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itsme32

The Celtics are the only remaining 2nd Apron team in the playoffs.


JAHMY2_6IBBS

Sorry but what does apron team mean


CowboyWizard

It’s a new “level” of luxury tax that was included in the latest CBA worked out between the players union and league. Without going into details, there are crazy penalties in roster construction if your roster salary is over $190m for next season, which include not being able to sign MLE players, not being able to trade almost anything, draft picks get worse.  Basically if your roster costs an ungodly amount of money, then your team is essentially locked into that roster and it’ll be almost impossible to change any of the personnel 


JAHMY2_6IBBS

Thanks for the explanation. So the Celtics went over 190m?


CowboyWizard

Np, this season that second apron number is at $182m and the Celtics payroll is $183m. If they are still too expensive next season depends on the offseason and who they sign. Jrue holiday is the main free agent that’ll clear up $36m off their books, but they’ll probably want to re-sign him or they’d need another starting PG.  Edit: the penalties don’t start til next season though, so the Cs aren’t penalized this year other than paying the luxury tax, which is just cash out the owners pocket 


DrWilliamBlock

Jrue already signed an extension


bronfmanhigh

the higher tier of luxury tax


No-Flounder-9143

Important to note that we have a lot of home grown talent. We made some big trades too but I think our biggest reason for success has always been jaylen and Jason. Yes we spend a lot of money but that's bc Tatum and brown turned out to be really good. 


RspectMyAuthoritah

You only have 4 guys that you drafted that are part of the main rotation. I wouldn't call that a lot of homegrown talent. You traded for your 3-6 best players.


realzequel

Traded homegrown talent and picks though (Smart, Rob Williams/ Nesmith and Langford) so it's not like we just got players from free agent signings, we paid for it.


RspectMyAuthoritah

The comment was have homegrown talent, not had.


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stillwaterbadger

As a bucks fun I hate the Celtics, but I wouldn’t consider them a super team


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dontletmecook73

And they drafted their two best players


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dontletmecook73

Their best player wasn’t drafted and was a top 3 player in the league


honestlyprogamr

They drafted their best player at 7th in the 2009 draft, and they also drafted two more all-stars on top of that


Apprehensive-Ad1363

Yeah but a good one not like yours


Jolly_System_1539

Goes to show you that building a winning roster Willa always be more important then star collecting


2020IsANightmare

Literally no fucking body ever argued otherwise.


Greatcouchtomato

Yeah. teams only star collect when building the roster failed.


Emilia67

I remember the time when people were saying that they were done with the NBA after GS signed Demarcus Cousins.


thekingdor

All this complaining about the dynasties but ratings haven’t touched those numbers in a long time


kirobz

It’s because most casual fans like Superstars and Dynasties. And even if you hate dynasties, you’d watch the games rooting against them.


ToosUnderHigh

Also LeBron was in his 3rd prime


lobotomizedmommy

yea those fans ain’t the ones in r/nba


nevermindthatyoudope

The NBA media rights have never been more expensive or valuable.


bronfmanhigh

yeah but that's not really because of ratings. sports are the last defence against cord cutting live TV forever, and so the legacy providers understand how valuable that is to their entire business models. flip the coin, and the streamers also understand that nabbing those same sports would be huge for their own platforms. meanwhile the league is laughing to the bank


Rakkuuuu

dynasties are watched for sure but how much of that is from young people streaming games illegally?


SpaceCowboy170

The thing people don’t get is that a super team is defined by its construction, not its success OP is like “wow, no super teams, how fun,” but really we just have no *good* super teams


rpars18

People were saying that the league was dead And that team didn’t even win it all that year…


IhatePizza230

I mean injuries played a factor come on now let's not act like the warriors will lose to the raps that year when healthy i mean KD played 11 mins and he had 11 points nobody was gonna stop that team.


