Who is your Celtics Team MVP this season?

Who ya got?

  • Brandon Bass

    Votes: 2 2.2%
  • Avery Bradley

    Votes: 17 19.1%
  • Jae Crowder

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Luigi Datome

    Votes: 1 1.1%
  • Jonas Jerebko

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Kelly Olynyk

    Votes: 4 4.5%
  • Phil Pressey

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Marcus Smart

    Votes: 9 10.1%
  • Jared Sullinger

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Isaiah Thomas

    Votes: 45 50.6%
  • Evan Turner

    Votes: 5 5.6%
  • Gerald Wallace

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Tyler Zeller

    Votes: 6 6.7%

  • Total voters
    89

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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To me the only players with enough minutes and quality of play to be serious contenders are... Bass, Smart, Zeller, Olynyk.
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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The clear real MVP is
 
Paul Pierce traded player exception.
Got us Zeller and Thomas.
 

ilol@u

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Mar 2, 2009
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Avery Bradley.
He played great defensive almost every game throughout the season and his mid-range jumper off those screens has been a staple in this offense.
 

Klostrophobic

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Apr 12, 2006
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Probably has to be Tyler Zeller, but really the team turned completely around under Thomas.
 
Kinda surprised Bradley is doing so well on the poll; I'd put him like 5th or 6th at best. I know he led the team in minutes, but what does he do that's a definite positive?
 

radsoxfan

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Aug 9, 2009
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Klostrophobic said:
 
Kinda surprised Bradley is doing so well on the poll; I'd put him like 5th or 6th at best. I know he led the team in minutes, but what does he do that's a definite positive?
 
Yeah, no way I can give it to Bradley.  His numbers were down across the board, a pretty big disappointment from a guy in his age 24 season. The first half of the season he was atrocious. And his defense wasn't anything close to a couple years ago.  He gets some bonus points for being healthy and playing I guess, but can't put him near the top.
 
I agree with Eddie Jurak, it's amazing how hard the decision is.  Thomas would be the choice if he played more than 21 games.  If you look at some cumulative stats that give credit to games played like Win Shares (which I don't really like), the top 4 are Zeller, Bass, Sullinger, and Olynyk. By PER, the top 4 are Thomas, Zeller, Sullinger, and Bass. Just looking at basic cumulative +/-, the top 4 are Olynyk, Thomas, Smart, Jerebko.  By RPM the top 4 are  Olynyk, Smart, Sullinger, Thomas. Yikes….
 
If forced to pick, I'd go with:
 
Stevens
Stevens
Stevens
 
4 way tie with Smart, Sullinger, Olynyk and Thomas
 
I guess I can't vote in the poll….
 

leetinsley38

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Aug 24, 2005
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Kudos to Lose the OP.  When I originally saw that "Who is your MVP thread" in this forum I was thinking it was Celts MVP and not overall NBA.  It is kind of crazy how hard it is to pick.  Optimistic about things like Stevens, the Brooklyn picks, cap space, exceptions, Ainge, etc., yet it's disheartening that this question is so hard to answer.
I went with Smart... giving extra points that he gives the most hope for the future which is the most valuable thing that can come from this season anyway.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Yeah, I figured this would be tough, which is why so few folks have voted.  And voting for the coach for Most Valuable Player is a cop out.
 
If Scott Cooper can be a Two-Time Two-Time MLB All Star, then someone has to be the MVP of this playoff bound basketball team.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Yeah, I figured this would be tough, which is why so few folks have voted.  And voting for the coach for Most Valuable Player is a cop out.
 
If Scott Cooper can be a Two-Time Two-Time MLB All Star, then someone has to be the MVP of this playoff bound basketball team.
Speaking of cop-outs, Forsberg suggests giving it to the team as a hole here: http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4718851/who-is-the-celtics-mvp

I was thinking about starting this thread but I didn't have my own answer so thought that would be silly.

