Gorman is only reporting what he's heard from sources we are not privy to. How is he losing it?
Celtics Regular Season thread
- Thread starter Cesar Crespo
- Start date
Amzing to me that some thought he was better than Lebron, at at the very least very close, when they were coming into the league. Not as crazy a drafting Darko though.
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It all could have been different in that way though. Carmelo is/was insanely talented and perhaps being the 7th man on that Pistons team would have changed his trajectory as an individual player.
People are forgetting (or maybe didn't see much of him) how awesome Carmelo was in Denver prior to the trade and during his one year at Syracuse leading them to a National Championship. The playoff run the Nuggets made to the WC Finals in his final year(?) there showed off his skills he was a monster. It's not surprising how this has played out in New York with awful teammates, awful management, and awful ownership over the year.
No, he's not LeBron.....who is? He was a Top 10-12 player in this league for a long time though and is going to make like a quarter of a billion dollars in salary alone when all is said and done. 99.9% of players entering this league would die for a career like Carmelo's. LeBron's off the court record has been spotless....I believe Carmelo has only had one brush with the law for a DUI in his early 20's.
I heard really good things about Melo's charities. It totally ruined hating him for me.
Yeah you said it. Carmelo was an absolute beast and was top 10 in the league for years. Maybe even top 5. 09 when they made the west finals he was incredible. Alas, defense and selfishness always held him back.
Crazy thing is, he wasn't even the 2nd best player drafted. That draft and 1984 are ridiculous. Where he is only 7 months older than LeBron, why do people predict him to fall off a cliff sooner?
edit: At least I think Wade is better, maybe it's not as cut and dry as I think it is though.
edit: At least I think Wade is better, maybe it's not as cut and dry as I think it is though.
Because he's only played more than 70 games 6 times in 14 years. And it wasn't because he was resting like LeBron. Plus LeBron is in amazingly good shape and Melo has a much plobbier build. That might just be genetics but I bet that feeds into it too.
I guess that's fair. I'd bring up Kobe and Pierce who both fell off a cliff at 34-35, but Kobe had 2 more seasons under his belt and the injury. Pierce is sorta build like Carmelo. It seems most NBA players lose a step right around 34-35 regardless though.
Don't forget about Melo's participation in USA basketball. It's not NBA Finals-level intensity, but he's not giving his body any time to rest in the offseason when he's playing for his country. Those extra miles add up.
I haven't watched a ton of Knicks basketball this year, as I value my sanity, but from what I've seen Melo is only interested in playing offense, and even if he did want to play D, he doesn't have the legs to do it. An uninterested guy with declining athleticism isn't going to all of a sudden buy-in and play good defense.
And then, you have to consider his salary. $25M? Say you're Danny and you can get him for next to nothing. I'm still not sure he's worth it because he's going to limit making other moves down the line. The C's would have $50M locked up in Horford and Melo. That's a little scary.
I haven't watched a ton of Knicks basketball this year, as I value my sanity, but from what I've seen Melo is only interested in playing offense, and even if he did want to play D, he doesn't have the legs to do it. An uninterested guy with declining athleticism isn't going to all of a sudden buy-in and play good defense.
And then, you have to consider his salary. $25M? Say you're Danny and you can get him for next to nothing. I'm still not sure he's worth it because he's going to limit making other moves down the line. The C's would have $50M locked up in Horford and Melo. That's a little scary.
I phrased that poorly. Not ot knock him. No Lebron he looks like one of the best #1 picks of all time, assuming the Cavs don't take Darko #1.
The prediction of Melo's decline is based, IMHO, because it is already upon us. He looks and moves older than Lebron, has declined more. Without doubt he has been a HOF player. Incredible scorer for along time. Watching Mello's pregame warmup while he wasw with Denver was one of the most humbling things I have ever experienced. He missed maybe ten shots in 15 minutes. At that size?
I would say his failure to compare to Lebron has more to do with LBJ's ability to meet the unreasonable expectations placed upon him, while Mello simply became a great player not a generational talent.
The prediction of Melo's decline is based, IMHO, because it is already upon us. He looks and moves older than Lebron, has declined more. Without doubt he has been a HOF player. Incredible scorer for along time. Watching Mello's pregame warmup while he wasw with Denver was one of the most humbling things I have ever experienced. He missed maybe ten shots in 15 minutes. At that size?
