From the league: the Celtics' home game versus Philadelphia on Sunday, March 1st has been moved from 6 pm to 8 and will now be televised by NBC

per Steve Bulpett

Tatum return date?

I generally despise the idea of expansion in any sport, because I think we have plenty of teams in general, and plenty of bad teams in particular, and because each sport already has numerous players who aren't good enough to be playing at the highest professional level but are there anyway because teams have slots they have to fill.

That said, pro sports leagues are greedy and never satisfied, so I know they'll just keep expanding. Adam Silver is perfectly content to add teams in smaller markets because that instantly creates new fan bases that can spend gobs of money, yet the big-market teams remain the ones that will most often be in the NBA Finals, which is better for TV ratings. A win-win for him and the league, even though many expansion teams don't have much hope of ever being great, because the best free agents usually want to be where it's warm (L.A., Miami) or where the biggest media are (N.Y., L.A.).

In light of these facts, and also factoring in geographical/travel considerations, I think the NBA should go wild:

• Move Minnesota, Memphis, and New Orleans to the East
• Add West teams in the following cities:
  > Seattle (already a given)
  > Vegas (already a given)
  > San Diego (great weather, great destination for players and for All-Star Weekend, already has baseball, used to support an NBA team)
  > St. Louis (already has baseball and hockey, used to support an NBA team)
  > Albuquerque/Santa Fe (warm weather, meets a need for NBA fans in the large gap between the Phoenix, Denver, and Texas teams)
  > Omaha (one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the U.S., used to (partially) support an NBA team, and meets a need for NBA fans in the heartland)

This means 18 teams in each conference:

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
Boston
Brooklyn
New York
Philadelphia
Toronto
Washington

Central Division
Chicago
Cleveland
Detroit
Indiana
Milwaukee
Minnesota

Southeast Division
Atlanta
Charlotte
Memphis
Miami
New Orleans
Orlando

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest Division
Denver
Las Vegas
Portland
Sacramento
Seattle
Utah

Pacific Division
Golden State
L.A. Clippers
L.A. Lakers
New Mexico
Phoenix
San Diego

Southwest Division
Dallas
Houston
Oklahoma City
Omaha
San Antonio
St. Louis

I'm sure there are factors I'm not taking into consideration, but that's my wild, somewhat haphazard stab at expansion/realignment.

A personal interest stat that I started following when I noticed that Hugo has been bricking it from 3's lately and wanted some stats to back up what my eyes were telling me.  He is now 0-for-15 in the last 7 games (didn't take one last game). 

Love the kid and he's hit some timely 3's over the season, but his shot has been super tentative lately.

Keep being a pain in everyones butt on D.

Quote from: Vermont Green on Today at 07:58:08 AM

You could also ask if they make the trade if Vucevic does not make the team better. Same as the save money question only in reverse.  I do not know the answer to either.  I have my doubts they do a trade that makes the team worse.

I am OK with saving money this season but I am not so sure about next. If they can keep doing deals that make the team better and save money, great, but seems like there is a limit to that.

I'd say, no the question is different as it was proven that they made more moves that saved money and costed the team picks which makes team worse long term trade wise. The position is already shown to be they were after saving money over keeping assets. As others also pointed out you could of kept Simmons and trade the picks with TPE to get Vuc. That makes the team a whole lot better having both players

In terms of the three end of roster players, it only cost one draft pick to move them, and we acquired that pick in the Vuc trade.  So, they sacrificed a minor asset, but I don't think that it amounts to much.

As for keeping Simons and using the TPE on Vuc, I'm not sure if we're allowed to take that salary back, and I'm not sure that any owner would go back over the second apron.