Celtics Rank 4th in Top Young Cores

[Celtics4ever]

Bitte Bitter, thanks!  TP

[littleteapot]

Can you post the ranking for those of us without insider?  You don't need to post the whole article (nor should you).


As for the rankings, let's take a look at the top young cores that are out there:

Philadelphia - Okafor, Noel, Embiid, Wroten, Saric, etc.

Milwaukee - MCW, Middleton, Jabari, Giannis, Monroe

Orlando - Peyton, Oladipo, Harris, Gordon, Vucevic, Hezonja

Sacramento - Cousins, McLemore, WCS

Minnesota - Rubio, Lavine, Shabazz, Wiggins, Towns, Dieng, Bennett

Boston - Smart, Sullinger, Olynyk, Young, Crowder, Hunter, Rozier, Mickey

Detroit - Drummond, Johnson, KCP

New Orleans - Davis, Holiday

Phoenix - Knight, Booker, Len, Warren

Utah - Favors, Gobert, