Kemba Walker to Boston

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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If you Google Image search Kemba, it's really difficult finding pictures of him not smiling. That will be a welcome change. Let's hope it's as infectious as his predecessor's attitude turned out to be.
It was easier than I thought for me to warm up to Tatum, being a former player from my #1 hated college team.. Judging by his smiling reputation and seeing the SC comments, it is going to be even easier to warm up to this shining star from my #2 hated college team.
It's a strange world.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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Sep 27, 2016
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About a week or so ago there was a quote from Jim Calhoun that “Celtics fans will love Kemba”. Will not would. At first I thought it was just the way the quote was reported but now I wonder if this has been wink wink for a while.
I'm not buying into any narrative of how this went down until Game of Zones has their way with it. This is bullseye stuff for them.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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It was easier than I thought for me to warm up to Tatum, being a former player from my #1 hated college team.. Judging by his smiling reputation and seeing the SC comments, it is going to be even easier to warm up to this shining star from my #2 hated college team.
It's a strange world.
I'm a Syracuse grad - and I find myself rooting for players from UConn and Duke? Such is life.
 

Euclis20

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Thank you to my former teammates who showed me the way: Big Al, Gerald Henderson, Sagana Diop, D.J. Augustin, Ben Gordon, Derrick Brown, Chris Douglas Roberts (CDR), Troy Daniels, Reggie Williams, Corey Higgins, Matt Carroll, Brendan Haywood, Jason Maxiell, Jannero Pargo, Ramon Sessions, Courtney Lee, Gary Neal, Corey Maggette, Jeff Adrien, Tyrus Thomas, Boris Diaw….. the list goes on.
Quite the murderers row of mediocrity, that.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Apologies if I just missed this, but did we ever figure out the specifics of the Rozier sign-and-trade? Was it just a simple one-for-one swap of Rozier and Kemba? If so, why would the Celtics do that if they don't have something else in the works that would allow them to stay over the cap and keep the full MLE and other exceptions?
 

RedOctober3829

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Jul 19, 2005
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deep inside Guido territory
Apologies if I just missed this, but did we ever figure out the specifics of the Rozier sign-and-trade? Was it just a simple one-for-one swap of Rozier and Kemba? If so, why would the Celtics do that if they don't have something else in the works that would allow them to stay over the cap and keep the full MLE and other exceptions?
Ryan Bernadoni was wondering if Charlotte would be throwing another asset in the deal such as Willy Hernangomez.
 

lovegtm

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Apr 30, 2013
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Apologies if I just missed this, but did we ever figure out the specifics of the Rozier sign-and-trade? Was it just a simple one-for-one swap of Rozier and Kemba? If so, why would the Celtics do that if they don't have something else in the works that would allow them to stay over the cap and keep the full MLE and other exceptions?
My impression is that they need Brooklyn (or I suppose Philly with Horford) to cooperate on a S&T to keep the MLE. Think they’re negotiating with Brooklyn now, but not looking great.
 

Lazy vs Crazy

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Apologies if I just missed this, but did we ever figure out the specifics of the Rozier sign-and-trade? Was it just a simple one-for-one swap of Rozier and Kemba? If so, why would the Celtics do that if they don't have something else in the works that would allow them to stay over the cap and keep the full MLE and other exceptions?
There is no downside and it helps Terry so why not do it? It isn’t like the Hornets are going to be a playoff rival and this maybe helps fix some of the bad reputation Celtics management is getting with players and agents.
 

Bunt Single

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Aug 11, 2010
120
Dang, this quote from Kemba's Players' Tribune web site (linked above)?
I’m a leader in my own way. I’m never going to shout anyone off the court, or get overly negative. It’s not my style. But what I do is I take pride in making my teammates better — I’m that lead by example type. I like to keep it direct.
....
I'm tingling.
Can't wait for next season to start.
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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Apologies if I just missed this, but did we ever figure out the specifics of the Rozier sign-and-trade? Was it just a simple one-for-one swap of Rozier and Kemba? If so, why would the Celtics do that if they don't have something else in the works that would allow them to stay over the cap and keep the full MLE and other exceptions?
We didn't, it's unclear what CHA will be giving up
 

OurF'ingCity

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Why? It wouldn't give us any real cap space and we aren't in a roster space crunch

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Plus, Yabu's contract is one of the rare "salary filler" contracts this team has that could be used to match salaries in any future trades - they wouldn't want to give up that asset for no reason.
 

