An Odyssey of Mediocrity

 
  For decades the Celtics and it's fan base have prided themselves on not settling for anything less than a championship. The older generation of Celtics fans are not content with just playing .500 basketball they grew up watching Bird's Celtics dominate the 80s era while these younger generation of fans(like myself) grew up watching Pierce,Antoine Walker and Ricky Davis(Couldn't leave him out). So it only seems natural for a generation who's only witnessed one Celtics championship team to be content with watching Mediocre basketball.
    For me I just like watching NBA basketball but not enough that I enjoy watching my favorite team spiral towards the abyss of mediocrity or even worse, the Lottery. These are no longer the 2008 Celtics ripping off 8-10 game win streaks, playing lockdown defense and winning crucial road games. These are the 2012-13 Celtics, the team that relies on consistent contributions from guys like Jeff Green, Courtney Lee and yes even Jason Collins. Defensively this team is a far cry from the 2008-12 teams. This is a team that needs 40 points from Paul Pierce just to beat a team who is 5-22 by 12 and what's even more surprising is that people seem perfectly content with being just "ok".
     One of the infuriating comments that I come across from time to time is people using the "The Celtics were 15-17 last year and got to the ECF" excuse. Last year's improbable Conference Finals run was a little bit of Fools gold. They lucked out on not having to face the Bulls with a healthy Derrick Rose. Also this year the Atlantic Division is very much improved with the prospect of the Celtics being possibly the 3rd best team in the division after having a string of 5 straight division titles. In my mind excuses are a sign of weakness and lack of strength. Fans(mostly on twitter) seem to be be perfectly fine making excuses for this team and are continually lying to themselves.
      I love the Celtics and I love basketball but I can't keep lying to myself that everything will be okay with this team if we keep it as it is. While I would love to wait for Avery to return as I have stated his importance to the defense in a previous article, I just dont know how much longer the celtics can afford to play like this without making a roster move. There may be no clear cut way to fix this team right now and I'm fine with that  but I'd still like Danny to try and see what's out on the open market.
  This Celtics team is teetering on the side of being a Lottery team. They dont get consistent contributions outside of the Big 3. The bench scoring is erratic at best and their defensive effort is sometimes nonexistent. Those are all the qualities of a mediocre basketball team. Some may say I'm not being a real fan by criticizing them this much but at least I'm being honest with myself.

Trouble in Los Angeles

    A team synonymous with winning finds itself in a very unfamiliar and peculiar situation right now. After suffering their 3rd straight loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers the Lakers now find themselves sitting at 9-13(Their worst start since 2002-2003). The Lakers were supposed to be a juggernaut and roll through opponents.Injuries,coaching changes and defense have inhibited this team from really fulfilling its true potential.
    One of the truly strange things going on with this team is that Kobe Bryant, someone who has been maligned for poor shot selection, is having one of his most efficient seasons of his career. Kobe is averaging 29.2 points on 48% shooting(A career high). As it stands right now the Lakers offense is far from the problem. Their offensive efficiency(Points scored per 100 possessions) ranks just outside the top 5 at 106.4. However their defense has not performed as well, especially in transition. Right now the Lakers are ranked dead last in Fast Break defense giving up about 16 points a game.
     Defensively everyone expected Dwight Howard to make up for the deficiencies of the lesser talented perimeter defenders that the Lakers have like he did in Orlando but so far that has not been the case. According to 82games.com the Lakers rank 27th in the PER difference between their starting point guard and opposing point guards. They also rank 25th in point guard defense and are dead last in point guard scoring. So not only are they getting no offense from the point guard position right they also aren't getting any defense. Now getting Nash back healthy may help them in the scoring department but I really dont see how a 38 year old coming off of a broken can really solve their perimeter defensive struggles.
    Structurally the Lakers are one of the leagues most imbalanced teams. They feature a bench that most D1 college teams would laugh at. Their point guard rotation without Nash is almost laughable. When you have Chris Duhon and Darius Morris playing major minutes for you you're going to experience some struggles.
      We all knew that this team was going to take some time to come together and really play at its full potential but I dont think anyone predicted that they would be this bad. Even Kobe voiced his frustration with his team while doing post game interviews.
 

It's still very early in the season and we still haven't really seen this team at full strength but whether it's making a few lineup changes, making a trade or just increasing the effort level the Lakers have to do something quick before they fall into a hole they can't climb out of.