Around the NBA (and other Sports), 2025-26 – (Old Thread)

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Classic RealGm right here. Find someone that has "numbers go down:" and then make snide comments. Meanwhile ignore the many Sophomores whose numbers/game goes up. Brilliant!

Exactly my point. Pretty much all sophomores get better yet Jaquez is getting worse. So I'm curious as to why that's the case. I'm surprised that you don't find that odd as well. Especially considering he got all that sweet, sweet playing time which according to you is the panacea of player development and should have fast tracked his growth.

You spent all of last year lauding Spo for developing him the right way by throwing him a ton of minutes while calling Mazzulla a moron for not playing young guys. The result is in fact a guy that right now doesn't appear to be trending in the right direction. I think it's fair to question your theory in light of that evidence.

And saying Jaquez sucks now because Butler left just means it was never about Spo in the first place.

[ConstableGeneva]

With the loss to Phoenix, the 2025 Cavs became the first team in NBA history to follow up a win streak of 15+ games with four straight losses. Congrats to everyone involved!

[playa-hater]

Classic RealGm right here. Find someone that has "numbers go down:" and then make snide comments. Meanwhile ignore the many Sophomores whose numbers/game goes up. Brilliant!

Exactly my point. Pretty much all sophomores get better yet Jaquez is getting worse. So I'm curious as to why that's the case. I'm surprised that you don't find that odd as well. Especially considering he got all that sweet, sweet playing time which according to you is the panacea of player development and should have fast tracked his growth.

You spent all of last year lauding Spo for developing him the right way by throwing him a ton of minutes while calling Mazzulla a moron for not playing young guys. The result is in fact a guy that right now doesn't appear to be trending in the right direction. I think it's fair to question your theory in light of that evidence.

And saying Jaquez sucks now because Butler left just means it was never about Spo in the first place.

So much to unpack, not sure if it even worth it. But I will try.

Jaquez made the All-rookie team = Fact ..but you imply it was a mistake to play him..shame on Spo.. he should have sent him to the G league instead. So he would have had a better sophomore year. But thanks to Spo,Jaquez now sucks and is doomed forever to stay the same.

Clearly Butler had a huge impact on his teammates' production. Doesn't mean Spo doesn't deserve huge credit. Spo is universally considered one of the Best coaches in the Business. To diminish him in any way because of the J Butler-Pat Riley meltdown this season is almost beyond a response. If both Joe and Spo were available for hire, 100% (I believe) teams take Spo >Joe.

You say "Pretty much all sophomores get better" which is hyperbole. There are players with years of experience, not just sophomores who have worse years. and there are so many various reasons that can contribute to that. But clearly that doesn't fit your narrative.

Then you find one example of a "Sophomore slump" as evidence (BTW the term Soph. Slump has been around for ages, I wonder why?) yet you have yet to respond to players I have pointed out like Jalen Wells, Austin Reaves and even very late 2nd Rder, Toumani Camara (playing over highly paid Jerami Grant, Deni Avdija and other vets). How did that experiment go??

How has playing 3 years in the G-League helped JD Davison? Or J Walsh?

Last but not least, if you don't think "Real" Playing time is one of if not the biggest factors in development, then I don't know what else to say. But for the record a few other posters started to refer to Joe as "Joe Thibs". why am I not surprised??

EDIT - I do want to add that there are all sort of posters and Opinions on a message Board. That is to be expected. With that said it is obvious we are on opposite ends of this one. But I actually do consider you a very levelheaded and intelligent poster overall. That doesn't change regardless of your differing Opinion on this one.

[redslastlaugh]

Washington stretch 4/5 Tristan Vukvecic, selected 41 in the Jordan Walsh draft, has been balling in March.
Last four games he's scored 17,17,17,15 in 22 minutes a game.
Hes on a two way for the Wizards this yr and I'll be watching him this last month of the season. Could be a Brad Stevens FA target if we need a young, cheap shooting big next year.

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Classic RealGm right here. Find someone that has "numbers go down:" and then make snide comments. Meanwhile ignore the many Sophomores whose numbers/game goes up. Brilliant!

Exactly my point. Pretty much all sophomores get better yet Jaquez is getting worse. So I'm curious as to why that's the case. I'm surprised that you don't find that odd as well. Especially considering he got all that sweet, sweet playing time which according to you is the panacea of player development and should have fast tracked his growth.

You spent all of last year lauding Spo for developing him the right way by throwing him a ton of minutes while calling Mazzulla a moron for not playing young guys. The result is in fact a guy that right now doesn't appear to be trending in the right direction. I think it's fair to question your theory in light of that evidence.

