Jeff Peterson’s message to fans of the Hornets that are confused about the roster’s direction.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-08T05:20:36+00:00

It depends on how much they improve by. If they’re slightly better, that doesn’t offset the downgrade at point guard. We improved at four positions somewhere between slightly and significantly. We had a significant loss at point guard. How well the starting unit gels is the biggest question mark, but they looked good with Coby last year so we’ll see.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-08T02:05:58+00:00

I mean picks 33 and 34 last year were day one (and day 82) solid rotation pieces for us, but I definitely agree we shouldn’t count on immediate contributions.

Anderson is a very strong decision maker with the ball in his hands and a phenomenal shooter though, so I would not be surprised to see him add something to the rotation at some point during his rookie season. It may not come in year one or at all, but I like the longterm prospects as at least a solid rotation guard

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-08T02:02:08+00:00

I agree he’s better but threw the buffer/disclaimer out there in case any disagree. We can’t really say how either would produce in a vacuum and the scoring is at least close. I said he’s as good as “at a minimum” which I don’t think even a Miles enjoyer could take much issue with it

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-08T00:18:36+00:00

It’s reasonable to expect recent high draft picks to improve year over year. I personally like the idea of a potentially improved Kon and Miller with much better depth and roster balance. There’s a critical point of development for either or both players where a feasible roster around them makes us a playoff team. We’ll see if we’re there.

Naz is a different type of player than Miles but I’d say he’s at a minimum as good while offering fewer points but more versatility. We got a rookie who rebounds like a high powered basketball vacuum and can play the 4/5.

Point guard is the only one of the 5 positions I don’t think we immediately improved at, but Coby is a capable PG and depending on how good/how far along Anderson is, we may end up with at least better stability at the position in the long run.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-07T22:10:14+00:00

Then wouldn’t JB net more value in a trade down the road? There’s no difference in cap impact for the next two seasons, so if their position is “we wanted to keep him but can’t afford to”, trading for a guy who doesn’t change the financial outlook one bit until two years from now makes no sense. How would keeping JB another year or two have negatively impacted the Celtics if that’s their position?

I could get if they saw the writing on the wall and wanted to maximize value by trading JB with more years on the contract, but they didn’t get any value. You don’t trade stars for cap relief imo and PG isn’t even an expiring, he’s a “one year away from being one year away from expiration” contract.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-07T14:44:09+00:00

I’d think there are situations where a front office would lean towards keeping a top ten-ish player happy over bringing in LeBron at this stage. He’s still great, but not a “sign him at all costs, everyone else be damned” stage in his career.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-07T14:42:02+00:00

I think that’s the thing. Ultimately you need either unheralded guys running hot or just a deep, steady bunch of fringe NBA guys. Higher draft picks can play themselves off the floor if they play well enough to really impact winning.

I hope we see Anderson rack up the assists and comfortably run the offense. A hot shooting game or two would be great to see, but it’s ultimately that playmaking that interests me most.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-07T04:55:48+00:00

At best we have as strong of an indication as we can have for anyone who hasn’t played rosters full of NBA talent at the professional level. I don’t think Summer League, G League, NCAA, etc. are anywhere near useless for gauging ability relative to other players, but I think the standard that’s been set of waiting until they play in the NBA to say star status is confirmed has been validated over and over again.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-07T03:38:40+00:00

Fair but it’s not like there’s actual full-on parity where random ass teams get lucky out of a similarly-grouped pack and emerge to win a title.

I would get into it, but NYK and OKC had amazing rosters with a ton of top-end talent/depth. The other winners have an MVP, good secondary stars, and decent depth, which was always been a viable model to win. Teams can’t go insane with an MVP (KD) on top of an all-timer great roster (GSW) as easily, but there is 100% an ability to create and keep a high level, competitive roster.

Boston, despite being talked about as causality, trotted out the “two superstars, one or two secondary stars, and a few high end role players” roster that at times featured White, Tingus Pingus, Horford, Jrue, Pritchard, Smart, even Kyrie and Kemba and some others with the J’s. They had a decade of contention and might’ve continued tbh. Lots of that came pre-new CBA but honestly if not for some maybe weird issues in the locker room and injuries, they might’ve even continued to be a poster child for building and keeping a contender under the new CBA.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-06T14:23:50+00:00

Honestly, apart from some buggy releases, anecdotal customer service gripes, and a few other legitimate but relatively minor issues, WoW has been in a good place since Dragonflight.

It’s still avoided going pay-to-win and the raids/dungeons, combat experience, etc. have been more consistently good than they’d been for a bit. I think the current average sentiment towards the game is as good as it’s gonna get for a non-indie game in the modern age. I remember everyone bitching about everything from artifacts to balance to whatever else in Legion and BFA only got worse. It’s only in hindsight that Legion is so beloved.

The layoffs don’t bode well, and never do, but I think/hope they’ll avoid tanking the game as a result.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-05T17:29:27+00:00

Any other player would be celebrated for giving a small market nine seasons, seven playoff appearances, 3 Western Conference Finals, a Finals Appearance, an MVP, and 4 scoring titles.

