I think we got one with Brandon Boston Jr. (rookie development thread)

[Clemenza]

Is his best playing partner PG13 at some point? Can't double them both defensively

Is there a way to keep Boston in the rotation, eliminate/fade out Bledsoe, AND not have the ball-handling go to hell?

Starters:
PG13
Mann/Kennard
Boston
Morris/Batum/Ibaka
Zu

Reserves:
Reggie
Mann/Kennard
Batum/Morris
Morris/Batum/Ibaka
Big Hart

Its on Ty Lue to bruise some egos and step on some toes. Coffey and Winslow are already stuck to the bench due to Boston.. But that was easy to do since they're 3rd string players. Serge is now getting the squeeze from Hart's improved play. If Keon or Scrubb continues to get better then Reggie and Bledsoe will be on the clock.

[Wammy Giveaway]

Put the pipe down asap! We're on the cusp of having a 20 year old baby KD and you want to trade him for Dame who hasn't been the same player since the new rules came into play, often injured, and doesn't play defense?

Kawhi, PG, and Boston will become our Big 3 by seasons end

Do you think Boston can make an All-Star run in just a month and a half? He has huge competition in front of him, is a rookie, currently coming off the bench, and was only introduced into the rotation due to injury. Clippers are also a mediocre team, barely staying above .500 - I could see them becoming a lottery team for just one game, ie. they'll easily get back on track upon going under .500) - and are 5th in the west. The higher your seeding, the more players can become All-Stars.

Finally, and this is the big one, Clippers are trying to get a third All-Star the hard way, via homegrown draft pick. Leonard and George were All-Stars from other teams, Spurs and Pacers respectively. The rest of the roster is comprised of role players, complimentary pieces as opposed to cornerstones or franchise faces. Mann was supposed to be the babyface to the Clipper's Leonard and George (by babyface, I mean a player representing the youth movement whereas Leonard and George are veterans), but he's not fully there yet. Recent NBA history shows us that the first All-Star on the team is always homegrown before your second and third All-Stars, which are easily acquirable via trades or free agency. It's harder to make a True Big 3 when done in reverse: your first two All-Stars were free agency or through trades, and the third is homegrown. Griffin was home grown, Paul was a trade. Curry and Thompson were home grown, Iguodala was by default via Finals MVP, and Green was home grown. Pierce was home grown, and Allen and Garnett were trades. Wade was home grown, and James and Bosh were in free agency. It's a pattern: home grown before outsiders.

Boston could take Mann's place, but he seems to be more of a poorman's Jamal Crawford, a scorer who can get hot but won't have Crawford's And1 Mixtape flair or his penchant for four-point plays. Whether he's going to be a starter or a bench spark plug will be answered in time.

[nickhx2]

he's got a long, long way to go before i'd call boston a baby KD lol

not that i would or wouldn't do a lillard trade, but at least would have to consider the implications of what goes in and out in said trade

it'd likely be some combination of reggie, serge, winslow, bledsoe, and of course boston outgoing to match lillard's 40m/year salary. and this is for a guy who is having a somewhat miserable year, and who will be paid 40/m a year for the next 3 years, when it's unclear if his struggles are just an anomaly or if they're the beginning of his decline.

a lot to consider there.


fwiw even if boston went supernova for the rest of the season, i would have an even harder time imagining they'd move him, because A. kawhi's obviously out and we need a wing stop-gap, and B. both he and keon johnson presumably were drafted to be heirs to kawhi and paul george. and even if boston shows up sooner, rather than later, that just makes this team all the more compelling while kawhi and paul george are still playing at a high level.

like, assuming boston becomes KD-lite (i mean sure why not reach for the stars lol), you know what's better than two, 2-way wing stars?

three of them. and that's not even counting mann and/or johnson's development as 2-way wings themselves. having an army of guys like these to deploy basically makes you matchup proof in the playoffs and is almost impossible to deal with.

anyway, don't really see us moving boston and right now i'm happy to see his growth and development as a player. it's also abundantly clear he brings an jubilation and exuberance to the team that is the kind of thing you love to see.

