NBA 2018-2019

[Alsacs]

I've been banging the drum on the IT deal basically since it happened, Boston was well within their rights to do what they did, but it just shows that it's just a business and every side, is going to do whats best for them. So I have no problem with Boston doing it, and I have no problem with Davis not wanting to play there because of what they did.

Also, if you're cool with Boston trading IT, like I said, that's fine, but you also never get to complain about a player not showing loyalty to a team if they want to leave. Its a 2 way street is my point

How can anyone be upset with what Boston did to Isiah Thomas.
3 years ago DeAndre Jordan verballed agreed to sign with Dallas but the Clippers players and Doc Rivers won’t let him sign and went to house and got him to renege and wouldn’t let him leave till after the moratorium on signing ended and he would sign with the Clippers.

Give me a break with loyalty.
Anthony Davis Sr. Is FOS he is talking about loyalty when his son is screwing his current team and isn’t being loyal and waiting till FA:

I got no problem at all with AD not wanting to play for Boston that is his right but using Isiah Thomas is laughable.
They traded a good player for a better player and it’s not like he was traded to bad team when he was traded.
IT was loved by the Celtics fanbase he wasn’t mistreated at all.

 

[Melancer46]

What I find funny...

There’s people saying the Lakers should give up more to make sure they get him. They cite Paul George initially wanting to be a Laker, the Lakers not offering enough, OKC getting him and then him deciding to resign in OKC. They cite Leonard too, and talk about how he’s not coming to the Lakers now.

But the prevailing sentiment with Carmelo is that he would’ve signed with the Knicks no matter what, they were stupid for giving up “so much” for him, and that HE was selfish...for getting traded.

Lol.

It's one of those things where if the Lakers acquire Davis and win a title, nobody will question what they traded for him (unless maybe those pieces turn into All-NBA caliber guys in their own right). If they never really contend then yeah, people will say the Lakers shouldn't have done it.

But the Lakers already seemingly missed out on PG and Kawhi and offers like this open them up to missing out on Davis too. Other teams can easily top that.

 

[Knicks411]

How can anyone be upset with what Boston did to Isiah Thomas.
3 years ago DeAndre Jordan verballed agreed to sign with Dallas but the Clippers players and Doc Rivers won’t let him sign and went to house and got him to renege and wouldn’t let him leave till after the moratorium on signing ended and he would sign with the Clippers.

Give me a break with loyalty.
Anthony Davis Sr. Is FOS he is talking about loyalty when his son is screwing his current team and isn’t being loyal and waiting till FA:

I got no problem at all with AD not wanting to play for Boston that is his right but using Isiah Thomas is laughable.
They traded a good player for a better player and it’s not like he was traded to bad team when he was traded.
IT was loved by the Celtics fanbase he wasn’t mistreated at all.

IT put his body on the line and played through an injury right before his chance to truly cash in and made it much worse and has never been the same player again and his team traded him at the first opportunity. That's fine, like I said, but man. You can see how it's kind of harsh.

I have to wonder if IT decided to shut it down and get surgery when he first got hurt to make sure he was healthy for free agency how Boston wouldve reacted. Have a feeling there may have been some quotes leaked disparaging him. Just a hunch,

Also: I dont think this is the main reason he doesn't want to be a Celtic. I think the main reason he doesn't want to be a Celtic is because he wants to be a Laker.

 

[OrangeDW]

It's one of those things where if the Lakers acquire Davis and win a title, nobody will question what they traded for him (unless maybe those pieces turn into All-NBA caliber guys in their own right). If they never really contend then yeah, people will say the Lakers shouldn't have done it.

But the Lakers already seemingly missed out on PG and Kawhi and offers like this open them up to missing out on Davis too. Other teams can easily top that.

Why would others teams top it though? AD isn’t just hinting he might want to be a Laker. He’s basically screaming it. I think that drives down the price and gives the Lakers leverage.

Working against that though is LeBron’s age. He’s not going to want to wait around to get AD. Clock is ticking.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Why would others teams top it though? AD isn’t just hinting he might want to be a Laker. He’s basically screaming it. I think that drives down the price and gives the Lakers leverage.

Working against that though is LeBron’s age. He’s not going to want to wait around to get AD. Clock is ticking.

I don't know. Nobody saw Kawhi in a Raps uniform, and yet, here we are.

 

[OrangeDW]

I don't know. Nobody saw Kawhi in a Raps uniform, and yet, here we are.

I don’t feel like anyone ever knew anything that wasn’t going on with Kawhi though.

 

[Knicks411]

Why would others teams top it though? AD isn’t just hinting he might want to be a Laker. He’s basically screaming it. I think that drives down the price and gives the Lakers leverage.

Working against that though is LeBron’s age. He’s not going to want to wait around to get AD. Clock is ticking.

