The Around The NBA Thread

[Michael Jackson]

What indicators do we have that we would be remotely interested in a retread like Dennis (who doesn't fit in this team, at all), other than that guys post?

It's not that Schroder would necessarily be their first choice, it's more that Conley and Lowry obviously will have much better options, Lonzo is an RFA, and so there's a high likelihood that Schroder is what will be left.

Considering that the FO just gave Coby an entire season as a PG even though everyone knew he sucked balls at it, and with how barren the FA class is in what is now a very desperate win-now situation, yeah, settling on a 12th choice like Dennis Schroder might be it.

But at that point, I'd much rather just throw a deal at Devonte Graham and hope Charlotte doesn't match.

Don't want Schroder at all. Would take Graham over him all day and sunday, I mean schroder is going to want 4/100?

[cool007]

If Embiid is out for long, Sixers not going anywhere.

[TheStig]

To me Ainge fell on his sword. He did a fantastic job acquiring talent but he always seemed too greedy and never pulled the trigger on the biggest asset to put him over the top.

I actually was listening to Chuck on Inside the NBA, and I actually agree with him. I am not sure the tandem of Brown and Tatum works long term.

Not because they cant be successful, but I see a Tmac/Harden thing with Jaylen Brown.

Its clear Tatum is a star but Brown really is like 98% Tatum.

There is no reason for Brown to feel he needs to take a step back and why would/should he?

Under new mgmt, I wouldnt be surprised if Brown's name gets dangled in a potential trade for some other disgruntled star player. that fits better with Tatum.

This is an unfair criticism. He put assets together for Kyrie. I understand why he didn't trade his war chest for a rental of Kawhi or PG. AD's people told him he'd walk. Would he have been a better GM if he had Kawhi for a year but no Brown?

You're being way to critical. He's got two young 2 way all stars. Had Kemba worked out, they'd be serious contenders. Stevens doesn't need to rebuild the team. He just needs to get that missing piece.

[GetBuLLish]

Julius Randle might play the most unwatchable basketball I've witnessed in the past 10 years. Way worse than Harden or anyone else I can think of.

[Leslie Forman]

This is an unfair criticism. He put assets together for Kyrie. I understand why he didn't trade his war chest for a rental of Kawhi or PG. AD's people told him he'd walk. Would he have been a better GM if he had Kawhi for a year but no Brown?

You're being way to critical. He's got two young 2 way all stars. Had Kemba worked out, they'd be serious contenders. Stevens doesn't need to rebuild the team. He just needs to get that missing piece.

Seriously, it's ridiculous. He got Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for next to nothing and still had Horford, Tatum, Brown, and Smart. That's incredible. How the hell is a GM supposed to predict THAT happening to Gordon Hayward, or Kyrie becoming that lady who keeps telling you about how essential oils will change your life?

Too many people simply judge the result, and not the play.

[Chi town]

Thibs still Thibs. Regular season try hards that can’t score in the playoffs.

[Jeffster81]

I'm ok with the NY KnickerBulls getting eliminated.

[Wingy]

Thibs still Thibs. Regular season try hards that can’t score in the playoffs.

Score with what? The ghost of Derrick Rose?

[Wingy]

This is an unfair criticism. He put assets together for Kyrie. I understand why he didn't trade his war chest for a rental of Kawhi or PG. AD's people told him he'd walk. Would he have been a better GM if he had Kawhi for a year but no Brown?

You're being way to critical. He's got two young 2 way all stars. Had Kemba worked out, they'd be serious contenders. Stevens doesn't need to rebuild the team. He just needs to get that missing piece.

Seriously, it's ridiculous. He got Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for next to nothing and still had Horford, Tatum, Brown, and Smart. That's incredible. How the hell is a GM supposed to predict THAT happening to Gordon Hayward, or Kyrie becoming that lady who keeps telling you about how essential oils will change your life?

Too many people simply judge the result, and not the play.

I heard the rumors that Danny was maybe on the hot seat, but I was still fairly surprised today. Exactly for the reasons you two have stated. Drafted two stars, and then tried to put max-worthy vets around them. Who was highly critical of those moves at the time? Basically no one.

[Southpaw]

This is an unfair criticism. He put assets together for Kyrie. I understand why he didn't trade his war chest for a rental of Kawhi or PG. AD's people told him he'd walk. Would he have been a better GM if he had Kawhi for a year but no Brown?

