Kemba 2021: The Jour-knee Begins

benhogan

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Yeah, that was the baked in risk with Brogdon, he has a laundry list of injuries. His knees are fine, though. However, at the time it was one of the reasons I preferred Kemba, he didn't miss many games and he looked like a good bet to be healthy until age caught up with him. Unfortunately a knee injury sped up that timeline.




I don't know why people take these things personally. I was thrilled with the signing at the time. I was wrong. Not my fault. Not Kemba's fault. Heck, not even Danny's fault. Walker's track record made it a reasonable bet. We were wrong. It happens.
Kemba needs to spend 2 months in East Germany with doctors from the Lebron Institute.
 

lexrageorge

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It's not an albatross contract if he can provide 20 good minutes off the bench in a Microwave scoring role. It would still be an overpay, but at least he'd provide significant value.

By the way...why do we call something bad (like a terrible contract that you can't unload) an albatross? In mythology, an albatross was considered to be a sign of good luck. And in golf, an albatross is a double eagle - one of the best scores you can possibly get (and honestly, nobody has ever scored better than an albatross on a single hole as I don't believe anyone's ever made a hole in one on a par-5). So why do we use that term in a negative way? Makes little sense. Whatever.
Did it start with the famous Monty Python sketch? At least that is always what pops into my head when I hear the term albatross.

I agree the negative connotation is a shame, given the actual flying prowess of the species.
 

nighthob

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It's not an albatross contract if he can provide 20 good minutes off the bench in a Microwave scoring role. It would still be an overpay, but at least he'd provide significant value.
It's an albatross as it's a severe limitation on their ability to add talent around the Jay-Crew when what he would be providing is MLE levels of production. That wasted $25 million is going to hurt them for the duration.

By the way...why do we call something bad (like a terrible contract that you can't unload) an albatross? In mythology, an albatross was considered to be a sign of good luck. And in golf, an albatross is a double eagle - one of the best scores you can possibly get (and honestly, nobody has ever scored better than an albatross on a single hole as I don't believe anyone's ever made a hole in one on a par-5). So why do we use that term in a negative way? Makes little sense. Whatever.
Samuel Coleridge Taylor's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The mariner shoots an albatross that had brought his ship good fortune and they subsequently suffer misfortune. As punishment he's forced to wear the albatross around his neck as a sign of his ill fortune.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Honest secondary question to this topic:

Do we think Brad will move Kemba to the bench if poor or uneven play persists (along with expected improvement of PP)? Kemba is saying all the right things now and is, by all accounts, a very good teammate. I do wonder if any of that changes if he gets moved to the bench to a role that the current version of Kemba is better-suited for.
He did with Hayward.
 

BigSoxFan

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He did with Hayward.
...who subsequently left because he was dissatisfied with his role. Obviously, Kemba is locked in due to his contract so it would be a different situation but I do wonder how much Kembaya (with credit to nighthob, I believe) persists if he's benched for a player he deems inferior to himself.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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Honest secondary question to this topic:

Do we think Brad will move Kemba to the bench if poor or uneven play persists (along with expected improvement of PP)? Kemba is saying all the right things now and is, by all accounts, a very good teammate. I do wonder if any of that changes if he gets moved to the bench to a role that the current version of Kemba is better-suited for.
I wouldn't hold my breath.
 

Kliq

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This thread in its current incarnation is one gigantic overreaction. Let's have this conversation in May, alright?
 

BaseballJones

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It's an albatross as it's a severe limitation on their ability to add talent around the Jay-Crew when what he would be providing is MLE levels of production. That wasted $25 million is going to hurt them for the duration.



Samuel Coleridge Taylor's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The mariner shoots an albatross that had brought his ship good fortune and they subsequently suffer misfortune. As punishment he's forced to wear the albatross around his neck as a sign of his ill fortune.
Ah....that makes sense. Thank you.
 

TripleOT

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This may be considered hot take-y, with all the post mortems in this thread, but I don’t think Kemba is fully washed.

He needs to change his game up a bit, deferring to the Jays, and generating more of this threes off passes, along with the dribble/use the pick threes that are a big part of his game.

Obviously not ideal for a max contract player, but probably the best option for this team. Kemba self generating 14+ shots per game without the quickness to get layups, off the dribble threes, and earn FTs isn’t going to pay off.
 