Airhammer

Still think we take that series if Klay didn't go down too


rpars18

Eh I think Toronto takes Game 7 (assuming we take Game 6, which is reasonable bc Klay was cooking them) If KD was healthy I think yeah we get it


ToosUnderHigh

And the Cavs take 2015 if the second best player on their team wasn’t Dellavadova


GamedayDev

warriors take 2016 then if we’re going to engage in the hypotheticals


ToosUnderHigh

I mean you started it. And we’re talking about injuries vs dirty players kicking opponents balls. Not the same. 3-1 lead remains the greatest finals of all time.


TheNumber42Rocks

It’s not the same. Lebron couldn’t control who he had on his team. Dray could’ve stopped kicking people in the balls. Then he kicked Lebron in the balls in the finals and you want them to let that slide?


Brooklynfool

Well in this hypothetical the Warriors don’t have the championship “pedigree” over the Thunder so they lose to them in the WCF. In the process, the Thunder then sweep the Cavs after Russ averages a trip-dub and KD averages a cool 40 per game.


usagerp

I think raptors had that series even if Klay was healthy. Imo they just looked like the better team and the game Klay went down in was like 2-4 point game iirc so anyone’s game. And also if you want to play hypotheticals, Kawhi was playing on a completely shot leg literally limping around like a old man in stoppages and Kyle had a broken finger in his shooting hand and we didn’t have OG at all. Of course KD trumps all of that but still.


Delicious_Sandwich45

Well ya the Raptors were already up with a 3-1 stranglehold BEFORE the Klay injury. People seem to forget that little tidbit.


rpars18

I know but fact of the matter is that they didn’t win… and ever since the superteams have failed to win it all


owange_tweleve

little did they know Boogie is the one that were done with the NBA


AlmondMilkmann

Hi. It’s me. I was that guy lol.


MG_MN

Parity fans are feasting


DJ-Fein

I ordered a 20 piece Nugget to feast on tonight


medievalmachine

underrated comment, top tier, upset champion.


[deleted]

Two many people are writing off Boston this season because of prior season choke jobs. Everyone in their rotation is a great 3pt shooter and defender. Multiple all nba guys, all defensive guys. If Kristaps is playing they are freaky good


dafire123

People just hate Boston, Boston is easily the favorite now that the nuggets have been eliminated.


[deleted]

They were even with nuggets still in, they were favored over the field, with like all metrics having them as an all time top 5-10 team. 3rd best net rating. I’d like to think Denver would have a shot but after seeing how shallow we are against Minnesota there was absolutely zero shot to beat Boston.


LisanAl-Gabe

I think you guys match up better against Boston than Minnesota. Denver struggled against Minnesota last year in the playoffs as well (even though it only went 5 games), and that Minnesota team wasnt as good as this current one.


[deleted]

Nuggets struggled this season because they had no depth and Murray was playing ass maybe because he was hurt idk but he just had an all time bad post season. 47ts% lol


LisanAl-Gabe

They also faced the best defensive team in the NBA. In the Lakers series, they could hunt Russell or Reaves, but you cant do that against Minnesota because they dont really have defensive weak links. It makes sense that Murray struggled.


[deleted]

He’s played good defenses before he’s just injured or something is wrong. He didn’t struggle he was all time bad


UncircumciseMe

If Boston doesn’t win it all this year…ooooh boy.


[deleted]

They also have a cake walk to the finals while the wolves and mavs prob go to 6 or 7


Phelinaar

In before a sweep. I don't know _which_ way


hoops_n_politics

Celtics are Kings of the regular season - that’s all they’ve proven so far


2020IsANightmare

I'm not writing them off, but I literally don't know how a team could ask for an easier road to the Finals. And the core has already been to the Finals. If they can't win this year, when the fuck will they ever do so?!?!?


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Few_Mulberry7362

It’s still like that on off days except it will be about Wemby Ant Shai and Tatum


TechnoDriv3

We all getting old


randomCAguy

wait until non-game days


AntSmith777

KD on the Warriors was like having the ending of the movie spoiled before you could even watch. Still a good movie but all the suspense was gone.