Nick Kaufman

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FWIW, I posted about this on the backwash forum, but the thread isn't visible to me when I am on the subforum. I was only able to see it today off the main page a few minutes ago. Can a mod look into it please?
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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Dec 16, 2010
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FWIW, I posted about this on the backwash forum, but the thread isn't visible to me when I am on the subforum. I was only able to see it today off the main page a few minutes ago. Can a mod look into it please?
Do you have the thread starter on Ignore?
 

Nick Kaufman

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It's funny because yesterday I was thinking I was bummed out about all the avatars missing and I was specifically thinking about how the avatar with the distressed Jets fan didn't make it through the board upgrade.

Now we know.
 

OurF'ingCity

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I don't think he's an NBA player, and I think we can spend that three million on someone who is.
Unfortunately that's not how it works - since the Celtics will be over the cap when all is said and done one way or the other, they wouldn't be able to use the three million they are paying to Yabu to sign anyone else. That's why Yabu is much more valuable as a trade piece, when the Celtics CAN go over the cap so long as salaries roughly match.
 

Bosox1528

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Dec 22, 2017
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538 actually has Kemba as being better than Kyrie over the next 5 years and significantly better next year, and that doesn't even include possible gains from being added to Brad's system. Huge fan of this signing. The Kanter signing... less so
 

mcpickl

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Unfortunately that's not how it works - since the Celtics will be over the cap when all is said and done one way or the other, they wouldn't be able to use the three million they are paying to Yabu to sign anyone else. That's why Yabu is much more valuable as a trade piece, when the Celtics CAN go over the cap so long as salaries roughly match.
This is exactly how it works.

Kemba is being taken into cap space in this scenario, so sending Yabusele out in the same trade would leave the Celtics with his 3.1M as cap space if they make their transactions in the correct order.

If they trade Yabusele/Rozier for Kemba first, then sign Carsen Edwards to the sliver of space they're saving for him, they could spend Yabuseles' 3.1M before re-signing Theis and signing Kanter. Kanter is an over the cap signing, so making him official goes last.

If they could push Yabusele on to Charlotte to open up a bit more salary to throw at a guy that's choosing among teams to sign for the minimum, I'd do that in a second.
 

benhogan

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Nov 2, 2007
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Ha...Cuse here too. Yet Kemba has always been one of my favorite non Celtics. Just always loved watching him play
add me to the Orange pack...too bad Cuse can't get anyone to stick, the flameout rate is high over the last decade

Lydon pack his bags for Europe yet?
 

benhogan

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Nov 2, 2007
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This is exactly how it works.

Kemba is being taken into cap space in this scenario, so sending Yabusele out in the same trade would leave the Celtics with his 3.1M as cap space if they make their transactions in the correct order.

If they trade Yabusele/Rozier for Kemba first, then sign Carsen Edwards to the sliver of space they're saving for him, they could spend Yabuseles' 3.1M before re-signing Theis and signing Kanter. Kanter is an over the cap signing, so making him official goes last.

If they could push Yabusele on to Charlotte to open up a bit more salary to throw at a guy that's choosing among teams to sign for the minimum, I'd do that in a second.
Cap wizard.
Yep, you're right because whomever you sign for Yabu's money you can still repackage (use as filler) on Dec 15th.

Use the $3.1M on Poirier? If he flames out, he's filler. If he's productive he's an attractive trade chip or the Celtics keep him.
 

TripleOT

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Jul 4, 2007
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I forgot that Kemba and UConn defeated Brad Stevens in the NCAA title game in 2011. Note to Stevens - 41 points in an entire game isn't going to get it done.
 