And saying Jaquez sucks now because Butler left just means it was never about Spo in the first place.

So much to unpack, not sure if it even worth it. But I will try.

Jaquez made the All-rookie team = Fact ..but you imply it was a mistake to play him..shame on Spo.. he should have sent him to the G league instead. So he would have had a better sophomore year. But thanks to Spo,Jaquez now sucks and is doomed forever to stay the same.

Clearly Butler had a huge impact on his teammates' production. Doesn't mean Spo doesn't deserve huge credit. Spo is universally considered one of the Best coaches in the Business. To diminish him in any way because of the J Butler-Pat Riley meltdown this season is almost beyond a response. If both Joe and Spo were available for hire, 100% (I believe) teams take Spo >Joe.

You say "Pretty much all sophomores get better" which is hyperbole. There are players with years of experience, not just sophomores who have worse years. and there are so many various reasons that can contribute to that. But clearly that doesn't fit your narrative.

Then you find one example of a "Sophomore slump" as evidence (BTW the term Soph. Slump has been around for ages, I wonder why?) yet you have yet to respond to players I have pointed out like Jalen Wells, Austin Reaves and even very late 2nd Rder, Toumani Camara (playing over highly paid Jerami Grant, Deni Avdija and other vets). How did that experiment go??

How has playing 3 years in the G-League helped JD Davison? Or J Walsh?

Last but not least, if you don't think "Real" Playing time is one of if not the biggest factors in development, then I don't know what else to say. But for the record a few other posters started to refer to Joe as "Joe Thibs". why am I not surprised??

EDIT - I do want to add that there are all sort of posters and Opinions on a message Board. That is to be expected. With that said it is obvious we are on opposite ends of this one. But I actually do consider you a very levelheaded and intelligent poster overall. That doesn't change regardless of your differing Opinion on this one.

I don't think there is much point in us going back and forth on Jaquez, we'll just have to agree to disagree so I'll address the other points in your post.

I do believe Spo is a really good coach but I think he has managed to avoid some warranted criticism. The Heat have had a single 50 win season and eight below average offenses in the last decade so he clearly hasn't elevated his team's success in the regular season for a while (it's not like the teams he coached were devoid of talent).

Meanwhile Joe has had the Celtics playing at a top 3 level on both sides of the ball since the moment he got through the door while developing rarely used reserves into key rotation players (Hauser, Pritchard, Kornet, etc.). His resume is pretty air tight outside of that 2023 ECF (Spo has had a couple worse clunkers like the 2011 Finals). It's also worth noting that Mazzulla still made the right adjustment midway through that series by going smaller and starting White and that the series was tied before his franchise player got hurt.

I'm not sure I fully buy the Mazzulla only wins because he has so much talent at his disposal narrative. I think most people would agree that the James/Wade/Bosh Heat had more talent than this version of the Celtics yet in the Heatles era Spo had a 224-88 record (71.8% winning percentage) while Joe is at 172-62 for his career (73.5% winning percentage).


JD Davison has quite clearly gotten better every single season in the G-League so I'd say it has been quite successful for him. Now has he improved to the point he is a competent NBA player ? I'm not sure but I guess we'll find out next year in Boston or more likely elsewhere.

Jordan Walsh doesn't actually play in Maine though. He's stuck at the end of the bench in Boston doing nothing. I would rather see him get some minutes in the G-League and I agree that they don't seem to have a clear plan to develop him (unlike what they did for Hauser or Scheierman). It is frustrating because he clearly has some NBA traits.


The Joe Thibs thing is dumb and not rooted in reality (I've posted the numbers elsewhere if you care enough to find them). It says more about those posters than Mazzulla to be honest.

[playa-hater]

Exactly my point. Pretty much all sophomores get better yet Jaquez is getting worse. So I'm curious as to why that's the case. I'm surprised that you don't find that odd as well. Especially considering he got all that sweet, sweet playing time which according to you is the panacea of player development and should have fast tracked his growth.

You spent all of last year lauding Spo for developing him the right way by throwing him a ton of minutes while calling Mazzulla a moron for not playing young guys. The result is in fact a guy that right now doesn't appear to be trending in the right direction. I think it's fair to question your theory in light of that evidence.

And saying Jaquez sucks now because Butler left just means it was never about Spo in the first place.

So much to unpack, not sure if it even worth it. But I will try.

Jaquez made the All-rookie team = Fact ..but you imply it was a mistake to play him..shame on Spo.. he should have sent him to the G league instead. So he would have had a better sophomore year. But thanks to Spo,Jaquez now sucks and is doomed forever to stay the same.

