How good is this current iteration of the Celts? I haven’t really followed them in many years, but I see they are 22-4.
Does this group match up with the Bird/McHale/Parrish gang? How about Russell/Havlicek/Jones/Nelson?
Good enough to slightly scare Lebron for a couple games during his inevitable march to the finals. They don’t belong on the same sentence with those other teams.
They’re good, and I think that Kyrie Irving is a better all-around player than Isaiah Thomas. Thomas is a great offensive player but a defensive liability - at least that’s his reputation up until now. The Celtics actually played better in the playoffs without him in some stretches. But the Cavs have been okay defensively and probably benefit from Irving’s offense. Teams now have to worry about two explosive game-changing scorers with Lebron and Thomas. The trade works out for both teams, I think.
To your last question, no, I don’t think these or any recent Celtics teams could match-up with the Celtics of the 1980s. The Celtics and Lakers teams of that era were just so deep.
Kyrie Irving is a little crazy with his flat earth theories and I can’t understand why he wanted to get away from LeBron, but the dude is a genuine basketball superstar. I think he gets to the rack better than anyone, including Russell Westbrook. And he can shoot it pretty well, too.
Do these Celtics compare to the Bird/McHale/Parrish teams? Not until they win a couple championships. I do think they’ll give the Cavs a lot of headaches and possibly even beat them in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Maybe we should start an NBA thread for this season?