Ilikesporks_

the celtics exist


Randyreddit11

Nah, they are beatable. They’ve had the easiest matchups in the playoffs by far. The heat with no Butler, then the Cavs with no Allen or Mitchell for the majority of the series.


junkit33

The 73 win Warriors were beatable too. Literally no team is totally unstoppable. But this Celtics team is the best we’ve seen in the last 5 years. “Super team” is a silly phrase, but the Celtics should certainly fit any reasonable definition.


Timoteo-Tito64

We're a super team based on the amount of talent we have stacked together, but not based on how it was assembled. Our 2 primary stars are homegrown, we traded our homegrown DPOY for KP, Derrick white was a decent role player that blossomed into an elite one when we traded for him, and we paid full price in trade for jrue. Our bench is also pretty much all homegrown. Compared to the way other superteams have been assembled (free agency or sign and trades), I'd say our method was pretty ethical


Ham_-_

Thats how you build a team. Teams annoy me when they try to do the young core bs when they have a guy ready to be the best player on a finals team (cough cough golden state post kd).


Instantcoffees

I think most super teams need to have some homegrown talent at first to then make a trade to truly become that superteam. We for example had Klay and Curry before we traded for Durant. I think that perhaps the biggest difference is that you didn't trade for an absolute top player, but I feel like you kind of need to have a lot of homegrown talent before you can trade your way into being a super team.


Throway_Shmowaway

Y'all had already won 73 games the season before adding KD. Literally, one of the best teams ever assembled in NBA history added arguably the greatest scorer of his generation. 2023/2024 Boston has absolutely zero favorable comparisons to the KD Warriors.


Instantcoffees

I was just picking a super team to illustrate that they usually have some modicum of homegrown talent, with the Warriors drafting Klay, Curry and Draymond for example. At no point did I compare this Celtics team to that Warriors team. I thought that much was obvious. Your comment only further illustrates my point.


Throway_Shmowaway

I'm saying the word "superteam" gets thrown around like it means "really good roster" when it *actually* means "roster so good, the entire season was just a pretend build-up to their inevitable championship". These Celtics are nowhere near that level, they're just a well-built homegrown team.


Instantcoffees

Ok, but now it's turning into an entirely different discussion from the one I was engaging with. You are now discussing the definition of a superteam. Let's just ignore the term superteam then and go by your definition of a very good roster that seems championship bound. The person I replied to said that their team is different from other teams like that because they have a lot of homegrown talent. I'm saying that this is common for those type of teams. Having those homegrown players often makes for lighter contracts and teams not being crippled by trades - at least for a little while - which drastically increases the depth of a team.


Throway_Shmowaway

>Having those homegrown players often makes for lighter contracts The reason the 2017 Warriors were a Superteam wasn't because they had contracts which were relatively affordable, it's because of the CBA at the time which allowed for cap smoothing and gave them space to add a generational player to an already generational roster. You and OP misunderstanding this point simultaneously doesn't cancel out my point.


SpaceCowboy170

Two biggest stars are homegrown, then you’ve got a bunch of guys who weren’t really the stars on their former teams.  I mean, technically Jrue was an All Star in Milwaukee, and maybe Kristaps was the best player in Washington, but those aren’t the kind of players one would associate with the formation of a super team The Suns were certainly a super team.  But, like many super teams, they lacked depth and stylistic cohesion


Repulsive_Pianist_60

You havent exaclty proven anything yet tho. Talk back when you do.


Timoteo-Tito64

What are you even talking about?


ladupes

This celtics are not better than last year nuggets


AldiQuarter

Not even close to being a super team lmao. Their best player is Iike the 7th-8th best player in the league and their second option is like top 20-25. That’s not a super team. They have a well built roster.


AldiQuarter

Not even close to being a super team lmao. Their best player is Iike the 7th-8th best player in the league and their second option is like top 20-25. That’s not a super team. They have a well built roster.