Clearly Butler had a huge impact on his teammates' production. Doesn't mean Spo doesn't deserve huge credit. Spo is universally considered one of the Best coaches in the Business. To diminish him in any way because of the J Butler-Pat Riley meltdown this season is almost beyond a response. If both Joe and Spo were available for hire, 100% (I believe) teams take Spo >Joe.

You say "Pretty much all sophomores get better" which is hyperbole. There are players with years of experience, not just sophomores who have worse years. and there are so many various reasons that can contribute to that. But clearly that doesn't fit your narrative.

Then you find one example of a "Sophomore slump" as evidence (BTW the term Soph. Slump has been around for ages, I wonder why?) yet you have yet to respond to players I have pointed out like Jalen Wells, Austin Reaves and even very late 2nd Rder, Toumani Camara (playing over highly paid Jerami Grant, Deni Avdija and other vets). How did that experiment go??

How has playing 3 years in the G-League helped JD Davison? Or J Walsh?

Last but not least, if you don't think "Real" Playing time is one of if not the biggest factors in development, then I don't know what else to say. But for the record a few other posters started to refer to Joe as "Joe Thibs". why am I not surprised??

EDIT - I do want to add that there are all sort of posters and Opinions on a message Board. That is to be expected. With that said it is obvious we are on opposite ends of this one. But I actually do consider you a very levelheaded and intelligent poster overall. That doesn't change regardless of your differing Opinion on this one.

I don't think there is much point in us going back and forth on Jaquez, we'll just have to agree to disagree so I'll address the other points in your post.

I do believe Spo is a really good coach but I think he has managed to avoid some warranted criticism. The Heat have had a single 50 win season and eight below average offenses in the last decade so he clearly hasn't elevated his team's success in the regular season for a while (it's not like the teams he coached were devoid of talent).

Meanwhile Joe has had the Celtics playing at a top 3 level on both sides of the ball since the moment he got through the door while developing rarely used reserves into key rotation players (Hauser, Pritchard, Kornet, etc.). His resume is pretty air tight outside of that 2023 ECF (Spo has had a couple worse clunkers like the 2011 Finals). It's also worth noting that Mazzulla still made the right adjustment midway through that series by going smaller and starting White and that the series was tied before his franchise player got hurt.

I'm not sure I fully buy the Mazzulla only wins because he has so much talent at his disposal narrative. I think most people would agree that the James/Wade/Bosh Heat had more talent than this version of the Celtics yet in the Heatles era Spo had a 224-88 record (71.8% winning percentage) while Joe is at 172-62 for his career (73.5% winning percentage).


JD Davison has quite clearly gotten better every single season in the G-League so I'd say it has been quite successful for him. Now has he improved to the point he is a competent NBA player ? I'm not sure but I guess we'll find out next year in Boston or more likely elsewhere.

Jordan Walsh doesn't actually play in Maine though. He's stuck at the end of the bench in Boston doing nothing. I would rather see him get some minutes in the G-League and I agree that they don't seem to have a clear plan to develop him (unlike what they did for Hauser or Scheierman). It is frustrating because he clearly has some NBA traits.


The Joe Thibs thing is dumb and not rooted in reality (I've posted the numbers elsewhere if you care enough to find them). It says more about those posters than Mazzulla to be honest.

Although I certainly don't agree with many of your points at the very least. Most of your points are well-thought-out. And not the typical blah blah blah, like some posters use .

I think I'm at the point where I. Also agree to disagree. And hopefully, Boston and joe can win us a title.

Getting close and not winning is the most sufferable for me as a fan. We will see.

[sam_I_am]

In defense of Joe, he did play Walsh and Walsh did not produce. He has played Baylor and Baylor with the exception of one game has not produced. He did play Queta 2 years in a row and Queta has generally hurt the team despite producing.

In Miami, Jacquez was good his rookie season in SL, in training camp and when he played in games …. so he got to play some more.

In practice, the young developing players get to go up against Tatum and Brown etc. if they can’t get it done there…..why would anybody think playing them in real games will have some magical result? Force feeding minutes to guys who aren’t ready is overrated. It is critical for being a playoff contributor to have real game experience so when a player is ready …. for sure they need to play. We are seeing that with Kornet, Sam and PP.

[Triple7]

Damn Luka putting on a show. Lakers would have been down big if not for luka. Really gifted offensively. But if you can defend Luka, lakers are toast. No defense at all lol. 29 in the 1st half 7 3’s is insane. Not sustainable.

[Fierce1]

Laker team and individual defense is embarrassing.

Mavs were right in believing Luka is not a 70m per year player.

Luka is a liability on defense.
He's like a traffic cone on defense.

