If and only if Ainge decides to really make a blockbuster trade, I think it should be for a tier 1 big man.
KAT is not available.
But the next best thing could be Andre Drummond.
Celts will have to give up Smart, Kanter, Langford, Poirier, and a draft pick.
I consider Marcus Smart as the early season MVP of the Celts.
But once the Celts have everybody back and healthy, the Celts' best 5 will be Tatum, Kemba, Hayward, Brown, and Smart.
So what I'm trying to point out is replacing Smart and his great defense with a true tier 1 big man like Drummond.
Drummond, Tatum, Kemba, Hayward, and Brown is like a team of 5 All-Stars.
That's like GSW's Curry, KD, Klay, Draymond, and Cousins.
And Drummond is also only 26 years old.
What you guys think?
can always count on you posting on it.
You can check the history of the Celtics.
Celtics never won a championship when they didn't have a tier 1 big man or tier 1 big men.
In the 1990s, the Celts won ZERO championships when their big men were Radja, Potapenko, and Battie.
Even in the 2010s, Celts have no championships to show for.
That's two decades now that the Celts have failed to win a championship.
Out west the Lakers kept winning championships because they would always end up with a star big man.
Celts got an MVP big man in KG and the Celts won a championship and went to the Finals twice.
I think it's very obvious why there's a need for the Celts to get that tier 1 big man.
If your definition of tier 1 big man is an MVP candidate I'll tell you that the 80s Celtics never had an MVP tier big in their three title runs, and when they did (McHale's peak year in '87) they failed to win it all (although they were definitely good enough to win the title imo).
Tier 1 means star big man.
McHale and Parish are both Hall of Famers.
You don't become a Hall of Famer if you're not a star in the NBA.
Guys like Joe Kleine don't make it to the Hall of Fame.
Then your statement about the 2010s is just weird. We had an All-NBA calibre big man in Garnett at the start of the decade, and an All-Star big in Horford at the end of the decade. Also I never said that McHale and Parish weren't stars, I was saying that Parish never had an MVP peak while McHale only barely touched MVP status in his best year.
KG was already old during the 2010s.
Horford is not a star big man, he's a tier 2 PF playing Center.
The Atlanta Hawks never made it to the east finals with Horford.
Horford is no Dave Cowens.
you've definitely gone down the rabbit hole in response to my initial post. my point was that you continually harp on this topic over and over and over and over and over again.
in today's game it's not critical to have an all-star big man to win the title. GSW didn't have one. The Cheatles barely had one in Bosh who played more like a SF. Toronto didn't have one - I like Ibaka but he's not an all-star level last year and big V isn't a "tier one" big man.
let the obsession go. consider this, C's have a core 5 of wings and points that it'd be difficult if not impossible for any other team in the league to match up with. Try another consideration: the "tier one" bigs right now in the league would be Embiid, KAT, Jokic and AD at this point IMHO. (while Giannis is a very tall guy, I don't consider him a 'big' because he plays much more like a SF). Do any of the teams they're on really scare you where you don't think the C's as currently constructed could beat them (assuming everyone's healthy)? personally, I strongly believe the C's would be all those teams in a series.
GSW had Draymond lol, but yeah good points. I'd argue that Gasol was sneaky good for the Raptors though, he was playing like a fringe All-Star for them during that title run. Btw is Giannis not a big? If guys like KG are considered bigs imo Giannis is in the same category.
I'm going off what the OP's premise of a 'big' is -->someone who can or does play Center and is a more traditional big in the sense of defending the lane and rebounding and playing offense in the post. That's not Giannis' role on the Bucks but I do agree with you that KG would fit the 'big' definition used in this thread because he played primarily in th post on O and D and rebounded.
Ah alright. I think that Giannis can defend the lane and rebound at an elite level in a similar style to Timberwolves era KG (lots of roaming on defence, elite defensive rebounding and good shotblocking), so I'd classify him as a big even though he doesn't play C much.
I completely agree that he could but the Bucks don't use him that way.
Yeah, the Bucks are 'all in' on the 'stretch 5' concept.
In addition to playing Brook Lopez for ~26-27 mpg, spending most of his offensive possessions outside the arc, they've added his twin Robin, are playing him ~13-14 mpg and they've now got HIM playing most of his offensive possessions outside the arc.
Robin has never averaged more than one 3PA per 36 minutes in any season of his career -- most years that average was closer to zero. Suddenly, with MIL this year, he's averaging 4.1 threes per 36 minutes. He's been okay at it, ~34%.
So ... for around 40 mpg they have a Lopez at the 5, but spending most offensive possessions outside the arc, averaging about 7 threes during those minutes.
Their theory is, of course, to draw opponent defending big out of the paint, leaving space clear for Giannis to drive the rim.
Against this, the last thing you want to do is put a slow big on the floor to try to defend this. And there is no point doing so. Defending threes is far less about size than defending in the paint is. You are much better off emphasizing having someone mobile and 'big enough' to come out to contest when needed, but who can recover quickly. And most critical, is to have all your defenders rotating so that you always maintain the man in the middle, keeping someone in the paint.
In our first game against MIL, Brad put Theis on the floor whenever Brook was in the game. Theis is a good counter for Brook because he's mobile and has great shot-contention wingspan to counter the Lopez' 3PT shooting yet strong enough to counter if they try to post him up. And on the other end of the court, he's enough of a 3PT shooter to stretch Brook out.
Topic: If the Celts are going to make a blockbuster... (Read 38973 times)