Victory Cigar!!! BOS 110 @ DAL 102 (16-2)

[SmartWentCrazy]

Smart really is a miniature Ben Wallace. It’s crazy how frustrating and impactful he is at once.

[Jakeopp]

Didn’t say they weren’t good. You said star. See above? I said good.

Keep trying.

Does that mean Giannis isn't a "star"? Rudy Gobert? John Wall?

Who put you in charge of these definitions?

Stars are rare. Curry. Harden. KD. Kyrie. Westbrook. Bron Bron. Guys who’ve won in big games and shown they are top dogs. Then you have the lower tier.

Nobody on the Cs is a star outside of Kyrie. Hayward is an excellent player but not a star. Not yet anyway. Can Jaylen and Tatum possibly get there? They might.

Nobody put anyone in charge. I just use common sense.
Possibly.

You seem to be confusing "star" and "superstar"

[Captain_Caveman]

Generally that's Cave's MO (no judgement,) he heralds a guy not championed and bashes a guy getting too much praise. I'm with him regarding Smart, but I don't get the Brown shade? It's like one day Cave decided the scale was going too far one way and threw his weight on the other balance. Can't take it personally. I think it is a bit irrational? Clearly Jaylen has improved both defensively, in his rebounding, and the consistency of his outside shot. I understand Brown has a ways to go to improve his handle and his ability to distribute the ball, but to begrudge Brown's growth is odd. I guess everyone needs someone to tie to the whipping post.

Watch on YouTube

My MO is telling the truth and being one of the most accurate mother **** on this board, if not the most accurate. Don't have binkies, don't have scapegoats, don't unduly skew my opinions to statistical production. Yeah, that will be stand apart when people have a guy rated too high or too low, as much of this place has with Jaylen and Smart, respectively.

Jaylen is shaping up as a bigger Avery. Don't get mad at me because he can't pass.

Bigger Avery is an all-star and a lazy take

That is shorthand for more detailed takes on the guy that I have said many times in the past. He's 3&D, with some slashing and some rebounding. He has poise and works hard. Smart guy, albeit not a particularly smart player on the floor. Just not a great finisher, and while good in a 1-on-1 vacuum with a fairly advanced skill set for that kind of game (and body), he's just not adept at team ball on either end. The last part is what will limit him to a guy who could make an All-Star team or two, rather than a guy who could make the leap to superstardom.

All in all, nothing to be mad about, unless you have unrealistic expectations. He was the correct pick at #3 in a weak draft that fell off hard after the top 2. I like him. He is useful and playing well. Tatum is a significantly better prospect, and Smart is a better player for now.

[Captain_Caveman]

Generally that's Cave's MO (no judgement,) he heralds a guy not championed and bashes a guy getting too much praise. I'm with him regarding Smart, but I don't get the Brown shade? It's like one day Cave decided the scale was going too far one way and threw his weight on the other balance. Can't take it personally. I think it is a bit irrational? Clearly Jaylen has improved both defensively, in his rebounding, and the consistency of his outside shot. I understand Brown has a ways to go to improve his handle and his ability to distribute the ball, but to begrudge Brown's growth is odd. I guess everyone needs someone to tie to the whipping post.

Watch on YouTube

My MO is telling the truth and being one of the most accurate mother **** on this board, if not the most accurate. Don't have binkies, don't have scapegoats, don't unduly skew my opinions to statistical production. Yeah, that will be stand apart when people have a guy rated too high or too low, as much of this place has with Jaylen and Smart, respectively.

Jaylen is shaping up as a bigger Avery. Don't get mad at me because he can't pass.

Not everyone who can’t pass isn’t another Avery. In that case Tatum is just another bigger Avery as well.

If Bradley could create his own stuff 1/5th as good as either of the kids he’d still be here

Tatum doesn't play a position where that is as expected. he is also 19yo and well ahead of Jaylen at the same age. Also a little more willing and able to pass. I don't think he is a playmaker per se, but he is not a ball stopper, and I wouldn't really consider that a weakness of his game. He's a pretty complete rookie.

[SMTBSI]

Does that mean Giannis isn't a "star"? Rudy Gobert? John Wall?