DannyDarwinism

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This thread in its current incarnation is one gigantic overreaction. Let's have this conversation in May, alright?
Yeah, he was a bit off his career averages over about 120 minutes heading into the Lakers game. He had a shitty night against the best defense in the NBA while working his way back from injury, still on a minutes restriction. If his knee is bad enough that he’s effectively washed, that sucks for the Cs and it’s sad for what seems like a genuinely good dude, but the last month hasn’t told us anything we didn’t already know, despite all the consternation. I guess the Lakers have that effect on this board.

I don’t expect he’ll be moved to the bench. There was actually a Real Ones podcast recently where Raja Bell was talking about how it’s really tough for stars to move to the bench, both in terms of their play and pride, and he singled out Manu as the exception that proves the rule. I know we’re all aboard the Pritchard mobile, but Kemba at 85% is still a better player, and if he’s not there by April or May, I think they just shut him down. I agree with TripleOT above, even if the knee is better, Kemba needs to change up his game a bit, and getting reps with the starters while getting back into shape is the best way forward.
 

benhogan

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This may be considered hot take-y, with all the post mortems in this thread, but I don’t think Kemba is fully washed.

He needs to change his game up a bit, deferring to the Jays, and generating more of this threes off passes, along with the dribble/use the pick threes that are a big part of his game.

Obviously not ideal for a max contract player, but probably the best option for this team. Kemba self generating 14+ shots per game without the quickness to get layups, off the dribble threes, and earn FTs isn’t going to pay off.
You're not wrong offensively BUT how does Brad address Kemba's defense? in the playoffs, that's an absolute killer. Just watch him, he barely rotates and watches a lot. He's not fighting over screens. He adds no on-ball pressure. Opposing PG's get right into their offense with KW yielding back to the 3pt line. It's the regular season so maybe he figures to save his defense for the Playoffs?

This isn't a reaction to the Lakers game. This was a problem a few weeks before the All-Star game last year, then after the All-Star/Clippers big minutes game, before the bubble, kid gloves during the regular season bubble, then sometime during the Raptors series it all went bad. I'd rather not see him until after March if we could get more out of him in the playoffs.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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Why’s that?
I just don’t see Brad demoting Kemba to bench scorer. I know he always says “it’s not who starts that matters, it’s who’s in at the end of the game that matters” or something along those lines, but I’m not sure how much guys, especially recent all stars and #1 options like Kemba really buy into that. I know Kemba has said he’s happy to defer to the Jays, which is awesome, but would he accept a bench role at this point in his career? If he would that’s great but I don’t see Brad forcing him into that role if he isn’t 100% onboard.

It’s still early, but what we’ve seen so far hasn’t made me any less bearish on Kemba. I’m still pretty convinced he’s falling off the cliff. That cliff comes really quickly for undersized guards on the wrong side of 30 that lose their elite first step.
 

TripleOT

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You're not wrong offensively BUT how does Brad address Kemba's defense? in the playoffs, that's an absolute killer. Just watch him, he barely rotates and watches a lot. He's not fighting over screens. He adds no on-ball pressure. Opposing PG's get right into their offense with KW yielding back to the 3pt line. It's the regular season so maybe he figures to save his defense for the Playoffs?

This isn't a reaction to the Lakers game. This was a problem a few weeks before the All-Star game last year, then after the All-Star/Clippers big minutes game, before the bubble, kid gloves during the regular season bubble, then sometime during the Raptors series it all went bad. I'd rather not see him until after March if we could get more out of him in the playoffs.
It would be wise for Brad to play more zone when Kemba is on the floor.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Maybe he should have foreseen short-guy-wheels-falling-off, but as others have noted Kemba was a house before last year. Guy didn't have a history.
If SOSH should be mad at anyone, we should be mad at the Cs Drs, who must have signed off on KW's medicals.

Do we think Brad will move Kemba to the bench if poor or uneven play persists (along with expected improvement of PP)? Kemba is saying all the right things now and is, by all accounts, a very good teammate. I do wonder if any of that changes if he gets moved to the bench to a role that the current version of Kemba is better-suited for.
I think in order for KW to come off the bench, he'll have to be injured and sit out for a while. Which may not be the worst thing in the world for all involved.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Just watch him, he barely rotates and watches a lot. He's not fighting over screens. He adds no on-ball pressure. Opposing PG's get right into their offense with KW yielding back to the 3pt line. It's the regular season so maybe he figures to save his defense for the Playoffs?
Not sure what you are saying here. Brad's system, for the most part, does not require KW to fight through screens. For example, multiple times down the court in the 4Q LAL lined up PnRs to get KW to switch onto LBJ. That happened every time but Cs are really good at having the nearest bigger defender switching KW out. Brad's system is really good at hiding KW. And don't forget - even though everyone rags on KW for missing the last shot, he did get the steal that started the sequence.
 

