Celtics 2022 Offseason

Except the Nets didn't make it out of the second round, that's not carried a bad team to cusp of finals. That's the team that looked great round one fell apart when they had injuries. 

If you're talking about increasing playoffs odds you can't overlook the massive drop from a year ago to this year. This year with no Harden had him playing like Ime would and it wasn't good. He wasn't even able to get his team a single win playing with Irving. A year ago against that super team with no Brown and crap Tatum got us one win.

Great player, he's just not like LeBron or other greats that can do it all. I'd take Jimmy Butler over Durant any day of the week, he can do it all. You seem to be praising Durant playoff records and I'm the opposite.

I believe you are looking back to much and not forward enough. You acknowledge the injury risk (age decline?) but don't appear to commit to whether or not you'd go through with trading Brown (and more including another starter and additionally pieces and additional picks). I'd return the call if I was Stevens with, "Okay what's you actual offer" and say get back to me and leave it at that. IMHO I'd say an even swap is a likely upgrade for this year but no where near the margin you see and I think the risk beyond next season are so much so that I think there is no upgrade after that. In the end, at least two years with Brown is worth more than the slight upgrade an even swap would be (never-mind the added payroll and all if it's ramifications). Never mind that they want a starter, a rotation piece and multiple picks. Danny did a great job turning old assets into making the Celtics one of the best teams in the league again with assist from Stevens (I'm not attempting to go down that rabbit hole here) why would we do undo the great situation the team is in now for at least two years??? AND we improved alot from last years team by at worst adding two good rotation pieces without giving up any rotation/starters and perhaps gave us the ability to trade one of the guards (loaded with depth) for the teams most ovbious weakness in bigs with an aging Horford and RW3 who we all know comes with his own injury risk. If this team makes any more moves I'd prefer it to be a solid back-up center or a 4/5 combo back-up. I would not be surprised if the team rolls the dice and trades one of our ball handlers during the season for a back-up center. 

Where do you get that line-up, based on what rumor. If you are going to fabricate something base it on anything based on reality, even rumors as long as you note that, otherwise you are pontificating about pontificating, so what's the use?

My god are we getting Durant?


They said the Celtics improved there offer Smart, Brown, 2027 1st, 2 pick swaps. That’s a solid haul,


You know if teams want you that’s a good thing. There never moving Tatum.

Yes I did he's a team player that fits exactly what Ime wants to do. He's a driver, plays great D, can run an offense while not turning it over and he doesn't foul. He's exactly what this team needs. He's the guy Jmei was describing with Durant, took a not that talented Heat team to finals and almost did it a second time. He was better by advanced stats in the regular season and post season compared to Durant. He could take Tatums role and move Tatum to Browns role, that's not true with Durant. Tatum has more success than Durant running an offense. 

www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2022_advanced.html#advanced_stats::ws_per_48

He was only tops in win shares, offensive plus minus and overall plus minus in the playoffs, while getting the most steals.

Kevin Durant was the best player in the world for parts of 2022 until he ran out of gas. This was after the Olympics and leading a tire fire in Brooklyn. Kevin Durant is the greatest scoring forward ever. I like Jimmy Butler. He’s a dog. But he isn’t Kevin Durant, and it ain’t that close.

Butler had a better regular season per advanced stats and look at his team. Haha ran out of gas, yeah because he's 33 years old and will be 34. I don't know if he's the greatest scoring forward ever, he's certainly one of the best ones. Yet basketball isn't just about one guy scoring. Durant looks best with Westbrook/Harden running the offense or Curry/Green when all he does is score and he doesn't have to do anything else. We don't have guys like that and trying to play like Tatum in the playoffs was brutal for him, almost one to one assist to TO ratio. Ran out of gas after 55 games.

LIke I said day one, if you can get Durant without trading Brown or Tatum go for it. Otherwise hard pass and let's enjoy what could be a dynasty in the making.

Umass, when you worry that Tatum and Durant don’t provide enough creation by themselves=good take. When you prefer to keep the core/potential dynasty over trading a much younger Brown=good take.

When you say Jimmy Butler is better than Kevin Durant=bad take.

And none of these things are related.

You know Durant is unreal but to me it says something that this core can bring a title home. They been playoff bound every year and broke through this year. Don’t forget we won the first 2 games they just looked gassed and Warriors were deeper and experience.

Imagine if Phoenix made it.

A few scattered thoughts:

- I’m not particularly concerned about Durant’s 2022 playoffs. He was playing the best defensive team in the league with multiple options to throw at him on every play, coming off an unreasonable regular season workload, on a team with major culture/vibe issues, with zero help from his teammates and in a small sample size. You can’t consider the playoffs in isolation; when viewed together with his regular season, I don’t see any real issues. I think Durant is still a top 10 player in the league and one who is especially lethal in the playoffs given his ability to get a ~50% jump shot off against anyone at any time.

- I’m less optimistic about this current core than most of you. I don’t see them as a top three team in the league at the moment (I have the Warriors, Bucks and Clippers ahead of them and the Suns, 76ers and Nuggets in the same tier) and I don’t see them as a perennial title contender as currently constructed. The second half of last season was great fun but it does not erase the issues seen in the first half. Development isn’t linear and you can’t assume that Tatum and Brown take another step forward, especially since the steps get harder from here on up (going from All-Star to best player on a championship team is particularly challenging). Durant has already shown he can do that, which is not something that should be easily dismissed.

- I think Durant ages well. His size and shooting ability give him a high floor in terms of being able to play more PF and C as he gets older and still being able to get off his shot and adding a ton of value as a shot-up shooter (a la Dirk). He doesn’t need to get to the rim to shoot a high percentage and he still draws a lot of fouls. His lack of ball dominance makes him a perfect fit for an ascending Tatum. Injuries are a definite risk, though.

- Durant is an underrated defender with tons of length and versatility. A Tatum/Durant/R. Williams frontcourt with Smart and Brogdon in the backcourt is a long, switchy, versatile lineup.

- Trading for Durant increases the odds that you win one title but probably decreases the odds that you win multiple titles. That’s a tradeoff I’m willing to make.

- With all that said, I’m not willing to give up Smart and I’m only willing to give up one or two near-term picks/swaps. No team can match Brown as an anchor piece in a trade and it’s a close enough call that I’m not giving up the pieces necessary to maximize title odds in the near term (Smart) or giving up the entire future (picks in 2025 and beyond).

- Whether they trade for Durant or not, Rob Williams is the difference between a perennial title contender and merely a good team. If he stays healthy, he has an All-Star level impact on this team.

I find this very disingenuous. I'd like to think you could easily figure out that 10$ is a simple typo for 10% considering the rest of the sentence and that % AND $  are a key apart of the keyboard but you would  rather utilize any chance you get to attempt to belittle. Be better than that and answer the question, If someone is 90% right because you can knit pick 10% doesn't change their point. I thought you were told to stop this non-sense already??

RIP Bill Russell # 6 the best to do it.


I hope the number 6 is retired through the NBA. I usually not like this but what he did and stood for I hate what he went thru . I wish he had great memories living here and I am not that type of person I believe we get persecuted enough even though I have not walked in other peoples shoes. But I wish the past was different with him. I hate that story.