Who put you in charge of these definitions?

Stars are rare. Curry. Harden. KD. Kyrie. Westbrook. Bron Bron. Guys who’ve won in big games and shown they are top dogs. Then you have the lower tier.

Nobody on the Cs is a star outside of Kyrie. Hayward is an excellent player but not a star. Not yet anyway. Can Jaylen and Tatum possibly get there? They might.

Nobody put anyone in charge. I just use common sense.
Possibly.

You seem to be confusing "star" and "superstar"

You guys realize that every single nba fan has their own meaning for those words, right? This isn't an argument that can be "won". Like, ever.

[Captain_Caveman]

Generally that's Cave's MO (no judgement,) he heralds a guy not championed and bashes a guy getting too much praise. I'm with him regarding Smart, but I don't get the Brown shade? It's like one day Cave decided the scale was going too far one way and threw his weight on the other balance. Can't take it personally. I think it is a bit irrational? Clearly Jaylen has improved both defensively, in his rebounding, and the consistency of his outside shot. I understand Brown has a ways to go to improve his handle and his ability to distribute the ball, but to begrudge Brown's growth is odd. I guess everyone needs someone to tie to the whipping post.

Watch on YouTube

My MO is telling the truth and being one of the most accurate mother **** on this board, if not the most accurate. Don't have binkies, don't have scapegoats, don't unduly skew my opinions to statistical production. Yeah, that will be stand apart when people have a guy rated too high or too low, as much of this place has with Jaylen and Smart, respectively.

Jaylen is shaping up as a bigger Avery. Don't get mad at me because he can't pass.

Nobody is mad big fella. Just pointing out tendencies. You be you, man. If you are calling Jaylen a bigger Avery you must like him a bunch because according to you Avery was the best player on the team last year. Jaylen already has a better handle than Avery ever did so that's looking good, plus his outside shot is more consistent than Avery's early on.

But you are patronizing me, over something useless and pretty inaccurate.

I liked Avery. I like Smart, I like Jaylen. I even liked Olynyk, and yes, even IT too.

It's the rest of these dudes crying about how we are winning all these games right now, which among other things, is largely because of Smart's relentless competitiveness and outstanding crunch time defense. But but but shooting percentages! Are you **** serious? These guys need to get a glove and get in the game. The guy's not even a STARTER, ffs.

BTW, since you also liked to patronize me for saying that IT wasn't the dude to build around, I really do hope you enjoy the lesson in basketball I gave you there. I got **** for a couple of years just for telling the truth about the guy to a bunch of fanboys who built him up too much. Well, **** that. I was never wrong on IT. Not for a second, minute or a day. And now you know.

IT was fun but also fool's gold. We traded him for Kyrie, and even with a lesser/younger supporting cast with Hayward going down, we were already a much better team a week in. Substantially better on defense, and much ball movement as well.

So don't get mad at me now for saying Smart is better than being given credit for while Jaylen is not. It's just the truth. You'll get the news soon enough.

[BfB]

He is covering opponent's entire franchises in crunch time, you plebs.

Which is why he's so uniquely valuable and worth resigning.

That doesn't mean Boston's offensive possessions should so regularly result in a Smart jumper.

I feel like the Smart discussion has gotten too binary. He's either the worst offensive player of all time or he's a guy who singlehandedly wins games in the fourth quarter. The truth is somewhere in the vast, reasonable middle.

But no one on our bench can create in the least. Hayward was a huge loss there, and Smart stepping into that void.

That’s a huge part of his struggles this season. He is over-extending himself. You can tell he’s much more sped up this season - rushing his spot-ups, not staying balanced on his drives - these are all things he’s shown on a regular basis in past seasons

I don’t know what it’ll look like, but I bet things slow down for him at some point and he’ll play much better on offense.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[Writebloc]

My MO is telling the truth and being one of the most accurate mother **** on this board, if not the most accurate. Don't have binkies, don't have scapegoats, don't unduly skew my opinions to statistical production. Yeah, that will be stand apart when people have a guy rated too high or too low, as much of this place has with Jaylen and Smart, respectively.

Jaylen is shaping up as a bigger Avery. Don't get mad at me because he can't pass.