benhogan

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Not sure what you are saying here. Brad's system, for the most part, does not require KW to fight through screens. For example, multiple times down the court in the 4Q LAL lined up PnRs to get KW to switch onto LBJ. That happened every time but Cs are really good at having the nearest bigger defender switching KW out. Brad's system is really good at hiding KW. And don't forget - even though everyone rags on KW for missing the last shot, he did get the steal that started the sequence.
I could care less about the Laker game and his bad shooting #s. I was excited about his explosiveness in game 1. Offensively it's all about seeing if he has acceleration and the quick stop, the shot will come... BUT every game he has slowed down a hair to the point where Schroder was trapping him at the halfcourt and Murray easily stripped him the other night.

The defense isn't a Laker's observation. This is last year's reg season (right before All-Star break), playoffs, and the few games this year. Ball pressure at the point of attack is a huge part of Brad's system. KW retreats to the 3pt line 90% of the time. Brad wants his players to absolutely fight through screens, but he probably has given up on asking Kemba to do that. Smart does it all the time when he plays PG.

I'm not exactly splitting atoms here saying Kemba was a bad defender while in Charlotte. After the knee injury, it's been worse. If we need to hide him on defense like IT4 and make sure he doesn't take shots from JayCrew. Then the answer is pretty obvious.
 
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osori

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You're not wrong offensively BUT how does Brad address Kemba's defense? in the playoffs, that's an absolute killer. Just watch him, he barely rotates and watches a lot. He's not fighting over screens. He adds no on-ball pressure. Opposing PG's get right into their offense with KW yielding back to the 3pt line. It's the regular season so maybe he figures to save his defense for the Playoffs?

This isn't a reaction to the Lakers game. This was a problem a few weeks before the All-Star game last year, then after the All-Star/Clippers big minutes game, before the bubble, kid gloves during the regular season bubble, then sometime during the Raptors series it all went bad. I'd rather not see him until after March if we could get more out of him in the playoffs.
I think he played pretty good defense during the Raptors series. He did a pretty good job when matched with smaller guards. He kept his body low and did a decent job fighting over screens (edit : took lot of charges in key moments as well). He did lose concentration from time to time and just watch his man, but who doesn't?

Heat series, yeah he was complete ass and was a huge minus on the floor. I'll give him a semi-pass since his offense that series suggests that his knee was bothering him.
 
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HomeRunBaker

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Maybe he should have foreseen short-guy-wheels-falling-off, but as others have noted Kemba was a house before last year. Guy didn't have a history.
I haven’t followed the entire thread where others have claimed this but Kemba has had a history for awhile now. He began having knee problems no later than 2015 and had 3 surgeries on the left knee from ‘15-‘17.
 

Jimbodandy

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I haven’t followed the entire thread where others have claimed this but Kemba has had a history for awhile now. He began having knee problems no later than 2015 and had 3 surgeries on the left knee from ‘15-‘17.
It didn't show in missed games. Guys have scopes and it's not a problem...until it is.

From 15/16-18/19 he averaged 81 games and 35 minutes. Whoever saw this coming, I bow to their skills.
 

lovegtm

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Can we do a moratorium on “should they have signed Kemba” discussion? Some people were against the signing, and have rightly received their good boy points. Some, like me, were enthusiastically for it, and are idiots.

The question now is what the hell the team
does from here. Even in the optimistic scenarios, he’s no longer the right piece given that 3 alpha scorers is usually not a good use of resources.
 

Jimbodandy

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Can we do a moratorium on “should they have signed Kemba” discussion? Some people were against the signing, and have rightly received their good boy points. Some, like me, were enthusiastically for it, and are idiots.

The question now is what the hell the team
does from here. Even in the optimistic scenarios, he’s no longer the right piece given that 3 alpha scorers is usually not a good use of resources.
I think that the bench scoring Lou Will/Vinnie Johnson route is the only one. Make it happen Danny.
 

HomeRunBaker

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It didn't show in missed games. Guys have scopes and it's not a problem...until it is.

