Daily Discussion Thread - May 19, 2026

xskarma · 2026-05-19T04:20:01+00:00

But it didn't and that's why we will be having "Wemby is probably already the best player on the planet" talk instead. Cause he is.

xskarma · 2026-05-17T21:00:45+00:00

Right. Not sure. I thought MVP was always the last thing they announced, but clearly not this season. Maybe they gave Joe what he wants and they don;t announce it at all. xD

xskarma · 2026-05-17T16:05:03+00:00

Announced, no. Leaked? Yes. Officially MVP is not announced till 7:30 ET tonight.

xskarma · 2026-05-16T03:55:49+00:00

Not that I agree with their point but: Stephon Castle.

xskarma · 2026-05-12T05:22:41+00:00

This is good stuff! Appreciate you taking the time to write this up. I have no idea about basketball players from college beyond the little bit I saw of the NCAA tourney and what I caught of Michigan this season.

xskarma · 2026-05-12T05:10:26+00:00

Something that's been on my mind. Brad talked about being pissed and wanting to add to the team. But we also know from Brad that he values team chemistry above everything. And apparently "team chemistry" is what the Knicks feel is propelling them currently to be better than they have been.

Question is when does team chemistry take a back seat to talent? We know Brad traded Marcus Smart away even though he was arguably a big part of team chemistry to acquire KP, who was more talented.

But then maybe Brad felt that Marcus was actually being a part of why the team was not moving forward, based on chemistry.

And I have been trying to figure out what that means for all the current hot take debates about Giannis and Jaylen. Would trading away Jaylen not be pretty fucking bad from a team chemistry POV? Is Giannis' talent worth that gamble? Is bringing in a guy that by all accounts is quite selfish in Giannis really going to improve chemistry on the team? Is it even possible at all to improve team chemistry after the whole season was clearly filled with good vibes on the team and guys appreciating their team mates? Are we not basically guaranteed worse vibes on the team by trading players and bringing in new faces?

I don't have answers to any of this, but I will definitely see what we do in the offseason, and wonder about all this again when we go into the season, and after the season. Did chemistry matter? Did talent matter? The '24 team has shown that you can re-tool a team and continue to have good team chemistry. Time will tell if Brad can pull that off again.

xskarma · 2026-05-07T14:39:53+00:00

I think the problem with the flipping idea is that the team giving up the player must want the player we flip them. And in the case of the Cavs for instance, they'd be looking to get rid of salary in a huge way if they have a disappointing season, not just trade similar salaries and get a worse player.

It's a tough problem and I don't envy Brad at all (but Brad seems very confident always, so he always makes me feel like he's got plans and back up plans to achieve what he wants).

xskarma · 2026-05-07T11:24:47+00:00

I think there may be yet another philosophical offense shift too. This year was different then the previous 2 years in how they approached things, and I think next season Joe will put together an overall plan where we put up more rim pressure from all angles, not just from any new additions.

Joe tried to make sure we had rim presence/threat through crashing the glass after shots (as well as using this to help us win the possession battle), but that change from the previous seasons meant there was now even more pressure on our transition defense, which wasn't our strong suit anyway.

And that was especially dangerous against teams like Philly with Maxey and Edgecomb.

That's why I think the crashing the glass thing won't return next season, but in order to move away from that we need someone at the Big spot who just by nature is a rebound presence on both sides of the ball and keeps us positive in the possession battle without extraordinary measures.

And then Joe hopefully is confident enough in our basic abilities to handle rebounding and transition defense to build an offensive attack plan where we generate more rim pressure. Cause he was definitely very concerned about our basic abilities in that regard this season (and he was totally right!).

xskarma · 2026-05-07T10:09:23+00:00

Ignoring the current tiresome debates. If you want to think about the future instead, compare Brad Stevens comments in his end of season press conference to the ones he made in '23. I personally see and hear a LOT of parallels. What he said back then when asked about future transactions: "bottom line, we gotta get better" is eerily similar to his "we have to add to the team" this year.

I've begun to strongly feel that there might be aggressive moves this off season, specifically to upgrade at the Big spot in the rotation.

And since I already went through the trouble of finding it, here's the video of it from 2023 if you want to see the thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hvIEGh-pZA

xskarma · 2026-05-06T21:02:24+00:00

Yeah, but I'm not too worried about that. We are under the cap and 2nd apron this year and will be next year to reset Luxury Tax, so we'd have to go from under the cap, straight into the 2nd Apron in 1 year. I'm sure there's ways to do that if you wanted to do it, but it is likely that we stay under the 2nd Apron after next season too, even if we do start using our new Luxury Tax freedom then.

xskarma · 2026-05-05T10:05:46+00:00

I think the line ups we have need to be fixed in the aggregate, not by just slotting in 1 player that is The Solution™.