I agree the MVP without question is IT since he has a skillset that no one else has but I can't give it to him either so upon reflection, I'm going to vote Bradley just because he's played every game, tried hard on both ends, andwas the only guard who could shoot for much of this season.
 

EL Jeffe

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Aug 30, 2006
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I voted for IT4. I get the argument that he wasn't here for long enough, and that's fair, but he really helped to change the look and feel of this team. He brought the ability to create offense for himself and teammates (which no other player on the roster could consistently accomplish), and he also brought a lot of confidence and swagger. When he's got it going (which has been often), the energy seems to be infectious with his teammates. 
 
I guess my runner-up would have been Zeller for no other reason than providing competent post play. That's pretty rare in today's NBA; I'm really surprised he couldn't carve out a bigger role on that awful 2013-14 Cleveland team. He doesn't rebound particularly well, he doesn't block or alter many shots, but he's 7', runs the floor, has good hands, a soft touch, and enough post moves to score efficiently. 
 

Koufax

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I voted for IT.  While he wasn't here for long, his arrival coincides exactly with the inflection point of the team's fortunes.  It's not a coincidence.  It's because he was truly the most valuable player on the team.
 

tmracht

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Aug 19, 2009
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I would have said Isaiah if he had played more, and I don't think AB was super solid this year.  Turner is what he is and that's not an MVP.  
 
I guess I'll go with Kelly Olynyk, There is no real MVP, its clouded by the fact that most players were grouped in the 27-21 minute range (Turner, Smart, Sullinger, IT4, Crowder, Bass, Olynyk, Zeller).  The only player still on the roster playing over 30 minutes was Bradley and his TS% of what felt like -100342 at times.
 
Among that group, only IT (Gaudy 7.3 really would be my MVP if he played more), Smart (2.5), Crowder (2.7) and Olynyk (4.7) had positive Net Ratings which shows what most of us realize that the bench played a huge role.  

Olynyk's true shooting percentage of 55.8, 20.8 usage percentage are pretty decent. Yeah he was a turn over magnet but there wasn't really anyone who stood out on this team. 
 
His RRPM was solid for psuedo center. He was a definite mismatch against most bench units, and held his own defensively.  He wasn't great by any stretch, but this was the definition of a team.  Everyone chipped in til IT got there, I just find it hard to nominate someone that played about a 1/4 of the season for the C's.  He's definitely a prime 6th man contender though.  
 
Seems like the real MVP was probably the bench unit that kept the team in games, or Stevens and his usage of all his toys.
 

kfoss99

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Jul 15, 2009
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Since I voted, I'd figure I'd finally log in respond.  I voted for Thomas.  The team really turned the corner when he came on board.  Turner had the most triple doubles. Bradley was the best player that played a full season. I loved Crowder's defense and the flexibility he gave in line ups.  But, it was Thomas (and Lebron sitting out games) that made the Celts team a playoff team.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Oddly, C's were 10-11 in IT4's 21 games. That doesn't tell the full story but it's hard for me to vote for a guy who helped them win 10 games.
 

Bleedred

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Feb 21, 2001
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Thomas is the reason they're in the playoffs.  This team has no one that can create their own offense but him, he handles the ball brilliantly (no palming calls in the NBA helps), isn't afraid to take a big shot, and carried the team down the stretch.  It's Gotta be Thomas if Stevens doesn't get to count.
 

bowiac

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It's hard to say Thomas is the MVP based on 21 games, no? He's their best player (him or Smart), but he just wasn't around enough. Part of the reason they're in the playoffs is that they hung around near the playoffs for the 61 games he didn't play in. All those games count the same.
 

TheRooster

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Aug 3, 2001
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Zeller, perhaps because I'm scarred from watching several decades of big white guys who couldn't catch or finish (from Joe Kline through the Steamer).  Zeller is not the best player on this team or the most valuable long term asset, but I think they would have gotten blown out more often without him and many of the comebacks would not have been possible.  I can't give it to Thomas due to the small body of work.  He and Smart should be neck and neck for the same award next year.