Is it really gonna be good vibes when he's terrible and they only play him in blowouts before having to cut him for a buyout guy? I don't know that IT wants to be the new Tacko
The difference is that Jeff Green is improving in his role with each passing year. He’s the ultimate 30+ second unit frontcourt veteran for a contender. IT hasn’t been an effective NBA player in 4 years despite multiple opportunities, including two years ago in DC, showing a traffic cone is a better defender at this point in time.
Dissecting these:
Green is probably as simple as.... they don't have a real MLE to give him and BKN will pay him because he's valuable to them and they are probably title favorites next year. Green should get more than $5.9M and right now that's all BOS can offer.
I mean aside from the fact that the entire reason for clearing '22 cap space is to prevent teams like Philly, Golden State, or Portland from going all in on Beal so that the 'Zardoz are forced to deal with Boston, sure...
I won't be sad if we don't pay Fournier 4/$80m no matter what the eventual bottom line is. They need to shoot their shot at a 3rd star.
There were chemistry issues in 2020-21 that hopefully have been rectified, and there's a new head coach on the bench. A lot is hinging on the development of Romeo and Nesmith, but I'm looking forward to this season.
Davis was a Klutch guy who was always destined to end up in LA with LeBron. I’d say the Beal/Tatum connection is much closer to that.....than to only having a wish and a prayer to lure Beal here.
Sure, but his point is... you better hit, because if you don't get Beal now, you're taking a huge risk in 2022. You either get Beal (or another max guy) or you may well have just ended your window. YOu can only bleed talent so many years in a row before the house collapses
Yes but Isaiah Thomas just dropped 65.
Gonna be tough to lure a guy with no East Coast ties away from the WC and away from LeBron and Steph. We’d have to overpay those two and that’s exactly what we don’t want to be doing.
It's dangerous is the answer, because this team isn't a contender as built, and you run the risk of losing Smart next year or having to overpay him when you don't get Beal, which puts you in a terrible spot of having to Knicks it, and burning another year of Tatum/Brown, and suddenly you're under the gun.
When the opportunity arises to land a legit 3rd star that would make us instant contenders over the next half decade it is worth not throwing that away for the right to overpay Fournier or commit to multiple years to other non-difference makers (Olynyk is making $13m per LOL). The only issue I have is that Brad isn’t (yet) accumulating any draft capital that a team like the Wizards may want. Who knows.....maybe Brad knows that the Wiz were high on Begarin and he was selected for this reason?
It isn’t really wasted though as The Jays are both Under 25. If the Beal thing fails we will still have other opportunities over the next year or two. If they were Beal’s age then I’d be more concerned.
It’s not really dangerous though. If they lose out on Beal they can sign Smart and try to use Horford’s expiring deal and picks to shop for an upgrade. There’s not much they would be doing differently if they weren’t focused on flexibility. The evidence indicates that Brad isn’t focused on flexibility at all costs either. It sounds like they were open to keeping Fournier if they got him at a price they liked and there is some indication they are discussing an extension with Smart.
It's not guaranteed to work out, sure, but is there or has there been anything that can realistically be done this offseason that could be expected to make the current roster into a contender? The most I can think of is try to pull off some Hail Mary by packaging Brown, Williams, and whoever else for Towns or some other top-10, top-15 player, but I'm not sure any such trade that would (assuming it even could) actually be accepted by the other team would be worth it for the Celtics.
Part of the problem is they kept kicking the can... they didn't make a move then lost Hayward for nothing, then they didn't make a move so the tax would reset and added Fournier... then lost him for nothing (off the back of losing Kyrie for nothing and Horford for nothing), they've been bleeding for several years and it's coming to a head in an all-in for Beal. It's not just FA's they don't appear to be interested in aggressive trades, holding out for Beal. Now... maybe they have strong word from Beal he wants to be here and that if WAS won't trade him he's 100% coming in FA next year, but a whole bunch of consecutive seasons and offseasons of letting talent go to "remain flexible" for deals that never happened are coming home with a roster than is worse every year, and where they run a big risk that they now don't have the pieces to do anything but hope they get chosen by a FA.
Yeah, this is kind of where I am. No move ever guarantees a championship but the Celtics are pretty much going all in on Beal now. There is some risk given all the talent that left the organization. If that scenario doesn’t materialize for whatever reason, we’re facing settling on giving risky contracts to TL/Smart with basically zero path to getting that needed 3rd star. Should that continue, I would expect Tatum’s next contract to have a different letterhead on it. They need to get Beal.
Does #1 really matter if Beal expresses to the Wizards (and any other team looking into him) that if not traded here he'll sign here as a free agent? Teams *know* and no other team is going to offer a boatload of picks for him.
Except that Tatum doesn't exactly have a lot of leverage to demand a trade at this point in his contract. Not sure the Wizards would simply wait 3 years; not sure Beal would either.
The PTSD is still strong with Boston fans. Six Super Bowl and four World Series trophies in the last twenty years, and folks are still worried that the kid who signed a four year extension like three weeks ago might shoot his way out of town.
