This and that around the League 20-21

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Why do you feel that that exception Danny got from the Hayward deal is worthless Dboss???  I feel there is something that will happen at some point, he fought too hard for this

TPE's end up not being used a lot of times, though I personally feel Ainge will find some way to use part of this one at some point.

Current chatter is Oladipo could be a player to keep an eye on from Houston, since he's on an expiring deal. Ainge will have to send a young player or draft pick back somehow too.

other players Houston may want to move are PJ Tucker and E. Gordon. I would NOT HAVE interest in either one as Tucker is not a need now for us and Gordon has a way too high contract for 3 full years after this one!

As bob pointed out Cleveland has an abundance of "bigs" on their roster. but with the Thompson signing this year and the continued improvement of Rob W. I'm not so sure the Celtics need another big.

Though if Ainge could pry Allen from their hands that would be a great move ( The Cav's were savvy to get him and I don't see any reason they would move him now). That leaves Love and Drummond as the possible players Cleveland would want to move on from. I'd pass on both big time .


as for Indiana, with Levert coming in one would think that Jeremy Lamb or Justin Holiday could be traded at some point. TJ Warren had foot surgery at the end of December which leaves them with Sabonis and Turner up front now. So they may be looking for another big man for depth.

Grant Williams for Bitadze
and
Part of the TPE for J. Lamb

might be a possibility I suppose , though not exactly inspiring for Celtic fans.

trying to get Oladipo (IF Houston wants to move him) may still be the best overall move at this point in time.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Why do you feel that that exception Danny got from the Hayward deal is worthless Dboss???  I feel there is something that will happen at some point, he fought too hard for this

Rosalie

I do not think it is worthless.  I just do not think it will be used anytime soon for anything of substance.   Danny could have gotten a piece of the big blockbuster trade by using a portion of the TPE  but he stood pat.  The TPE is nothing more than having your credit card limit increased at a time when you are concerned about your debt ratio.  

Fans need to remember that being able to bring in more salary than you send out may sound great but if you are a tax paying team it is not so great.  If Danny uses it for a one year rental it may turn into the most expensive vacation of a lifetime.

I am more convinced than not that Danny blew the GH trade with the Pacers.  Would we be better with Turner or TT (2 yr deal)?  That question remains unanswered.  So I do see the TPE as a consolation prize.   Behind he scene Danny may have his eye on some other deal that could make the team better but he has to manage his long term CAP as well.

Using the TPE next season perhaps helps our longer term cap situation. Feedback?

worcester wrote:Using the TPE next season perhaps helps our longer term cap situation. Feedback?

I do not think Boston will get to the Finals with this current roster.
If they can trade for a player who will move the needle for this season, I think they should go for it.

I do also, but I wonder what the TPE tax implications are going forward.

dboss wrote:

The TPE is nothing more than having your credit card limit increased at a time when you are concerned about your debt ratio.  

Quote of the day.

Best analogy I've seen to what the TPE is.

This is also one reason why many, if not most, TPEs expire unused.

worcester wrote:I do also, but I wonder what the TPE tax implications are going forward.

There are no tax implications unless the TPE is used to acquire a player.
If Boston still has the TPE going into the next league year (Normally 7/1), then the TPE is considered a Cap Hold for salary cap purposes.
So, if Boston's player salaries are under the cap number, they would be technically way over the cap by holding onto the TPE going into the next league year.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
about 2 hours ago
In addition to the $50,000 fine for violating COVID protocols at his family birthday party, Kyrie Irving will forfeit salary for any games he misses due to his five-day quarantine period, which will allow him to return to team activities on SAT if he continues to test negative.





Bob


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https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-rumors-isaiah-thomas-talking-234613648.html



NBA Rumors: Isaiah Thomas talking to 'a handful of teams' about return


Justin Leger
Fri, January 15, 2021, 3:46 PM·1 min read



We may see Isaiah Thomas back on the court sooner rather than later.