It's true the Mavs should have gotten more for Luka, but I don't think the Mavs were wrong in letting Luka go.

[doogie_hauser]

Justin Tatum (Jayson's Dad) has just coached the very small market Illawarra Hawks to an upset NBL Championship Finals series win over the major big City Melbourne United !!!

Justin has tears in his eyes in the final couple of mins on the sidelines.

In population and resource team, this would be like Portland beating the Lakers or Knicks in the NBA finals !

Deuce's GrandFather has really embraced Australia and esp the small but very tight Wollongong/Illawarra community !

Winning is in the Tatum family DNA !

How long before Deuce wins a chip ???

This was the same team Lamelo played in Australia before being drafted by the Hornets btw

[Triple7]

Laker team and individual defense is embarrassing.

Mavs were right in believing Luka is not a 70m per year player.

Luka is a liability on defense.
He's like a traffic cone on defense.

It's true the Mavs should have gotten more for Luka, but I don't think the Mavs were wrong in letting Luka go.

Lakera has 3 starters that’s liablity on defense. Luka, Lebron and Reeves. Lebron is such a ball stopper. Lakers played better with a luka reeves duo.

[Gant]

Cameron Tabatabaie‬:

Justin Tatum says his son Jayson and the whole Celtics squad were rooting for the Illawarra Hawks in the 2025 NBL championship.

A video clip of Justin Tatum talking about the Celtics supporting his team can be seen via the link below. Before they went on to clinch the ABL title, Justin says Jayson sent him a message to pass on to his team that the Celtics were watching their game and pulling for Illawarra:

https://bsky.app/profile/ctabatabaie.bsky.social/post/3ll2ll6az3224


Bobby Krivitsky:

Justin Tatum, who won NBL COY, helped lead the Illawarra Hawks to the NBL25 Championship. Before the game, Jayson Tatum sent the Hawks a message.

"That enlightened them a lot. 'Hey, the whole 2023-24 Boston Celtics is about to watch our game.' ...'If they can do it, we can do it.'"

https://bsky.app/profile/bobbykrivitsky.bsky.social/post/3ll2tjiirmk2z

[FlatearthZorro]

West is going to be interesting, there are 3 games between the 8th and 4th seed with ~11 games left in the season.

[FlatearthZorro]

Laker team and individual defense is embarrassing.

Mavs were right in believing Luka is not a 70m per year player.

Luka is a liability on defense.
He's like a traffic cone on defense.

It's true the Mavs should have gotten more for Luka, but I don't think the Mavs were wrong in letting Luka go.

Lakera has 3 starters that’s liablity on defense. Luka, Lebron and Reeves. Lebron is such a ball stopper. Lakers played better with a luka reeves duo.

That's true... LBJ hasn't actually put any effort into defense I'd say for about 6-7 years sans some playoff games here and there. That's always made it funny when people speak of LBJ's "longevity", while he plays pretty much only on offense.
And yes, the LAL are a poor fit together. They can score, but they lack defense and they have 3 ppl you can abuse.
We made Doncic look like a semi-pro in the Finals, cause he just lacks effort on defense(BIG time, he does a bunch of random stuff and at times confuses his team's defense).Aand yes, he's not a 70m per year player, but imo, Dallas would've gotten WAY more to rebuild their franchise even from OKC? Instead they still gifted a generational talent on offense for a washed-up, semi-interested in basketball ex star and a late first. This has to be the weirdest trade ever... It surpasses the long-discussed KG to Boston trade BY a MILE.

[ConstableGeneva]

Incredible factoid...



JT has 14 teams to go including against the Celtics.

[ConstableGeneva]

Anthony Davis is back and is resuming his season. Which makes everything Nico Harrison did alright. All is forgiven by Mavs fans now.

[Triple7]

Anthony Davis is back and is resuming his season. Which makes everything Nico Harrison did alright. All is forgiven by Mavs fans now.

Lol. Not really. They could have gotten a lot more than Christie and 1 pick.

[Triple7]

Trouble in LA haha. 2 straight losses at full strength lol. Nick wright even declared Lakers have better chance of winning than OKC. Stupid take.

[doogie_hauser]

I think we are starting to see signs that the Lebron/Luka duo is not going to work out for the Lakers (least in terms of them winning another chip)

LeBron isn't going to be happy or willing to play Robin to Luka's Batman imo. There could be trouble in paradise ahead

[phincsfan]

I think we are starting to see signs that the Lebron/Luka duo is not going to work out for the Lakers (least in terms of them winning another chip)

LeBron isn't going to be happy or willing to play Robin to Luka's Batman imo. There could be trouble in paradise ahead

Spurs should sign him