Nobody is mad big fella. Just pointing out tendencies. You be you, man. If you are calling Jaylen a bigger Avery you must like him a bunch because according to you Avery was the best player on the team last year. Jaylen already has a better handle than Avery ever did so that's looking good, plus his outside shot is more consistent than Avery's early on.

But you are patronizing me, over something useless and pretty inaccurate.

I liked Avery. I like Smart, I like Jaylen. I even liked Olynyk, and yes, even IT too.

It's the rest of these dudes crying about how we are winning all these games right now, which among other things, is largely because of Smart's relentless competitiveness and outstanding crunch time defense. But but but shooting percentages! Are you **** serious? These guys need to get a glove and get in the game. The guy's not even a STARTER, ffs.

BTW, since you also liked to patronize me for saying that IT wasn't the dude to build around, I really do hope you enjoy the lesson in basketball I gave you there. I got **** for a couple of years just for telling the truth about the guy to a bunch of fanboys who built him up too much. Well, **** that. I was never wrong on IT. Not for a second, minute or a day. And now you know.

IT was fun but also fool's gold. We traded him for Kyrie, and even with a lesser/younger supporting cast with Hayward going down, we were already a much better team a week in. Substantially better on defense, and much ball movement as well.

So don't get mad at me now for saying Smart is better than being given credit for while Jaylen is not. It's just the truth. You'll get the news soon enough.

In real life is your skin this thin? No one is patronizing you, you just create these windmills to tilt your lance towards. Whatever man if you need to take out your aggressions on a message board, free therapy, go for it. If you read the thread I fully agreed with regarding Smart, I'm not sure how much clearer I could make that?

If anything you should be able to see I read your posts closely, I know you thought Avery was the unsung hero of the team last year so when you compare Jaylen to Avery you are obviously high on him. There was no patronization, it was a light hearted tone. Maybe you've developed a bunker mentality, I don't know, I appreciate your knowledge. Believe me, I don't need you to rattle off your resume to me, I know it, I've read it. It's just a message board, I've been in a hazardous duty station, it doesn't resemble this whatsoever.

[tlee324]

Currently, Kyrie Irving is the ONLY player in the league in the top 10 in both defensive and offensive rating.

There are currently 7 Celtics in the top 10 in defensive rating.

I really don't give a huge credence to these stat-geek numbers, but when they favor the C's, it's looking pretty cool.

[tlee324]

BTW, since you also liked to patronize me for saying that IT wasn't the dude to build around, I really do hope you enjoy the lesson in basketball I gave you there. I got **** for a couple of years just for telling the truth about the guy to a bunch of fanboys who built him up too much. Well, **** that. I was never wrong on IT. Not for a second, minute or a day. And now you know.

I think Isaiah's hip injury was the bailout on that one. Had he been healthy, and had there been actual good offensive and defense players surrounding him, we'd have been pretty great with that. It's all hypothetical at this point, and not sure how you're claiming victory when none of it was proven.

Kyrie is better, of course, but that's not really a revelation. Making that trade doesn't make you right, and the team's current success doesn't either. Actually, I think we're obviously better with Irving, but placing a healthy Thomas in Irving's spot on this team would still make this team pretty great. Just opinions, though.

The argument early on was whether or not Thomas was playing at an MVP-caliber level. Many arguments ensued after that, but it was pretty clear he was playing at an MVP caliber level through most of last season and had some amazing games playing hurt in the playoffs, and his finishing in the MVP and All-NBA levels proved that correct, and proved all those who advocated for him as correct.

I'd still build this team around Kyrie over Thomas, I think most people would too, but it doesn't degrade him or make you correct on the dogging you were giving him, calling him a chucker and all those other wonderful labels.

Certainly doesn't justify claiming victory...never did.

Marcus Smart is the worst shooter of all time. Isaiah Thomas had the worst defensive RPM number, labeling him the worst defender in the league. Marcus Smart plays on a team with a top MVP candidate, two excellent young players, two big men who know how to play big, and Al Horford who is also at an all-star level right now. This current team can withstand Marcus' idiotically shameful shooting, and still benefit from his good traits. Last year's team, and previous teams, could not. Isaiah Thomas played with Olynyk, Zeller, and Amir Johnson as their big man rotation.... I think this current team is better than the last year's team. I also think this team currently has what I've been BEGGING for last year's team to get. Had we had what we have now, and a healthy Thomas, I think we beat Cleveland last year, or at least give them all kinds of hell.

