Here we go again

The Boston Celtics open their season against the Brooklyn Nets at home tonight, which means another boring, listless basketball season is about to get underway. Forgive me if I'm not overly excited about their surprisingly solid 5-3 preseason, but those games don't count, and I'm not optimistic that Boston will play as well when the games do count. Mark my words: it's going to be another lean winter for Celtics fans.

Whatever glimmer of hope there was for 2014-2015 to be a competitive season was dashed on draft night when the Celtics got stuck with the sixth pick (screwed by the lottery again!). The opportunity to land a game-changing talent like Andrew Wiggins and potentially trade said talent to Minnesota for Kevin Love failed to materialize. The chances of seeing Love in Celtics green, however slim, went right out the window and Boston's season was effectively over before it began.

And while Danny Ainge's draft picks were well received, neither seem ready nor capable of making the immediate impact needed to vault this mediocre team into contention. With the sixth pick, Boston selected Marcus Smart -- whose skill set has been described as Rondo-esque -- an aggressive, athletic point guard who can't shoot. He has all the same strengths and weaknesses as his predecessor, albeit with better makeup and leadership ability. His presence makes the incumbent Rondo expendable and all but guarantees a trade, as the Celtics are unlikely to give Rondo the max contract he desires (nor should they, due to his injury history, character issues and offensive limitations).

Boston's other big acquisition from the draft was James Young, a jump-shooter and crafty scorer who should complement Smart nicely in the backcourt. Young has the potential to be a dangerous offensive weapon, especially from beyond the arc, but until he hones his ball-handling and shot creation skills, he's just going to be a nice catch-and-shoot perimeter threat.

So, although the returning Celtics are better than the team that went 25-57 last year, that's not saying a whole lot because frankly they couldn't be any worse. Danny Ainge didn't do much during the off-season, so second-year head coach Brad Stevens doesn't have a ton to work with except more young talent to integrate. Boston figures to be an improved defensive team and will likely field a top 10 defense this year after allowing the 13th-fewest points per game last year.  However, they will continue to struggle on offense, even if Rondo and Avery Bradley bounce back from injury-plagued seasons. Jeff Green will continue to frustrate by under-utilizing his incredible physical gifts. Size is still an issue for this team, as they just don't have the height to stack up with other teams' bigs. The C's thus have trouble scoring down low and are prone to getting crushed on the glass.

Boston is making steps in the right direction, but they are baby steps. Reeling in Kevin Love would have been a giant step, but that ship sailed to Cleveland instead. Ainge is opting to rebuild the old-fashioned way, by collecting and developing young talent from within.  That's inherently a multi-year, multi-step process that requires patience for the pieces to come together. Recent Big Three collusions aside, championship caliber teams typically aren't assembled overnight.

Last year, at the end of that miserable season, I found myself pining for the Celtics to be competitive again. This year, it looks like I'll still be wishing for the exact same thing.