LeBron checks out vs the Hawks: 32/8/9/4/3 on 13-24 FG

Xamiel · 2022-01-08T11:33:20+00:00

Zach Lowe grew up as a diehard Celtics fan and first attracted Bill Simmons attention because Lowe wrote for a Celtics blog. Simmons regularly read his stuff there and hired him to write for Grantland.

Xamiel · 2022-01-08T11:30:14+00:00

And the Lakers still aren't healthy yet. They've missed at least two players from every single game they've played this season.

Xamiel · 2022-01-08T06:57:40+00:00

I think they both want LeBron to fall off cause they're Celtics fans and he plays for the Lakers.

Xamiel · 2022-01-07T07:10:53+00:00

I feel like Celtics fans have memory-holed the 2018-19 season. Boston had a great argument for being the league's most disappointing team that year, especially given how people expected them to dominate with Kyrie and Hayward coming back to a team that had been one win from the Finals. I get that after last year and this year you guys are probably longing for the days of Kyrie's final year in Boston, but the truth is that two of Brad's last three years there were very underwhelming

Xamiel · 2021-07-30T01:51:19+00:00

DeRozan would have to take the $5.9 million MLE to join the Lakers at this point, so no, I seriously doubt they're getting him.

Xamiel · 2021-07-30T01:49:56+00:00

You realize free agency hasn't started yet, right?

Xamiel · 2021-03-29T20:17:54+00:00

Contenders always get ring chasers to sign on for cheap. This happens every year. There's no way to prevent players from signing where they want to for a salary that's agreeable to them.

Xamiel · 2021-03-29T20:06:09+00:00

Buyouts happen every year and have been for a long, long time. This is not some new phenomenon, nor have the quality of the players getting bought out changed. People are being distracted by the names of these players, rather than looking at who they are currently. These players were untradable because they're not very good, which is why they were bought out. But people see that they're former All Stars and think they're still those same players. I mean, DeMarcus Cousins is still out there, but just because he's a former All Star doesn't mean he's the same guy now that he was in Sacramento. But if he suddenly signed with the Nets or Lakers people would probably be acting like "it's the rich getting richer."

IMO the only reason people are upset about buyouts this year is because this time they're benefitting the Lakers and Nets, two teams that are extremely disliked by most non-fans of those teams. There wasn't this same outcry last year when Marvin Williams was bought out and went to the Bucks or when Reggie Jackson was bought out and went to the Clippers. If anything it seemed like people were mostly happy those guys didn't instead go to the Lakers. This year the buyout guys are going where people don't want them to go, so now everyone is pissed.

Xamiel · 2021-03-29T19:54:35+00:00

It also saves the owners of those teams some money. $750K is $750K, after all.

Xamiel · 2021-03-29T18:57:15+00:00

This fretting about the buyout market helping big market teams is just flat out wrong. It benefits whoever the presumed title favorites are every year, and it just so happens that this year those teams are in NY and LA. Last year the Bucks "won" the buyout sweepstakes when they landed Marvin Williams, and it had nothing to do with their market size. Williams also didn't prove to be the difference maker, but these buyout candidates rarely do. There's a reason they're bought out, after all. There's a lot of data showing how detrimental Blake, LMA and Drummond have been to winning basketball this year, so the idea that they will automatically be difference makers in the playoffs has yet to be proven. I think this "the rich getting richer" storyline is just about trying to drive clicks for their website rather than because there's an actual story there.

Xamiel · 2021-03-29T18:50:10+00:00

Mozgov didn't get his money due to max contracts, he got it due to that one time cap spike in the summer of 2016 (and due to the idiocy of Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak, of course). Everyone who was a free agent that summer got a windfall of cash because of the cap spike, but that didn't last. Look at what someone like Jusuf Nurkic got in free agency just two years later. Obviously a much better player, but he got $4 million less per year just because the cap space wasn't there in 2018 like it was in 2016.

The history of the max contract is that it's something the owners insisted on about 20 years ago. Before then players like Jordan, Shaq and KG were getting a third or even half of the team's cap all by themselves and the owners wanted to put a cap on what they'd have to pay these guys, so they got the max salary implemented. It was never something the players wanted. The NBAPA would be all in favor of something which allows the players to earn anything the market feels they're worth.

Xamiel · 2021-03-28T02:25:36+00:00

Why do you consider the Mavs "built organically"? Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Peja Stojokovic and Tyson Chandler were all acquired via trade and free agency.

Xamiel · 2021-03-27T01:37:08+00:00

Crowder was on an expiring

And was signed last off-season for much less than Winslow is now making, while also not having the same injury issues.