You're being way to critical. He's got two young 2 way all stars. Had Kemba worked out, they'd be serious contenders. Stevens doesn't need to rebuild the team. He just needs to get that missing piece.

Seriously, it's ridiculous. He got Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for next to nothing and still had Horford, Tatum, Brown, and Smart. That's incredible. How the hell is a GM supposed to predict THAT happening to Gordon Hayward, or Kyrie becoming that lady who keeps telling you about how essential oils will change your life?

Too many people simply judge the result, and not the play.

Agree that Ainge's tenure in BOS was great overall but if the reports are true that other GMs no longer want to deal with him, it's probably the right time to go. It doesn't help that they've been losing talent for nothing the past couple of years from Horford, Hayward and to a lesser extent, Theis.

[TheStig]

Thibs still Thibs. Regular season try hards that can’t score in the playoffs.

Yeah Thibs being Thibs. Got a team that won 21 games last year into the playoffs.

[jc23]

Knicks were the less talented team even if Randle played to his regualr season stats. Good to see DRose contribute like that.

[TheStig]

This is an unfair criticism. He put assets together for Kyrie. I understand why he didn't trade his war chest for a rental of Kawhi or PG. AD's people told him he'd walk. Would he have been a better GM if he had Kawhi for a year but no Brown?

You're being way to critical. He's got two young 2 way all stars. Had Kemba worked out, they'd be serious contenders. Stevens doesn't need to rebuild the team. He just needs to get that missing piece.

Seriously, it's ridiculous. He got Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for next to nothing and still had Horford, Tatum, Brown, and Smart. That's incredible. How the hell is a GM supposed to predict THAT happening to Gordon Hayward, or Kyrie becoming that lady who keeps telling you about how essential oils will change your life?

Too many people simply judge the result, and not the play.

Agree that Ainge's tenure in BOS was great overall but if the reports are true that other GMs no longer want to deal with him, it's probably the right time to go. It doesn't help that they've been losing talent for nothing the past couple of years from Horford, Hayward and to a lesser extent, Theis.

Other GM's don't want to deal with him? Didn't he make like 3 trades at the deadline? Maybe they knew to call Brad?

The guys who have left have been worse since they left or injury prone. Hortford, Morris, Hayward and Irving have all had issues. Only one of them is still all star level. And Kyrie is an injury prone nutcase and the only one they offered a max too.

If Kemba could stay healthy, they'd have likely gone to the ECF. That team is closer than it appears.

[MrFortune3]

This is an unfair criticism. He put assets together for Kyrie. I understand why he didn't trade his war chest for a rental of Kawhi or PG. AD's people told him he'd walk. Would he have been a better GM if he had Kawhi for a year but no Brown?

You're being way to critical. He's got two young 2 way all stars. Had Kemba worked out, they'd be serious contenders. Stevens doesn't need to rebuild the team. He just needs to get that missing piece.

Seriously, it's ridiculous. He got Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for next to nothing and still had Horford, Tatum, Brown, and Smart. That's incredible. How the hell is a GM supposed to predict THAT happening to Gordon Hayward, or Kyrie becoming that lady who keeps telling you about how essential oils will change your life?

Too many people simply judge the result, and not the play.

Not really unfair though. He pulled off one of the greatest asset acquisitions in NBA history and for the most part squandered it.
He was far too focused on trying to win every damn trade instead of making his team better overall.
People judge the result because given the positioning that the Celtics had over raking the Nets over the coals, the expectation was at least 1 title.

While he did manage to end up with Tatum and Brown as the 2 primary core pieces of the Celtics for the next 10+ years if healthy.
That's why I am not the biggest fan of just gathering a ton of assets and trying to form them into a massive war chest, at some point you have to turn that chest of assets into tangible championship level players.

[TheStig]

This is an unfair criticism. He put assets together for Kyrie. I understand why he didn't trade his war chest for a rental of Kawhi or PG. AD's people told him he'd walk. Would he have been a better GM if he had Kawhi for a year but no Brown?

You're being way to critical. He's got two young 2 way all stars. Had Kemba worked out, they'd be serious contenders. Stevens doesn't need to rebuild the team. He just needs to get that missing piece.

Seriously, it's ridiculous. He got Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for next to nothing and still had Horford, Tatum, Brown, and Smart. That's incredible. How the hell is a GM supposed to predict THAT happening to Gordon Hayward, or Kyrie becoming that lady who keeps telling you about how essential oils will change your life?

Too many people simply judge the result, and not the play.

