Teams had traded Paul George for;
SGA
Jaylen Brown
Sabonis
Oladipo
Gallinari
7 first round picks & 4 swap firsts
I was listening to a podcast. 2 guys. 1 is a PG13 defender. He made the case for why PG13 can help BOS more than they think. The other guy responds by asking - how many times have you made this case for PG13? He replies - every time he has been trade. The other guy asks - has it ever worked out?
The PG13 defender was kinda. The other guy wasn't having it. Essentially we make this case for PG13 every time he moves and never delivers. He never lives up to what is needed of him. It always ends in failure. And with PG13 getting shipped to another team down the road.
It's true. The closest he was at in his peak were those days with the Pacers where he was battling against Miami's Big 3 and then Lebron's Cavaliers. Since then, it's been a lot of projection and hope. I really thought he had a chance to make a difference with Kawhi in LAC, but it just never happened primarily due to injuries to both guys and a little bit of playoff underperforming as well.
We must not forget the Haywardesque injury in there. He recovered way better, but never quite got back to his pre-injury peak, and obviously it has had some cascading effects. Honestly I am impressed he is playing at the level he is a dozen years later.
I'll fully admit, I did forget about that. It definitely impacted his career, but to his credit he's still been a great player since, even if he never reached the level he was before it.
If George was still around 32-34 I'd have some more hope, but I just don't see it at 36 and also, he's been unreliable from a health/availability standpoint the last 3 seasons and 25 of the games were also from serving a suspension. Banking on him to give them 60+ games doesn't seem ideal, although it probably doesn't matter since this team isn't' contending next year anyways
Call me a hopeless optimist but I think we?ll spend much of the year as the top seed in the East and finish first or second (IF Paul George can give us 60-ish games).
Tatum will hopefully be better than the last two months of last season. White will hopefully play better by not being our #2 option. PP will get more playing time. Our center position is vastly, vastly improved. And Paul George will be the smarter basketball player than Jaylen and actually improve the team.
That?s the hope at least.
Giving the C's too much credit being a top seed in the East.
Indiana will be healthy so they'll be a top 2 team in the East. Knicks are the defending champs and are right back in it. 76ers just vastly improved with their new addition so they're likely a 3 seed.
Detroit will make some improvements so they'll be back in the mix. Miami got their new duo in Giannis/Bam. Toronto got somewhat better with Kawhi.
That leaves the Celtics with the 7 or 8 seed with this roster currently as constructed.
I am expecting BOS and DET to tussle for the #1 seed. Although in both cases I think their teams are built for regular season success and playoff failure. Much like last year.
Indiana look the best chance of breaking into that DET / BOS fight. They had something like 55 wins when they made the Finals. They also have some bedding in issues with Zubac.
Philly I don't expect to have a strong regular season record because Embiid will likely miss half the season as he has done for the last 2 years.
Cleveland I don't expect to be a strong regular season team either. I did not like what I saw from them in the playoffs. They looked old and slow and bad defensively. They have lost Dean Wade. I am expecting they will have periods during the regular season where they drop more games than expected due to an underperforming defense & struggles with team morale / motivation.
New York and Toronto are maybes. Toronto had 46 wins last year. Maybe 56 wins type of ball park next year? New York had 53 and 51 wins the last two seasons. Underachieving both years. Maybe they break that streak and play well enough to win a top 2 seed but more likely they underachieve again given that is what they have done in the last 2 years.