Yeah I think Lebron's age is a big factor here. Lebron is going to be 35 by the time AD is a FA; I'm sure he will still be awesome, but 35 is 35. Lakers have a lot of incentive to get this done asap.

I don't know. Nobody saw Kawhi in a Raps uniform, and yet, here we are.

That's true. Kawhi was such a weird situation. I guess it comes down to; is there a team out there willing to give up more for Davis knowing he is likely to leave after next season than the Lakers are willing to give up knowing he is going to sign with them?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Isn't part of the IT story that they could have extended him early, but he agreed to hold off so that the team would have the financial flexibility to improve and then take care of him?

And instead not only did they not reward him with a contract, they then shipped him out, injured?

 

[OrangeDW]

Yeah I think Lebron's age is a big factor here. Lebron is going to be 35 by the time AD is a FA; I'm sure he will still be awesome, but 35 is 35. Lakers have a lot of incentive to get this done asap.



That's true. Kawhi was such a weird situation. I guess it comes down to; is there a team out there willing to give up more for Davis knowing he is likely to leave after next season than the Lakers are willing to give up knowing he is going to sign with them?

Would the Lakers be better off:

Giving up Kuzma, Ball, and Ingram among others to get AD now. You get AD and a still prime LeBron together...is that enough? Who comes to join next year?

Or waiting, signing AD outright and having AD as your stud, an older but still good LeBron, and your young core starting to really hit their stride?

I’m in favor of the second scenario. Not sure LeBron will be though. He has no chill.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Would the Lakers be better off:

Giving up Kuzma, Ball, and Ingram among others to get AD now. You get AD and a still prime LeBron together...is that enough? Who comes to join next year?

Or waiting, signing AD outright and having AD as your stud, an older but still good LeBron, and your young core starting to really hit their stride?

I’m in favor of the second scenario. Not sure LeBron will be though. He has no chill.

Either way, LeBron is getting Walton fired, right?

 

[Melancer46]

Why would others teams top it though? AD isn’t just hinting he might want to be a Laker. He’s basically screaming it. I think that drives down the price and gives the Lakers leverage.

Working against that though is LeBron’s age. He’s not going to want to wait around to get AD. Clock is ticking.

You can always find at least a few teams that are willing to bet on winning guys over after they've acquired them, and a player of Davis' abilities and age becomes available very very rarely. We've already seen similar scenarios play out with Paul George, Kawhi, and to an extent, Kyrie.

 

[OrangeDW]

Either way, LeBron is getting Walton fired, right?

Probably.

I can’t say I’ve ever been sold either way on Luke. Jury has always been out, for me.

Though it certainly wouldn’t be “fair” to do it this year with LeBron and Rondos injuries.

I don’t want him out at this point, but I won’t be outraged if they do can him.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Probably.

I can’t say I’ve ever been sold either way on Luke. Jury has always been out, for me.

Though it certainly wouldn’t be “fair” to do it this year with LeBron and Rondos injuries.

I don’t want him out at this point, but I won’t be outraged if they do can him.

To me it would depend on who the new coach is.

If it's a LeBron bro, it's a bad move.

If it's a real coach that adds something, then it makes sense.

 

[Melancer46]

Rumor has been that LeBron might want Jason Kidd.

 

[Alsacs]

IT put his body on the line and played through an injury right before his chance to truly cash in and made it much worse and has never been the same player again and his team traded him at the first opportunity. That's fine, like I said, but man. You can see how it's kind of harsh.

I have to wonder if IT decided to shut it down and get surgery when he first got hurt to make sure he was healthy for free agency how Boston wouldve reacted. Have a feeling there may have been some quotes leaked disparaging him. Just a hunch,

Also: I dont think this is the main reason he doesn't want to be a Celtic. I think the main reason he doesn't want to be a Celtic is because he wants to be a Laker.

I got no problem with AD wanting the Lakers I just find the IT disloyal stuff just garbage.
The team didn’t screw him. They shut him down after game 2 of the ECF.
They won game 3 without him.

 

[Alsacs]

Isn't part of the IT story that they could have extended him early, but he agreed to hold off so that the team would have the financial flexibility to improve and then take care of him?

And instead not only did they not reward him with a contract, they then shipped him out, injured?

They never promised any money.
They told him they weren’t going to use their cap space on him before they could use on FAs to sign him to an extension.
IT wasn’t screwed by Boston. Nobody in their right mind was going to overpay IT before they could sign FAs which they did in Al Horford and Gordon Hayward in consecutive offseasons.
IT wasn’t getting paid in either summer if they didn’t trade for Kyrie I am sure they would have offered him a good contract. He was never getting the max.

 

[OrangeDW]

James Harden hit a 3 with 1:05 left, down 134-115 last night to give him 30 points.