[Clemenza]

Put the pipe down asap! We're on the cusp of having a 20 year old baby KD and you want to trade him for Dame who hasn't been the same player since the new rules came into play, often injured, and doesn't play defense?

Kawhi, PG, and Boston will become our Big 3 by seasons end

Do you think Boston can make an All-Star run in just a month and a half? He has huge competition in front of him, is a rookie, currently coming off the bench, and was only introduced into the rotation due to injury. Clippers are also a mediocre team, barely staying above .500 - I could see them becoming a lottery team for just one game, ie. they'll easily get back on track upon going under .500) - and are 5th in the west. The higher your seeding, the more players can become All-Stars.

Finally, and this is the big one, Clippers are trying to get a third All-Star the hard way, via homegrown draft pick. Leonard and George were All-Stars from other teams, Spurs and Pacers respectively. The rest of the roster is comprised of role players, complimentary pieces as opposed to cornerstones or franchise faces. Mann was supposed to be the babyface to the Clipper's Leonard and George (by babyface, I mean a player representing the youth movement whereas Leonard and George are veterans), but he's not fully there yet. Recent NBA history shows us that the first All-Star on the team is always homegrown before your second and third All-Stars, which are easily acquirable via trades or free agency. It's harder to make a True Big 3 when done in reverse: your first two All-Stars were free agency or through trades, and the third is homegrown. Griffin was home grown, Paul was a trade. Curry and Thompson were home grown, Iguodala was by default via Finals MVP, and Green was home grown. Pierce was home grown, and Allen and Garnett were trades. Wade was home grown, and James and Bosh were in free agency. It's a pattern: home grown before outsiders.

Boston could take Mann's place, but he seems to be more of a poorman's Jamal Crawford, a scorer who can get hot but won't have Crawford's And1 Mixtape flair or his penchant for four-point plays. Whether he's going to be a starter or a bench spark plug will be answered in time.

"A poor man's Crawford".. Ouch! Considering I wasn't really a fan of Jamal's chuckfest-freeze everyone else out game that statement means Boston is mediocre at best too you and that's fine, there's nothing wrong with that. But I saw more defense out of Boston in the last couple of games than I've seen in Jamal's entire tenure in a Clipper uniform. And truthfully I myself should chill on the Diet Kevin Durant talk for now but I don't necessarily think Boston needs to be an all star for us to have a Big 3 as he would be the third wheel behind Kawhi and PG basically backing them up with scoring support.

People loosely said we had a Big 3 with Blake, CP3, and DJ. DJ was the third wheel but he didn't have not one post move in his arsenal nor could make a free throw. Add in Blake shying away from the big moments and CP3 refusing to shoot half the time and bringing the offense to a crawl Big 3's aren't always what they're cracked up to be. And we can't just cherry pick stars all the time as that mode of team building is have less and less success as the years go by. You have to build something from stracth at least every few years or so. I'm happy that PG is on the team but we had a budding star in SGA and traded him away, also Blake started out with us so building a star from scratch through the draft isn't our of the realm of possibility for us. Its been done and we can do it again. But having athletic wings that play both side of the ball is always a plus.

I get that most fans are into already made "name brand players" but I get just as juiced off a draft pick that excels. After all the wasted picks and failures under Doc, SGA getting traded, and Jerome Robinson and Kabengele becoming busts I'm thoroughly enjoying this group of youngsters we came up on.. Mann and Hart included. And lets face facts, Kawhi and PG are great players but they don't move the needle for us, took a nose dive in the bubble, and they're looked upon as players who spurned the Lakers and Lebron. If Boston keeps on his current trajectory -Big If here- he's moving the needle and could potentially become box office like Blake did years ago.

