Celtics General Thread 2019-20, "Re-Start"

[oldshoolballer]

How long are the league casuals going to continue pretending that Kemba isn’t an MVP candidate?

Not just Kemba playing lights out but the whole team not getting respect from the pundits.I still don't get the majority of media idiots anointing the Sixers or Bucks winning the east.The Celtics are right there imo.

[Dannyboy36]

Guys who else is tired of Enes Kanter and his non stop social media rants about his president and the regime he imposed. Can this guy focus on basketball more than politics ? For gods sake, he is making millions of dollars, in my opinion nothing more than a back up center off the bench. It just seems like he cares more about politics than actual basketball. He could get killed over this. I know it sucks how Turkey is under regime but the way he talks to as if he lived in North Korea. I have a lot of friends from Turkey and they flat out say he’s delusional. The only way his name stays relevant is if he uses these politics as his source of fame.

In your honest opinion, what do you think of him anyways as a player ?

I’d just not look at the Instagram. As a teammate I love the guy. He seems like s good teammate and a spirited player. I think I prefer the way our offense and d operates with Theis/ R. Williams but to be fair we haven’t seen much of Kanter with a healthy crew and won’t for awhile.

[itrsteve]

Had a quick look over our schedule, it seems a lot of our big games are on back 2 backs. Prepare for the “Celtics exposed” thread to get bumped.

I hate to be a doubter, but I don't see us sweeping that road trip. Any loss will result in a bump, two losses will equal at least 15 pages.

Guys who else is tired of Enes Kanter and his non stop social media rants about his president and the regime he imposed. Can this guy focus on basketball more than politics ? For gods sake, he is making millions of dollars, in my opinion nothing more than a back up center off the bench. It just seems like he cares more about politics than actual basketball. He could get killed over this. I know it sucks how Turkey is under regime but the way he talks to as if he lived in North Korea. I have a lot of friends from Turkey and they flat out say he’s delusional. The only way his name stays relevant is if he uses these politics as his source of fame.

I could be way off on this assessment as I don't know the in's and out's of immigration, visa's and such. But I have always assumed his constant lobbying (for lack of a better term) with public figures is to gain support, attention, contacts or whatever it takes to get his US citizenship pushed though since he's a wanted man in his home country. I have no idea what happens to his situation if he's out of the league.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I'm less-than-educated on the subject but it seemed like a logical conclusion. And if that's the case, then everything he posts is more than justified.

[Fencer reregistered]

Had a quick look over our schedule, it seems a lot of our big games are on back 2 backs. Prepare for the “Celtics exposed” thread to get bumped.

I hate to be a doubter, but I don't see us sweeping that road trip. Any loss will result in a bump, two losses will equal at least 15 pages.

Guys who else is tired of Enes Kanter and his non stop social media rants about his president and the regime he imposed. Can this guy focus on basketball more than politics ? For gods sake, he is making millions of dollars, in my opinion nothing more than a back up center off the bench. It just seems like he cares more about politics than actual basketball. He could get killed over this. I know it sucks how Turkey is under regime but the way he talks to as if he lived in North Korea. I have a lot of friends from Turkey and they flat out say he’s delusional. The only way his name stays relevant is if he uses these politics as his source of fame.

I could be way off on this assessment as I don't know the in's and out's of immigration, visa's and such. But I have always assumed his constant lobbying (for lack of a better term) with public figures is to gain support, attention, contacts or whatever it takes to get his US citizenship pushed though since he's a wanted man in his home country. I have no idea what happens to his situation if he's out of the league.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I'm less-than-educated on the subject but it seemed like a logical conclusion. And if that's the case, then everything he posts is more than justified.

Kanter has lived and worked in the United States for many years, doing work that it would be hard to find an American to perfectly replace. So, like any other athlete who consistently makes rosters at the top of a team sport, he surely has a straightforward path to becoming a naturalized citizen.

His advocacy is about the issues he says they're about. There aren't a lot of Turks who are celebrities in the US, so his evident opinion that he can make a difference in the attention his cause receives is certainly reasonable and, based on the evidence to date, actually correct.

The main sneaky/complicated/multi-agenda part I see or suspect is his close alignment with Gulen. Gulen is obviously much less bad than Erdogan, but he isn't as obviously a great guy himself.

[itrsteve]

Kanter has lived and worked in the United States for many years, doing work that it would be hard to find an American to perfectly replace. So, like any other athlete who consistently makes rosters at the top of a team sport, he surely has a straightforward path to becoming a naturalized citizen.

Understanding all of this, what if his basketball career ended prior to obtaining US citizenship? That's the part I'm admittedly ignorant on. I know they do green card visas on classifications like employment and extraordinary abilities (which he would fall under now).

