Enes Kanter Freedom to Boston

tbrown_01923

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Not loving this - hopefully time lord is ready for some minutes... When can they trade him? 10mm ain't nothing and combining that with yabu might be able to pluck something at the deadline.
 

Mooch

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About the best that we could hope for given the Celtics cap situation.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Yeah for two years this is fine, I guess. Looking at the contract numbers, I guess Kanter's contract takes up the entire room exception? Would still like to see them bring in a more defensive-minded bench guy for a minimum if that's a possibility, but then again maybe TL fills that role now (with Williams potentially somewhere in there as well).
 

nattysez

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The guy plays with heart and is a good rebounder, but he is defense is execrable. This will seem like a tolerable deal until the first Philly game, during which the Sixers bigs will have a fight on the bench over who gets to play when Kanter enters the game.
 

cheech13

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Spent a lot of time watching him for Portland last year. He's very special offensively and he's a great rebounder. However, his defense isn't just bad, it's downright comical. There are so many times where he's just flat footed while his man streaks in for a lay up. It's a long season and the good stuff will probably outweigh the bad most nights, especially if Stevens deploys him smartly, but fans on this board are going to lose their shit when good teams just pick and roll him off the floor.
 

JCizzle

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Really wanted Looney, oh well. The Sixers games are going to be unwatchable.
 

Eddie Jurak

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From a defensive perspective this is pretty bad. On the other hand, from an offense/rebounding perspective, this is quite good.

It’s a big step down from Horford, but for 2 years, $10 million, I think this is good value.
 

BaseballJones

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The guy plays with heart and is a good rebounder, but he is defense is execrable. This will seem like a tolerable deal until the first Philly game, during which the Sixers bigs will have a fight on the bench over who gets to play when Kanter enters the game.
It's easy to complain about this in advance (and you're probably right about the defense) but the Celtics' cap situation was such that there really were not many options available to them. Kanter provides offense and rebounding. Time Lord might provide defense.

But Embiid is pretty much an all-NBA offensive player. The only guy that consistently gave him a hard time is now Embiid's teammate. Who is left out there that could truly defend Embiid? Nobody I can think of.

Given the price and what's available, it's really hard to be too critical of this move.
 

lovegtm

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Not a Kanter fan, was hoping for someone defensive. I guess the team wants to see a lot of the Williams-ii.

The funny thing is, Philly might be the one Eastern team he's NOT a total liability against, since they have almost no way to run P&R with their current roster.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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I said multiple times anyone but Kanter but agree with others that I'm not sure who is left at this point that's better. Maybe Brad can help him become passable on defense. Kemba/JB/JT/Hayward/Kanter is a pretty wild offensive starting 5.
 

bowiac

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Kanter is bad. Like G-league level bad. He drops the Celtics win projection substantially all by himself.

I'm gonna predict Stevens won't deal with this shit, and Kanter is off the team by February.
 

OurF'ingCity

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One positive of this signing - Kanter loves trolling LeBron every chance he gets both on and off the court, so there should be some added entertainment value to the two Celtics-Lakers games this year.
 

lovegtm

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Trying to talk myself into this...I guess they're piling up some ok salary filler now with him and Yabu. And MBPC should be happy to see the rebounding dream finally come true!
 

cheech13

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From a culture perspective, they couldn't have picked 2 better guys for the locker room than Kemba and Kanter.
Well, are you sure about Kanter? He was well liked in Portland, but bitched his way out of Utah and then openly clashed with coaches in OKC and New York and got dumped by both teams. I think it's still a question mark with him over the long term.
 

cheech13

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Baynes can still be bought out and return correct?
No, you cannot return to the team that traded you for one year unless you have another stop in the interim before the buyout. So Phoenix would have to trade him elsewhere first.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Also with this just being a two year (or possibly one year) deal, Celtics retain a lot of flexibility for the 2021 season, which looks to be the next big FA class. I haven't run all the numbers but given GH will be coming off the books I think there will still be the ability for Boston to re-sign Tatum and then also add another max guy (depending on what they do with Brown after this year).
 

bigq

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The Sixers games are going to be unwatchable.
True. Sixers fans will agree with that as their team is getting run off the court while Kanter is stapled to the bench. Stevens loves small ball. ;)
 

ehaz

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Well, are you sure about Kanter? He was well liked in Portland, but bitched his way out of Utah and then openly clashed with coaches in OKC and New York and got dumped by both teams. I think it's still a question mark with him over the long term.
To be fair, NY stapled his ass to the bench so that they could tank for Zion.
 

