Around The League - Bill Walton passes from cancer at 71

[pifhluk23]

You don’t understand. He got his ass kicked by Jimmy Butler in games 4 and 5 last year. That defined his entire career and capabilities, even more so since Giannis and Khris were on the court with him.

I mean, what defined his career with the Bucks was his .476 TS% in the playoffs. He was so rarely stellar on offense that we got rid of him.

It’s really that simple. I don’t think people understand how hard it was to overcome that to win it all. The guy getting the 2nd or 3rd most shots couldn’t hit most of them no matter how open or where he shot them from. If we could’ve found a guy who could let Jrue be the 4th/5th option on offense, then hell yea we would’ve been better off.

But the roster was constructed the same way it is now, 3 top dogs with the rest being play finishers. We couldn’t keep him in that role and we really didn’t have a way to move him down. The Celtics were able to plug him into that role after all their moves. It was obvious he was going to thrive there.

This is the correct take. Imagine Jrue trying to create his own offense and taking 20-25 shots vs Indiana in the 1st round, my god would that have been embarrassing.

[Ron Swanson]

Forget even the idea of "putting the right young players" around Jrue/Khris/Giannis. We'd have another title if we, at any point in the 3-years since 2021, had this embarrassingly easy of a runway to the Finals that Boston currently has, our own injuries and all. It's getting obscene at this point.

[Gant]

After last night Jrue Holiday is up to 61.6 TS% in the playoffs this season. His playoff three point percentage is 42.9%. His usage is only 14.2%, which is down considerably from his Bucks years.

The Celtics are an unusually versatile team. Porzingis was the third option. He goes down and Derrick White becomes the third option and takes over the Miami series. Then White goes cold, so Holiday seamlessly fills the void and becomes the third option.

While contributing in other ways, Tatum has been less consistent offensively than you'd like from your top guy, but Boston's roster flexibility is making that unimportant in the East.

[raferfenix]

Middleton becoming unreliable (even aside from Giannis playoff injuries) is where I still think / hope Dame was the right call.

That’s aside from how it needed to be the call due to Giannis pressure.

Am way high on Jrue still and happy for him despite how much I hate the Celtics. What an insane luxury for them to have added Holiday that cheaply.

[paulpressey25]

Wish there was a multiversal hole I could fall into so I could see the Jruthers' forum reactions to another first round loss, looking at the prospect of re-signing Grayson and Jrue for $55 million a year, considering Giannis trades because he hasn't re-signed and was hurt for another first round loss, all while Adrian Griffin is still sitting and drooling on the sideline wondering why his players, the fans, and the opposing teams haven't shown up for their games for 2 rounds.

Giannis wanted another star next to him. We get that. It had to be done, just like Griffin had to be hired. We can do the is Giannis "GM LeBron" discussions here as well.

In hindsight, a scant few of us though would might rather have dealt Grayson and that 2029 first to Utah for Sexton, and kept Jrue, had that been an option. Or dealt Jrue in a different deal. The Lillard thing has to pan out next year, before he earns the $58 and $63 million in the two years after next.

[emunney]

I mean, what defined his career with the Bucks was his .476 TS% in the playoffs. He was so rarely stellar on offense that we got rid of him.

It’s really that simple. I don’t think people understand how hard it was to overcome that to win it all. The guy getting the 2nd or 3rd most shots couldn’t hit most of them no matter how open or where he shot them from. If we could’ve found a guy who could let Jrue be the 4th/5th option on offense, then hell yea we would’ve been better off.

But the roster was constructed the same way it is now, 3 top dogs with the rest being play finishers. We couldn’t keep him in that role and we really didn’t have a way to move him down. The Celtics were able to plug him into that role after all their moves. It was obvious he was going to thrive there.

This is the correct take. Imagine Jrue trying to create his own offense and taking 20-25 shots vs Indiana in the 1st round, my god would that have been embarrassing.

Eh, no, he would have bullied them just like he did last year with us. Maybe the one match-up where we wouldn't have been worse off with him rather than Dame.

[sidney lanier]

The Pacers are hit with a whammy
Now Hali goes down with a hammy
I don't mean to be crass
But sticking out of Celts' ass
Is the shamrock they got in Miami

[fan230]

We have no hope of getting deeper in the playoffs let alone a championship if we do not get to the elite defensive rating that we had in much of the Bud years.

Unfortunately Dame and the starting Sg are both extremely poor defenders. They would play a high number of minutes in games. Therefore I don’t see how we can contend for a championship??

Anyone has a realistic solution?

[soxperry]

We have no hope of getting deeper in the playoffs let alone a championship if we do not get to the elite defensive rating that we had in much of the Bud years.

Unfortunately Dame and the starting Sg are both extremely poor defenders. They would play a high number of minutes in games. Therefore I don’t see how we can contend for a championship??

Anyone has a realistic solution?

we currently do not employ a starting SG as Beasley is no longer under contract and almost certainly will not be signing for the vet min. given the fact that Doc went with Pat Bev at starting SG for the playoffs, we can definitely assume that whoever starts at SG next season will be competent on defense.

i'll say this.. If Andre can make himself a guy who can play 20 minutes in the post season, we are already well on the way to becoming what we need to become. A guy like that can shape the identity of a team with his passion and energy. He just needs to stay out of foul trouble and develop some semblance of offensive competence to keep defenses honest.