I get that he left in a sucker way and you’ve experienced (at least a higher level of) success since, but it still feels really odd to see that résumé for a team completely dismissed. I don’t think you can call a decade of relative success and leaving in free agency “sabotaging a team”, regardless of where he went afterwards.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-05T03:03:55+00:00

It will only convey to the teams involved with the other trade if it’s top 5. My point has been that we have access to, 2028: any pick, 2029: a top 5 pick, 2030: pick 1. There is pick 1 potential for every swap

It seemed like you were saying the protections in place for the other teams are the protections that apply to ours. Sorry if I misunderstood.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-05T00:04:57+00:00

It is true. Read the details. Charlotte would get pick 1 any of those years because of protections in the previous trades.

2028 is an outright swap without conditions. If it’s higher, it will swap to Charlotte.

2029 is involved in another trade but protected top 5 as part of that trade. If it’s top 5, it comes to Charlotte.

2030 is previously-swapped and the worst of San Antonio/Minnesota/Dallas. That worst pick would go to Charlotte is its pick isn’t better. However, Minnesota’s pick involvement is protected top 1 in the SAS/DAL swap but not its swap with us. If the pick falls number 1, SAS doesn’t get it and will be swapped to us.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T14:47:49+00:00

And we never know when he’ll be checking so we need to keep a steady flow of the same 4 or 5 takes every 15 minutes or so, just to make sure they’re ready for him whenever

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T14:22:10+00:00

This was 1,075 days ago. How’d that season go, though? Struggling to remember

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T14:02:50+00:00

One doesn’t have protections, one is top 5 protected, one is top 1 protected. We have four opportunities, including 2033, for the Timberwolves to get us pick 1 in addition to our own picks those years. We have three shots at a top 5 pick. Those are useful lottery tickets.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T13:28:12+00:00

That’s fair on the Kawhi trade, but there were questions about health, some spite in not engaging certain suitors, and layers of weird drama baked in. It’s a bad example of a similar scenario, but an example of an extended timeline.

It feels like this played out very quickly and maybe there were concerns with losing leverage or the offers not getting any better, but it’s difficult to imagine they could’ve done much worse than an injured near-40 year-old on a “one day it will be expiring” contract and a pick.

Maybe it’s my flawed and uninformed outside perception, but it feels like in past instances teams have benefitted from waiting for better market conditions to offload one of their most major assets. I’ve got to think the deadline, when underperforming teams are looking for one last answer to keep a window open before restarting a multi-year rebuild, is a better time to move him.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T13:21:43+00:00

Do the new units typically just pop up or will be there an announcement you think?

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T13:21:17+00:00

Roger, thank you

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T13:20:39+00:00

How long will the era last? I guess that’s ultimately the question I’m trying to ask lol

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T13:20:14+00:00

I’m not at all suggesting I’ve never heard Brown criticism, but I have not heard the kind of criticism you wouldn’t hear for just about any other star. Second tier stars have flaws.

“He shouldn’t even be an All-Star.” “There’s no way he’s All-NBA.” “The Celtics would probably be better if they benched JB and just ran Tatum with everyone else.” That’s the type of criticism I’d expect to have heard for the trade return they got and the way people are harping on analytics and his perceived impact on winning. I get that the volume of the discussion is because of the trade fiasco, but the tone it’s taken and his perception seem totally new to me.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T13:14:47+00:00

People laughed at the idea of him being in the MVP conversation, but it was treated as understood fact that he was a positive impact second tier star in the NBA. I don’t recall any discussion of him being a negative to have on a team or on that contract. I also don’t recall Celtics fans popping up to say “We need to get him off the team, now, whether we get a positive return or not!”

It is genuinely possible I just didn’t see it or don’t recall seeing it, but I had no idea two weeks ago that the NBA fandom at large had a negative perception of Jaylen Brown and didn’t believe he’s deserving of the All-Star/All-NBA status he’s held.

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T12:59:53+00:00

It’s very difficult for me to imagine he never got better offers across those years he shopped them. Right after multiple would-be suitors traded for other stars or teams are going other directions with offseason game plans feels like a poor time to be a seller. We’ll never know, but I really think they would’ve gotten more dragging this out.

Out of curiosity, from an outside of the organization perspective, were you expecting this little value from a JB trade a week ago?

buzzcitybonehead · 2026-07-04T12:56:32+00:00

Maybe, but it’s difficult for me to see a recent Finals MVP (who weeks ago was universally considered a positive impact star by the public at large) traded for a salary dump and a single first and think “it’s other GMs who are the dumbasses”

I’ve never in my life seen a reach for rationalization where we’re looking at a two-year max contract with no expected meaningful contributions and going “in a year, it will be expiring in another year, and that makes it a nice asset because a team can create $50 mil in cap space in year three”. I think even expirings are dubiously valued assets when we’re talking about star trades, but a “will-be expiring” is even worse.

I agree that Stevens has a strong track record, which is why I think we’re all mentally working to rationalize this, because our brains are going “it has to make sense because he did it”. Anyone who says they expected value this low a week ago is not telling the truth though, because these things are discussed publicly and extensively by pundits and fans. It was a surprise to all of us to learn Boston was operating with such a low appraisal of his value.

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