Sophmores, 2020-21 – Langford, G. Williams, Edwards, Waters, Tacko

[zoyathedestroya]

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[sportfan6197]

Javonte Green

[BostonCouchGM]

Here are all the rookies drafted after Romeo Langford (20) who would be positive additions and in the rotation for the current Celtics: Matisse Thybulle (22), Brandon Clarke (23). Maybe Daniel Gafford (21). Luckily drafts are not graded in the first 700 minutes of a player's career. There just aren't that many guys who are useful to winning teams in their rookie season unless you're like Jayson Tatum or something.

and Sekout Doumbouya. But who really cares how rookies can help now? It's about getting the next Giannis, Siakam, Jokic or Jimmy Butler, not the next Jae Crowder or Taurean Prince which is what Ainge gets by drafting high floor low ceiling players. You can't keep passing on high upside guys year after year when you luck out and they're still on the board when you pick outside the lottery. That's what ends up forcing you to sign FAs and pay top money for the 2nd tier FA who aren't franchise players like Kyrie, Horford, Kemba, and Hayward

[Gant]

Tacko has a good chance to be a real contributor.

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[djFan71]

Here are all the rookies drafted after Romeo Langford (20) who would be positive additions and in the rotation for the current Celtics: Matisse Thybulle (22), Brandon Clarke (23). Maybe Daniel Gafford (21). Luckily drafts are not graded in the first 700 minutes of a player's career. There just aren't that many guys who are useful to winning teams in their rookie season unless you're like Jayson Tatum or something.

and Sekout Doumbouya. But who really cares how rookies can help now? It's about getting the next Giannis, Siakam, Jokic or Jimmy Butler, not the next Jae Crowder or Taurean Prince which is what Ainge gets by drafting high floor low ceiling players. You can't keep passing on high upside guys year after year when you luck out and they're still on the board when you pick outside the lottery. That's what ends up forcing you to sign FAs and pay top money for the 2nd tier FA who aren't franchise players like Kyrie, Horford, Kemba, and Hayward

Exactly. Romeo may end up a stud, but Grant and Carsen have really good role player ceilings due to their size. Which you can argue is fine for their draft slot, but I’d rather take the high upside guys.

[Bleeding Green]

Here are all the rookies drafted after Romeo Langford (20) who would be positive additions and in the rotation for the current Celtics: Matisse Thybulle (22), Brandon Clarke (23). Maybe Daniel Gafford (21). Luckily drafts are not graded in the first 700 minutes of a player's career. There just aren't that many guys who are useful to winning teams in their rookie season unless you're like Jayson Tatum or something.

and Sekout Doumbouya. But who really cares how rookies can help now? It's about getting the next Giannis, Siakam, Jokic or Jimmy Butler, not the next Jae Crowder or Taurean Prince which is what Ainge gets by drafting high floor low ceiling players. You can't keep passing on high upside guys year after year when you luck out and they're still on the board when you pick outside the lottery. That's what ends up forcing you to sign FAs and pay top money for the 2nd tier FA who aren't franchise players like Kyrie, Horford, Kemba, and Hayward

I'm with you, glad Ainge was able to grab high upside Romeo Langford so late. But getting the next Jae Crowder is a huge boon too. He was drafted 34th, if you get even a marginal rotation player there then you've done well, even better to be a starter on a 1 seed. Looking this draft, there just aren't that many high upside guys taken after Grant Williams even. Maybe Bazley, Kevin Porter, Bol Bol?

[31to6]

I feel as though we're just wasting Tacko's days with the 'big' club, am I wrong? What's his day count up to? Paging Zoya, Zoya on line 1 please

[Bleeding Green]

I feel as though we're just wasting Tacko's days with the 'big' club, am I wrong? What's his day count up to? Paging Zoya, Zoya on line 1 please

Wasting in what way? He only gets 45 days, may as well use them all when there isn't a game in Maine which is what I think they've done. I definitely don't ever want him on the floor unless it's a blowout so it's kind of hard to get him into the games, but just being around the team and being able to participate in some kind of practice has to be valuable.

[Red2]

Langford can’t even get in a game where we are missing 4 guys

[cloverleaf]

I feel as though we're just wasting Tacko's days with the 'big' club, am I wrong? What's his day count up to? Paging Zoya, Zoya on line 1 please

Wasting in what way? He only gets 45 days, may as well use them all when there isn't a game in Maine which is what I think they've done. I definitely don't ever want him on the floor unless it's a blowout so it's kind of hard to get him into the games, but just being around the team and being able to participate in some kind of practice has to be valuable.

I do believe Tacko missed a Claws game on the 25th and presumably some practices. It is clear the Brad has Grant in as the 3rd-string center ahead of Poirier right now (fair or not I am counting Rob as gearing up for some season-ending surgery right now), so even with Kanter out Tacko is 4th on the depth chart. I'd say every game he he is activated for and doesn't play is another game he Dan's be called up for, except we're on the backside of the season already and there aren't that many games left. I don't know what roster magic Danny is gonna pull to get all their committee of centers playing time next season if they are all healthy and which they all need--so I wonder who's not back. There's gotta be some shaking up at that spot.

