GT #3: Celtics @ Bullets 7 PM (MSN/980 AM)

[FAH1223]

YOUR Washington Bullets are 1-1!

The tank was put at a stop with the really short-handed Grizzlies on Saturday night. The Bullets got off to a huge lead and were able to withstand Memphis' 2nd half run to win the game.

On Monday, we see arguably our best player from last season, Kristaps Porzingis, and the new-look Celtics. Boston is still led by the Jays but Brad Stevens has revamped the roster with better top heavy talent at the expense of bench pieces from last year.

The last time the Cs were in DC was late March. A healthy Boston squad didn't show up with KP dropping 30 and Avdija scoring 25 (still wild).

A lot of green fans in DC on Monday night. Can the home crowd shut them up again?


-------------------------VS-------------------------


Projected Lineups :











Bench:

[mhd]

Gallo revenge game LOL

[JWizmentality]

This is going to be ugly.

[dobrojim]

What JWiz said. I would not enjoy being at the Vault and having to listen to C fans drown
out Wiz fans.

[nate33]

The Celtics are freaking stacked! They have the best defensive backcourt with White and Holiday AND arguably the best defensive forward tandem in Tatum and Brown. And Porzingis is a good defender in a drop coverage scheme (which they can play since White and Jrue are among the best in the league at navigating screens).

I really love the construction of that roster. On offense, Porzingis can stretch the floor from the 5, giving room for everyone else to slash. But you can't really counter by going small and switching everything, because Porzingis can post up any power-forward-sized wing masquerading as a center.

We're gonna get killed.

[TGW]

This is going to be ugly.

Yea if the game is within single digits by the 4th quarter, I'd be shocked.

[dckingsfan]

This is going to be ugly.

Yea if the game is within single digits by the 4th 2nd quarter, I'd be shocked.

Just helping

[Frichuela]

What JWiz said. I would not enjoy being at the Vault and having to listen to C fans drown
out Wiz fans.

Pray for me as I’ll be in attendance with my son and his Celtics friend…

Actually, we were also at Capital One last March when the tanking Wiz unexpectedly beat the Celtics with an awesome Deni and Porzinga performance, but now Porzinga plays for them…

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

This is going to be ugly.

LOL. I signed on to write the exact same thing

[mhd]

The Celtics are freaking stacked! They have the best defensive backcourt with White and Holiday AND arguably the best defensive forward tandem in Tatum and Brown. And Porzingis is a good defender in a drop coverage scheme (which they can play since White and Jrue are among the best in the league at navigating screens).

I really love the construction of that roster. On offense, Porzingis can stretch the floor from the 5, giving room for everyone else to slash. But you can't really counter by going small and switching everything, because Porzingis can post up any power-forward-sized wing masquerading as a center.

We're gonna get killed.

It is nice to have ownership who aren't complete cheapskates and willing to pay the tax. Cheapskate Turd Leonsis has been sucking off the teat of the taxpaying team for years.

Luxury tax bill for Boston:
2024-2025 (projected): 66 million
2023-2024: 39 million
2022-2023: 70 million

That doesn't even factor extending Tatum (a given), Holliday, and White.

[nate33]

The Celtics are freaking stacked! They have the best defensive backcourt with White and Holiday AND arguably the best defensive forward tandem in Tatum and Brown. And Porzingis is a good defender in a drop coverage scheme (which they can play since White and Jrue are among the best in the league at navigating screens).

I really love the construction of that roster. On offense, Porzingis can stretch the floor from the 5, giving room for everyone else to slash. But you can't really counter by going small and switching everything, because Porzingis can post up any power-forward-sized wing masquerading as a center.

We're gonna get killed.

It is nice to have ownership who aren't complete cheapskates and willing to pay the tax. Cheapskate Ted has been sucking off the teat of the taxpaying team for years.

Luxury tax bill:
2023-2024: 39 million
2022-2023: 70 million

To be fair, you can't really buy a contending team just by being willing to pay the luxury tax. You still need to draft championship talent (or trade for it). Ted can fairly say that he never really let money concerns prevent us from contending for a title because we were never anywhere close to title contention in the first place (due to our poor drafting and management).