Not really unfair though. He pulled off one of the greatest asset acquisitions in NBA history and for the most part squandered it.
He was far too focused on trying to win every damn trade instead of making his team better overall.
People judge the result because given the positioning that the Celtics had over raking the Nets over the coals, the expectation was at least 1 title.

While he did manage to end up with Tatum and Brown as the 2 primary core pieces of the Celtics for the next 10+ years if healthy.
That's why I am not the biggest fan of just gathering a ton of assets and trying to form them into a massive war chest, at some point you have to turn that chest of assets into tangible championship level players.

I mean he did have a roster of Kyrie, Tatum, Brown, Hayward, Hortford, Morris, Bynes. Not his fault Kyrie is flakey and Hayward broke. They did make 3 ECFs in the last 5 years.

You're acting like they sat around with just Tatum and Brown and a bunch of picks. He signed Hayward, Hortford and Kemba as big time FA's. Traded for Kyrie, IT, Fournier and made a ton of good picks.

This isn't GarPax. They traded and signed for stars.

[CobyWhite0]

Thibs still Thibs. Regular season try hards that can’t score in the playoffs.

Score with what? The ghost of Derrick Rose?

They managed to score enough to win 41 games and beat the Hawks 3 games to zero during the regular season.

You don't expect a #4 seed to lose as badly as the Knicks lost to a #5 seed. The first 2 games in MSG were close, but the Hawks won each of the last three by double-digits.

Which could be good for the Bulls, if we are after any of the same FA this summer as the Knicks. Is anyone really lining up to play with "the ghost of Derrick Rose" and Houdini Randle after watching this series?

[CobyWhite0]

Thibs still Thibs. Regular season try hards that can’t score in the playoffs.

Yeah Thibs being Thibs. Got a team that won 21 games last year into the playoffs.

Yeah, which helps prove Chitown's post lol. They were the definition of regular season try hards

[CobyWhite0]

If the Knicks were the Bulls, people would already be complaining that the regular season was a fluke and we should have just tanked instead of over-achieving and getting embarrassed in the first round. We don't have any superstar talent, free agents aren't coming here to play with this roster, there was no excuse not to tank in one of the best drafts of the last 25 years.

[TheStig]

Thibs still Thibs. Regular season try hards that can’t score in the playoffs.

Yeah Thibs being Thibs. Got a team that won 21 games last year into the playoffs.

Yeah, which helps prove Chitown's post lol. They were the definition of regular season try hards

If they were a talented playoff team, they would have made the playoffs last year. He completely overacheived and raised the level of play. Dismissing it as regular season try hards undercuts the work and progress made. It's not like it was poor coaching or unprepardness. That team doesn't have the talent to be in the playoffs, let alone a HCA team.

[MrFortune3]

Seriously, it's ridiculous. He got Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for next to nothing and still had Horford, Tatum, Brown, and Smart. That's incredible. How the hell is a GM supposed to predict THAT happening to Gordon Hayward, or Kyrie becoming that lady who keeps telling you about how essential oils will change your life?

Too many people simply judge the result, and not the play.

Not really unfair though. He pulled off one of the greatest asset acquisitions in NBA history and for the most part squandered it.
He was far too focused on trying to win every damn trade instead of making his team better overall.
People judge the result because given the positioning that the Celtics had over raking the Nets over the coals, the expectation was at least 1 title.

While he did manage to end up with Tatum and Brown as the 2 primary core pieces of the Celtics for the next 10+ years if healthy.
That's why I am not the biggest fan of just gathering a ton of assets and trying to form them into a massive war chest, at some point you have to turn that chest of assets into tangible championship level players.

I mean he did have a roster of Kyrie, Tatum, Brown, Hayward, Hortford, Morris, Bynes. Not his fault Kyrie is flakey and Hayward broke. They did make 3 ECFs in the last 5 years.

You're acting like they sat around with just Tatum and Brown and a bunch of picks. He signed Hayward, Hortford and Kemba as big time FA's. Traded for Kyrie, IT, Fournier and made a ton of good picks.

This isn't GarPax. They traded and signed for stars.

I'm not acting like anything other than what the results say which is that since the goal for a franchise like that is a championship, it wasn't good enough.

Kyrie, Hayward, Horford, all left. of course no one saw Hayward getting hurt coming but there should have been a greater reward from all of the assets he kept accumulating and then didn't fully utilize.
You can only have so many young players on your roster and draft assets in your coffers until it's a negative.