[Clemenza]

he's got a long, long way to go before i'd call boston a baby KD lol

not that i would or wouldn't do a lillard trade, but at least would have to consider the implications of what goes in and out in said trade

it'd likely be some combination of reggie, serge, winslow, bledsoe, and of course boston outgoing to match lillard's 40m/year salary. and this is for a guy who is having a somewhat miserable year, and who will be paid 40/m a year for the next 3 years, when it's unclear if his struggles are just an anomaly or if they're the beginning of his decline.

a lot to consider there.


fwiw even if boston went supernova for the rest of the season, i would have an even harder time imagining they'd move him, because A. kawhi's obviously out and we need a wing stop-gap, and B. both he and keon johnson presumably were drafted to be heirs to kawhi and paul george. and even if boston shows up sooner, rather than later, that just makes this team all the more compelling while kawhi and paul george are still playing at a high level.

like, assuming boston becomes KD-lite (i mean sure why not reach for the stars lol), you know what's better than two, 2-way wing stars?

three of them. and that's not even counting mann and/or johnson's development as 2-way wings themselves. having an army of guys like these to deploy basically makes you matchup proof in the playoffs and is almost impossible to deal with.

anyway, don't really see us moving boston and right now i'm happy to see his growth and development as a player. it's also abundantly clear he brings an jubilation and exuberance to the team that is the kind of thing you love to see.

I agree.. If Boston were to be traded and continued to blow up into an all star on a different team our fanbase would be devastated as it would be a SGA 2.0 situation all over again. God knows we need a championship but also deep down I think fans love seeing something organic, homegrown, and built from scratch. Why else would Hinke and Philly's term of "Trust the process" became a thing and a cult favorite. The Lakers have Bron, AD, Westbrook, Melo, etc. and their fans are miserable. The Nets have KD, Harden, and Kyrie.. miserable and they have it twenty times worse than us by being the "B Team" in their city. Lets fess up here, Kawhi doesn't play or suit up that much for us. I love that he chose us and resigned with us but I honestly don't know if he's going to help us in the long run or not. I certainly hope so but everything is a big question mark with a guy like that. The bubble debacle happened and we were all beyond miserable. But I guess some want yet another superstar who commands $40 plus million a year and is now injury prone and can't get his 15-20 points a game off the free throw line to inflate his totals like he normally would. Despite championships fans just want to see a guy ball out, bring some excitement, and give them a reason to come out to the arena and spend their hard earned money.

[PerkinsFor3]

Hi. Quick reality check. Reggie, Winslow, Ibaka, Bledsoe all are quite **** trade pieces. Let alone for Dame, who's not even available. Boston is really nice but doesn't move the needle really in such an offer.

[MartinToVaught]

There's a couple players on this team who I'd be just fine with trading. Boston is not one of them, and it's crazy that some people are actually suggesting it. Just relax and enjoy his development, FFS.

[Vae Victus]

There's a couple players on this team who I'd be just fine with trading. Boston is not one of them, and it's crazy that some people are actually suggesting it. Just relax and enjoy his development, FFS.

100% agree

Also with how injury prone both Kawhi and PG13 is starting to become, we need a lengthy spry forward to soak minutes, and who knows, maybe Boston can become a good defender too with more development.

No point trading him now. Who knows, he might blow up to MPJ level of offensive brilliance and we get to keep him for cheap due to being a SRP with his RFA rights.

Now it would be interesting to see what we could get in a Bledsoe + Boston package next offseason.

[Dynamix]

There's a couple players on this team who I'd be just fine with trading. Boston is not one of them, and it's crazy that some people are actually suggesting it. Just relax and enjoy his development, FFS.

100% agree
...
Now it would be interesting to see what we could get in a Bledsoe + Boston package next offseason.

So not really 100%.

Not only do I hope Boston continues his development and sticks around, I'm going to be extra greedy and wish that at least one of Scrubb/Johnson/Preston can also become a rotational piece for us.

[Max Headrom]

Dame is probably the most overrated player in the league at this point...

[clipsfever]

We've played the fewest road games in the league, I believe.

If PG13's elbow is a serious issue, we're sellers not buyers at some point pretty quick anyway?

And if it comes to that, if we're selling off veterans and contracts and are playing mostly Zu, Mann, Kennard, Big Hart, Boston, Scrubb and Keon (maybe Preson to later in the year)... I have no problem watching that for the rest of the season

[madmaxmedia]

Realistically Boston isn't being traded anyway. We would overvalue him in a trade based on his early flashes so far, and other teams aren't going to offer significant present value for someone who is still almost completely unproven (despite the potential.) He could be great sweetener in a bigger package for a star, but we don't have any such base package to offer up.