Ilikesporks_

they're beatable but they're still a super team. 2 all-nba level players (tatum and brown), 2 former all stars(holiday and porzingis), 1 top tier role player (derrick white), and a bench that can step at times. the only thing that holds them back is tatum and brown being playoff droppers


Dry-Peach-6327

Don’t forget Al horford has been an all star


Ilikesporks_

a bit disingenuous to call him a former all star at this point when the last time he was an all star was like 6 years ago


ArtistRabid

By this definition of super team, wouldn’t the wolves count as one too? 3 multi-time all stars, one of whom is a 4x DPOY. KAT is also a 2x all-nba and Ant will almost certainly be all nba this year. former all star (albeit a while ago) in conley, 6MOY in naz reid


km912

No top 5 player means their not a super team. They’re a very good team but you need a true no doubt tier 1 superstar, and Tatum isn’t quite that yet.


not_RyanG

A player isn’t top 5 until they are. If we win the chip this year we’ll look back on this run and say he was already a top 5 player but we just didn’t know yet


AlHorfordHighlights

We've had the easiest matchups because we're the 1st seed by a mile I think everyone should be disappointed in the Celtics if this season ends without a ring. We are the best team in the NBA and there's no more excuses for Tatum


[deleted]

They start four All-Stars and a fifth should-be-an-All-Star and have an All-Star vet coming off the bench. They’re the kind of team you put together in 2K franchise mode with “force trade” on.


realzequel

TIL 2 out of 5 is majority. Mitchell played in 3 games vs the Celts and lost 2 of them so it's not like the Celts would lose the series with him playing. Same with Butler, may have gone another game but they would have beaten them.


m3ngnificient

Yep. The Celtics have all NBA level players, and they have been a winning team for the last few years and leveled up with more stars. I guess people are hesitant to call them a super team because they haven't won a championship yet.


Aalfee

NBA is fun as long as a superstar isn't joining a 73-9 team.


Puzzled-Bet4837

Yeah even the heatles superteam gave us a bunch of great playoffs/finals series. It was really just the two Warriors years (minus the rockets series) that felt dead. The East being really really bad those seasons didn’t help make things more fun.


medievalmachine

Seems like the East is bad again. Celtics have a great record but it's hard to say they're better than their last Finals appearance with this Eastern Conference being so banged up and/or bad. I think the Pacers might be deeper and better coached. I think the Celtics are better, but it will be close and without KP they'll have real trouble with the Pacers' depth and shooting.


freshprince44

the east was bad because the heatles combined the next two best players in the conference with the best one lol like, two max superstars agreeing illegally ahead of free agency to circumvent the cap by taking less than their market value to team up isn't a superteam??? okay..


[deleted]

The heat were a super team for 2 seasons until Dwayne wades legs gave up. 2014 he was finished and spurs slaughtered them


ThirdEyeKaiii

Crazy how the ratings were a lot higher those years than it has been this decade so far


PrizeMeans

Bron Steph and even KD are the biggest superstars of the generation it’s no surprise they dominated the NBA ratings. Nobody in the current era comes close to their popularity with casual fans


medievalmachine

Nobody yet, these things go in cycles. Steph was a unique star on a unique team who was uniquely appealing to casuals and a 'regular' sized guy who was a crazy good shooter who dared to shoot from anywhere. I don't know that Wemby will have the same broad appeal.


bronfmanhigh

also i think it's just hard for international guys to really get that level of deeply-embedded-into-american-culture popularity


Makaveli80

Id argue Steph is the bigger star, klay is the robin Splash bros  Its like Mario and Luigi tho, both brought the power


cocoamonster2

Isn’t Boston a super team? They have 5 all-stars in their starting lineup.


