PG & GT#39 RAPTORS @ CELTICS on Friday, January 9th, 2026 @ 7 PM EST on SN/1050

[Duffman100]

Darko's obsession with Gradey is comical at this point.

His +/- is very misleading. He's an awful NBA player.

What obsession? He’s fallen out of favour this season anyone can see that.

He also is getting better in ways. Just way too slowly ha.

[MEDIC]

Darko's obsession with Gradey is comical at this point.

His +/- is very misleading. He's an awful NBA player.

What obsession? He’s fallen out of favour this season anyone can see that.

He also is getting better in ways. Just way too slowly ha.

He is getting slightly better at the things he was supposed to be bad at, but getting worse at the one thing he was supposed to be really good at.

[Tripod]

Levels.

Boston is a companionship calibre team even without Tatum.

I thought people on here were down playing Brown. Taking stats too seriously. You got to trust your eyes. I wouldn't mind Brown as a Raptor at all.

There was lots of "Siakam is better than Brown" when Siakam was a Raptor. But I think Brown has improved and also shown he has another level that Siakam doesn't have.

[MEDIC]

I don't even know what that means.

You don't enjoy watching players that are competitive & play hard?

For me, its not about the NBA. Its about watching people compete. In all levels of basketball and all levels of sports.

There is an appreciation for guys that work hard & give it everything they have.......regardless of skill. It shows character.

I have that same appreciation whether I am watching a high school game, college game, the olympics, Euroleague, NBA.......whatever.

Gradey is giving it his all. Competing to the best of his abilities. Do you appreciate that? : )

Is he? He looks very different than Walter out there on the defensive end. Walter is skinny too. Some people have that fight in them. Some don't. It's a mentality of aggression rather than fear.

If he is working as hard as he can, he is getting outplayed and outmatched every night & isn't ready for the NBA or NBA minutes. That makes it a coaching/ organization problem. Ideally, Gradey stays in College for 3 years, works on his game and his body. If this was the NHL or MLB, he would still be in the minors.

I could put a 10 year old on an NBA court & have him work as hard as he can (& I would respect that), but the truth is, he shouldn't be there. You need to be able to compete at the level that you are playing. Especially defensively.

I think if Gradey had done the work on his body early on (16 +), he would have been much more prepared for the league. If you look at RJ when he entered the league, he was physically prepared. RJ worked hard to make sure he was strong enough. Gradey relied too much on his mom teaching him to shoot. The NBA is a mans game.

If Gradey starts to look as strong as RJ, Martin, Shead when he is 23 years old, I will give him props for his hard work. Tmac completely changed his body by his 3rd year in the league. He looked like a new man.

[dTox]

Did no one brother to create a PG thread on this? Lol

[Duffman100]

Did no one brother to create a PG thread on this? Lol

Common on a Friday night.

[causal_fan]

From the box score, disappointed that Battle & Martin didn't get more minutes especially in an expected loss game.

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

There was a point in the game last night when the announcers referred to Gradey shooting this year as a bit of a slump. It feels so disingenuous, it’s been all season. The anomaly has been productive minutes. There’s something to be said for honest evaluation people can handle it and will be better for it. It’s annoying to be told not to believe what your eyes are seeing and that it’s actually something else. The post is fine without mention of politics.

Even with Wil Lou, admits he’s bias for Elijah tonight because he was on the show and talks about how it shows him deserving of minutes. But because Bobby comes on the show and the most important thing for Will is preserving the access, they will never mention the Gradey propaganda plan and unearned minutes, and the soo many overlapping shooting guards, he can’t actually mention what the issue is in why Martin was drafted before Shead, and can’t get a sniff of minutes despite how well he plays with 905. Gradey was a meh player in the g league and they pulled him out to save his confidence and reputation. We are constantly putting Gradey interest ahead of the teams and fans and I don’t get it? Is it because he’s white and marketable and has the Gillette deal? They really want him to be fun on TikTok’s but it’s hard when he’s not clearly an NBA level player.

There are opportunity cost to every unearned minute. I’m not a believer in showcasing to “fool” other teams. I’m starting to wonder if weaker front offices get played by agents and agencies.

I just want them to reward production and merit and win as much as they can.

[causal_fan]

How about the Celtics, in a year where they were forced to divest talent because of cap issues and their best player injured, the Celtics may make the NBA finals while the "ready to compete" with the BI trade Raptors are likely first round fodder.

[MEDIC]

I did the right thing and did not watch. I refuse to watch all Saltics games, they do nothing but spam 3s. It's not a style of basketball that I like to watch.