Boston has a great frame for a wing with long wingspan. I don't know how high he'll eventually get, but I think his floor is pretty high (especially for a 2nd round draft pick) and he should be in the NBA for awhile. Just to have another young athlete with energy out there besides Terence Mann will be a great win for us at the 51st pick.

[nickhx2]

Realistically Boston isn't being traded anyway. We would overvalue him in a trade based on his early flashes so far, and other teams aren't going to offer significant present value for someone who is still almost completely unproven (despite the potential.) He could be great sweetener in a bigger package for a star, but we don't have any such base package to offer up.

Boston has a great frame for a wing with long wingspan. I don't know how high he'll eventually get, but I think his floor is pretty high (especially for a 2nd round draft pick) and he should be in the NBA for awhile. Just to have another young athlete with energy out there besides Terence Mann will be a great win for us at the 51st pick.

agree. it's really easy to just say "oh let's go get a third star" but realistically either we overvalue boston for good reason, or he doesn't do enough to "meet" the value of that third star. if he starts really balling out then the team's gonna want to keep him to build value or add value to the team. if he doesn't, other teams aren't going to want to trade for him. it's a polarizing situation.

i think his floor's pretty high as well. he moves around so naturally on both sides of the ball, so you kinda just wonder what he'd be like after he bulks up some and starts to really learn how to lock people up on defense. give this kid some power and he's gonna go places.

one thing that i'd been kinda praying for before his big game the other night, was to add another lights-out shooter such that we'd be able to have another gravity spacer of luke's caliber. i didn't really think that'd be boston but with this kid? seems like he absolutely could, and more, if he stays on track.

[Kelphus]

Boston's game against Boston swept me off my feet. But in two games since he has fallen back to earth, angel's wings are back in the shop. I think we just got a glimpse of what some seasoning will bring after another year or two. He'll have some more exciting games ahead. So much to learn.

[Clemenza]

Boston's game against Boston swept me off my feet. But in two games since he has fallen back to earth, angel's wings are back in the shop. I think we just got a glimpse of what some seasoning will bring after another year or two. He'll have some more exciting games ahead. So much to learn.

Agreed.. He knows what he can do on the floor and we all know what he can do out there but now its the consistency-night in and night out part is next up on the menu for him. You lit it up the night before but now you're right back at it in under 48 hours and now facing a new team with new defenders and they're hip to your presence. Now we see if you take the next step or not. I think he's probably still ahead of his time on the Clipper development timeline plus he's kind of crashed in on the other role players shine and minutes. You see Winslow is making sure he gets his shots now when he's in the game plus Mann and Kennard are starting to look like what we hoped they would become this season. They know the youngsters are coming on strong.

Boston now just has to scale and level his game up for a nightly basis and not just a single big flash type of game. I see him doing it though as he looks hungry and wants that stardom. He's gotta hit that weight room in the offseason as well. The team won't trade him as he has a high ceiling and they have to fully see what he can become before anything. Finding a diamond in the rough and a potential breakout player for cheap and basically nothing is a dream scenario for a team. We already have two $40 million a year guys not suited up currently right now and adding another $30-40 million dollar a year aging "star" who could become injury prone as well isn't the move anymore. Plus if you keep trading kids that seem to be meant for your franchise that bad karma starts to pop up and the basketball gods go against you

[madmaxmedia]

Boston's game against Boston swept me off my feet. But in two games since he has fallen back to earth, angel's wings are back in the shop. I think we just got a glimpse of what some seasoning will bring after another year or two. He'll have some more exciting games ahead. So much to learn.

Agreed.. He knows what he can do on the floor and we all know what he can do out there but now its the consistency-night in and night out part is next up on the menu for him. You lit it up the night before but now you're right back at it in under 48 hours and now facing a new team with new defenders and they're hip to your presence. Now we see if you take the next step or not. I think he's probably still ahead of his time on the Clipper development timeline plus he's kind of crashed in on the other role players shine and minutes. You see Winslow is making sure he gets his shots now when he's in the game plus Mann and Kennard are starting to look like what we hoped they would become this season. They know the youngsters are coming on strong.

