Respect to Philly

[greg_kite]

I admired their team very much. I didn't hate anybody but I certainly thought they were all, as Doc put it: "A pain in the butt". We could never shake this team. It was phenomenal. I respect them a whole lot. They were very scrappy and I felt all throughout the series that they could upset us.

Also, I want to say that Doug Collins has done an outstanding job with this team and every time they had him on the mic, he was a great motivator. Plus when they put the man on postgame interviews, the man was a class act. He said plenty of great things about the Celtics tonight. If the Celtics weren't in it, I would have had no problem cheering on Philly.

Well said.  I don't know if I'm the only one thinking this, but the Sixers seem like a better team right now than the Heat.  They have good players inside and out.  The Heat have two GREAT players and then a bunch of guys that might not even be in the Sixers rotation. Brand, Allen and Hawes all gave KG and Bass a hard time.  I don't see the same thing coming from Joel Anthony and Haslem.  The Sixers guards were no slouches either.  Holiday and Williams are better than any Heat PGs.   And Turner, Iguadala and Young are a solid wing rotation that are not as good as Wade and James but still gave the Celtics fits.

As far as the Gasol comment, that would be interesting, but who could match as far as salaries?  Brand?  Why would LA want that contract in return?  They might need another guy like Lou Williams to make it a fair trade.  I think Philly would be better off staying young and trying to get a young big scorer.  But I guess everyone needs someone like that!

[Fan from VT]

From an NBA/Basketball perspective, I hope the Sixers don't fall in love with their own "Good to Very Good" players (Lou Williams, Jrue Holiday, Iggy, Young, Turner, Hawes). This point was brought up well on a recent BS report with Lombardi (who knows little about basketball but is a Sixers fan, so that's the team he follows). The point was talking about teams locking up their own guys and not making trades due to fear of a player they drafted becoming a Star elsewhere. I think the Sixers, like the Hawks, have a few Good-Very Good players, none of whom will be stars. Now if things go right, you can win it all like that, and it's great to have a few Good-Very Good players on a team with 1 or 2 Stars, but I do think Philly would be better off if they could poach a legit great player or star from a team looking for more depth/rebuilding, etc.

Bynum or Gasol if Orlando refuses to trade Howard? LA could pick up 2 good perimeter players and not be so front court heavy. (Sessions/Kobe/Iggy/Young/Bynum)

Melo? (Lin/Turner/??/Amare/Chandler with Young, Hawes, or Williams on the bench.

Give Sac a reset on Demarcus Cousins?

Z-Bo or Marc Gasol?

I don't know.

[scaryjerry]

mad respect to Doug Collins...great coach

[aporel#18]

As far as the Gasol comment, that would be interesting, but who could match as far as salaries?  Brand?  Why would LA want that contract in return?  They might need another guy like Lou Williams to make it a fair trade.  I think Philly would be better off staying young and trying to get a young big scorer.  But I guess everyone needs someone like that!

If you can get Gasol for Brand+Lou Williams, you do it in a heartbeat. If this Philly team had Gasol in the low post, I don't think this current Celtics (injuries and all) could beat them.

But knowing the Lakers and their proverbial good luck/good management of trades, they'll end getting a lot more value for him. Jerry West/Chris Wallace just gave their Lakers 2 championships for Kwame Brown and a very young/undeveloped Marc Gasol. I expect a young star + high picks for Pau. That's Hollywood.

By the way, I hope the Sixers keep Collins and give him some more good players. I hated to watch them handcuff our Celtics with their D, but I love their toughness.

[Celtics4ever]

I hate them.   They are not the C's.   I have hated them since the 70s.  This team had a lot of heart though and they have some nice young talent.  But I still hated them as much as I hated Ivaroni!