[Bleeding Green]

I feel as though we're just wasting Tacko's days with the 'big' club, am I wrong? What's his day count up to? Paging Zoya, Zoya on line 1 please

Wasting in what way? He only gets 45 days, may as well use them all when there isn't a game in Maine which is what I think they've done. I definitely don't ever want him on the floor unless it's a blowout so it's kind of hard to get him into the games, but just being around the team and being able to participate in some kind of practice has to be valuable.

I do believe Tacko missed a Claws game on the 25th and presumably some practices. It is clear the Brad has Grant in as the 3rd-string center ahead of Poirier right now (fair or not I am counting Rob as gearing up for some season-ending surgery right now), so even with Kanter out Tacko is 4th on the depth chart. I'd say every game he he is activated for and doesn't play is another game he Dan's be called up for, except we're on the backside of the season already and there aren't that many games left. I don't know what roster magic Danny is gonna pull to get all their committee of centers playing time next season if they are all healthy and which they all need--so I wonder who's not back. There's gotta be some shaking up at that spot.

He's not good enough to play in any meaningful minutes at the NBA level is the problem. I don't recall the scenario on the 25th, was Theis or Kanter hurt? You don't need many bigs, but if Grant is the backup big going into the game, I'd say get Tacko to ride the bench in case of an in-game injury.

And for next year Kanter is probably gone, Williams is like a 40-60 games a year kind of player if we're lucky. One big is always hurt, at least this year. There are plenty of minutes to go around so I don't think it's an issue unless Kanter, Theis and Rob Williams are all on the roster and all healthy at the same time, which happens like 4 games a year.

[cloverleaf]

Kanter was hurt.

But Tacko sat and watched from the 24th, when Theis, Grant and Poirier have played as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd center options ahead of him.

If he's not good enough and he has 3, 4 or 5 options (depending on Enes and Rob's health) playing at center instead and ahead of him, he might as well be getting the time in with the Claws.

Speaking of Grant here are some great highlights of him playing very much not like a rookie:

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-celtics/2020/01/29/grant-williams-stats-highlights-heat-game

[Bleeding Green]

Kanter was hurt.

But Tacko sat and watched from the 24th, when Theis, Grant and Poirier have played as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd center options ahead of him.

If he's not good enough and he has 3, 4 or 5 options (depending on Enes and Rob's health) playing at center instead and ahead of him, he might as well be getting the time in with the Claws.

Speaking of Grant here are some great highlights of him playing very much not like a rookie:

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-celtics/2020/01/29/grant-williams-stats-highlights-heat-game

Yeah I'd rather he get the game minutes, but maybe they think he'll get more out of being with the Boston trainers and around NBA players and they want to use all 45 days of his eligibility. I'm not 100 pct on the rules, but he's only been active for 11 games so far with Boston, so presumably they have 34 days still to burn. He can still get like 30-40 G League games in for the season and probably play in another 4-5 NBA games including 30+ minutes in Game 82 if it is meaningless for seeding purposes.

Grant is going to be rounding into form when the playoffs hit, he'll be a top-7/8 playoff rotation piece. Since that game he made his first three, he's got a 59.2 TS%. Still not sure why he's such a terrible rebounder. There are better guards at rebounding.

[Red2]

Romeo had a nice left handed finish

[Gant]

Another good, 18 minute outing for Tacko. His footwork and quickness keep improving. I see he was 0-4 on free throws. If he hit them he would have had 20 points in his 18 minutes. (They shoot 1 free throw for 2 points in the G League this year.)

There's reason to be optimistic about Tacko being a contributor as soon as next season.

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[zoyathedestroya]

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[JmacBronco68]

Anyone know why Tacko only played 18 minutes? Did the other team try to take him out to the 3-pt line?

[rmal8852]

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I love the kid. SEC DPOY as a 5’8” guard....kid HAS to be fundamentally sound, and he is skilled and very heady.

Sucks that his contract is what it is, Because if it was a regular contract, we could MoveOn from crappy Wanamaker. Would rather have the kid in the lineup for the playoffs especially rather than that guy.

I wonder if he has been called up for tonight‘s game vs Sixers. Would rather have him in there against the Sixers than Wanamaker.

[Parliament10]

(Repost)
Maine Red Claws remain 2nd in their Conference.
20-8 record, or 0.714.

[Bleeding Green]

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I love the kid. SEC DPOY as a 5’8” guard....kid HAS to be fundamentally sound, and he is skilled and very heady.

Sucks that his contract is what it is, Because if it was a regular contract, we could MoveOn from crappy Wanamaker. Would rather have the kid in the lineup for the playoffs especially rather than that guy.

I wonder if he has been called up for tonight‘s game vs Sixers. Would rather have him in there against the Sixers than Wanamaker.

In the long run, his current contract is the best thing about him. If they had to sign him this year, he'd be playing spot minutes and you'd have wasted a year of his contract essentially. Now they can sign him in the offseason to a (hopefully) 4 year deal and he'll be an awesome third PG making basically league minimum. I'd rather have age 23-26 Tremont than age 22-25 Tremont (with Wanamaker taking some of the minutes his first season). He looks so **** good so soon, it's crazy he went 51.