The former Boston Celtics guard has been "communicating with a handful of teams" about an NBA return, according to Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes.

Could C's pursue trade for Wizards star Beal?

Thomas played in 40 games with the Washington Wizards last season before being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers and subsequently waived. The soon-to-be 32-year-old recently underwent a hip procedure and claims he is 100 percent healthy.

Celtics fans fondly remember what a healthy I.T. looks like. The two-time All-Star electrified TD Garden each time he stepped on the parquet from 2014-17. He averaged 28.9 points and 5.9 assists per game during the 2016-17 season, then was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the deal that brought Kyrie Irving to Boston.

While it's unclear which teams Thomas has been in contact with, there's little doubt many C's fans would love to see "the little guy" back in Celtics Green. They would need to clear a spot on the bench for that to happen, and I.T. has made it clear he'd love to help the second unit.


Bob


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C's trade for Beal? How would that work? First I have heard of it.

Beal is one of the names out there that might be had. I find it hard to believe since the Wizards traded for Westbrook. Why bother getting him if you do not have a good team around him, Beal seems to be content with the Wizards. I wonder.....so that would mean we would bid farewell to Kemba??? I do not know about this, but time will tell.

There are alot of names out there, heck, last night they were talking about four players from Orlando who might be available.

As far as IT is concerned, I feel so bad for that guy. It is not like he is a bad teammate, God, look at the fool in Brooklyn. IT would give his right arm to be playing. What a shame, I just do not see Danny being one of the GM's IT is in contact with. That ship looks to me like it has sailed. Myself, I would give him a shot, what the heck.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-cavaliers-to-trade-or-release-kevin-porter-jr-after-foodthrowing-locker-room-outburst-report-164730416.html



Report: Cavaliers to trade or release Kevin Porter Jr after food-throwing locker room outburst



Cassandra Negley·Writer
Mon, January 18, 2021, 8:47 AM·2 min read



The Cleveland Cavaliers are expected to either trade or release second-year player Kevin Porter Jr. after an outburst in the locker room on Friday, per a report by The Athletic.

Porter reportedly became angry Friday when he entered the Cavaliers’ home locker room to find his old locker was given to Taurean Prince, per the report. Cleveland acquired the sixth-year forward from the Brooklyn Nets last week as part of the blockbuster James Harden trade.

Porter reportedly throws food in locker room
Via The Athletic:

Sources said Porter, whose locker was moved to the wall where the younger, end-of-bench players reside, began yelling and at one point threw food.

Sources said general manager Koby Altman came into the locker room and confronted Porter, and the player remained combative with his boss. The Cavs spent the weekend trying to trade him.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff heard the commotion in the locker room from his office and came in, shocked and disgusted by what he heard.

Porter, 20, has not played this season for personal reasons. He was involved in a one-car accident in November and charged with “improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, transport loaded firearm in a motor vehicle accessible to operator or any passenger without leaving the vehicle.”

Those charges were dismissed. Days later two women filed a police report saying they were attacked by Porter in an incident unrelated to the car accident.

Porter averaged 10.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists over 50 games last year as a rookie. He shot 44.2 percent from the floor and 33.5 percent from 3-point range. He was the 30th overall pick in the 2019 draft by the Milwaukee Bucks out of USC and was later traded to Cleveland.

Prince is averaging 11.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists over his career with the Atlanta Hawks and Nets. In 12 games this season, the 26-year-old averaged 8.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.6 assists while shooting 40.5 percent.


Bob
MY NOTE:  Quite the feeling of entitlement by a sophomore #30 pick.  Arguably the only reason why he's even in the league is because he was #30 and not #31.  He's a 6'4", 205# guard.  Every once in a while you need a bonehead like this to remind players in the league that you need to conduct yourselves like mature professionals in order to succeed (unless you're James Harden, then f--k all...)

