the_process wrote:All they have to do is play Philly. Guaranteed win.
Yep, trolling the team I root for.
Boston fans: you just got yet another WS/SB combo. I realize you're spoiled beyond all rationality at this point... but does it matter what the Celtics do right now? Really? So the season is a wash. Come back next year, possibly with AD, and run it back.
Give me two titles in the same year and the other two teams could suck and I wouldn't care. But maybe that's just me.
There are several outcomes that turn REALLY bad quickly for Boston (I'm a Celtics fan)
1. Kyrie opts out and signs with either NY team / either LA team, BUT Horford opts in. Whether or not Boston can get Rozier on a fair deal like Smart has (because Rozier's value seems to have fallen off since 2018 playoffs), Boston is till down a max player, but with only ~$15M to re-sign any/all of the following: Rozier, Morris, Baynes, Theis + rookie cap holds + new UFAs.
2. Kyrie and Horford both opt out and sign elsewhere as UFA; this gives boston >$40M in cap space to replace/add from the same list of choices, except now they are down TWO max players.
Unless Hayward shows some tremendous recovery in the next 12 months, is AD even considering re-signing with Boston? To get AD, Boston would have to GIVE UP some combination of players/picks -- ironically, from the same pool of assets that makes them attractive to a player like AD. Any package would certainly including either Brown or Tatum, if not both... so if you're already down Irving or Irving/Horford, who is AD joining?
There is still a good deal of uncertainty around many of Boston's trade pieces.
Jaylen Brown: His trade value has to be significantly down since the 2018 playoffs. Brown was a knockdown 39-40% 3PT shooter last year as a full time starter in BOTH the reg season and playoffs... but this year he is below 32% and virtually all his advanced metrics are down slightly too. Even if he rebounds to have a great playoff and starts similarly next season, the rub becomes that he is entering RFA status in July 2020, so the Celtics or whoever gets him in a trade have to pay him immediately.
Draft Picks:
1. The once-lauded "SacraLakers" pick from the Tatum trade may not even be lottery (Sixers pick certainly won't be, but Kings might be headed for the postseason assuming Bagley's injury is truly just a sprain). Many were predicting top-10 or even top-5 lottery pick out of that for Boston.
2. The Clippers pick is lottery protected for the next 2 years and then becomes a 2nd, so not much value there.
3. Ditto for Boston's own pick being non-lottery
4. The Memphis pick might become great later because it is protected top-8 and top-6 before finally becoming unprotected in 2021. So will Memphis be "expected" to be bad enough for 2 more years to make that valuable in a trade that happens in the next 12 months? Maybe.
I don't doubt Ainge, but his job is never done. He has to keep picking good players and winning trades. Because of the free agency uncertainty and unknown development curve of their young players, Boston is nowhere near "locked in" to guaranteed success for the next 3 years. Five to six months ago it was looking like that was true as long as they stayed healthy.
