excuse, (but maybe I am a little) after all, every team has a challenging schedule. We are not a team that is going to win every game. Sometimes it is going to be ugly. We are young; young teams make mistakes. My hope is we make fewer as the games go by. Look where we are. Our number 1 is 22 years old. Our number 2 is 24 years old. Both are signed for multiple years. We haven’t peaked, the window isn’t closing! We do still have work to do. Some in our sophomore class need to step up. Our acquisitions need to learn Celtic ball, and our young guys need to mature. As fans, we need to be patient. I really like our rookies, and the potential they have. Coach Stevens needs to balance winning games, and letting these guys take some lumps in real game situation. Strictly looking at wins and losses isn’t going to improve these young-guys long term. It’s a long season; Diehard Fans, enjoy the ride!
Jim Dickie
Celtics Writer
Diehard Boston Sports Fans