But it's all a dream. It's all fantasy. We'll never know.

We can keep arguing though, if you want to, lol.

[Captain_Caveman]

BTW, since you also liked to patronize me for saying that IT wasn't the dude to build around, I really do hope you enjoy the lesson in basketball I gave you there. I got **** for a couple of years just for telling the truth about the guy to a bunch of fanboys who built him up too much. Well, **** that. I was never wrong on IT. Not for a second, minute or a day. And now you know.

I think Isaiah's hip injury was the bailout on that one. Had he been healthy, and had there been actual good offensive and defense players surrounding him, we'd have been pretty great with that. It's all hypothetical at this point, and not sure how you're claiming victory when none of it was proven.

Kyrie is better, of course, but that's not really a revelation. Making that trade doesn't make you right, and the team's current success doesn't either. Actually, I think we're obviously better with Irving, but placing a healthy Thomas in Irving's spot on this team would still make this team pretty great. Just opinions, though.

The argument early on was whether or not Thomas was playing at an MVP-caliber level. Many arguments ensued after that, but it was pretty clear he was playing at an MVP caliber level through most of last season and had some amazing games playing hurt in the playoffs, and his finishing in the MVP and All-NBA levels proved that correct, and proved all those who advocated for him as correct.

I'd still build this team around Kyrie over Thomas, I think most people would too, but it doesn't degrade him or make you correct on the dogging you were giving him, calling him a chucker and all those other wonderful labels.

Certainly doesn't justify claiming victory...never did.

Marcus Smart is the worst shooter of all time. Isaiah Thomas had the worst defensive RPM number, labeling him the worst defender in the league. Marcus Smart plays on a team with a top MVP candidate, two excellent young players, two big men who know how to play big, and Al Horford who is also at an all-star level right now. Isaiah Thomas played with Olynyk, Zeller, and Amir Johnson as their big man rotation.... I think this current team is better than the last year's team. I also think this team currently has what I've been BEGGING for last year's team to get. Had we had what we have now, and a healthy Thomas, I think we beat Cleveland last year, or at least give them all kinds of hell.

But it's all a dream. It's all fantasy. We'll never know.

We can keep arguing though, if you want to, lol.

OK, but here are some more facts.

Just as was stated many times by many posters, it was and is beyond obvious that IT couldn't last playing his style with his frame, yet you could get mocked to preposterous levels as recently as a couple of months for saying that he might only be worth a 4 year max *next* summer.

This happened over and over and over, and it is hard to have an honest conversation with people who don't have the honesty to admit that. Don't care if you like accepting that IRREFUTABLE TRUTH. In fact, I really hope you don't. You in particular were a completely disrespectful fanboy about what was pretty rational conversation, and now you need to eat it, period.

Mmm mmm good. Take a big fat bite lol.

[tlee324]

OK, but here are some more facts.

Just as was stated many times by many posters, it was and is beyond obvious that IT couldn't last playing his style with his frame, yet you could get mocked to preposterous levels as recently as a couple of months for saying that he might only be worth a 4 year max *next* summer.

This happened over and over and over, and it is hard to have an honest conversation with people who don't have the honesty to admit that. Don't care if you like accepting that IRREFUTABLE TRUTH. In fact, I really hope you don't. You in particular were a completely disrespectful fanboy about what was pretty rational conversation, and now you need to eat it, period.

Mmm mmm good. Take a big fat bite lol.

Like I said, you got bailed out by the injury, lol.

But again, none of the other stuff was actually proven. My position, particularly was that if healthy, and had there been an actual TEAM for Isaiah to play with, we'd have seen greatness.

If your only, and if the other critics' ONLY position were this injury position, you'd have had a point.

But you're using this injury thing to justify all the other arguments, which isn't valid.