Boston now just has to scale and level his game up for a nightly basis and not just a single big flash type of game. I see him doing it though as he looks hungry and wants that stardom. He's gotta hit that weight room in the offseason as well. The team won't trade him as he has a high ceiling and they have to fully see what he can become before anything. Finding a diamond in the rough and a potential breakout player for cheap and basically nothing is a dream scenario for a team. We already have two $40 million a year guys not suited up currently right now and adding another $30-40 million dollar a year aging "star" who could become injury prone as well isn't the move anymore. Plus if you keep trading kids that seem to be meant for your franchise that bad karma starts to pop up and the basketball gods go against you

Yes- while the other night shows us is that he is capable of dropping the occasional 20+ point game, he doesn't have to do it regularly to stay on the floor. If he can hustle, be a somewhat positive contributor on defense, and not turn the ball over, the inconsistency on offense will be acceptable (and to be expected given his age!) Actually the worst thing he can do is try to duplicate that performance every night, it would be like the line drive hitter in baseball who hits a few home runs, then starts swinging for the fences every at bat and ruins his swing.

I agree weight room and off-season development is what can eventually make him a consistent player, and that will take some time. But if and when that happens, he could become a key rotation-level player for us perhaps as early as next season.

[madmaxmedia]

The more I think about Boston, the more likely I think he will at minimum become a very good role player in the NBA and probably better than that. His ceiling is easily the highest of our young guys, and with development his floor will rise.

He has a great NBA body that will gradually fill out with age, with great length, wiggle, and overall athleticism. He has both confidence and work ethic in spades, and has a fundamentally solid shooting stroke. As a completely raw rookie he had no problem creating shots on an NBA floor, and the game was not overwhelmingly too fast for him even as a super raw rookie.

I think the big thing he just needs to develop is discipline in his game, I don’t mean in terms of court awareness so much as just awareness of needing a consistent execution and shot form to produce consistent results. Both Brandon and for example PG are able to create shots for themselves almost any time they want, but PG is so disciplined that ordinarily bad shots for other players are often good shots for him. I think Brandon right now is almost the exact opposite, hence his inconsistency and poor shooting numbers (he’s not PG of course, just using PG as an example.) In a somewhat different way, he’s also the opposite of a guy like Luke, who is a terrific shooter but may always be limited by usage rate.

Given Brandon’s age and work ethic I think this is just going to be part of his learning curve over say the next 2 seasons. At some point the light bulb is going to go on for him, and I am pretty sure by the end of that 2 years he’ll be a core piece of our team.

[MartinToVaught]

His breakout game against the Celtics is aging like fine wine as the season goes on.

[ejftw]

Preston is Preston, still wish we had snagged Ayo. Wish we also would have kept his rights, even before the injury, and let him run ACCO this year.

Man, do I wish we took Ayo even more now.

[nickhx2]

The more I think about Boston, the more likely I think he will at minimum become a very good role player in the NBA and probably better than that. His ceiling is easily the highest of our young guys, and with development his floor will rise.

He has a great NBA body that will gradually fill out with age, with great length, wiggle, and overall athleticism. He has both confidence and work ethic in spades, and has a fundamentally solid shooting stroke. As a completely raw rookie he had no problem creating shots on an NBA floor, and the game was not overwhelmingly too fast for him even as a super raw rookie.

I think the big thing he just needs to develop is discipline in his game, I don’t mean in terms of court awareness so much as just awareness of needing a consistent execution and shot form to produce consistent results. Both Brandon and for example PG are able to create shots for themselves almost any time they want, but PG is so disciplined that ordinarily bad shots for other players are often good shots for him. I think Brandon right now is almost the exact opposite, hence his inconsistency and poor shooting numbers (he’s not PG of course, just using PG as an example.) In a somewhat different way, he’s also the opposite of a guy like Luke, who is a terrific shooter but may always be limited by usage rate.

Given Brandon’s age and work ethic I think this is just going to be part of his learning curve over say the next 2 seasons. At some point the light bulb is going to go on for him, and I am pretty sure by the end of that 2 years he’ll be a core piece of our team.

i agree but what does it mean to fill out with wiggle lol