From 15/16-18/19 he averaged 81 games and 35 minutes. Whoever saw this coming, I bow to their skills.
A lot of this talk about Kenna’s contract is revisionist history. While it wasn’t expected that he would break down in the first two years of his contract it isn’t entirely surprising after 3 surgeries on the same knee for a small 29-yr old guard with as much wear and tear as he’s had. I mean, we all knew this was coming eventually it just happened sooner than we thought.

I was hoping for two good years with a Finals trip centered around “the big four” and the rotation at the 5.....and then deal with this kind of stuff beginning next year. The price for this run was supposed to be the backend of his deal and not the front end as well.
 

A Bad Man

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A lot of this talk about Kenna’s contract is revisionist history. While it wasn’t expected that he would break down in the first two years of his contract it isn’t entirely surprising after 3 surgeries on the same knee for a small 29-yr old guard with as much wear and tear as he’s had. I mean, we all knew this was coming eventually it just happened sooner than we thought.

I was hoping for two good years with a Finals trip centered around “the big four” and the rotation at the 5.....and then deal with this kind of stuff beginning next year. The price for this run was supposed to be the backend of his deal and not the front end as well.
This is pure speculation, but I get the sense that Boston sports teams might take bigger risks on players with injury/health concerns because of a certain hubris surrounding their access to medical knowledge and how informed their medical staffs might be.
 

benhogan

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The question now is what the hell the team
does from here
. Even in the optimistic scenarios, he’s no longer the right piece given that 3 alpha scorers is usually not a good use of resources.
Try to move him in the offseason. Unless the Knicks play hero and save Danny from his past sins.

My hope, other than Kemba miraculously healing, is for Brad to say we're really going to limit Kemba's regular-season minutes & save him for the playoffs (gives KW some vet gravitas). He plays every other game, 25mpg, mostly with 2nd units.

This leads to big minutes for Pritchard and he becomes the perfect complement to JayCrew. Timeline solved

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
 

snowmanny

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I agree generally with TripleOT that KW is not “washed up” but needs to change his game. He makes some bad decisions on offense out there and I am quite sure it’s not a stretch to say that at the end of games I’d rather have PP on the floor, especially since the C’s do have a couple of “finishers.”
 

HomeRunBaker

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This is pure speculation, but I get the sense that Boston sports teams might take bigger risks on players with injury/health concerns because of a certain hubris surrounding their access to medical knowledge and how informed their medical staffs might be.
I have no idea what the answer is to this but is there any evidence that Boston sports teams have better medical teams than other organizations?

I’d say the Kemba risk was to match the back end of his prime with the Jays and Gordo for a Championship run rather than doing nothing with the cap space (assuming the Bucks didn’t want to work with Ainge on a sign n trade involving Brogdon).
 

Jimbodandy

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A lot of this talk about Kenna’s contract is revisionist history. While it wasn’t expected that he would break down in the first two years of his contract it isn’t entirely surprising after 3 surgeries on the same knee for a small 29-yr old guard with as much wear and tear as he’s had. I mean, we all knew this was coming eventually it just happened sooner than we thought.

I was hoping for two good years with a Finals trip centered around “the big four” and the rotation at the 5.....and then deal with this kind of stuff beginning next year. The price for this run was supposed to be the backend of his deal and not the front end as well.
Yeah this is totally fair. Nobody should be surprised by the wheels falling off a max effort, high usage short guy, who has basically had to carry every team that he was on since fifth grade. But year 1 of the contract wasn't anyone's expectation.
 

DannyDarwinism

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A lot of this talk about Kenna’s contract is revisionist history. While it wasn’t expected that he would break down in the first two years of his contract it isn’t entirely surprising after 3 surgeries on the same knee for a small 29-yr old guard with as much wear and tear as he’s had. I mean, we all knew this was coming eventually it just happened sooner than we thought.

