Is the Superfriends era over?

[Kernewek]

If by 'open a can of worms' you mean 'repeat back what I said earlier in the thread in an attempt to disprove what I said earlier in the thread', then sure  :

There's some merit to discussing an actual difference between the teams (the relative age of the players compared to Miami), but without the Celtics Big 3 the Heatles most likely never materialise, because they don't need to make it past the Celtics' Big 3.

So, yeah, no one is arguing that the Celtics Big 3 and the Heatles, KD & Kyrie & Harden, and so on are exactly the same. Just that the space between the former and the latter is a lot less clear when you try to paint the meaningful difference as 'player collusion'. It's really not a particularly complicated point unless you want to intentionally misread what I wrote the first time.

Let's be real, you could absolutely reframe the below as talking about Boston, or indeed any other NBA city about more or less any trade when a star leaves town. It's essentially a full paragraph of hand-waving and (incorrect) equivocation :

The fact _____ gave up some picks to make that happen is not terribly relevant since the work of getting these players to come to _____ had already been done by the players -- no having to convince them nor having to convince the management in _____ or ______ to give them up in trades --> they were leaving and those franchises were just trying to get some compensation and the compensation they got was not close to what they gave up.

I really don’t know what you are trying to do here. I responded I just agreed with two other posters about what they said. If you have issues with their argument take it up with them.

This quote you have included is not something I have said so I am not sure why you want me to explain it or comment on it.

We’re having a conversation, no? You said “I agree with these other posters, the big difference is the age of the players” and I’m pointing out that everyone is in agreement here - no one is saying the situations are exactly the same.

As to the quote - everyone here comments on lots of things they haven’t said. That’s largely the purpose of a discussion forum. Beyond that, as you’ve said you agree with it it’s fairly reasonable to assume that you do, actually, have some thoughts on the matter.

The KG/Ray/PP situation does not fit that scenario whatsoever.  KG and Ray were not free agents looking to leave their teams nor did they discuss joining up in Boston with Pierce.  KG and Ray were still under contract to their teams and were not making statements about wanting to leave or be traded

It’s true that KG and Ray weren’t feee agents, but it’s absolutely not true, at least in KG’s case, that he wasn’t looking to leave the Timberwolves - and we have him on the record reminiscing about discussing his situation with other players and trying to find the best possible landing spot for him as a player (I.e. where he can join a team that won’t be gutted by trading for him).


As for Ray, he’s said this on the matter:

[KG] had to ok the trade. And he was thinking about going to the Lakers to play with Kobe, and once I was traded to Boston it struck him as very interesting to him. So that summer, as I was already traded and a part of the Celtics regime, Danny and I were talking and he said ‘I’ve got something else brewing, and potentially it’s going to involve Kevin Garnett’.

 That’s when I got on the call with Kevin. I think he had already announced with his contract… that he was already basically done with Minnesota…so he was now trying to figure out where to go. And he was basically trying to figure out who, and how, and where, And I was like, ‘We would love you here. It’s a great situation. I’m excited’. And I think it helped him because we knew each other, and we knew each other from growing up.

https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1305612441796120577

So, again, no one is saying the situations are 1:1. But I do think people tend to over-emphasise the differences, and frame those differences in a way that feels fairly tenuous under examination.