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Some of these young players are just not equipped to handle the life of a professional player. Too much too soon it seems like

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Some of these young players are just not equipped to handle the life of a professional player. Too much too soon it seems like

Rosalie,

I agree. That's one reason why I'm not a fan of "one-and-done" drafting. I realize no GM wants to pass over a talent because they're 19 and think they're ready to play NBA ball, they don't want to get 2nd guessed by another NBA GM who does take a chance on them, but FOMO is not a sound investment strategy. To stop this would require, in my opinion,

1. The NBPLA to agree to making it "two-and-done" or "three-and-done". They'd rather not do this, they'd rather have more teams, more roster spots/team (like the NBA going from 12 roster spots to 15, plus two-way players for a total of 17) and;

2. The league would have to change the draft process dramatically. No more tanking to get the best pick, for one. There are proposals that would do this, that would make every team's draft spots fixed and the picks each year would just rotate through the league regardless of the team's win-loss record. One such proposal was created and submitted by our own Assistant GM Mike Zarren. If you know you're getting the 1st pick next year regardless of your win-loss record there's no reason to tank for it, is there? Furthermore, if you stink and you know you're getting the #30 pick because you got the #1 pick last year there's no reason not to fight like hell all the way too.


Bob


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There would be a battle with the players union over changes now that they have opened the door. Granted, there are some who do well, but how many fall by the wayside? I wonder, what would Tatum have been like with one more year under his belt at Duke? Look at Pritchard, Grant Williams, you can tell they are much more mature. We have been waiting for Robert Williams to shine, another year in college?

I know there are talented players out there who will make the league, and need the money to help support their families. The door is open now, I do not ever see it closing. It is up to the player to make the decision of staying or going, and, we all know $$$ is a big deciding factor.

Noticed ESPN gave the Celtics the boost to 4th in the Power Rankings even after being clobbered by the Knicks! Now they are coming around to their senses!!

db

Kevin Porter, Jr. anyone? Probably too much drama but for $1.7Mil and a 2019 #30 pick, would Danny even take a look at rehabbing a powder keg?

db

dbrown4 wrote:Kevin Porter, Jr. anyone?  Probably too much drama but for $1.7Mil and a 2019 #30 pick, would Danny even take a look at rehabbing a powder keg?

db

Have you followed him, does his game have anything? A ton of 6’6” wings in the L.

if i remember there was chatter before that draft of Ainge liking him. But one never knows if draft talk is real or not.

his attitude was an "issue' before the draft also, at least on draft websites. Not sure if there was any truth to it.


has he played yet this year?

I can't find any stats for him this season yet.

I think i would pass on him and keep Green myself.

Just the attitude problems, that's all I saw glaring initially. We've been known to roll the dice a couple of times...

db

The last thing we need is a kid who thinks he is bigger than his teammates. Keep him, we have no use for him

Watch Zion bounce Derrick Favors, hardly a 98 lb weakling, back 6 feet onto his ass.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1351719400122929155


Bob


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bobheckler wrote:Watch Zion bounce Derrick Favors, hardly a 98 lb weakling, back 6 feet onto his ass.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1351719400122929155


Bob


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Saw Barkley and K Malone do that many a time back in the day. Zion’s biggest weakness is perimeter defense, in another era he’d be fine, but right now on perimeter he’s a real liability....

Bucks are really looking flawed this year. Watching them I’m thinking how come Stevens couldn’t exploit them more 2 years ago. Our strength is their weakness, then realized Kyrie had to hog the ball that series and was flinging up garbage that whole series, instead of attacking them the way we should have. They have no wing defenders, too many times I’m seeing Divencenzo and Connighton cover wings that are 4-5 inches taller than them. Middleton is a decent defender, but no where near an elite defender. Lebron had no resistance at all tonite. Giannis is still young 26, luckily they have him locked up, but right now they sure don’t scare me.

Because Kyrie did what he wanted to do on the court during that series. He should have been benched. Can you imagine the s....that would have gone down if he did that. That was a lost series. I will say it over and over, Kyrie did not want to win, he wanted out and he wanted to blame the young guys for the loss. IT WAS ALL ON HIM