And they do nothing but crush us. Even without Tatum. Even with their no name draft picks who turn out to be good. Sign of an organization who is on a whole other level than the raptors.

This is exactly what I was saying in another thread. Elite organizations know what they are looking for in their players. They just know a Boston Celtic player when they see one. Scouting for the draft, sitting on the bench for another team, etc.

They stick with their principles. Stay true to their culture.

They find inexpensive talent that do what they need them to do.

The Raptors were good at iit for a time. Then they fell off the rails.

They need to get back to finding good two way players that have that dog in them & develop them.

CMB was an excellent start. Stick with it. Hopefully Bobby sees that and sticks with it. With the new tax laws, you can't strike out in the draft anymore.

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

Celtics are well coached and it’s about production over propaganda and that’s the main difference and the reason why it’s so consistent. Was that way under Ime, we were like that under Casey- Nurse and that overarching ethos can carry the level of teams and rub off on the players (no pun intended) hate the C’s tho.

[Son Goku 25]

How about the Celtics, in a year where they were forced to divest talent because of cap issues and their best player injured, the Celtics may make the NBA finals while the "ready to compete" with the BI trade Raptors are likely first round fodder.

One was a championship contender, the other has been a losing team last few seasons. It's easier to build those habits when you're a winner. Right now we aren't there yet and trying to get to our first step of being in the playoffs with this current squad.

[MEDIC]

There was a point in the game last night when the announcers referred to Gradey shooting this year as a bit of a slump. It feels so disingenuous, it’s been all season. The anomaly has been productive minutes. There’s something to be said for honest evaluation people can handle it and will be better for it. It’s annoying to be told not to believe what your eyes are seeing and that it’s actually something else. We see this play out in much heavier world events going on right now as US slides into 3rd world type governance and media.

Yeah. I heard Alvin say that. I was thinking "come on man". There is no way you believe what you are saying.

But......Alvin is also a good dude & is the type of guy to have players backs rather than tear them down, so I'll give him that.

[Boogie!]

I don't even know what that means.

You don't enjoy watching players that are competitive & play hard?

For me, its not about the NBA. Its about watching people compete. In all levels of basketball and all levels of sports.

There is an appreciation for guys that work hard & give it everything they have.......regardless of skill. It shows character.

I have that same appreciation whether I am watching a high school game, college game, the olympics, Euroleague, NBA.......whatever.

Gradey is giving it his all. Competing to the best of his abilities. Do you appreciate that? : )

Is he? He looks very different than Walter out there on the defensive end. Walter is skinny too. Some people have that fight in them. Some don't. It's a mentality of aggression rather than fear.

If he is working as hard as he can, he is getting outplayed and outmatched every night & isn't ready for the NBA or NBA minutes. That makes it a coaching/ organization problem. Ideally, Gradey stays in College for 3 years, works on his game and his body. If this was the NHL or MLB, he would still be in the minors.

I could put a 10 year old on an NBA court & have him work as hard as he can (& I would respect that), but the truth is, he shouldn't be there. You need to be able to compete at the level that you are playing. Especially defensively.

I think if Gradey had done the work on his body early on (16 +), he would have been much more prepared for the league. If you look at RJ when he entered the league, he was physically prepared. RJ worked hard to make sure he was strong enough. Gradey relied too much on his mom teaching him to shoot. The NBA is a mans game.

If Gradey starts to look as strong as RJ, Martin, Shead when he is 23 years old, I will give him props for his hard work. Tmac completely changed his body by his 3rd year in the league. He looked like a new man.

The weird thing is when they sent him down as a rookie and he sucked, they thought the best solution was to call him back up… it was a panic move for sure.

[bballsparkin]

I don't even know what that means.

You don't enjoy watching players that are competitive & play hard?

For me, its not about the NBA. Its about watching people compete. In all levels of basketball and all levels of sports.

There is an appreciation for guys that work hard & give it everything they have.......regardless of skill. It shows character.

I have that same appreciation whether I am watching a high school game, college game, the olympics, Euroleague, NBA.......whatever.

Gradey is giving it his all. Competing to the best of his abilities. Do you appreciate that? : )

Is he? He looks very different than Walter out there on the defensive end. Walter is skinny too. Some people have that fight in them. Some don't. It's a mentality of aggression rather than fear.

If he is working as hard as he can, he is getting outplayed and outmatched every night & isn't ready for the NBA or NBA minutes. That makes it a coaching/ organization problem. Ideally, Gradey stays in College for 3 years, works on his game and his body. If this was the NHL or MLB, he would still be in the minors.

