Sweet 16 Wins For The Celtics Prediction

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

16 wins and what do you get,
Lebaron James and a Championship.
St. Auerbach don't you call me cause I don't care,
You kept your mouth shut 'til Gaston disappeared.
You kept your mouth shut 'til Gaston disappeared....

Well, actually the Celtics are doomed this season to be spectacularly,
slightly better
than mediocre, winning in the neighborhood of 41 - 46 games. But that's
Group Speak
and Group Think doing the talking, and the majority will choose a total
number
of wins in that range.

But not me.  Because, I've got to be me.

For the well being of the Celtics organization and all that we hold dear
in this
Universe, I am encouraging them, by my prediction, to win 16 games.

That's the magic number that provides the club with a Top Five draft
pick
and impetus for the new owners to clean house, the most important task
facing
them, if they are truly dedicated to seeing the club win another
championship.

Gone must be the days of Yes Men GMs, three shooting guard drafts,
inability to trade up in the draft, improper evaluation of foreign
players,
acquiring cap-killing contracts, an over-reliance of the three-point
shot,
non-integration of low post options, the denigration of the point guard
position, and other Hoop Ills that has kept the cluib from being all it
can be, and in danger of being passed by the Rockets, Bulls, Grizzlies
and other up-and-coming teams in the near future.

And that can easily happen, because
as things stand now with the Celtic Nation, there is little
they can do to become better.

There's a lack talent to trade, a management unwilling to move
Antoine Walker, not a whole lot of appeal to quality free agents, zero
cap
flexibility during the next three seasons, and a mistake laden
Chris Wallace in charge. Not exactly comforting news, if you're looking
forward to seeing the Celtics become championship contenders anytime
soon.

Nope, the Celtics only hope lies with a crash and burn scenario,
the dismantling of Wallace and Papile, the acquisition of a quality GM,
the promulgating forth of a high draft choice, and the quality new GM
and Talent Evaluator making the most out of that draft choice, either
through drafting a young talent, or a trade for an impact veteran.
And then you need that GM to choose a quality replacement for
O'Brien, who's more in tune with what wins championships in the NBA

So bring on the 16 wins, because sometimes, you have to lose the
battle to win the war, as the forces of the Union found out after Bull
Run,
and as the U.S. re-grouped to win WWII, after the Germans and
Lithuanians
bombed Pearl Harbor.
Ray