I would say his failure to compare to Lebron has more to do with LBJ's ability to meet the unreasonable expectations placed upon him, while Mello simply became a great player not a generational talent.
In the East are the Blazers a top 8 team? Top 6 team? Top 4 team?
What I am really getting at is that it seems these Celtics really play to the level of their competition. Sorry, no stats to back this comment, just an observation from watching every game, besides two or three, this year.
Last year the team had early leads and couldn't close out, that is what teams like the Bucks, with young unexperienced talent, do.
This year no matter what they do, take an early lead or trail the entire game, they make a come back in the fourth and if Isaiah doesn't make it happen they lose. They do seem to pull out the games versus the teams they should beat, but if it is a lesser team like the Knicks it seems 50/50.
What I am really getting at is that it seems these Celtics really play to the level of their competition. Sorry, no stats to back this comment, just an observation from watching every game, besides two or three, this year.
Last year the team had early leads and couldn't close out, that is what teams like the Bucks, with young unexperienced talent, do.
This year no matter what they do, take an early lead or trail the entire game, they make a come back in the fourth and if Isaiah doesn't make it happen they lose. They do seem to pull out the games versus the teams they should beat, but if it is a lesser team like the Knicks it seems 50/50.
Yankees / Red Sox
Auburn/ Alabama
Celtics/ Lak.....Black Uni Wizards?
This is the most unintentionally funny thing to happen in the NBA since JVG tried to break up that Knicks Heat Brawl
GE - Bringing Good Things to Life!
Celtics will announce tomorrow a comprehensive deal with GE that will include putting its logo on jerseys starting next season.
http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0615674020230076515-4
Celtics will announce tomorrow a comprehensive deal with GE that will include putting its logo on jerseys starting next season.
http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0615674020230076515-4
Still pretty funny. It's a somewhat meaningless regular season in mid January and the Wizards are acting like it is anything but that.
http://www.celticsblog.com/2017/1/24/14379056/boston-celtics-general-electric-ge-announce-jersey-sponsorship-wednesday
These don't look terrible and I don't mind the idea as long as they stay small and mostly blend in. I hope it isn't on the jerseys they sell to the public and I hope it means they start to cut out commercial breaks towards the end of games. I know neither of these things will happen but I can dream.
At least they aren't putting on a Sheinhardt Wig Company logo on...yet.
The Wiz added some arbitrary meaning to a game in the middle of the long haul of January, and the Cs inability to step up and show it to be nonsense reflects worse on the Cs than the Wiz.
They lost a game that they should have lost. Wizards have won 8 of last 10, and are 19-6 at home. And the Celtics are still without their starting shooting guard.
I REALLY mind the idea. These aren't soccer clubs who lack commercial breaks during broadcasts and do not have defined salary structure like the NBA's. Soccer clubs can always trot out the tired lines that the sponsorship money will be reinvested in the club and help keep ticket prices down. This is a pure cash grab by the owners in a league flush with revenue. Not as gauche as we see in basketball leagues around the world, but they clearly would be open to it if they could get away with it.
You would make a good Steelers fan. Celtics looked like dogshit last night. It was a terrible performance no matter how we try to rationalize it.
Whatever, but to laugh at the motivational technique of a team that beat you is the height of lame.
We can laugh at a team on roll? WTF?
Can you imagine even the Pierce and KG team at the end of their run, how they respond to that kind of shit? Let alone the truly great teams or players.
Well this did happen to Pierce & KG in the 2013 playoffs against the Knicks. Maybe that's what you meant. But game 5 Knicks dressed for a funeral and said that's where they were going and the old guys came in and kicked their asses. I loved that win so much!
Jae Crowder over the last 9 games: 34.3mpg .528/.453/.963 18.8pgg, 6.6rpg 2.4apg. For the year, he is at .488/.427/.906. Is his improvement in shooting for real and should the Celtics continue to make him a bigger part of the offense or should he go back to 4th wheel when Avery and Horford are back? It's also crazy just how much his stat line resembles Avery Bradley's.
Marcus Smart's last 18 games: 31.2mpg .360/.361/.879 10.5ppg, 3.4rpg, 5.1apg, 1.9spg. Would the board settle for a Marcus Smart who shoots 36/36/88 with 40% of his shots coming from 3 point range?