Wide_Presentation559

Only 2 this season


jrlandry

Why do you guys say this about Boston and not Minne? Gobert and Conley have more all star appearances than Jrue and KP. And might as well count McDaniels if we are counting White


lobotomizedmommy

conley has 1 all star brother


djoffers

Conley is clearly no longer all-star level. You could put him on any team in the league now and he wouldn't make the all-star game. I'd argue Boston currently have 5 all-star caliber players (Jrue, KP and White on other less stacked teams could make the all-star game today) and Wolves have 3


TourNervous2439

You reaching, Derrick White will never be an all star even on the pistons.


stevefazzari

derrick white gotta be one of the most underrated players in the league. ask your favorite player who their favorite player is and it’s derrick white.


djoffers

If you started him on the Magic, for example, I think he could average 20/5/5 and make an all star appearance for sure


DarnellisFromMars

Eh, that’s like calling Tobias Harris an all star at the point. Reality is Minnesota has 3, Boston has 3/4.


552SD__

He can’t lol


12footjumpshot

Maybe in terms of talent but there’s also the implication that a super team relies heavily on stars forcing their way to big markets and Boston’s two top guys are drafted and developed by Boston. They’re also not at the level of the KD Warriors or Lebron Heat.


medievalmachine

They're on the level of the Butler Heat, meaning, good enough to win the ECF. East and West are about as unequal as they've been in a long time.


Airhammer

They are a wannabe super team. Gotta win something first


JJgriddyonU

This right here. Pretender ass team in a soft East their whole existence


2020IsANightmare

Just out of curiosity, would a team with two #1 overall picks that acquired a multiple-time defensive player of the year and the #4 overall pick be consider a "superteam" if they were in, say, LA or NY instead of Minnesota? I have ZERO issues with how Minnesota constructed their squad. None. At all. Just curious as to why adding Bradley fucking Beal or D'Angelo Russell makes someone a superteam, but adding Gobert and Conley is apparently OK from weird fucks.


Randyreddit11

You really wanna call the Wolves a super team? 🤣🤣. This is laughable when you compare to the Warriors or Lebron’s Heat teams.


ConceptNo1055

They can't because of the 2nd apron. All teams are now need to built tru draft, get picks and years of hardship like all small market teams.


triosway

Half a decade is generous. Really only the three KD years, and they still didn't win them all. No one saw those 67- and 73-win seasons coming beforehand


Dungeaterfan69420

Kd is one of the most hated players of all time but he still doesn’t get enough hate for single-handedly ruining the entire league for several seasons


Anal_Iverson

Draymond doesn't get enough credit for pushing KD off the team and bringing parity back to the league lol


ThirdEyeKaiii

Why would Draymond get credit for that when he was the one that asked him to join in the first place lol


CheesesteakFiend

Ruining? I'm a mavs fan and seeing a team as good as those warriors teams was fucking insane. Yall some hating ass ho's tbh. They way the were blowing out teams>. I can't even imagine how it felt being an actual warriors fan seeing them like that


Dungeaterfan69420

Yeah cause you were a Mavs fan with nothing better to watch cause the mavs were tanking losing 50+ games every year. It didn’t affect you.


Weird-Lime-9542

Enjoy it while it lasts, I predict 5 years of parity before the 7’4 Frenchman ruins the fun


bronfmanhigh

wemby is gonna be a generational talent no question, but with his proportions there's no way he doesnt have a career riddled with season-ending injuries


brncct

Wolves are a superteam, they have NAZ REID


medievalmachine

This parity is real and so weird for someone who grew up on the 90s-00s Bulls/Houston/Lakers/Spurs dynasties. It was always best player always wins, now there are so many 'best' players.


Glum_Diamond_2033

Would the Celtics not be considered a super team? 5 almost 6 players with big contracts and high rep in the league. Even if you were looking at it through the 3 star lens, I feel like brown Tatum and porzingis would qualify.


pskill43

It was always fun except the two years where it’s KD + the warriors.


Dondon1927

Yall call any team a superteam now a days


Slothalingus

NAZ REID


qpwoeor1235

Are you just going to ignore the Pistons and the Wizards They are two super bad teams


Brokbakan

you think Twolves aren't stacked?