[BUCKnation]

The Celtics may reach the finals only playing their opponents top player for a total of 4 and half games

[fan230]

Yes Ajj would be good if he can develop his game in the way you say. Also he is tall, 6’6”; that is a crucial plus point for our starting sg in my opinion for defense purposes.

We would need at least one more good poa defender in the bench. Livingston with his 6 6 height and 6 11 wingspan may be ok; in fact, I have a feeling he could have the abilities of a starting sg. I liked what I saw of him in his Limited minutes. He was also given a three year contract by the Bucks.

A few years ago We had holiday and ddv, Holiday With his skills on offense and defense, and ddv With Skills on defense. That was a solid combination to have.

[soxperry]

The Celtics may reach the finals only playing their opponents top player for a total of 4 and half games

imagine if we could have had the Celtics playoff path last season and how differently things could have gone. Magic, Cavs, Pacers and a healthy Giannis... pff

[Fotis St]

We have no hope of getting deeper in the playoffs let alone a championship if we do not get to the elite defensive rating that we had in much of the Bud years.

Unfortunately Dame and the starting Sg are both extremely poor defenders. They would play a high number of minutes in games. Therefore I don’t see how we can contend for a championship??

Anyone has a realistic solution?

we currently do not employ a starting SG as Beasley is no longer under contract and almost certainly will not be signing for the vet min. given the fact that Doc went with Pat Bev at starting SG for the playoffs, we can definitely assume that whoever starts at SG next season will be competent on defense.

i'll say this.. If Andre can make himself a guy who can play 20 minutes in the post season, we are already well on the way to becoming what we need to become. A guy like that can shape the identity of a team with his passion and energy. He just needs to stay out of foul trouble and develop some semblance of offensive competence to keep defenses honest.

AJ Green is our starting SG , he is a nice defender as well.

Portis should start instead of Brook, so we stop playing the stupid drop defense completely.

The problem or blessing is that having Portis playing with the starters, we have the luxury to play Khris more minutes with the reserve. He can be more effective while Giannis and Dame sits. Of course Khris as a closer plays last 9 minites in the 4th quarter.

So the gap we need to fill is the SF minutes when Khris early sits... an athletic wing who defends well. Pat C is not him, I want him gone. Can AJJ play that role or Marjon ? I don't know ... they better work their @$$ off this summer to fill that role. If they are not capable, then a trade needs to happen, Brook,Pat, Marjon, on the trade block. In a ideal situation we add all the picks and we get Jerami Grant. Having Jerami Grant and Khris is a luxury cause we can potentialy slot Khris at the SG position in some lineups. If we cannot get Jerami or someone similar then we have to explore the GLeague, or overseas, cause in the draft unfortunately there is only Tristan Da Silva who will probably be drafted a few spots earlier. Fortunately there are alot of intriguing bigs that will be available and we will draft one of them in order to rest Portis and Brook and have competent defense from the 5 position. If Da Silva is not at #23 we need to search for the athletic SF I have been talking about. We need to develop him to play 20 minutes of relentless 3&d basketball. Other 28 minutes are for Khris. So to find this player on the cheap, is not super hard but it is a skill our GM Horst and whole front office talent evaluators don't have. I am sure there are at least 4-5 players in the GLeague who fill this criteria and a 2-3 in the Euroleague. Maybe Doc is better at talent evaluating, I don't know him that well. I know that Doc needs to change his VET LOVE ... his obsession to play Pat heavy minutes to "get him into shape" killeds AJJ's and Marjon's development. Overall we are in a good spot BUT I am terrified by the incompetence of our front office to find and develop talent. We are the worse in the league in that for the last 7 years or so.

[brettski]

Feels so pointless to me comparing Boston Jrue to Bucks Jrue. Here he was the point guard and 2nd or 3rd option on offense. Jrue's role in Boston is as the 4th or 5th option on offense and shares ball handling with everyone from White to Tatum. Everyone is going to have a higher TS% when you're in that position.

[Ron Swanson]

I don't entirely blame Jrue for his playoff struggles with us. He'd bust his ass even harder on defense and you just had to live with the trade-off of him having tired shooting legs, and the reality that he was always miscast as a +20% usage guy. Truly the Horace Grant of modern day point guards.

But what exactly are we doing here? He's at best the 4th-5th reason why Boston is waltzing to the Finals behind White, Tatum, Brown, immortal Al Horford, and injury luck allowing him the luxury of guarding Tyler Herro and a gimpy Tyrese Haliburton instead of any true #1 type dudes. Mitchell lit that ass up for 3-straight games before he got hurt. Dude, just like his team, has had it on easy mode these playoffs. I'm not gonna sit and accept these lazy confirmation bias narratives if/when he gets another ring when he's out here playing the role of James Posey. No one should have a single regret from moving on.

[trwi7]

Hard not to start getting 2021 Bucks vibes from the Wolves.

Bucks swept a team that beat them in the playoffs the year before. Wolves swept a team that swept them in the regular season. Both matchups gave Bucks and Wolves fans PTSD before the sweep.

Bucks beat super team in 2nd round in 7 games on the road. Wolves beat defending champs in 7 games on the road.

Bucks disappoint in game 1 losing to 5 seed. Wolves disappoint in game 1 losing to 5 seed.

[blazza18]

Luka is one of those guys who just scares the living daylights out of a defence every possession.

[RiotPunch]

Naz illmatic from 3

[RiotPunch]

Ant looking like a 22 year old so far this series.

[blazza18]

Naz saving them big time.