We honestly don't know if Ted would open up the wallet to compete for a championship because we have never been in that position.

[mhd]

The Celtics are freaking stacked! They have the best defensive backcourt with White and Holiday AND arguably the best defensive forward tandem in Tatum and Brown. And Porzingis is a good defender in a drop coverage scheme (which they can play since White and Jrue are among the best in the league at navigating screens).

I really love the construction of that roster. On offense, Porzingis can stretch the floor from the 5, giving room for everyone else to slash. But you can't really counter by going small and switching everything, because Porzingis can post up any power-forward-sized wing masquerading as a center.

We're gonna get killed.

It is nice to have ownership who aren't complete cheapskates and willing to pay the tax. Cheapskate Ted has been sucking off the teat of the taxpaying team for years.

Luxury tax bill:
2023-2024: 39 million
2022-2023: 70 million

To be fair, you can't really buy a contending team just by being willing to pay the luxury tax. You still need to draft championship talent (or trade for it). Ted can fairly say that he never really let money concerns prevent us from contending for a title because we were never anywhere close to title contention in the first place (due to our poor drafting and management).

We honestly don't know if Ted would open up the wallet to compete for a championship because we have never been in that position.

He could have resigned Bogdonavich after the Wiz lost in 7 to Boston. Instead, he let him go and the Wizards lost needed depth. That was the only time he had his chance and he showed what a a Turd he is.

[nate33]

He could have resigned Bogdonavich after the Wiz lost in 7 to Boston. Instead, he let him go and the Wizards lost needed depth. That was the only time he had his chance and he showed what a a Turd he is.

That's a fair point. I don't think anyone truly thought that team had championship potential, but it's not unreasonable to expect the owner to pay a little luxury tax to hold together a 49-win team that was one game away from a Conference Finals.

As it turned out, it wouldn't have mattered because Wall's career got derailed by injury halfway through the following season. But Ted had no way of knowing that at the time.

[AFM]

Yeah, not sure if I'll tune into this one. Gonna be a bloodbath

[9 and 20]

Wiz win 141-116. Johnny Davis goes for 26.

[J-Ves]

Kind of crazy the Bucks trade for Dame helped make the Celtics stronger. I don’t know how anyone can look at this Boston team and not think they are championship bound (assuming they stay healthy)

[queridiculo]

The Celtics are freaking stacked! They have the best defensive backcourt with White and Holiday AND arguably the best defensive forward tandem in Tatum and Brown. And Porzingis is a good defender in a drop coverage scheme (which they can play since White and Jrue are among the best in the league at navigating screens).

I really love the construction of that roster. On offense, Porzingis can stretch the floor from the 5, giving room for everyone else to slash. But you can't really counter by going small and switching everything, because Porzingis can post up any power-forward-sized wing masquerading as a center.

We're gonna get killed.

It is nice to have ownership who aren't complete cheapskates and willing to pay the tax. Cheapskate Turd Leonsis has been sucking off the teat of the taxpaying team for years.

Luxury tax bill for Boston:
2024-2025 (projected): 66 million
2023-2024: 39 million
2022-2023: 70 million

That doesn't even factor extending Tatum (a given), Holliday, and White.

To be fair, putting myself in the shoes of Ted Leonsis, I wouldn't have paid a nickel of luxury tax dollars for any Wizards roster over the past 10 years.

The difference between the Celtics and the Wizards is not Washingtons unwillingness to spend money.

[mhd]

He could have resigned Bogdonavich after the Wiz lost in 7 to Boston. Instead, he let him go and the Wizards lost needed depth. That was the only time he had his chance and he showed what a a Turd he is.

That's a fair point. I don't think anyone truly thought that team had championship potential, but it's not unreasonable to expect the owner to pay a little luxury tax to hold together a 49-win team that was one game away from a Conference Finals.

As it turned out, it wouldn't have mattered because Wall's career got derailed by injury halfway through the following season. But Ted had no way of knowing that at the time.