[Captain_Caveman]

Nobody is mad big fella. Just pointing out tendencies. You be you, man. If you are calling Jaylen a bigger Avery you must like him a bunch because according to you Avery was the best player on the team last year. Jaylen already has a better handle than Avery ever did so that's looking good, plus his outside shot is more consistent than Avery's early on.

But you are patronizing me, over something useless and pretty inaccurate.

I liked Avery. I like Smart, I like Jaylen. I even liked Olynyk, and yes, even IT too.

It's the rest of these dudes crying about how we are winning all these games right now, which among other things, is largely because of Smart's relentless competitiveness and outstanding crunch time defense. But but but shooting percentages! Are you **** serious? These guys need to get a glove and get in the game. The guy's not even a STARTER, ffs.

BTW, since you also liked to patronize me for saying that IT wasn't the dude to build around, I really do hope you enjoy the lesson in basketball I gave you there. I got **** for a couple of years just for telling the truth about the guy to a bunch of fanboys who built him up too much. Well, **** that. I was never wrong on IT. Not for a second, minute or a day. And now you know.

IT was fun but also fool's gold. We traded him for Kyrie, and even with a lesser/younger supporting cast with Hayward going down, we were already a much better team a week in. Substantially better on defense, and much ball movement as well.

So don't get mad at me now for saying Smart is better than being given credit for while Jaylen is not. It's just the truth. You'll get the news soon enough.

In real life is your skin this thin? No one is patronizing you, you just create these windmills to tilt your lance towards. Whatever man if you need to take out your aggressions on a message board, free therapy, go for it. If you read the thread I fully agreed with regarding Smart, I'm not sure how much clearer I could make that?

If anything you should be able to see I read your posts closely, I know you thought Avery was the unsung hero of the team last year so when you compare Jaylen to Avery you are obviously high on him. There was no patronization, it was a light hearted tone. Maybe you've developed a bunker mentality, I don't know, I appreciate your knowledge. Believe me, I don't need you to rattle off your resume to me, I know it, I've read it. It's just a message board, I've been in a hazardous duty station, it doesn't resemble this whatsoever.

I'm here to talk basketball. You are here to talk about posters.

You said "no judgment" to me like repressed dudes say "no homo". OK, great... except you are clearly judging me.

You are the only person in the history of my experience here that I have blocked or will ever block. It's because I find you to be a self-appointed judge of other people's opinions despite not having a single clue about basketball. You don't get to judge me. I take dumps with more hoops knowledge than you.

[Captain_Caveman]

OK, but here are some more facts.

Just as was stated many times by many posters, it was and is beyond obvious that IT couldn't last playing his style with his frame, yet you could get mocked to preposterous levels as recently as a couple of months for saying that he might only be worth a 4 year max *next* summer.

This happened over and over and over, and it is hard to have an honest conversation with people who don't have the honesty to admit that. Don't care if you like accepting that IRREFUTABLE TRUTH. In fact, I really hope you don't. You in particular were a completely disrespectful fanboy about what was pretty rational conversation, and now you need to eat it, period.

Mmm mmm good. Take a big fat bite lol.

Like I said, you got bailed out by the injury, lol.

But again, none of the other stuff was actually proven. My position, particularly was that if healthy, and had there been an actual TEAM for Isaiah to play with, we'd have seen greatness.

If your only, and if the other critics' ONLY position were this injury position, you'd have had a point.

But you're using this injury thing to justify all the other arguments, which isn't valid.

I said that I didn't want to pay a 34yo IT $45m, but got bailed out because the predicted breaking down happened a couple of years earlier than I suspected it would?

That's cool.

[tlee324]

I said that I didn't want to pay a 34yo IT $45m, but got bailed out because the predicted breaking down happened a couple of years earlier than I suspected it would?

That's cool.

Shifting the goal posts. Sigh...

How many arguments did you and I have about paying Isaiah max money? Keeping him until he was 34? I wasn't even on board with paying him for more than anything over 3 years guaranteed.... You can check all the threads you want for that info, but I was NEVER on board with paying him whatever figure you just spit out.