But what if those criteria ceased to exist at the end of his contract? Would he have enough time to get it pushed through? Either way, that's why I always assumed a big motive is ponying up to elected officials is to help fast track his case versus using contemporary means to bitch about a government (see any celebrity on twitter).

I've always been concerned about him getting his citizenship because it seems like he's playing with fire a bit.

[Fencer reregistered]

Kanter has lived and worked in the United States for many years, doing work that it would be hard to find an American to perfectly replace. So, like any other athlete who consistently makes rosters at the top of a team sport, he surely has a straightforward path to becoming a naturalized citizen.

Understanding all of this, what if his basketball career ended prior to obtaining US citizenship? That's the part I'm admittedly ignorant on. I know they do green card visas on classifications like employment and extraordinary abilities (which he would fall under now).

But what if those criteria ceased to exist at the end of his contract? Would he have enough time to get it pushed through? Either way, that's why I always assumed a big motive is ponying up to elected officials is to help fast track his case versus using contemporary means to bitch about a government (see any celebrity on twitter).

I've always been concerned about him getting his citizenship because it seems like he's playing with fire a bit.

Ordinarily, I doubt he'd have problems. If you get a green card and keep your nose clean, citizenship seems to be smooth sailing.

On the other hand, he's hated and called a terrorist by a foreign leader that the US kowtows to. So he might face unusual challenges.

Anyhow, the reason he's in such trouble in the first place is that he opposes Erdogan. So I doubt he's opposing Erdogan for the purpose of getting out of trouble.

[Homerclease]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Carsen Edwards is a real one

[Roddy]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Carsen Edwards is a real one

No one should die so young.

[3D Chess]

Read on Twitter

C's getting love from ZL.

[zoyathedestroya]

538 has the Celtics favored in all but six games (@PHX, @LAC, @DEN, @IND, vs.PHI, @DAL) before Christmas. I think it's closer to favored in all but zero games, but whatever.

[100proof]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Carsen Edwards is a real one

That poor child.

Good on Carsen. Good man there.

[Bleeding Green]

Some apbrmetrics goober is calculating RAPM for the season here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTEw8dTnxzZ-z1ZNqWZKgL8pO1dYD9ffXESp2NKwTvwY1BVxGb7yCD2o6yPGT2vyCeTUtdRIBijLvOx/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true

10 games is pretty meaningless, but still fun to look at. Tatum #1 by a huge margin. Kemba is #1 O-RAPM (402 D-RAPM, though).

I doubt Jalen Brunson will finish the season above James Harden. Some of my least favorite players in the NBA at the bottom is nice to see (Marcus Morris, Brandon Ingram, LaVine). Being a Larry Nance stan is tough right now, though.

[cloverleaf]

Just because Erdogan is a bad guy, that doesn't mean Gulen, Enes advocates for, is a good guy. I don't actually like what he is doing with his schools in the US at all.

But at a time when it is rare for an NBA player to do his usual, single aummer camp for kids free, Kanter did dozens and dozens, all free, this summer alone.

So he fits in my "good guy in the NBA" category just fine.

[Fencer reregistered]

Tatum is shooting .391 both from 2-pt and 3-pt range. Kemba is actually shooting better on 3-pters than 2-pters, and happily has more attempts from long distance as well.

Those two guys and Brown are scoring 20+ ppg. Hayward no longer is, after settling for 9 in the game he left with injury, but his shooting percentages are terrific.

[zoyathedestroya]

Watch on YouTube

[Bill Lumbergh]

Watch on YouTube

It was a lot of fun. Too bad it ended. On to the next one.

[Fencer reregistered]

This Grant Williams play is smarter than it first looked. He backed AWAY from the basket and then kept repositioning to give a driving Kemba a passing lane to him for the dump-off. Walker's end of the play is good too.

Read on Twitter

(Copied this post to the Grant Williams thread. Mods please feel free to delete this copy if you choose.)

[Joshyjess]

If you look at the Victory Cigar's for this season (as voted by us, the fans), you'll see that Brown has 3, Tatum has 2, Kemba has 2, Hayward has 2, and Smart has 2. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about this team. The C's are playing as a TEAM. Every day a different guy steps up to be "that guy". We aren't depending on one guy, and that makes it a lot harder for other teams to know how to defend against the C's. Plus if one of our guys has a bad game (like shooting 1 / 18), we still have three or four other guys who can carry the load.

[CeltsfanSinceBirth]

I love how we are flying under the radar still. I prefer that other teams' fans' think the Celtics aren't any good, because they tend to talk more ****. More servings of crow to be served after every W.

[ThirtyFour]

538 has the Celtics favored in all but six games (@PHX, @LAC, @DEN, @IND, vs.PHI, @DAL) before Christmas. I think it's closer to favored in all but zero games, but whatever.

One down, 5 to go!