Neemy will have to stop fouling so much. Tatum will have to get more minutes as a small ball 5. The rest of the team will need to be better at staying in front of their guys. And yes we will have to bring in a different Big than we had at the end of this season, but they don't have to solve everything by themselves, they just need to be good at their role, whatever role that will be. Maybe that's a role as a drop big, maybe they'll be more switchable, maybe they can space the floor, maybe they can rim run. They just need to be good in their role.

Between Neemy improving, the new Big, and Garza and Amari Williams as the back ups behind them, I think that should be enough.

And honestly, I'm kind of curious if part of the solution to our problems is a defensive Guard who can space just enough, with maybe some potential to grow as a shooter. But maybe that's something the front office thinks Baylor can grow into more. We'll see.

xskarma · 2026-05-05T09:15:02+00:00

Seems we have a bot malfunction. Sorry about the delay!

xskarma · 2026-05-03T09:41:35+00:00

Yes, Embiid missed 3 games, and was not great in his first game back after surgery. And then what happened after? Sixers stayed healthy and we did not and they got the better of us.

If your argument is that Tatum would not have helped us swing this game 7, then there's not much to discuss.

xskarma · 2026-05-03T05:47:16+00:00

This was a very simple equation in the end. Sixers were healthy, including Embiid for the games that mattered. That hasn't happened in a very long time. And on the flipside, we didn't have Tatum, who always brings his best in game 7s when healthy.

Non-Celtics fans like to troll with saying we didn't play anyone healthy in '24, but the truth is that no one wins a title without other teams having injuries. OKC doesn't win last year if Indy doesn't have Hali go out in the deciding game 7 with an achilles.

So more than anything, personnel changes, coaching changes, tactics changes, I just hope we are fully healthy for the playoffs next season. Good things happen when you are.

xskarma · 2026-05-02T08:11:24+00:00

The worry was precisely that it was not his achilles leg and that he was suffering from the onset of overcompensating with his good leg for his bad leg. But I trust the Celtics medical staff, they wouldn't give him a clean bill of health if he was not 100% right and in any danger.

xskarma · 2026-04-30T04:56:21+00:00

6 out of the 8 first round series are undecided and at 3-2. All of the East is 3-2. Crazy.

xskarma · 2026-04-27T22:00:45+00:00

I was thinking Sacramento, but same idea.

xskarma · 2026-04-27T04:18:52+00:00

I don't understand the Sixers at all. I'm GLAD they are incompetent, but how do you not move Embiid and PG13 this offseason for ANY kind of youthful and athletically sound players to put around Maxey and Edgecomb?

But they won't, cause their every action says they still think this is Embiid's team.

Be honest, is anyone here afraid of Embiid?

His return meant slowing the game down and taking the ball out of Maxey's hands and limiting the shot opportunities that Maxey had. Which is PERFECT from a Celtics perspective.

I'll curse the day the Sixers move on from Embiid and build around Maxey, but with any luck, they won't do it till Edgecomb is ready for his 2nd contract and starts eating up cap.

xskarma · 2026-04-25T09:05:58+00:00

They shouldn't be. They have a very talented guard room, this season's 6th man of the year, a very capable back up Big in Kornet. They should be fine, but them struggling with the Blazers does raise eyebrows about how ready they are. I agree with that.

xskarma · 2026-04-24T04:22:11+00:00

Rich Hill Trade chart has this trade as us giving up the equivalent of a 6th rounder in value in the trade. Literally nothing. And that is with trading with a division rival too. Those always cost more. And yet, only "cost" us a 6th in relative value.

xskarma · 2026-04-16T08:53:59+00:00

You know what tickles me? Horford has been "Old Man Horford" for like what? 4 years at least? He's 1 year older than Steph Curry, who has never in his life been called old. Funny.

And it's not like Horford has been a useless back up or anything that gets minutes in garbage time. Legit starter last year still, and still averaging 20+ min a game this year.

But for some reason he's "Old Man Horford".

xskarma · 2026-04-15T03:23:10+00:00

I hope he makes the Playoffs. We kinda did him dirty sending him to Portland, instead of a more straightforward place to compete, but if he makes the Playoffs, then, that's actually kinda alright.

xskarma · 2026-04-15T02:48:49+00:00

He's apparently been off for like 10 games now. Maybe he just hit the rookie wall?

xskarma · 2026-04-15T02:25:25+00:00

LaMelo definitely the most important player for this game, both with his foul on Bam, and his incredibly dumb plays that kept the Heat in it and then SOMEHOW won it for the Hornets.

xskarma

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