Our beef was over the current season he was having, and what this team REALLY needed, as you blamed him for loses and gave other people credit for wins over his contributions. I still believe I was right; if we added to this team then what we have now, I think he's clearly going to be in a great winning situation, where he's not forcing it to 30ppg every night, and there's a better balance on both ends. But it's all hypothetical.

[tlee324]

lol, I really thought we were done with Isaiah talk... post whatever you're going to post, I'll reply tomorrow, enjoy.

[djFan71]

Man, after reading this thread I thought it was gonna be Marcus launching tons of horrible shots. But, he was our 3rd best player in this game. All his shots were good shots. They just didn't go in. But, after Kyrie & Jaylen, he was the only one making a difference out there. He attacked the zone on offense when nobody else was, played his normal elite D and made things happen. Everyone else, except maybe Tatum, was pretty passive or downright invisible out there.

Kyrie still smokes it, no way we win without him going off, but Marcus was a big part of W as well.

[Writebloc]

But you are patronizing me, over something useless and pretty inaccurate.

I liked Avery. I like Smart, I like Jaylen. I even liked Olynyk, and yes, even IT too.

It's the rest of these dudes crying about how we are winning all these games right now, which among other things, is largely because of Smart's relentless competitiveness and outstanding crunch time defense. But but but shooting percentages! Are you **** serious? These guys need to get a glove and get in the game. The guy's not even a STARTER, ffs.

BTW, since you also liked to patronize me for saying that IT wasn't the dude to build around, I really do hope you enjoy the lesson in basketball I gave you there. I got **** for a couple of years just for telling the truth about the guy to a bunch of fanboys who built him up too much. Well, **** that. I was never wrong on IT. Not for a second, minute or a day. And now you know.

IT was fun but also fool's gold. We traded him for Kyrie, and even with a lesser/younger supporting cast with Hayward going down, we were already a much better team a week in. Substantially better on defense, and much ball movement as well.

So don't get mad at me now for saying Smart is better than being given credit for while Jaylen is not. It's just the truth. You'll get the news soon enough.

In real life is your skin this thin? No one is patronizing you, you just create these windmills to tilt your lance towards. Whatever man if you need to take out your aggressions on a message board, free therapy, go for it. If you read the thread I fully agreed with regarding Smart, I'm not sure how much clearer I could make that?

If anything you should be able to see I read your posts closely, I know you thought Avery was the unsung hero of the team last year so when you compare Jaylen to Avery you are obviously high on him. There was no patronization, it was a light hearted tone. Maybe you've developed a bunker mentality, I don't know, I appreciate your knowledge. Believe me, I don't need you to rattle off your resume to me, I know it, I've read it. It's just a message board, I've been in a hazardous duty station, it doesn't resemble this whatsoever.

I'm here to talk basketball. You are here to talk about posters.

You said "no judgment" to me like repressed dudes say "no homo". OK, great... except you are clearly judging me.

You are the only person in the history of my experience here that I have blocked or will ever block. It's because I find you to be a self-appointed judge of other people's opinions despite not having a single clue about basketball. You don't get to judge me. I take dumps with more hoops knowledge than you.

If you are feeling "patronized" than that is a personal thing. I'm not here to judge posters, it's just you are ludicrously emotionally wrapped up in this site and your amazing knowledgeable bastketball posts that your poor little feelings get hurt JUST LIKE THIS!

My original point was on Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown. I stated (roughly) that you believe in Marcus' ability and his skill as a playmaker more than you give credit to Jaylen. Basically you seem to prefer Marcus to Jaylen. You hold Jaylen to a different standard - for whatever reason. That was it, all basketball. I threw in the no judgement for exactly this reason, so you wouldn't wilt like a three year old who is past their bedtime. But here we are, you melting writing to me how I make things personal after you bring out the vendetta machine.

The original post was trying to explore your thoughts on Jaylen Brown. Why you seem to be so hard on a 21 year old second year player who is contributing a lot to the Celtics and has demonstrated clear growth? You've turned it in to this sloppy mess - I didn't make it personal you did. Why don't you explore the contents of your feces to figure out how this exchange went wrong?

[Captain_Caveman]

I said that I didn't want to pay a 34yo IT $45m, but got bailed out because the predicted breaking down happened a couple of years earlier than I suspected it would?

That's cool.

