Are Celtics still running on the 'treadmill of mediocrity'?
Unless at least one top-20 player is acquired sooner than later, the Boston Celtics won't compete for the championship this season or next.
But they're getting better. No longer lottery bound, the Celtics are expected to not only make the playoffs, but win a series this season. But does any of it matter if this core still clearly needs more talent to win a title?
Here's SB Nation's CelticsBlog with more:
The Celtics aren't stuck anywhere. They still have a bunch of cap space next summer, several young players on tradable contracts and a boat load of draft assets owed from other teams. Teams that aren't very good!
The path to a title isn't crystal clear, but the Celtics are moving towards it at a rapid pace.
In fact, the only situation where a team is really stuck in mediocrity is when they have veterans who cannot get them over the hump and cannot be moved easily due to their contracts. The Celtics have neither of those limitations and in fact have a young, growing, improving roster. Also, being stuck tends to suggest an ongoing pattern. The Celtics finished near the bottom of the pack in 2014, securing the number 6 overall pick. They proceeded to overachieve for a playoff push this past year. So basically we've seen one year of being average. And if you want to split hairs (I do), half of last year was bad and for the rest of the season they were one of the better teams in the East. Forgive me if I'm not worried about being "stuck" in anything at the moment.