I was hoping for two good years with a Finals trip centered around “the big four” and the rotation at the 5.....and then deal with this kind of stuff beginning next year. The price for this run was supposed to be the backend of his deal and not the front end as well.
Yeah, there were certainly outliers in both directions, but this tracks pretty cleanly with my recollection of the general tenor of this board at the time of the deal.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Yeah, there were certainly outliers in both directions, but this tracks pretty cleanly with my recollection of the general tenor of this board at the time of the deal.
I don't recall a single person actually being upset at the Kemba signing due to injury concerns (or any other reason), and I just skimmed the thread and didn't see anything either. Some people did point out that smaller PGs tend to age faster, but that was mostly in the context of a discussion over whether Kemba was smart to take a higher AAV 4-year deal over the lower AAV 5-year deal the Hornets reportedly offered.
 

benhogan

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I don't recall a single person actually being upset at the Kemba signing due to injury concerns (or any other reason), and I just skimmed the thread and didn't see anything either. Some people did point out that smaller PGs tend to age faster, but that was mostly in the context of a discussion over whether Kemba was smart to take a higher AAV 4-year deal over the lower AAV 5-year deal the Hornets reportedly offered.
love the post mortems :rolleyes:

I agree with @lovegtm let's move on, what should the Celtics do going forward?
 
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lovegtm

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Probably wait to see where things are at the trade deadline. If Kemba hasn't bounced back to a starting caliber player, you revisit the trade options or Kemba as 6th man
I probably revisit the trade options even (especially?) if he is a starting caliber player. Brown’s emergence really changes the calculus of the kind of roster you want to build. You obviously want as many premium scorers as possible, but if one can’t play defense and you already have 2, you start looking for better roster composition.

I agree we probably need to wait a bit to get more of an idea of his value.
 

lovegtm

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Only watched bits and pieces last night, mostly first half, but kemba looked spry, yea?
He moved around well on D and was ok-ish on the offensive end. Another 1-2 months of this and there might be a Knicks trade available...
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Only watched bits and pieces last night, mostly first half, but kemba looked spry, yea?
Someone asked in the game thread if it was possible for his lateral quickness to have returned without his leaping ability, which I thought was an interesting point. He’s cutting and stepping back and getting his trademark UConn shot for the most part, especially early in games, but he gets swallowed up going to the basket.
 

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They were letting them play last night too. KW, Jaylen and Jayson all got hammered pretty good going to the hoop with no calls.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Someone asked in the game thread if it was possible for his lateral quickness to have returned without his leaping ability, which I thought was an interesting point. He’s cutting and stepping back and getting his trademark UConn shot for the most part, especially early in games, but he gets swallowed up going to the basket.
I think he did one step back after the 1Q. Also, as you noted, he was swallowed up on at least one and I think two drives early on, and then I thought it was interesting that he got into the paint several times and didn't go up for the shot but tried to find someone to pass to. Unfortunately, he's not great at that at least not yet.

I think he'll have to evolve his game. More spot-up shooting; less creating. He can still be effective, which is all that is important.
 

ehaz

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Can we do a moratorium on “should they have signed Kemba” discussion? Some people were against the signing, and have rightly received their good boy points. Some, like me, were enthusiastically for it, and are idiots.

The question now is what the hell the team
does from here. Even in the optimistic scenarios, he’s no longer the right piece given that 3 alpha scorers is usually not a good use of resources.
I agree with this but I'm curious, knowing what we know now about what Brown and Tatum are capable of in 2021, who would the ideal 3rd "all-star caliber" player be? Regardless of position, who would you pick to be their complement? Not thinking about best in the NBA types, but the tiers below.

Malcom Brogdon has been mentioned as a great fit and Kemba alternative that many here wanted. Maybe Jrue Holiday?
 

lovegtm

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I agree with this but I'm curious, knowing what we know now about what Brown and Tatum are capable of in 2021, who would the ideal 3rd "all-star caliber" player be? Regardless of position, who would you pick to be their complement? Not thinking about best in the NBA types, but the tiers below.

Malcom Brogdon has been mentioned as a great fit and Kemba alternative that many here wanted. Maybe Jrue Holiday?
Yeah, Brown and Tatum cover 2-4 (honestly 1-4 in many cases) well enough that you can either go with a big PG type (Holiday, Brogdon) or a 3/4 bigger shooter. The key is to get size, defense, and shooting, and be willing to sacrifice elite playmaking (which costs too much to be a good allocation of resources).
 

BigSoxFan

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I agree with this but I'm curious, knowing what we know now about what Brown and Tatum are capable of in 2021, who would the ideal 3rd "all-star caliber" player be? Regardless of position, who would you pick to be their complement? Not thinking about best in the NBA types, but the tiers below.