I could put a 10 year old on an NBA court & have him work as hard as he can (& I would respect that), but the truth is, he shouldn't be there. You need to be able to compete at the level that you are playing. Especially defensively.

I think if Gradey had done the work on his body early on (16 +), he would have been much more prepared for the league. If you look at RJ when he entered the league, he was physically prepared. RJ worked hard to make sure he was strong enough. Gradey relied too much on his mom teaching him to shoot. The NBA is a mans game.

Don't let your dislike for a player blind you. Gradey is working hard. Will it help him have a successful career as a result? Stay tuned!

If Gradey starts to look as strong as RJ, Martin, Shead when he is 23 years old, I will give him props for his hard work. Tmac completely changed his body by his 3rd year in the league. He looked like a new man.

He quiet clearly is. He got his jaw knocked hard and you can see it clearly hurt him and he ran back hard. He knows his shots not falling and he needs to bust his ass or he won't get burn. How far Gradey has come defensively is impressive. Of course he had far to come and has far to go. Barnes himself said Gradey is asking the coaches to work him defensively in practice. Say what you want about Gradey but he's not dumb. He knows he can be out of the league and is working hard. I just found it funny because everything you typed could be said about Gradey.

Walter is skinny but he's not as tall as Gradey. He's more of a natural defensively and looks stronger out there. But Gradey is clearly working hard and giving it all he can. It's a tough league to crack.

[AreBe]

I did the right thing and did not watch. I refuse to watch all Saltics games, they do nothing but spam 3s. It's not a style of basketball that I like to watch.

And they do nothing but crush us. Even without Tatum. Even with their no name draft picks who turn out to be good. Sign of an organization who is on a whole other level than the raptors.

This is exactly what I was saying in another thread. Elite organizations know what they are looking for in their players. They just know a Boston Celtic player when they see one. Scouting for the draft, sitting on the bench for another team, etc.

They stick with their principles. Stay true to their culture.

They find inexpensive talent that do what they need them to do.

The Raptors were good at iit for a time. Then they fell off the rails.

They need to get back to finding good two way players that have that dog in them & develop them.

CMB was an excellent start. Stick with it. Hopefully Bobby sees that and sticks with it. With the new tax laws, you can't strike out in the draft anymore.

And this is exactly why the Raptors must resist the temptation or the calls to trade kids and picks for a geezer- never, ever works. Doesn't work for the Leafs. Doesn't work for the Clippers.

No good comes from trading kids and picks to win a round, maybe, in the playoffs. Get better today by trading away kids and picks to still not go far in the playoffs, and self-sabotage the future. Very LEafs like- let's not have the Raptors do that

[Basketball_Jones]

How about the Celtics, in a year where they were forced to divest talent because of cap issues and their best player injured, the Celtics may make the NBA finals while the "ready to compete" with the BI trade Raptors are likely first round fodder.

One was a championship contender, the other has been a losing team last few seasons. It's easier to build those habits when you're a winner. Right now we aren't there yet and trying to get to our first step of being in the playoffs with this current squad.

Bit like when we lost Kawhi and Danny following year. Celtics had plenty of guys coming up in their system riding the bench that can play now.

[ItsDanger]

People bitching about Darko playing Dick should turn their criticism to the front office. They made the pick. Now, like many coaches, is stuck playing him because there is a perceived investment currently. Looking more like a loss as time goes on. Window to trade at some value was this past summer. Now he might just be another reclamation project for another team. He doesn't look like the same player as in college for whatever reason.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

I still remember that one early season game thread Yogurt argued with me for pages that Ochai is a valuable rotation player that we should feature.

Martin has played one game and shown more

[MEDIC]

How about the Celtics, in a year where they were forced to divest talent because of cap issues and their best player injured, the Celtics may make the NBA finals while the "ready to compete" with the BI trade Raptors are likely first round fodder.

One was a championship contender, the other has been a losing team last few seasons. It's easier to build those habits when you're a winner. Right now we aren't there yet and trying to get to our first step of being in the playoffs with this current squad.

Bit like when we lost Kawhi and Danny following year. Celtics had plenty of guys coming up in their system riding the bench that can play now.

CMB is obiously one of those guys. Walter might be. I could see Martin making the team next year or after the trade deadline. Hepburn......if he can figure out his 3 point shot. All of those guys have one thing in common. They are dogs. They defend.

After that, we need size. Cupboard is bare in that area.

They have to hit on this draft though. Someone useful & ready to play sooner rather than later.