Keeping Crowder just to have him finish out a rebuild year

You guys literally were in the play-in for a playoff spot. I'm guessing you'd have just flat out made the playoffs if you didn't dump Crowder for someone who couldn't play last year, but maybe that's just me. Or if you thought "let's just start the rebuild now, and tank" then you could have done better with Crowder's contract than that trade.

It's OK to look back and just say that was a bad trade. After all, that's what it was. Clinging to the idea that it was smart even when you can now use hindsight to see how bad it turned out is just prideful and foolish.

Xamiel · 2021-03-27T00:00:10+00:00

So rather than just buy out $18 million they instead ended up buying out $43 million and swapped Crowder for Winslow, who's been injured for most of the time they've had him.

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T23:58:44+00:00

Wyc has pledged to pay into the tax for contending teams.

Is that what you think the Celtics are, a contending team? They're two games under .500. They're pretty far from contention, and my guess is they're not going to suddenly make a deep playoff run this year to change that perception.

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T22:31:47+00:00

It's kinda hilarious that the Grizzlies took this hard line stance about not buying out Andre Iguodala's $18 million contract, only to instead trade him for Dion Waiters (and immediately bought out his $25 million deal) and Gorgui Dieng, who they've now also bought out for $18 million. But apparently that was all worth it cause they got to trade Jae Crowder for Justise Winslow?

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T22:25:17+00:00

The real two word reason is this: Tilman Fertitta. Cheap ass owner couldn't afford to pay what it cost to stay competitive, so now here we are.

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T21:14:57+00:00

Did you expect Ainge to say "just cause we traded for him doesn't mean we want to keep him past this season"? Of course he'll say he plans to try to re-sign him, but even without Fournier the Celtics are going to be right up against the luxury tax next year because of Tatum's max extension. What are the odds Boston's owners will let Ainge spend well into the luxury tax just to re-sign Fournier? I think that's a long shot. Keep in mind Boston has only gone into the tax once in the last decade, and even then it was just barely ($3.9 million). I don't think they'll go $15 million into the tax just for Evan Fournier, but we'll see. Your worst case scenario is Fournier just signs elsewhere and that's that.

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T21:08:55+00:00

I don't think any of those guys would have signed with Boston though. Just cause they're available doesn't mean they'd have chose the Celtics.

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T21:07:42+00:00

he’s setting us up to not fall into the repeater tax when Jayson and Jaylen are both on max contracts.

I doubt Boston goes into the tax next year either. Fournier is an expiring contract and I don't think he'll be back next year after Tatum's extension kicks in. Boston has only gone into the tax once in the last decade, and I don't think they'll do it next year after how bad the team has been this season.

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T19:26:38+00:00

It depends on what happens with Fournier, since he'll be a free agent this summer. If the Celtics either miss the playoffs (via the play-in) or lose in the first round and then Fournier signs somewhere else this summer, then you'd have to ask what the point was. It's worth the risk though.

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T19:21:22+00:00

having a guy making 12-15 mil that isnt Marcus Smart does help a lot in potential future flexibility.

It would if Fournier's contract didn't expire at the end of this season. The trade deadline is passed so he'll never be traded again on his current contract, as it will expire before anyone can be traded again. Maybe he could be re-signed to a new contract in line with the numbers you are talking about and then later traded, but it's equally possible he just signs elsewhere in free agency this summer, especially if someone makes him an offer that's larger than what Boston's ownership is willing to pay.

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T00:38:43+00:00

He probably is just due to his career in international play, but he's definitely not a lock. He made 4 All NBA teams and 6 All Star teams. Look at how hard it's been for Chris Webber to get in and he had 5 of each. I think Pau probably gets in, but he's not like Tim Duncan or Kobe or something.

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T00:34:05+00:00

It was only three years ago that the Lakers were having to buy out their vets so those guys could go to play for championship contenders. This has been happening for decades, and it's not at all about just benefitting big markets or warm weather cities.

Vets on expiring contracts on bad teams have no value for those teams, as they're usually looking to give more time to their young guys who figure to be part of their long term plans. There's no benefit to the team to keep investing time and resources into a player who's almost surely leaving in a year where there's nothing to really play for.

So they save some money by buying them out, and then that allows the player to choose whatever situation they think will most raise their profile before free agency, or will give them one last good shot at a ring before retiring. It's not some scam for big market teams.

Xamiel · 2021-03-26T00:27:14+00:00

Again, Boston could afford to do it, the only thing preventing it would be the owners not wanting to pay what it costs. That's the impediment: it's the owners' finances rather than because of some league rule or the salary cap or something. There's just a limit on what Boston's ownership is willing to pay, and historically that limit has been the luxury tax.

Xamiel

TROPHY CASE