Malcom Brogdon has been mentioned as a great fit and Kemba alternative that many here wanted. Maybe Jrue Holiday?
I'll throw out some names, none of whom are even remotely available:

OG Anunoby
De'Andre Hunter
Devin Vassell

All guys who can really D it up and knock down the open 3's that would come to them playing off the Jay's. I mean, imagine a close out lineup of:

Theis/Time Lord
Tatum
Hunter/OG/Vassell
Brown
Smart

The switchability would be off the charts. The hope is obviously for Nesmith to eventually get into the discussion since he has the size/perimeter shooting to be effective in that role. Clearly, a ton of work is needed on his defense though.
 

mcpickl

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The team I would have targeted if the Celtics were to try and move Kemba is Dallas.

They had interest in him before he signed here, are floundering right now, and don't own their own pick this year. And unless the cap somehow jumps up significantly, or Josh Richardson opts out, won't have an easy path to max cap space this offseason in their last shot at free agency for a while because Lukas new deal will kick in the following summer. The pool of players available has already dried up for this offseason FA anyway, assuming Kawhi stays in LA, maybe the best UFA is Victor Oladipo?

How far has Kembas stock fallen on this board? If you could just get out from his contract for expirings, would you want to?

Say Kemba for Tim Hardaway Jr. and James Johnson?

Has his stock fallen that far, or no?
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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The team I would have targeted if the Celtics were to try and move Kemba is Dallas.

They had interest in him before he signed here, are floundering right now, and don't own their own pick this year. And unless the cap somehow jumps up significantly, or Josh Richardson opts out, won't have an easy path to max cap space this offseason in their last shot at free agency for a while because Lukas new deal will kick in the following summer. The pool of players available has already dried up for this offseason FA anyway, assuming Kawhi stays in LA, maybe the best UFA is Victor Oladipo?

How far has Kembas stock fallen on this board? If you could just get out from his contract for expirings, would you want to?

Say Kemba for Tim Hardaway Jr. and James Johnson?

Has his stock fallen that far, or no?
Lowe had the Mavs beat writer on earlier this week and his take was essentially that the Curry/Richardson swap has, thus far, cost the Mavs offense without the expected pick-up in defense. THJ is shooting at close to 40% from three on ~8 APG which makes him Dallas' best shooter from deep - I think they would be really reluctant to trade him given their overall struggles in scoring.
 

mcpickl

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Lowe had the Mavs beat writer on earlier this week and his take was essentially that the Curry/Richardson swap has, thus far, cost the Mavs offense without the expected pick-up in defense. THJ is shooting at close to 40% from three on ~8 APG which makes him Dallas' best shooter from deep - I think they would be really reluctant to trade him given their overall struggles in scoring.
I would guess Dallas thinks Kemba would give them similar shooting to Hardaway. Hardaway has hit 45% from three with Luka on the court, 31% with him off. I'd expect Luka would lift Kemba up as well.

Dallas may not do it, for a variety of reasons, I was more interested in would the Celtics fans on this board do it.

Are they so low on him they'd just move Kemba for expirings to dump his contract.
 

JakeRae

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Jul 21, 2005
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I think that I would, but I don't think that Danny would.
Why? Even if you removed Kemba and took back only expiring salary, the organization would only be about $10 million under the cap next year. About the only difference created by doing that is you’d create the option of using the TPE for a sign and trade player, which we currently cannot really do because of the hard cap. That makes no sense given that all evidence indicates Kemba is still a good player.
 

Jimbodandy

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Jan 31, 2006
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Why? Even if you removed Kemba and took back only expiring salary, the organization would only be about $10 million under the cap next year. About the only difference created by doing that is you’d create the option of using the TPE for a sign and trade player, which we currently cannot really do because of the hard cap. That makes no sense given that all evidence indicates Kemba is still a good player.
They would have either or both of their expirings to use this offseason plus the 28M GH exception, right?

I'm bearish on degenerative knee conditions and don't think that Kemba's future peak is much more than we're seeing now. And it's too bad, because he's a good guy and fun to watch play.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Nov 17, 2010
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Alright, maybe I'm being a contrarian for contrarians sake, but...

If KW plays well against mediocre teams and poorly against top teams...its his knee.

If KW plays good in the first half and poor in the second half (despite making important shots late)...its his knee.

If KW has good lateral mobility, but isnt getting to the hoop...its his knee.

I'm sure his knee is bothering him. And if it IS the core issue, then all of this makes sense. But I'd assume with a knee issue, youd see it hamper him in more direct/specific ways then, "against good teams", "late in games (unless hes making shots)", etc. He looks spry, hes getting his step backs off the dribble, and his open looks at the arc. Why is everyone here so positive it's the knee and not just Kemba?