Unrealistic Expectations


High expectations inevitably lead to disappointment. I've lived by this phrase my whole life and think it can apply to all walks of life. Nowhere does this ring true more than in sports. The 24 hour a day news cycle leads to constant over-analysis by the media and as a result, over-analyis by us fans. We hype up our teams, hate on other teams, and form expectations in our heads of what the season is going to be like before a single game has been played.

This Celtics team is performing at pretty much the level they should be expected to at this point in the season. This was never a 72 win team, nor should we want them to be. If the Celtics were to break the Bulls record they would have to play their starters big minutes the entire season, which would lead to them being burned out in the playoffs. It's okay to want your team to be the best, but be realistic about it.

It's great to be optimistic and hopeful about your team, but it's important to also not be a blind homer. The Celtics top 4 players are all on the downside of their careers. Their best defender and vocal leader is coming off a knee injury, and has already logged a tremendous amount of mileage in his career. Their prize free agent addition was a guy that has been an underachiever his entire career and is 36 years old. Their hero from last years playoffs, Big Baby Davis is out until February, and their star point guard was still dealing with contract negotiations at the start of camp and still has no jump shot. Not to mention the fact the Celtics have one of the deepest teams in the league, and their coach Doc Rivers always has struggled with time management.

The reason people are so upset about the Celtics is because we expected them to just automatically return to their championship form of 2008. We expected KG to be the same guy as he was at the beginning of last season. We expected Rondo to play like he did in the Bulls series every game. We expected Rasheed to be the dominant all star force off the bench that he was brought here to be. Now, this doesn't mean it can't happen; it just means we should all lower our expectations a little and watch it play out on the court. Hope and expectation are two totally different things. I can hope the Celtics will win every game, but I can't expect that. Remember, you can't really draw any conclusions until after Christmas anyway.  Honestly, 10-4 is still pretty good, and I look forward to the Celtics continuing to improve.