Author Topic: ESPN grades the Celtics off-season  (Read 3580 times)

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Re: ESPN grades the Celtics off-season
« Reply #30 on: Yesterday at 06:05:09 PM »

Offline jambr380

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  I?m still in a mode where I don?t plan on watching the Celtics next year. I?m an older guy now and I time is precious. I don?t feel the need to spend it watching a team led by a front office and / or owner sitting up there lying to me, knowing that we know they?re lying. Silly political speech like optionally. We are the fans. They exist because WE do.
   I?ll probably change my mind but this is the sorts trade in history and we did it to a player who got finals mvp and who?s # will be retired. It?s one thing to trade him for equal or better return because the team comes first. But this was garbage I choose not to eat. At least for now. ? Optionality? Optionality ? Optionality .. Optionality. Stop Brad. We?re not stupid.

Agreed. I may watch them if they are on free tv, but I will not pay for league pass again. If the owners aren?t willing to spend money, why should I?
Trading a player like Brown, who not only was an all nba player, but a great community person to save some money makes my stomach hurt.
I may be biased, as Brown is one of my favorites, but getting back a 36 year old and some picks down the road makes no sense to me.
If the plan is to rebuild, why George and Conley? I just don?t understand. Seems like they are wasting some prime Tatum years

They didn?t want to pay JB a supermax extension. George will be an expiring contract next year and I?m hoping Brad moves him at the Feb trade deadline. The Celtics will need to bring in another star next year. I can?t imagine Tatum wanting to be here if they don?t. I?m giving Brad till next summer to do something before pulling the cord.

You're just repeating their spin, though.  JB was under contract for 3 seasons, and played at an all-NBA level.  He was replaced by a significantly worse, older, less durable player.

When a team blows up a contending team because it's worried about paying market rate for a star player, it's pretty fair for a fan to not want to pay for the product.

It does not seem like Brad thought JB was worth $60M per season going forward and he didn?t view the team as a contender. I imagine how the postseason played out did not help matters . No one is saying that George is better than JB and I don?t think anyone expects PG to be here long.

It?s too bad Brad dropped the ball with the Giannis negotiations. That would have made the Celtics contenders.

The biggest issue is that we sacrificed two years of all NBA production without replacing it during Tatum's prime. It makes no sense to tear down a contender in hopes that we can better allocate money in three years or more.

We would have been a lot better off signing Robinson, adding a veteran voice to the coaching staff, and bringing in a better player than Mike Connolly is at this stage of his career.

That would have improved us in the presence, while seeing some of the other eastern conference contenders all get worse (NYK, Detroit, Philly).  Instead, we took ourselves out of contention, improved Philly, and didn't really improve our financial flexibility over the next two seasons.

I was 100% with you when you advocated for a Giannis trade.  I was fine trading JB for a better fit and a better player, even if he was older and less durable.  But, Brad had three options: 1) give up more than he wanted to for Giannis; 2) keep JB and add Robinson; or 3) make a bad trade.

#3 wasn't the preferred outcome for many fans.  If they want to vote with their eyeballs and dollars, more power to them. This will be the first season in a long time that I haven't gone to a game. Even though I knew the team was predicted to stink last season, I still showed up. That won't happen next season.

I'm not a massive fan of the trade - not at all - but it's my guess that Brad doesn't think there will be much drop off at all. We can keep saying FMVP or 6th in All-NBA voting, but that's not the level of player Brad or other front offices view Jaylen as.

Maybe everybody is wrong and Jaylen really is that guy who elevates his teams. But with the way analytics have taken over the sport, he's going to be in a prove it situation until his next contract. Lucky for him, he's likely to be in a winning situation.

Anyway, I don't think this about ownership being cheap (George makes the same amount as Jaylen) other than them getting out of the repeater tax. I'll assume they'll be right back in the tax next year with another plan to take this team to the next level. If not, then I think fans have the right to get out their torches and pitchforks.

But right now, I'm just going to assume that Brad wanted out of Jaylen the player and contract at all costs and thinks Paul George will be a reasonable short term replacement. A healthy Paul George is a lot to ask, but he does a number of complementary things that Jaylen just doesn't do. And those seem to be the things Mazzulla really wants his players to do.

I think that we need to be very concerned about the status of our front office if Brad doesn't see a significant drop off from JB to Paul George, particularly when weighing probabilities about games played, etc.

Who knows? Brad onc became "burnt out" on coaching, and he did a very poor job of it his final season.  Maybe he's feeling burnt out regarding his GM duties now, because based on media reports, I've never seen such a poor job of negotiation coming from a normally competent person.  It's a bad sign if Brad really did have a mindset of dump JB at all costs," rather than remaining patient and recognizing that JB was under team control for three more seasons.

Over the long term, certainly. George only has a couple more years left before retirement. But I also wouldn't be surprised if George is actually a really good fit on the Celtics roster. Brown's best value is volume scoring, which he'll almost certainly do less of on that Philly team.