Moosey

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Jul 20, 2005
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That was an ugly game. At the time I couldn't believe Brad Stevens got Butler back to the finals after losing Hayward.

Regarding Kemba, he has always been electric to watch, and I could not be happier I get to root for him with this level of passion again (Uconn alum). I expect his overall numbers to go down, but his efficiency to go up, and for the J's to really enjoy playing with him. While Kyrie is the better player, Kemba will work with the system and team much better. Celt's record may not reflect it next year, but I think there will be real growth from Jayson and Jaylen that will help translate to their next championship caliber team.
 

lovegtm

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That was an ugly game. At the time I couldn't believe Brad Stevens got Butler back to the finals after losing Hayward.

Regarding Kemba, he has always been electric to watch, and I could not be happier I get to root for him with this level of passion again (Uconn alum). I expect his overall numbers to go down, but his efficiency to go up, and for the J's to really enjoy playing with him. While Kyrie is the better player, Kemba will work with the system and team much better. Celt's record may not reflect it next year, but I think there will be real growth from Jayson and Jaylen that will help translate to their next championship caliber team.
Is it obvious that Kyrie is better, age notwithstanding? The Hornets offense was almost as good as the Celtics’ last year, with far inferior personnel. Kyrie is a better midrange guy, but Kemba does a better job stretching the defense out to the 3-point line and keeping the ball middle, which has nice ripple effects.
 

bowiac

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Is it obvious that Kyrie is better, age notwithstanding? The Hornets offense was almost as good as the Celtics’ last year, with far inferior personnel. Kyrie is a better midrange guy, but Kemba does a better job stretching the defense out to the 3-point line and keeping the ball middle, which has nice ripple effects.
Not obvious. They've graded about the same lately in most metrics. Kyrie has a rep for being able to take it up a level in the playoffs, and has better defensive tools just by being bigger, but those are both pretty hand wavy.
 

Kliq

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Not obvious. They've graded about the same lately in most metrics. Kyrie has a rep for being able to take it up a level in the playoffs, and has better defensive tools just by being bigger, but those are both pretty hand wavy.
Is it strange that Kyrie has been basically the same player since he was 20? His averages and shooting percentage are basically identical since his second season, with a small uptick in scoring over the last three seasons. Typically, an elite player should be making a leap during their 24-27 seasons, but Kyrie never seemed to really make that leap; part of the reason being that he was already close to an elite level player when he was 20. Walker on the other hand, has gotten noticeably better since his first few seasons, and continues to show year-to-year improvement despite the fact that he was 21 during his rookie season.
 

bowiac

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Agree, it's a pretty unusual. It's mostly a testament to how good Kyrie was immediately - rookies typically struggle, and rookie point guards typically struggle more than most. Kyrie came in and was basically immediately a very good player.
 

Kliq

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Agree, it's a pretty unusual. It's mostly a testament to how good Kyrie was immediately - rookies typically struggle, and rookie point guards typically struggle more than most. Kyrie came in and was basically immediately a very good player.
Maybe it is unfair to Kyrie, but couldn't it be seen as a slight against him? Kyrie has always been considered one of the most TALENTED guys in the league, and you would think a guy so gifted would improve during his prime seasons. Yet, he is probably in the 10-15 range as far as top players in the league. I'm not sure if on a pure talent basis, Irving isn't any less talented than Damian Lillard or even James Harden, yet those guys make improvements year-to-year and certainly Harden is on a completely different level than Irving when it comes to production.

That to me, is indicative of Kyrie on the whole. Even though he is a very good player, his talent is so great that he ends up being somewhat of a disappointment despite putting up very good numbers. You even (correctly) said that Kyrie is viewed as being superior to Walker because people have the impression that he can kick it up a gear when he gets to the playoffs; isn't that kind of also saying that he isn't trying that hard during the regular season? Not to delve into sports talk radio territory, but I don't know if Kyrie has that extra bit of hustle and heart that turns talented players into great players. I don't know if the game means as much to him as it does to Lillard, Harden, Walker, etc.