Five reasons to feel positive about the Boston Celtics

Rondo already has said he will be dribbling less and advancing the ball more. The soon to be 27-year-old thoroughbred has horses that can keep up with him and a voice that is more respected than ever in the stable. If there was ever a time for Rondo take another step forward, this is it.

3. The Celtics got younger without sacrificing much at all

When you look at what Danny Ainge did this summer, it’s actually quite impressive.

Last season, the Celtics had an average age of 29 years old. They are now at 27.6, and that doesn’t include the partially guaranteed guys like Dionte Christmas and Jamar Smith, who are still iffy to make the team but young enough to lower that average even further.

Of course, we all know that a heavy reliance on 36-year-old Garnett, 34-year-old Pierce and 35-year-old Jason Terry off the bench makes them older when you adjust for minutes played. But what Ainge did was create a team with enough youth in the right spots so Rivers can comfortably limit Garnett and Pierce’s minutes without sacrificing too much, assuming everyone plays at least up to expectations.

The only sacrifice Ainge made to make this happen was letting Ray Allen walk. With Allen’s ability to beat people off the dribble gone – along with any semblance of defense – Boston needed to go in another direction. By letting Allen go, the Celtics managed to stay far enough under the luxury tax apron to get other moves done.

Ainge transformed the mid-level exception into Terry. He turned young guys with potential but no polish in E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson into Lee, a young, strong defender who can penetrate and still be quite effective from long range. He retained key guys in Garnett and Brandon Bass. And then he rolled the dice on Green.

A quick note on Green: He was probably the most debated signing of the summer. This can go any number of ways. And maybe if the situation was different, he wouldn’t have gotten the same contract. But Ainge really had no choice but to sign him. Here’s a breakdown of why, if you are looking to understand why Green’s  situation went down the way it did.

So the Celtics – once Avery Bradley is healthy – have three starters who are 27, 26 and 21 years old in Bass, Rondo and Bradley, respectively. Lee and Green, both 26, now come off the bench. And 20-year-old Jared Sullinger spent the summer trying to prove, somewhat successfully, that he can find himself a little niche off the bench as a rebounder and post scorer.

Did I mention Ainge pulled this off while shaving nearly $8 million off the team’s payroll? The Celtics swung the nearly impossible simultaneous rebuild-reload, setting themselves up for the next chapter while improving on a team that went to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.

4. Everyone’s healthy

The Celtics lost both Green and Chris Wilcox last season to heart issues. Both are back with their teammates, healthy and happy. And that’s amazing.

Sure, it’s great that Pierce’s knee is 100% after straining his MCL in the playoffs. But ligaments, tendons and bones all heal at a comfortably predictable rate, and with supporting X-rays and MRI’s to show everyone how healthy the joint is.

Even a serious injury like a torn ACL has a very defined process. There is the actual injury and the pain associated with it, followed by the surgery and the rehab. After a certain amount of time, the player will have slowly worked his way back to a point where the knee feels 100%.

With heart ailments, however, it’s very different. Both Green and Wilcox said they felt fine before the diagnosis and were shocked by it. Then a fear washed over them that doesn’t come with any other injury. This truly becomes a matter of life and death. The subsequent operation isn’t on a joint, it’s on a vital organ. And with so many sad stories of guys collapsing while playing ball because of an undetected heart ailment, the thought that it could have been them stuck in their subconscious.

This wasn’t career-altering stuff; this was life-altering stuff. They had to re-evaluate everything they had done, everything they had been, and who they would be in the future.

That’s why when Green got back on the floor, he could not contain his emotions.

“I was trying not to smile too much, and keep a straight face,” he said. “I let some emotions go, telling some players I was glad to be back. Just talking a lot for no reason, because I was glad to be back on the floor.”

This truly is a second chance for him and Wilcox, both of whom will be called upon to be key contributors. Both are fully cleared medically and approaching this season with a new perspective and purpose. They are taking advantage of an opportunity that was nearly taken away from them at an entirely too-early age.

If you can’t feel positive about these guys being back on the court, then there’s nothing I can do to help you.

5. Rivers is in charge of it all

Go find Garnett and ask him what he thinks of Rivers. Be sure to pull up a chair and get comfortable, because he’ll gush about Doc until he’s used every word in the English language.

Every word.

Doc has grown into the most respected coach in the NBA this side of Gregg Popovich. The players love him for being relatable, but also in charge. He’s not the type of “player’s coach” who rolls over for guys and lets them get away with all sorts of things that can become combustible. Being labeled a “player’s coach” is typically code for “he lacks discipline,” which Rivers certainly does not.

But he’s also not the “disciplinarian” – you know, the guy who gets called in after the “player’s coach” leaves to lay down the law and let everyone know “there are going to be some changes around here.” Rivers is a mixture of both. He’s a guy who relates to the players because he was a pretty good one for a long time. He respects veterans and their ability to police themselves in the locker room. But he also will step in and lay down the law when it’s time to do so.

And that’s why the Garnett barometer is so important when discussing Rivers. When your most important player is so solidly behind the coach, it’s damn near impossible for players to fall out of line. KG is as “all-in” as you can get. If this was a poker game, he’d have all his chips in the middle of the table along with his watch, car key, the title deed to his house and a bassinet holding his daughter. That’s how invested he is in Rivers.

Beyond that, Rivers has developed into one of the best X-and-O guys around. His plays out of timeouts are reaching legendary status, with some of us bloggers spinning yarns worthy of Loch Ness and Big Foot status.

“I once saw Doc draw up a play blindfolded and involved 8 guys… and it WORKED!! FIVE POINT PLAY!!!”

What makes Rivers’ in-game adjustments and on-court calls so good is they’re an extension of his locker room philosophy of trusting his players. He is often talking to Rondo about what he sees. He will let guys tell him what they see on the floor, the advantages they have, and the things they can do with them. From there, he mixes them into a play that often presents the Celtics an opportunity to score.

And now with more weapons at his disposal, Rivers will have an opportunity to play mad scientist. With Lee, Green and Terry as options off the bench, he can throw any number of lineups at teams in key situations and force them to adjust to the Celtics, rather than the Celtics adjusting to their opponents.

When you truly have the ability to do that, you’re at a distinct advantage. Having Rivers at the helm helps make it all possible.

In the end, the Celtics are truly in the mix to be playing into June. Garnett is back and ready to march off a cliff for Doc Rivers. The Celtics have re-assembled a starting five (once Bradley is healthy) that went 24-10 down the stretch, becoming just the fourth team to win a division after entering the All Star break with a losing record. They have a younger bunch of contributors, and their most talented player, Rondo, is starting to take the reins and lead them both on and off the court.

The last time Celtics fans have been this excited for a season, Garnett and Allen were being introduced for the first time in Boston as part of a new “Big Three” era. There is good reason for this enthusiasm in Boston. Their revamped team is pretty damn good, and they’ve got revenge on their minds.

I’ll close with the words of Terry, who may have uttered what will become a rallying cry for the hordes in Green:

“My mission is to kill; whether it’s the Heat, whether it’s the Lakers. Hopefully both. That’s my mission.”

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John Karalis is the co-founder of RedsArmy.com, a top site for Boston Celtics news and analysis. He has covered the team and the NBA for Red’s Army and other sites for seven years. This is his first piece for Sheridan Hoops. You can follow him on Twitter at @RedsArmy_John