Despite the best efforts of Danny Ainge and the management team around him, the Celtics keep looking like the Pips without Gladys Knight.
They once again are The Miracles without Smokey Robinson.
They remain, at the moment, a film filled with great character actors but without a leading man.
They are better, we think, but how much? That depends on your perspective.
So it has been ever since the Big Three Lite, the one-ringed gang of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, left town. With a new season about to begin tonight, the young Celtics who arrived in the wake of the Lite show’s departure are good but not good enough.