No matter how much fun it is to root for Kornet, I think Tillman is much more playable in the playoffs. This is no knock on Luke, he's a fun regular season player, but he's not built for the playoffs, in a similar way I still worry PP isn't built for it either
I would be very surprised if Tillman didn’t immediately step right into the rotation, taking Kornet’s role, on the nights one of KP or Horford are resting. There is an enormous difference in their basketball ability and with limited practices available post-ASB the best opportunity to acclimate Tillman to our schemes is in the regular season games.
With the way the Celtics have been using Kornet when KP and Horford -are- playing, I'd think on nights when Horford or KP are resting, they'll just plug in Kornet (for Porzingis) or Tillman (for Horford) and use the other off the bench a lot more frequently. They really do seem to like their 2BIGZ.
You can’t take a physical prior to the trade. He missed a couple games prior to the deadline for “knee soreness” which could have been a cute way to shut him down or something more.
I don't think this is accurate. Before trades become official nearly every player undergoes a physical by the receiving team. Now, that can be waived, and maybe that was the case here
This isn’t even possible though. If it were then the night prior to the deadline, when each team has 5-6+ players being discussed for multiple deals….would half the team be getting physicals? Much of the time the player is not even aware he’s involved in talks as the last thing you want is your own players thinking that you don’t want them.
I believe what happens is they exchange physical information files with each other and then when they player shows up, they can take an actual one. That actual physical is what led last year to the Gary Payton deal being held for a while --they found something worse than expected in that actual physical exam
Yes, you have it correct as I understand it. HRB and Moops are talking past each other.
I was going to say they definitely take physicals after the trade is agreed, that's what caused some of the hold up with the Cleveland Kyrie/IT4 trade. I believe that the Celtics ended up adding in another second to that to get it to go through?
Yes, CLE was threatening to void the trade. So there is two ways of looking at this: (i) the trade was completed, the physical occurred, and then CLE had the right to void the trade; or (ii) the trade was announced, the physical occurs, and CLE had the right to walk from the trade under the theory that the player it got was not the player it negotiated for (because of injury).
Right. The player isn’t actually given a physical until a trade is completed which is my point.
Well the trade isn't technically completed until that physical takes place, or the team waives the right to perform one
Forsberg interviewed Tillman and X said that he took thousands of Ps over the summer so maybe he's going to develop one?
Worth remembering a young Al did not shoot the three either. Did not average over 3 three's a game until his age 29 season.
Young Al grew up in a different NBA, which is likely the only reason why he wasn't already a serviceable 3 point shooting big. Through age 25, Tillman has shot:
Yeah, Al was one of the best long-2 shooters in the game, prior to his 3-point transition.
I just saw him in the first half, but I'm totally on board with this. A pass did skip through his hands, but Tatum threw it pretty hard. The one defensive play I watched, Tillman was on his man like wallpaper. Very impressive. Someone in the game thread opined that he's probably around for only a few months, but I don't think Brad's that dumb. He's got a keeper.
I thought he flashed in the first half but also looked out of step with the team at times. On the plus side, he defended well, and there was one sequence where he played good defense, then ran the floor for a fast break layup, then swallowed a guy up and blocked him on the other end. On the downside, there was a play or two on the defensive end where he wasn't quite in sync with his teammates (which I would attribute to his short time here and little game time here) and on offense he didn't seem to have a role in half court sets. Putting him, maybe the worst shooter on the team, in the corner in offensive sets is almost like playing 4 on 5, I thought.
You don't start and avg 30 mpg in a playoff series if you are a stiff. Tillman is going to help us at some point in the playoffs when the games are more halfcourt and much more physical than they are now.
I wonder what his market will be. Probably more valuable to a team with a lot of shooting than without it.
I want to pile on because Brad is doing 1970s Lufthansa-style work here.
Exclusive footage of Brad, Joe, and Zarren discussing the plan in the days ahead of the Tillman deal.
Tillman was 266 lbs at his draft combine weight, he looks to be heavier than that now but to his credit still moves really well, overall a very nice asset for coach Mazzulla to have at his disposal.
I think he'd get about $5-7M/year right now. If he has a great playoff run, that goes up. If he's unnoticed, maybe down a bit.
The pass to PP impressed me the most, great court awareness. He lumbers a little getting up and down the floor and doesn't get much lift. He might be better served to lose a little, he's plenty strong as it is. Horford is a great example of not putting on too much mass over the years.
I do think/wonder if Porzingis said Celtics only and the Wizards and other teams weren’t really able to counter.
Definitely a possibility & I'd like to believe every available player ONLY dreams of wearing Green
I wouldn't say this unless the defensive metrics loved Tillman so much, but Draymond is probably his closest physical and defensive style comp.
Yeah, I imagine either could have had him. LA is a weird fit (probably doable, since AD is a defensive freak), but Miami would have been devastating. Maybe the favorites in the East, depending on how much Butler can turn it on in the playoffs again.
Good point about PHI. Tillman over Bamba would have been a huge upgrade.
In his interview with Forsberg, X said he’s been talking a lot about longevity and one thing Al said was to keep as much weight off the joints as possible, which includes hitting the weight room and watching what he eats. So maybe he’ll take that to heart.
Yeah, I think of him more as a bigger Grant who doesn't shoot but has better secondary skills.
He should be a better defender of BIGs than Grant, who got found out by the end.
He also seems to know how to shut the fuck up. In other words nothing like Grant.