And remember, they gave up a 1st to get Bogdonovich (really to get rid of Nicholson's AWFUL contract signed just months before). Turd doesn't care about wins. If he did, he would have paid the tax for that team. Even if it wasn't a contender, they were still good enough to get into the 2nd round as you said.

He's a complete cheapskate like I've argued before. The estimated total luxury tax bill for the taxpaying teams is roughly 500 million. That gets split 20 ways for the non-paying teams. That's a cool 25 million to cheapskate Turd.

[mhd]

The Celtics are freaking stacked! They have the best defensive backcourt with White and Holiday AND arguably the best defensive forward tandem in Tatum and Brown. And Porzingis is a good defender in a drop coverage scheme (which they can play since White and Jrue are among the best in the league at navigating screens).

I really love the construction of that roster. On offense, Porzingis can stretch the floor from the 5, giving room for everyone else to slash. But you can't really counter by going small and switching everything, because Porzingis can post up any power-forward-sized wing masquerading as a center.

We're gonna get killed.

It is nice to have ownership who aren't complete cheapskates and willing to pay the tax. Cheapskate Turd Leonsis has been sucking off the teat of the taxpaying team for years.

Luxury tax bill for Boston:
2024-2025 (projected): 66 million
2023-2024: 39 million
2022-2023: 70 million

That doesn't even factor extending Tatum (a given), Holliday, and White.

To be fair, putting myself in the shoes of Ted Leonsis, I wouldn't have paid a nickel of luxury tax dollars for any Wizards roster over the past 10 years.

The difference between the Celtics and the Wizards is not Washingtons unwillingness to spend money.

The team that lost to Boston in 7 at least had a chance to compete in the crappy EAST. Instead, he spent 1st rounders to not pay as much of a tax (Nicholson trade) and not resign Bogodonovich (who turned out to be an awesome. player and well worth the contracts he got from Indy & Utah). He turned out better than Porter ever did (and healthier). He could have spent and resigned Bogdonovich.

He trades away a younger Oubre for a washed Ariza. Oubre was a gunner, but worth way more than Ariza. Turd is a cheapskate. Just look at the practice facility that he lauds so often. DA has written in the Athletic how it is shabby compared to everyone else in the NBA. Other FO people quoted in that article talked about how it is substandard. Phoenix's new owner is building a state-of-the-art facility. Turd is crying about moving to Arlington.

[queridiculo]

It is nice to have ownership who aren't complete cheapskates and willing to pay the tax. Cheapskate Turd Leonsis has been sucking off the teat of the taxpaying team for years.

Luxury tax bill for Boston:
2024-2025 (projected): 66 million
2023-2024: 39 million
2022-2023: 70 million

That doesn't even factor extending Tatum (a given), Holliday, and White.

To be fair, putting myself in the shoes of Ted Leonsis, I wouldn't have paid a nickel of luxury tax dollars for any Wizards roster over the past 10 years.

The difference between the Celtics and the Wizards is not Washingtons unwillingness to spend money.

The team that lost to Boston in 7 at least had a chance to compete in the crappy EAST. Instead, he spent 1st rounders to not pay as much of a tax (Nicholson trade) and not resign Bogodonovich (who turned out to be an awesome. player and well worth the contracts he got from Indy & Utah). He turned out better than Porter ever did (and healthier). He could have spent and resigned Bogdonovich.

He trades away a younger Oubre for a washed Ariza. Oubre was a gunner, but worth way more than Ariza. Turd is a cheapskate. Just look at the practice facility that he lauds so often. DA has written in the Athletic how it is shabby compared to everyone else in the NBA. Other FO people quoted in that article talked about how it is substandard. Phoenix's new owner is building a state-of-the-art facility. Turd is crying about moving to Arlington.

That one time the Wizards almost made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, is that same sad sack persistent shoulda coulda woulda as the that one time the Wizards were the first seed at the All-Star break.

Neither of those teams were going anywhere, and the the Wall Wizards were kneecapped long before Bogdanovic trade.

This nostalgia over mediocre teams is #soWizards