The Mort Report

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I think it’s crazy you people who don’t like this signing due to the philly matchup. There are only a handful of people who can guard Joel, and you sure as shit aren’t getting one of them for 5 mil. It’s like walking into a whiskey bar with a 10 dollar bill and pissed you couldn’t get pappy and had to drink jack. This is a positive outcome with the money available
 

AMS25

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Well, are you sure about Kanter? He was well liked in Portland, but bitched his way out of Utah and then openly clashed with coaches in OKC and New York and got dumped by both teams. I think it's still a question mark with him over the long term.
Huh? Enes never openly clashed with coaches in OKC. He was beloved in OKC, and produced a number of awesome videos with Steven Adams as the "Stache Brothers." It is true that Enes was deemed unplayable during the playoffs, but he took that with good grace. He was a salary dump by OKC in the ill-conceived Carmelo trade.

https://www.thelostogle.com/2017/03/29/the-stache-bros-are-the-nbas-greatest-comedy-duo/
 
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pokey_reese

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Being in Oregon, it seems like a lot of my Blazer fan coworkers are sorry to see him go, which feels like a good sign. And they aren't just blatant homers, they acknowledge his defensive shortcomings up front.
 

bowiac

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Trying to talk myself into this...I guess they're piling up some ok salary filler now with him and Yabu. And MBPC should be happy to see the rebounding dream finally come true!
It's fine. These signing don't matter. If Kanter is worse than a league min vet or a G-leaguer (likely), then whatever, you chuck him into a trade as filler, or stretch him or something. He probably knocks 2 wins off the Celtics win projections relative to like Khem Birch or Kyle O'Quinn, but whatever. Whoever they signed to be a warm body at center wasn't going to be part of the next contending Celtics team anyway.
 

HomeRunBaker

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There was literally no post scoring last year as Horford spent a lot of time on the outside. Kanter can score inside and rebound.
Yeah he’ll put up numbers and provide interior action. We know all about his defense but what amounts to a 1-year deal we need a big body who is capable of playing NBA minutes.
 

Kliq

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I'm not in love with the player, but the money and the length of the contract is solid. He's going to win us some games with his offensive rebounding and lose us some games with his defense, and the game threads will not be able to react to him rationally. I always think that if this team looks like a title contender in February, they can go out and get someone at the deadline who can be a defensive upgrade. Toronto didn't have anyone to guard Embiid this time last year, but they managed to trade for Gasol and then they did have that defensive anchor.
 

nighthob

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To be fair, NY stapled his ass to the bench so that they could tank for Zion.
Actually the exact opposite, they played him 26 m/g so that they could tank for Williamson. It was Portland that cut his minutes. But then, they were trying to win. ;)
 

Big John

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If Kanter's defense is that bad, it's more minutes for Theis and TimeLord. It will be center by committee in any event.
 

BaseballJones

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Kanter is bad. Like G-league level bad. He drops the Celtics win projection substantially all by himself.

I'm gonna predict Stevens won't deal with this shit, and Kanter is off the team by February.
The guy who shot 57.1%, 81.6% from the foul line, and averaged 10.4 rebounds in just 25 minutes a game the last two years is "G-league level bad"?

Here's the list of players this past season who shot 50% or better, 78% or better from the line, and averaged 9.0 rebounds or more per game:

1. Aldridge (51.9% FG, 84.7% FT, 9.2 reb)
2. Anthony Towns (51.9% FG, 83.6% FT, 12.4 reb)
3. Jokic (51.1% FG, 82.1% FT, 10.8 reb)
4. A.Davis (51.7% FG, 79.4% FT, 12.0 reb)
5. Vucevic (51.8% FG, 78.9% FT, 12.0 reb)
6. Kanter (54.9% FG, 78.7% FT, 9.8 reb)

That's it. Of course you could fiddle with numbers and add more guys, but that doesn't seem like a G-league player to me. Yes defensively could be very rough. But again, given what was available and the Celtics' budget constraints, how can anyone be THAT down on this move? What other options were objectively better?
 

Light-Tower-Power

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Being in Oregon, it seems like a lot of my Blazer fan coworkers are sorry to see him go, which feels like a good sign. And they aren't just blatant homers, they acknowledge his defensive shortcomings up front.
Reading a bunch of stuff from Blazers fans online that are saying the same thing. Sounds like while he might not be talented defensively at least he's a big effort guy. At the very least we're going back to a scrappier group.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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It's fine. These signing don't matter. If Kanter is worse than a league min vet or a G-leaguer (likely), then whatever, you chuck him into a trade as filler, or stretch him or something. He probably knocks 2 wins off the Celtics win projections relative to like Khem Birch or Kyle O'Quinn, but whatever. Whoever they signed to be a warm body at center wasn't going to be part of the next contending Celtics team anyway.
This.

I mean, Embiid/Horford and Giannis etc. were going to have their way with the Celtics regardless of what flawed big they signed (Looney was never realistic for the money he will likely get paid).

People need to get over match-ups and understand what this team is next year - its a transition year to see what they have in the Js, Hayward, TimeLord and the rookies. They are highly unlikely to contend for anything so it really doesn't matter what "bigs" they have to match-up with anyone.
 

FelixMantilla

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Will always root for this guy. He has been outspoken about the repressive Turkish government and would most likely be killed if he returned to his homeland.
 

HomeRunBaker

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If Kanter's defense is that bad, it's more minutes for Theis and TimeLord. It will be center by committee in any event.
It’s Time Lord-bad without the elite shot blocking to make up for at least some of it. He’ll at least put the ball in the basket for us on the other end.