Just think that should be noted since this keeps his streak of 30 point games going.

 

[Alsacs]

What Anthony Davis’ camp is doing is comically transparent. They are trying to destroy the market for Anthony Davis and force their way to LA. Nothing more.

The Isiah Thomas stuff is just an excuse for Davis Sr. to leverage New Orleans.
It’s so comically stupid. I mean the Celtics gave Isaiah Thomas the coaching and trust to develop him from a bench player to an all-star.
It’s so dumb that any player can say the Celtics screwed IT.

 

[OrangeDW]

Kawhi has missed 14 of 53 games. Not all at once because of one injury either.

The random DNP’s would drive me nuts if he was on my team. 14 out of 53 is a lot.

 

[Knicks411]

To me it would depend on who the new coach is.

If it's a LeBron bro, it's a bad move.

If it's a real coach that adds something, then it makes sense.

There was a tweet going around Thursday night saying Jason Kidd was in play, which, woo boy.

 

[MikeSU02]

What Anthony Davis’ camp is doing is comically transparent. They are trying to destroy the market for Anthony Davis and force their way to LA. Nothing more.

The Isiah Thomas stuff is just an excuse for Davis Sr. to leverage New Orleans.
It’s so comically stupid. I mean the Celtics gave Isaiah Thomas the coaching and trust to develop him from a bench player to an all-star.
It’s so dumb that any player can say the Celtics screwed IT.

But the two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

I agree with you 100% that AD and his people are tanking his market for anyone but the Lakers and using the Cs actions with IT as an excuse.

At the same time, while I’m fine with it bc it’s a business, what they did with IT, at best, didn’t make them come off as a player-friendly organization and now players can use that as air coverage if they don’t want to go to or be on the Cs.

Is what it is, but I think it’s very real possibility that Kyrie ends up leaving and AD isn’t a Celtic next year. Still got a good team. But at some point the expectation was Ainge was cashing in those assets to land an elite player.

 

[MikeSU02]

Kawhi has missed 14 of 53 games. Not all at once because of one injury either.

The random DNP’s would drive me nuts if he was on my team. 14 out of 53 is a lot.

I remember thinking that AD was a level below the top tier players because he would always have some small injury every year so you could never count on him playing most games. Then I checked Kawhi and he had rested so frequently that they basically had been averaging the same amount of games. Not sure where I saw that. This was also pre-injury for Kawhi.

 

[Alsacs]

But the two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

I agree with you 100% that AD and his people are tanking his market for anyone but the Lakers and using the Cs actions with IT as an excuse.

At the same time, while I’m fine with it bc it’s a business, what they did with IT, at best, didn’t make them come off as a player-friendly organization and now players can use that as air coverage if they don’t want to go to or be on the Cs.

Is what it is, but I think it’s very real possibility that Kyrie ends up leaving and AD isn’t a Celtic next year. Still got a good team. But at some point the expectation was Ainge was cashing in those assets to land an elite player.

Perfect summary.

I just can’t stand the fake drama that the Celtics screwed IT.
They didn’t. He was traded for a better player to a good team.
He wasn’t going to sign a team friendly extension. He said he wanted the brinks truck rolled in.
The Celtics helped develop him.
I get he was disappointed but 29 other teams all do the same thing.
What AD’s dad is saying is teams should be stupid with their money.

 

[OrangeDW]

I remember thinking that AD was a level below the top tier players because he would always have some small injury every year so you could never count on him playing most games. Then I checked Kawhi and he had rested so frequently that they basically had been averaging the same amount of games. Not sure where I saw that. This was also pre-injury for Kawhi.

Right. Kawhi has played over 70 games 2 times in 8 seasons.

Davis, 2 times in 7 seasons.

I think the craziest thing about Jordan’s 1996-98 might be that he played all 82 in all 3 seasons. At 38-39 mpg.

 

[MikeSU02]

Perfect summary.

I just can’t stand the fake drama that the Celtics screwed IT.
They didn’t. He was traded for a better player to a good team.
He wasn’t going to sign a team friendly extension. He said he wanted the brinks truck rolled in.
The Celtics helped develop him.
I get he was disappointed but 29 other teams all do the same thing.
What AD’s dad is saying is teams should be stupid with their money.

I’m guessing AD’s dad is already picking out his house in LA.

As soon as AD signed with Rich Paul, IMO, it was over. Agents have so much power in the NBA and Bron, for better or worse, has given players a ton of leverage.

If I were the Cs, I’d make the offer, but would not include Tatum in any scenario. You guys have a solid core, draft picks and Gordon Hayward who should never have been expected to regain his form this year (I’d imagine around game 30 next year he’ll be hitting his stride).

You still have a top three coach in the league and a good front office.

You still got a legit shot at a chip this year. Enjoy the ride.