Post#10 » by PrimeThyme » Tue Jul 1, 2025 11:02 pm
I've been a major critic of Weltman's rebuild at times. I thought, especially early on, there were a ton of growing pains with him learning the ropes and what it takes to run a basketball operation. Bringing on a seasoned GM like Hammond and having him bridge the gap between those growing years and where we are now, in hindsight, was smart, and sometime around the Vuc trade in 2021, I saw things start to click for Weltman, and it's almost impossible for me now not to give credit for building what is a championship contender.
We currently sit with the 6th-best odds to win the NBA championship in the entire league. That's built on the core of two drafted home-grown NBA superstars in Banchero/Wagner, a drafted all-defensive 3&D stud in Suggs, and an elite shooter who will be vying for an all-star game in the East in Bane, who are all 27 and under and locked up on (Paolo soon) long-term contracts.
I thought Weltman identified a weakness in the East after the Tatum injury and got ahead of every other team in the East by trading for one of the best players on the Market. With his remaining 1st, he still managed to get one of the best values in the draft in Jase and signed one of the better table-setting backup point guards in the league for 7/M, which completed an offseason that addressed almost all of our deficiencies and set our stars up for success.
Now, as it currently stands, despite how rocky it felt at times, Weltman has put together one of the best rebuilds of the decade so far and set his team up to compete for the rest of the decade in a wide-open East. We will see how the rest of the summer plays out, but to this point, I thought he has absolutely rocked the offseason in almost every area I was hoping for.
