Yes although seems like nothing more than a training camp body since Tristan will be out.
Agreed unless they actually keep him I think that’s the likely primary motivator.
Is there a new rule for two-ways? It’d make sense, but I haven’t seen anything.
2-way players can remain on the team longer (50 games, I believe), and get paid more.
There's no max days with the team, and they can play 50 games.
I feel like this is the same thing that was said about the road to the Finals last year.
Milwaukee went 56-17 last year. They're not beating that this year. The Sixers seem about the same to me except with a different coach. Maybe Doc will squeeze out more there. I think Miami will build off their playoffs and be better than the regular season version we saw last year, primarily due to the growth of Herro and Bam.
Doc may have lost a few miles off his fastball too. I know that external factors hurt his team, but they sure as shit underperformed last year.
A lot of this is up in air. Holiday over Bledsoe is a slight upgrade on paper, but if Giannis doesn't sign his extension the pressure on the Bucks will be enormous, and they haven't appeared capable of breaking through that. The Sixers have had a ton of turnover and injuries, who knows. The Nets should be better, but it all depends on 6'10 32 year old's achilles. Not a great track record of that, and the Nets need both Kyrie (hasn't been able to finish 3 of the last 6 seasons) and Durant to be 100% to be a finals contender. Toronto is undoubtedly worse - Lowry is a year older, and they replaced Gasol/Ibaka with Baynes/Len. Maybe Siakam takes a leap, but otherwise they will be worse.
I think it's fair to say that the Bucks remain the favorites in the Eastern Conference; they seemed to have been hurt inordinately by the bubble situation, which will not be repeated. Whether they can succeed in the playoffs, however, remains to the seem.
Wrt the Bucks: I think it’s pretty clear at this point that we have to down-weight their regular season performances come playoff time.
I would say Jrue is somewhere between 100 and 1000X the upgrade on Bledsoe. The Bucks got tremendously better. On both ends of the floor too. People are underestimating how much better they are With Jrue then whatever Eric Bledsoe does on a basketball court these days.
Hollinger has already pissed in the punch bowl on the C's free-agent signings. Time will tell.
That's my dream scenario, too, because if Time Lord is playing well enough for the C's to part with Theis, then he's probably become a monster.
I take the opposite tack, I think that due to youth and athleticism that Time Lord gets an over-MLE deal when he finally hits free agency, whereas I'm not sure Theis does. I do think it likely that Theis gets in to the neighborhood of the MLE (say something like 3/25). But if Williams shows real promise on the court he's more likely to get Smart money. So I'd be all for cashing him in for more picks at the trade deadline.
I would bet on that 6'6" playing 30+ minutes a game here and there regardless of whether someone pulls a hammy given the Cs adjustment patterns. Theis and Robert Williams with another street big would have been fine if not ideal. The Cs bigs averaged around ~40 mpg with Theis taking 60% of those minutes. They are likely to adjust that given Thompson's presence but they could have given most of Kanters minutes to Granite/etc with street FA big absorbing the balance.
I like your optimism, but Tacko is nothing, and we have no idea what TL is and how often he's going be in the training room.
Part of me would prefer to just play Nesmith with the starters and let him figure it out on D, even if it gets ugly. It's such a better situation for him when he can be spacing the floor with good looks rather than being a higher priority option on offense.
It is, but on a second unit with one of the Jays on the floor, Teague, and TT, he will get good looks, and won’t have to defend against starters Unlike previous years, the second unit should have some stability and veteran leadership
Still seems to be a little smoke here. Celtics don’t have the assets to get Harden without Jaylen or Tatum so curious about the 3 or 4 team angle.
Can only speculate that it involves Kemba going to a team with space to take him and assets to send to Houston. Actually it's more wishcasting than speculation, but it's the only way to not have a J or Smarf in the deal.
Yeah, I’m sure Ainge is not offering up Jaylen at this point but the Celtics would have to give additional assets to get someone to take a hurt Kemba so not sure how that would work. Maybe it’s finding a landing spot for Smart since the Celtics wouldn’t be able to afford the Jay’s, Harden, and Smart long-term. And then the Smart return would go to Houston along with other assets/picks. But that seems like a bad return for Houston so who knows.