Marcus Smart's last 18 games: 31.2mpg .360/.361/.879 10.5ppg, 3.4rpg, 5.1apg, 1.9spg. Would the board settle for a Marcus Smart who shoots 36/36/88 with 40% of his shots coming from 3 point range?
In his 22 games since returning from his injury, Thomas is averaging 32.2ppg on .502/.422/.936 shooting. If IT4 plays the remainining 35 games this year, he needs to average 31.0 ppg the rest of the season to break the Celtics all time single season scoring record of 2338 points held by Havlicek. He needs to average 30.86ppg to beat Larry Bird's 29.9 point per game record.
Unreal indeed.
So, how huge is tonight's game? Aside from the obvious two game swing in the standings, Toronto is in a slump, and letting them come into the Garden and win might provide a spark, while a beatdown might prolong it for a while. Plus, with them being a likely second round playoff opponent, it would be nice to show everyone they don't have our number.
A win also likely sends Brad to the all star game as the eastern coach (Cleveland did it last year,same team can't back to back years) which can't hurt for building relationships with the best players in the league
No DD so I don't put too much stock in a Celtics win, but Stevens in all star game would be awesome!!
Coach Brad is going to coach the All Star game
4 years ago the Celtics were rolling out a starting 5 of something like Jordan Crawford, Avery, Gerald Wallace, Jeff Green, and Vito Faverani
4 years ago the Celtics were rolling out a starting 5 of something like Jordan Crawford, Avery, Gerald Wallace, Jeff Green, and Vito Faverani
Marcus Smart is 30/79 .380 from 3 point range since 12/23. He started the year 30/112 .268. During that same stretch, he is 43/125 .344 from 2.
.853 from the line.
.853 from the line.
What's far more impressive is that was only 3 years ago. 4 years ago was the last Pierce/Garnett season.
How are you counting? First year missed playoffs, year 2 swept by Cavs, year three lost to Hawks in 6, currently in year 4
Edit: I see how what I meant isn't clear from how I wrote it.
From Celtics blog (video at link):
Synergy has the Celtics ranked #1 in the NBA in post-up + passing situations. This includes the possessions where the post-up player passes out to a teammate who takes a shot. This ranking makes sense when you watch the Celtics, as they have some excellent passers operating out of the post.
Marcus Smart is capable of some creative passing, but the real key to this is Al Horford. Horford accounts for nearly half of Boston’s post-ups by himself. He’s solid at converting on his own, but he’s really shined passing out of the post. His patience and court vision make him an excellent playmaker. His passing out of the post has helped him average a career-high 5 assists per game, leading all Centers in the NBA. Per Synergy, he ranks 11th in the league in post-up passing, and that jumps up to 1st if you only include players with 50 or more of those possessions.
Synergy has the Celtics ranked #1 in the NBA in post-up + passing situations. This includes the possessions where the post-up player passes out to a teammate who takes a shot. This ranking makes sense when you watch the Celtics, as they have some excellent passers operating out of the post.
Marcus Smart is capable of some creative passing, but the real key to this is Al Horford. Horford accounts for nearly half of Boston’s post-ups by himself. He’s solid at converting on his own, but he’s really shined passing out of the post. His patience and court vision make him an excellent playmaker. His passing out of the post has helped him average a career-high 5 assists per game, leading all Centers in the NBA. Per Synergy, he ranks 11th in the league in post-up passing, and that jumps up to 1st if you only include players with 50 or more of those possessions.
I do, but they're going to have to actually beat the Cavs (at least once, preferably twice) to do it.
The amazing thing is they haven't had their full starting lineup healthy at the same time in what, 2 months?
Yeah, and you'd have to think Bradley would be a big shot in the arm when he returns. Him missing time had the added benefit of allowing Jaylen Brown to develop his game a bit and they desperately need a guy Jaylen's size to play D.
I think because they are so close to CLE the idea of a short-term deal/rental becomes slightly more feasible, depending on the player and specifics. The Celtics to my eyes looked like a bona-fide contender in the 3rd quarter of the Utah game.
How concerned are we about Bradley's Achilles injury? 17 out of 18 games missed. I'm getting worried that this lingers throughout the season.