I’m going with “not fair.” This is what Jrue has done every year since he’s been established. His TS% last November was 51.7% then 61.9, 61.2, 68.5, and 67.0 the next 4 months.
Ha, deep run in the playoffs combined with the Olympics.
Let’s not forget we’ve faced the 30th most difficult strength of schedule prior to last night (the Cavs game vs Raptors bumped us up to 29).
Right - but I think it’s still projected to be 25th toughest the rest of the way, since they’re East-heavy and don’t play themselves.
I’m not really basing off of difficulty of schedule though, just what we’ve seen as they’ve gone 95-24 over their last 119.
They play in the East and they avoid playing the best team in the NBA.
On pace for 68 wins and their 3 losses - they had the lead in the last 4 minutes of all 3, and had a shot to win 2 of them on JB jump shots. This team even taking it easy, just isn't going to lose many games. They will have a few mental lapses and let downs, but I think 65 is certainly in the cards depending on how easy they take March. (and health...)
There is close to 0% chance he will be traded. Valuable contracts are even more valuable to a team way over the penalty.
I feel like a bit of crow as well. The defense held nicely for most of the game, even with the PP, Queta, Hauser + 2 starters configuration. Everyone was where they were supposed to be.
Agreed. They also don't have someone else to do what he does - after White and Holiday, there isn't another trusted ballhandler on the roster. Even if his role shrinks in the playoffs (and at this point that might be a matchup-dependent thing), he still adds value by soaking up those regular season minutes.
I think everyone bringing up the subject is thinking about next summer, and the looming tax bill for the 25-26 season. But we can talk about that in the ownership-change thread and the tax-situation thread. Nobody is looking to get rid of him (although from the way tims4wins is talking about Jrue, you never know...)
You have to think that KP's return juiced the players almost as much as (more?) than it did the fans. KP seems like he is extremely well-liked by his teammates so I'm sure they have all been pulling for his return.
Agree with all of this.
Agreed. Plus I heard (probably from this board) that KP reallllly wanted to get back. And this is one of the most chill/supportive locker rooms anyone has ever been around. They seem like a legit team which is awesome.
There was a shot of the bench late last night with DWhite sitting between JT and Luke and they were having a blast. It's just a little thing but I fully agree they are a true team.
A poor man who nevertheless has excellent medical care, and consequently has two working knees.
For sure. Even the post-game interviews have become entertaining. The Tatum-White show is must-watch.
I think his feel for the game is really overstated. A guy with even a good feel for the game would figure out how to catch the ball six feet from the hoop with back to the hoop and score. Rob never figured that out. Queta (you can see the wheels turning it happens so slowly) has recognized he has time to score a few times and made a move. Rob had a ton of space because he could not shoot and made some decent passes. He certainly was nothing special in reading D rotations. He was (all of this is past tense) one of the greatest vertical athletes ever, so he made a huge impact. But, the incredible rotations off the ball during last year's title run were less likely with him out there. He did struggle against physical guys too. I would see no reason to give up anything close to Pritchard to upgrade our third big.
Yeah Rob is/was the platonic ideal of the super bouncy lob threat/rim protector, with the addition of a decent passing touch and the ability to move his feet pretty well while defending the perimeter. Rob made 2nd team all-defense at age 24, Queta spend much of his age 24 season in the g league. They are both athletic big men who are lob threats and can defend the rim, I don't think it's worth comparing them beyond that. It's like calling Kuzma a poor man's Tatum because they are both big athletic wings with a knack for shot creation.
The trade isn't possible so really no need to discuss it. Rob makes something like $12M; PP makes something like $8M; BOS can't take in more salary than it sends out and BOS can't aggregate contracts.
I couldn’t disagree more. Rob’s bball iq was elite on both ends, and they didn’t care about him developing a post game, they wanted a rim runner.
Sorry I disagree. This is just loving a guy on your team too much. I never said anything in gamethreads when people gushed when he found a cutter who was wide open, becasue it was game threads, His exceptional athleticism allowed him to do things and get to places others couldn't and he had a good feel. Frequently his length quickness and jumping ability allowed him to effect plays few others could when he made a read. A lot of what people call smarts is often physical ability, especially reactions time. Was Manny really a smarter hitter than Terry Francona? Kevin Millar, etc? An athlete like TL with average IQ is elite player at least on D. Even when he was a beat late on closeouts his crazy length caused misses. I loved when a guy thought he was open because Rob ball watched then his go go gadget arms caused a miss anyway. Rob could stay down on fakes and jump after the defender and still block the shot. That isn't smarts, but allows him to not bite on fakes, which looks really smart. To his credit he learned to make the most out of his body. I am curious of your evidence he had elite IQ offensively. Who else is on your list? I measn he passed better than Tristan Thompson and didn't think he was a scorer like Daniel Theis. Don't you think an elite offensive mind would know to turn away from the d and drop step dunk? Especially when playin gon what to him was a nerf hoop. If Rob had elite IQ defensively he would be perhaps the best defender ever since he is at the very top of defensive athletes. If had elite D IQ he would be Bill Russell. I mean he was pretty great on D, but not the GOAT. He hovered around 1 steal per 36 minutes, pretty similar to Gianis, who we can agree relies on more on athleticism than IQ. Now Tatum has elite defensive IQ. He is so good at reading and directing closeouts. You have to rewind it to see just how perectly he read a play. When I rewound Rob's great plays you would frequently see him react the same time as other players, but the explosiveness and quickness were nuts. He had Hakeem quick jump skills, but got even higher.
Yeah, I mean when he came into the league he couldn't get minutes cuz he had no idea where to be or what he was doing out there. Its not like he became a genius over the course of two seasons.
This point hits hard right here.
I think if I was a moneyball in hoops i would find late blooming bigs and teach them to play. In my short time in pro basketball I worked with two guys that were just lob guys in college and they are both stretch 4/5s now. It wasn't
I agree that bigs can be the slowest to develop and a lot of that has to do with the position having so many intricacies that you can only grasp with reps and experience along with added strength that comes with growing up.
It's an interesting tradeoff: they're definitely paying the price with weak interior defense, and their overall defensive rating doesn't suggest it's been hugely effective.
Thanks for posting.
Bobby Manning had some numbers about this here: https://www.celticsblog.com/2024/11/28/24307762/joe-mazzulla-satisfied-with-celtics-defense-despite-slow-start-kristaps-porzingis-boston-tatum-brown.
If the Cs wanted to add a minimum 4 they could do worse than adding Brissett, who apparently is still looking for work. (Frankly, I don't understand why PHI doesn't add him.)