Obviously George wasn't Brad's top target this offseason - the picks were - but there have been several reports about GMs being surprised that Brad took the Philly offer over other ones that may have been slightly better.

While I do believe Brad will attempt to move George with picks for an upgrade either at the deadline or next offseason, I also think George is seen as an adequate Brown replacement and not just a contract. A very good shooter, defender, passer, and scorer, who will also very much not step on Tatum's toes. Tatum's never had this much control in his life.

It may not be a full on Title contender, but it's a good test to see how much responsibility Tatum can handle and how much analytics actually matter in terms of wins and losses. Brad can then take that information and try to build the roster how he sees fit. One thing seems very clear: he no longer wanted to build around Jaylen.

Re: ESPN grades the Celtics off-season
« Reply #31 on: Yesterday at 07:56:10 PM »

Offline Who

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I also think George is seen as an adequate Brown replacement and not just a contract. A very good shooter, defender, passer, and scorer, who will also very much not step on Tatum's toes.

Very good

* 3pt shooter
* defender

Good

* scorer
* passer

I think PG13 is over-rated as a passer. If we take his LAC and PHI years together, PG13 has averaged 4.4apg against 2.7 turnovers per game. That is across 340 games in 7 seasons (only 50gms a season). That gives PG13 an AST:TOV ratio of 1.63:1.00.

That number drops to 4.3apg against 2.9 turnovers per game in the playoffs for a 1.48:1.00 AST:TOV in the playoffs. PG13 has played 49 playoff games in 4 playoff appearances in those 7 years.

You would like to see that AST:TOV ratio closer to 2:1 for a strong playmaking / passing wing. PG13 is more a solid passer than a strong one.

I am not convinced his scoring is very good either. Only 14.5ppg against NYK in the 2nd round despite shooting lights out from 3 in the playoffs. He managed to get to 17.5ppg against BOS because of 49% FG 55% 3PT. I believe PG13 is closer to a 15ppg guy at this juncture in his career.

Re: ESPN grades the Celtics off-season
« Reply #32 on: Yesterday at 08:16:12 PM »

Offline Vermont Green

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Brown's career Asst:Turnover ratio is 1.26:1.00.  In 2025-26, Brown was 1.42:1.00

I am actually not all that big on assists as a stat or asst/trnr ratio, but if you are going to knock George for this, I think you have to also acknowledge that Brown was worse in this particular stat.

Brown will make more shots than Paul George will make, but George will take care of the ball better and will score more efficiently.  I don't expect a whole lot of assists from George, but I think it is more important that he just keeps the ball moving.  Does things off the ball, both of which I think he will do a little better than Brown.

The big risk with George is that we only get 50 games out of him or something like that.  And that is a totally legitimate concern.  But when Paul George is on the court, I think he will be better than a lot of people think (but not as good as Brown).

Re: ESPN grades the Celtics off-season
« Reply #33 on: Yesterday at 08:28:50 PM »

Offline jambr380

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Brown's career Asst:Turnover ratio is 1.26:1.00.  In 2025-26, Brown was 1.42:1.00

I am actually not all that big on assists as a stat or asst/trnr ratio, but if you are going to knock George for this, I think you have to also acknowledge that Brown was worse in this particular stat.

Brown will make more shots than Paul George will make, but George will take care of the ball better and will score more efficiently.  I don't expect a whole lot of assists from George, but I think it is more important that he just keeps the ball moving.  Does things off the ball, both of which I think he will do a little better than Brown.

The big risk with George is that we only get 50 games out of him or something like that.  And that is a totally legitimate concern.  But when Paul George is on the court, I think he will be better than a lot of people think (but not as good as Brown).

Yeah, I don't think George is some great lead ballhandler or anything, but he seems like a really good connective player who makes quick decisions and sees the floor well. He seems more like the forward version of Derrick White in this regard than somebody like Rondo.

But I also want to be clear, I definitely see George as a complementary player and not a star worthy of his contract. He is absolutely overpaid and there is no future ceiling with him on this team. He is a placeholder until somebody younger and better can [hopefully] be obtained. I am just trying to remain optimistic in terms of his fit and health.

But Brad obviously isn't afraid of bringing in older players. He traded a good pick for an overpaid Horford, he signed Jrue Holiday to a massive long term extension, and he signed Mike Conley as soon as FA opened. I think he has a certain level of trust and respect for the experience these guys can bring that may not be measured in their raw stats. We'll have to see how well it works, but I don't think we can expect a Title like with Al and Jrue.

Re: ESPN grades the Celtics off-season
« Reply #34 on: Yesterday at 09:09:59 PM »

Offline Csfan1984

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D+

The bad, is the Brown trade.
The ok, was you replaced Vuc for defense in Robinson.
The meh, was you extended some young guys.
The good, extended Queta.

If I could count this draft I'd go up to C.
« Last Edit: Yesterday at 09:57:09 PM by Csfan1984 »