Celtics well-positioned for future | John Smallwood
Sixers might be hard-pressed to catch Boston, given the Celtics progression.
EVERY SO OFTEN I'll get into a debate with a Sixers fan who makes the proclamation that the home team is in a better position than the Boston Celtics.
The argument is basically that while Boston finished 53-29 and is in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics have no chance of beating the Cleveland Cavaliers or Golden State Warriors to win the NBA championship.
Therefore it is better to be the Sixers, who missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season but have another top-three lottery pick to add to a roster that should mature just about the time LeBron James and the Cavs as well as Stephen Curry and the Warriors are ready to move on to a retirement home.
The first problem with that argument is that James, 32, and Curry, 29, are still in the primes of their careers and likely have at least four or five strong seasons left in them.
Michael Jordan won three titles and was Finals MVP three times after he turned 33. In Kobe Bryant's 13th and 14th seasons, he led a Lakers squad built around him to titles and was Finals MVP.
The point is that the Sixers could be waiting until the 2021-22 season if they are counting on James and Curry to run out of gas.
Many fans want the team to continue with a slow build based on acquiring more high draft picks who will grow with youngsters Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Dario Saric.
They say it's better to let things percolate more before adding high-quality veteran through free agency or a trade of future assets.
That way, the Sixers will build a team that will challenge for titles for the better part of a decade.
I guess that's where my biggest question comes.
What defines "challenge for titles"?
Almost everyone agreed that when the Sixers began this makeover in 2013, it did not come with a guarantee of a Larry O'Brien Trophy.
The accepted stance was being in position to challenge for multiple championships and hopefully grab a couple.
Well, isn't that what the Celtics are doing?
Boston, not Cleveland, is the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics beat Washington in Game 7 of a thrilling Eastern Conference Semfinals series and will play host to Cleveland in the first game of the conference finals on Wednesday.
If a team is one series away from the NBA Finals, how is that not challenging for a championship?
No, they are not favored against Cleveland, but they have more than a puncher's chance.
Again, Boston is the No. 1 seed in the East. Cleveland won three of four regular-season meetings, but the Celtics were 30-11 at home.
What I don't understand about those Sixers fans who say they don't want to be the Celtics is that Boston is an ascending team.
If Boston were an older team that was simply hoping to squeeze out one title before the window closed, much like the Atlanta Hawks in 2014-15, that would be a bad position.
But even after adding nearly 31-year-old center Al Horford, the average age for the Celtics' 15-man playoff roster is 25.67 years.
By comparison, the Sixers' 2016-17 roster that won 24 games averaged 24.18 years.
During the 2013-14 season, the Sixers finished 19-63 while Boston finished 25-57.
In 2014-15, the Celtics finished 40-42 and made the playoffs as the seventh seed. They were swept by Cleveland in the first round.
In 2015-16, Boston finished 48-34 to earn the fifth seed but lost in six games to Atlanta in the first round.
Now the Celtics are playing in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Considering its age, many would consider Boston a team working on a logical line of progression toward winning an NBA title.
The Celtics have all of the key players back for the 2017-18 season while still shaving $23.4 million off of a salary cap that is expected to rise again this summer.
In addition to landing the No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft lottery, thanks to its swap of picks with Brooklyn, Boston has three second-round picks.
In 2018, Boston owns Brooklyn's first-round pick, which will likely be another top-five pick, plus its own first-round pick.
For 2019, the Celtics have their own first-round pick and possibly a first-round pick from the Los Angeles Clippers (protected 1-14) and a first-round pick from Memphis (protected 1-8).
With potentially five first-round picks in the next three drafts, Boston is in position to deal for any All-Star-caliber player who might go on the trade market.
So to recap, the Boston Celtics are about to host Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, have the salary-cap space to keep all of their key players and sign a top-tier free agent, and have the assets to make a blockbuster trade.
Given the potential of Embiid, Simmons and Saric, I can understand why Sixers fans are excited about things moving forward, but to say they are in a better position than the Celtics makes no sense.
Personally, I hope the Sixers are striving to be where Boston is.
@SmallTerp