Shifting the goal posts. Sigh...

How many arguments did you and I have about paying Isaiah max money? Keeping him until he was 34? I wasn't even on board with paying him for more than anything over 3 years guaranteed.... You can check all the threads you want for that info, but I was NEVER on board with paying him whatever figure you just spit out.

Our beef was over the current season he was having, and what this team REALLY needed, as you blamed him for loses and gave other people credit for wins over his contributions. I still believe I was right; if we added to this team then what we have now, I think he's clearly going to be in a great winning situation, where he's not forcing it to 30ppg every night, and there's a better balance on both ends. But it's all hypothetical.

My focus has always been on building a real contender, and not laying blame at the feet of a bunch of well-coached, overachieving tryhards like we had last year. FWIW, a lot of the long-term issues were salary cap ones. Other than the draft picks, we could not have *added* much to last year's team, when we were going to get a massive tax hit just trying to retain them.

As to IT, I think Stevens maxed out his utility just like he does with everyone else. IT had a green light to dominate the ball with a supporting cast that played his defense for him. Playing off LeBron, Cavs will only get half of the offensive goodness, while retaining all of his defensive badness. Yet another reason I don't think the Cavs are for real anymore. Adding the worst defensive player of this generation to a team already ranked last defensively? Yeah, that'll work.

[Captain_Caveman]

In real life is your skin this thin? No one is patronizing you, you just create these windmills to tilt your lance towards. Whatever man if you need to take out your aggressions on a message board, free therapy, go for it. If you read the thread I fully agreed with regarding Smart, I'm not sure how much clearer I could make that?

If anything you should be able to see I read your posts closely, I know you thought Avery was the unsung hero of the team last year so when you compare Jaylen to Avery you are obviously high on him. There was no patronization, it was a light hearted tone. Maybe you've developed a bunker mentality, I don't know, I appreciate your knowledge. Believe me, I don't need you to rattle off your resume to me, I know it, I've read it. It's just a message board, I've been in a hazardous duty station, it doesn't resemble this whatsoever.

I'm here to talk basketball. You are here to talk about posters.

You said "no judgment" to me like repressed dudes say "no homo". OK, great... except you are clearly judging me.

You are the only person in the history of my experience here that I have blocked or will ever block. It's because I find you to be a self-appointed judge of other people's opinions despite not having a single clue about basketball. You don't get to judge me. I take dumps with more hoops knowledge than you.

If you are feeling "patronized" than that is a personal thing. I'm not here to judge posters, it's just you are ludicrously emotionally wrapped up in this site and your amazing knowledgeable bastketball posts that your poor little feelings get hurt JUST LIKE THIS!

My original point was on Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown. I stated (roughly) that you believe in Marcus' ability and his skill as a playmaker more than you give credit to Jaylen. Basically you seem to prefer Marcus to Jaylen. You hold Jaylen to a different standard - for whatever reason. That was it, all basketball. I threw in the no judgement for exactly this reason, so you wouldn't wilt like a three year old who is past their bedtime. But here we are, you melting writing to me how I make things personal after you bring out the vendetta machine.

The original post was trying to explore your thoughts on Jaylen Brown. Why you seem to be so hard on a 21 year old second year player who is contributing a lot to the Celtics and has demonstrated clear growth? You've turned it in to this sloppy mess - I didn't make it personal you did. Why don't you explore the contents of your feces to figure out how this exchange went wrong?

Whatever, homie. You are being disingenuous as always. You are trying to paint me as a hater for defending one of our team's better players, and that's just asinine. I don't have Jaylen tied to the "whipping post". I am not in here hating on him all the time, just because I occasionally offer a balanced take on his potential. Not only is that is 100% not happening, the exact opposite is true in this conversation. Several dudes are openly hating on Smart all game, every game, even as he is regularly playing a major role in winning those same games.

So spare me the armchair psychoanalysis of what my M.O. is. Jaylen might catch Smart soon, but hasn't as of yet. I'm not even down on the guy so much as not drinking the same amount of Kool-Aid as some of you. Just as was true with a relatively similar player in Jeff Green, who like Jaylen, like you, but unlike Smart, did not understand team basketball.