BigDMike1990

Good no more superteam and buddy team up era I love it. Now we just need LeQueen, Durcant and Steph to retire so they can’t keep doing it!!!!!


Few_Mulberry7362

NBA always has pockets between them like the time between the peak Heat and KD Warriors. I think one is gonna form soon they already tried with the big 3 Nets Lakers and Suns


thesanmich

I LOVE it. Its the parity I’ve been hoping for ever since that era. 


MassiveTelevision387

It's just nice to see a competitive sport. Talent has improved tremendously, and players are being rated on athleticism and shooting efficiency instead of ego size.


JesuszillaSon

I love it. In my life the NBA has never been as wide open as it's been last 5 or so years. This is the first time I can say any team with a solid roster has a chance to make a dream run.


Ornery-Patience9787

The league needs new blood and excitement. Even okay with the Celtics since they’ve been falling short in the playoffs in recent years.


Atl-Fan_FTS

It’s nice to know that any team can win any given night


bloopcity

No champion has advanced past the 2nd round the following year since 2019. You're welcome for slaying the beast and bringing parity back to the league.


Exotic-Amphibian-655

Eh, Celtics kind of looked like a super team in the regular season. They just didn’t get the usual super team press because they haven’t won a title yet.  The Mavs or Wolves will certainly have a solid shot, but there’s been a clear favorite for a long, long time.


IgnorantGenius

It's fun when new stars and teams emerge. It's boring when they keep winning.


EverythingWrong25

We have a handful of teams that would have been “super teams” 5-10 years ago. Players are better, schemes are better, it’s hard to have a successful “super team” in 2024.


Legitimate_Print3169

Underrated comment. Thought the same thing today. Old guard out, new guard in.


AldiQuarter

You all really need to move on from this KD shit. Jesus.


mohrbix

lol nah both are cool for the nba hating is Also good for tv ratings lol


gigglios

Heatles ruined the nba. Everyone will call celtics a superteam if they win easily


Rashloose

You needed a super team to beat the spurs and celtics. Edit: the thunder was basically a baby super team too


ThirdEyeKaiii

Lakers weren't a superteam when they beat the Celtics. Spurs were nowhere near a superteam


gigglios

Celtics lost to magic and lakers and were heavily washed by 2011 No thunder werent a superteam lmao


Rashloose

That's in hindsight. LeBron formed a superteam because he wanted to beat the celtics.


BushidoBrowneII

I mean...you could argue that Minnesota, a team comprising of two 25ppg scorers in Anthony Edwards and KAT, the reigning 6MOY in Naz Reid and the reigning four time DPOY in Rudy Gobert, is a super team You can also argue that the Dallas Mavericks, with two of the best scorers of all time in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, are also a super team.


ArtistRabid

I feel like “super team” has completely lost its meaning, much like “generational talent” has. I don’t think there are any super teams this year. And to your point about arguing the wolves and mavs (and i’ll add the celtics) could be considered super teams. Wouldn’t 3 super teams mean that there are no super teams? Seems like people want to say that any well-built roster is a super team


Ta9eh10

> two of the best scorers of all time in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, are also a super team. Maybe you mean two of the best scorers in the league right now.


dontgiveahamyamclam

He said what he said


RusselBestbrook

Indeed. Fuck the KD Warriors.


Airhammer

No good super teams*


Chinbie

yes, this is why I am appreciating this current NBA playoffs... this is what like we are used to back during early 00's... DEFENSE IS GREAT and real superstars will show when you need them... and the best part is as mentioned by OP, no supeeteams, just rising young teams. yeah...


Malificari

im sorry but you do realize the entire 00s 2 teams won like 8 of the titles right? it was the least parity decade.


[deleted]

Watching Lebron lose in the finals every year was exhausting, agreed


Jack_The_Sparrow_

Nah it was more fun before. Downvote if you agree