I'd imagine a trajectory such as that is sustainable throughout his peak years as these numbers are consistent with what one would expect as he increases his natural strength, experience, and overall improvement during his peak seasons. This is who Kyrie is. We saw it in the playoffs the past two seasons ever those who didn't watch a lot of him during the regular seasons.
Yup. This is a team that is on the right track. They’re about to go through a brutal stretch but they’re good enough to surprise a few teams and they’re starting to take care of business against the bad to mediocre teams. Chances of them finishing bottom 5 or 6 just aren’t very good.
They lost to a mediocre Knicks team last night and I'm willing to bet they lose their next four games (@CLE, vs. GS, @HOU, @GS).They’re not so terrible anymore
With the Top 5 next year being some combination of Ayton, Bagley, Doncic, Bamba and Porter (assuming he rehabs well) what part of picks 4 or 5 don't you like?
This seems foolish. Yes, the Kings suck and will most likely suck in 2018/2019, but there are so many more worse possibilities with that pick compared to the 4/5 this year.
Beat me to it. And yes, Sexton has been a revelation so far (and the 3 on 5 game was sick) but if I'm wish-casting I'm going for Doncic or one of the 4 bigs.
Eh. Bulls and Hawks aside they only had 2 more wins than any other team and they have a difficult schedule coming up. They're on pace to win like 31 games before this tough stretch kicks in.They’re not so terrible anymore
Yeah, unless you think the 2019 draft is substantially better, I don't really get it either. You'd basically be banking on the Kings being a bottom 4 team, and even in that best case scenario, you'd still only have a 26% chance of that pick being better (2nd or 3rd), and that would come with a 14% chance of ending up with the likely non-lotto Sixers pick.
The scuttlebutt is that the one and one rule will not be in effect for that draft.
They aren't terrible, but they are still really bad and at this point, it appears that all of the bottom feeders (other than ATL and not including players lost to injury) have some talent on their team.
It was pretty widely regarded as a 5 player top tier once Bagley reclassified, and if the Lakers pick conveys the Celtics are in the luxury tax next year. Seems like the calculus was that after 5 the marginal value of pushing off the cap hit was greater than the delta in expected available talent by enough to offset the downside of having to wait an extra year for the pick.
I'd take Smart over Randle easily. Randle is a numbers hanger. He's so bad defensively that I think if he's ever on a playoff team, he gets the Kanter treatment and gets nailed to the bench.
Does it? I guess if there is a player on his rookie deal soon up for the max. The Celtics don't have salary to match in any deals. They almost have to keep the player they draft.
Morris, Brown, and Smart sign-and-traded at ~14-15 gets you within 20% of a max contract for salary matching rules.
I'm not sure how anyone can see it as anything but a possibility. If Danny can move in from IT, he can move on from Al
What would the odds be of Smart choosing the team (and the team choosing Smart) who also has the player we desire? The odds of all this coming together perfectly would seem pretty remote.
That you could end up with Brown as well could be enough to move the needle for some teams. Brown, Smart, and Morris give you a younh starting wing with high upside, and two starter/bench tweeners that can contribute meaningful minutes. For teams looking to rebuild, that's not an insulting package.
Depends on what his market is, he may be able to make more in a sign and trade than he would on the open market and still hit UFA at 27 or 28. Obviously a lot of moving pieces, but I was throwing it out there as one possible permutation to show what they can do with a little creativity. Likely a moot point anyway as the Lakers pick is a longshot to convey.
What the hell does Smart have to do with it? He’s restricted, if the sign & trade got him more money, which it will, he’ll happily sign on the line even if the destination were fucking Cleveland.
You've been beating the "there is no market for Smart" for like a year and a half now. Either there is a market in which case he would have to choose the one where the deal would be for the Celtics or there isn't a market in which case the team doesn't want to pay him $15m. You can't have it both ways......which is it?
That would have to be one hell of a player to move Brown and a top 5 pick for him.
He isn't trying to have it both ways. He's playing along with the scenario in which Marcus Smart would get more money in a S&T. In that scenario, Smart is going to sign with any team.
I think everyone else understands that in a Smart sign & trade for an all star the assets are Brown and the Laker pick and that Smart’s just the salary ballast. Because he’s restricted, there are about eight teams with any cap space, and a buttload of players available, Smart’s odds of getting an offer on his own are pretty remote.
It was just to illustrate they could make the salaries work, I agree there aren’t many targets that make sense. In fact I just went through the list of contracts and if you assume Davis isn’t being traded, there literally isn’t a single one that might realistically be available.
Yeah, but it has to be the "right" salary to make a deal work, for Smart to accept it and for the team to pay it to Smart on a long term deal, the right mix of players for both Ainge and the other GM agree that each is getting a great deal.....which doesn't even account for this fictitious All-Star player becoming available. That's a lot of "stuff" that has to happen perfectly.
Have any thoughts on Trae Young? It seems like people nowadays throw out the Steph comps for any smooth but slight and relatively unathletic point guard who can shoot, but from what little I've seen, Young really does have a preternatural feel for the game. Plus, along with his shot, he changes speeds really well to facilitate his excellent handle and finishes pretty well for a guy his size. That said, I feel like there's been a fair amount of guys like him in college who end up getting bullied at the next level and find out that being within squinting distance of Steph's shooting/handle/craft is still a long way away from superstardom. I have seen scouts putting him ahead of Sexton, with some putting him in their top five. His numbers are tough to ignore for a freshman though, plus he's a fun guy to watch, so I'm sure I'll see more of him.
If the Laker pick ended up in Philly hands, Trae Young is the guy they should be looking at. I imagine he has to be atop the Clippers' wish list too (given their likely mid to late lottery position). He definitely needs to bulk up in order to fit into the "all shots at the rim or behind the arc" game that coaches want from their point guards.
I would guess that Kidd wouldnt have waited until the second half of his career to become a three point threat. But yes, the late 90s version of him would be another great fit in today's game.
I'm sure Kidd would have figured it out if we are playing the time machine game; and even if he was shooting 30 percent from outside he could still be a fabulous player in today's game. The Kidd comparison are done because of his size and vision, but also because like Kidd he isn't a very good shooter. So even if he reaches his perceived ceiling of being Jason Kidd, that still doesn't make him as good of a player as Jason Kidd was, if that makes sense. I think if he can't shoot, his ceiling is lower than what a lot of people think because of the era of basketball he plays in.
Interestingly, box score metrics are unimpressed by Kuzma. He's a strong offensive player, but the stats say he's just as bad defensively. I'm not sure I buy that. It also doesn't really account for his recent usage jump while maintaining his efficiency. If he can keep that up, he can deliver value even as a terrible defender.
