I hope that your Maxey > Davion Mitchell take isn't perceived as controversial here. I'm not high on Maxey yet (jury is out), but he's way better than Mitchell. Mitchell is so overrated that I sometimes think that he's a Laker. He's a terrible offensive player, and he's shockingly better there than on defense despite his rep. Only one season in, but he's a legit terrible basketball player. You don't have to squint too hard to see a decent starter in Maxey eventually.
I don't think it would be controversial at all after the season. It's just a side argument that came up in the Simmons tradecasting discussions last offseason.
I'll go a step further. KD would set us back in terms of building a long lasting winning culture. A year or two and the shit would hit the fan again. Totally with you on seeing this team continuing to develop.Are there any concerns with KD's thin-skinned Twitter antics?
He also backed Kyrie's "Boston fans are racist " stuff in a post-game presser last year
I'm not thoroughly positive he would thrive under the Boston sports microscope.
50/50 on JB + White + 1 pick for KD
100% against JB + Smart + 2 picks
Really want to see the younger guys continue to develop (JT, JB, PP, GW, Rob) under IME. PLUS the additions of Brogdon/Gallo.
Hoping KD heads west to NOLA and his talents are wasted with an oft-injured Zion.
https://www.netsdaily.com/2021/5/26/22454592/kyrie-irving-comment-about-bostons-subtle-racism-adds-fuel-to-nets-celtics-fire
I know this is right, but it does not feel right despite how many times I have read it out loud.
I’d rather have a ring or two in the bank in those two years than say, five years of a “winning culture” with multiple deep playoff runs and no championships. AKA, I’d rather be the Miami Heat with LeBron than the 90s Utah Jazz.
Yes. It just doens’t feel intuitive to me to say “west” when referring to New Orleans growing up in Boston. It feels “south”.
Same here. It is weird though in that New Orleans is actually far more west of BOS or BRK than it is south
One of my best friends has lived there for 20 years and we probably discuss the fact that New Orleans is in the Central time zone at least once a year because I can’t wrap my head around it.
Durant guarantees nothing but shortening the Championship window. Playing in Boston is a different kettle of fish. Part of the equation is: Will a sensitive/prickly Durant be the best version of himself in Boston? IDK, it's not a given that KD will thrive here.
You could have saved a bunch of words by simply saying “I don’t like Kevin Durant.” Instead, you called him sensitive, prickly and a diva in less than two paragraphs without acknowledging the obvious fact that even the current version of Kevin Durant is a much better player than Jaylen Brown. You spoke of odds: A Brown/White/picks trade for Durant would increase the Celtics odds in Vegas, and probably by a decent amount. As for the enduring myth that “Boston is a tough place to play for guys like ______,” I’ll bet that if Durant performs to his expected level, he’ll be just fine.
Well, look at it this way: Brown is only signed for two more years and it isn't a given that he re-signs with Boston. So Boston, as currently constructed, might not have an extremely long window anyway.
Jaylen Brown types actually sign with Boston during FA too. No trades required.
That could certainly happen. One window closes and maybe a new one opens.
Conversely, the NBA is very different now because of that Miami trade. Brown being 26 years old barely matters anymore. He could stay, he could leave...we have no idea.
Durant is under contract to NJ and he definitely won't be there for 4 more years.
He wants to win titles and he shot his way out of 3 organizations. Could he make it 4? Sure. But I think it's very unlikely he does. At least not this year.
Durant doesn't have a no trade clause. He won't sit out, and the front office is one of the most stable in sports. I'm comfortable saying he'd still play and be content for the short term.
Right but if Brown leaves, the C's still have prime Tatum. Tatum matters much more to the team's success than Jaylen Brown and is the far harder player to replace.
Then why don’t the Nets keep him? The recent history of this league is that contracts don’t matter; players will make life difficult for teams that don’t want them, so teams move them to where they want to be. If Durant is sent to a place he doesn’t want to be, I have a really hard time seeing how it works out for anyone.
It's in the past, but Durant almost picked Boston before he went to GS.
I can't speak for Nets management, but they very well might keep him. I'd bet on him starting the season with Brooklyn over being elsewhere.
He's also not at that age where he can just miss a season. He has only a handful left.
It does not automatically do this at all. 1) We have no idea if Durant at age 36 is any worse than Jaylen Brown. And I use age 36, because that is how old he will be when Jaylen is up for a new deal - which leads to 2) We have no idea if Jaylen is going to re-up or if not, we have no idea if the team he wants to go to will have cap space or will need a S+T to make it happen.
These Celtics have more in common with the 2000-era Spurs than the Utah Jazz. BUT every team, situation, era, etc is different so it's pointless to start predicting what they will be 10yrs out.
Yeah, that last one about his reaction to McMullen and Williams is really bad. What a thin-skinned Asshole. He goes out of his way to blast a reporter whose crime was saying he wanted to win 3 championships with Brooklyn? It also seems like he reads every little thing written about him. This is a guy who might actually hate playing in Boston..
I was replying to the comment that KD "banks you 1 or 2 more rings"
Will they have cap space? They’re already committed to over $111M for ‘24-‘25 without Jaylen, and that figure does not include potential extensions to current rotation players (Grant, Al, etc.).
From afar, it seems like Durant's disdain is his resting position and that its not limited to those irritating him at any given moment. The NBA on TNT panel, beat reporters and bloggers have all caught some of his fire.
Yeah I don’t think that anyone knows for sure whether Durant would be unhappy here or happy here. We have no idea whether his weird insta-twitter habits actually affect him personally or are just something that he does for a hobby.
They *could*, if they decide to tear the roster down to three players while letting the contracts for Horford, Grant, Jaylen, Brogdon, White, and Gallinari expire without multi-year replacements for a potential championship contender. They are not operating as a team that *will*, however.
It's all under the assumption Jaylen Brown walks so he wouldn't be an option anyway and Al Horford and Gallo are going to be gone by then regardless.
There’s going to be a big cap boost coming in a couple of years. If anything it makes it easier for Boston to lock up this core as the odds are pretty good that Jaylen qualifies for a designated veteran deal which would allow Boston to pay him a lot more money than anyone else can.
Apologies for the delayed post, but yes thats what I'm saying. if the season starts without clarification of Brown’s status I think it could negatively impact team chemistry. I trust Ime to keep heads on straight but Woj bombs are more than Internet rumor mongering to me, and it’s still a young team.
And the default expectation is that Stevens/Ime will keep the details of such conversations private, and literally nobody in the Woj/Shams circle of current NBA insiders will know anything about these conversations (neither will "insiders" such as Jermaine Wiggins, lol).
Well exactly.
The fact that KD looked quite human in the 4 game sweep has to mean something: such as KD is in the post-peak part of his career. That he no longer can dominate at will.
He still looked super human in that series to me. That BRK team had such inferior talent. He played an average of 44 minutes per game against the best defense in the NBA that did nothing but shift all help to Durant and he put up 26/6/6
If a team addressed every trade rumor during the trade seasons then Brad would spend more time on the phone with each player than with the other teams. Every player knows that they are pawns in the game of NBA executives during these times. Any conversation would likely be between the player and his agent rather than the player and his team. This is a part of the agents role.
Jaylen averaged 23/5.3/4.3 in five less minutes of game time. He also had more blocks and steals. I realize the defenses aren’t the same obviously.. but Jaylen shot 20 less free throws.. had 10 less FG attempts.. had 10 less TOS..
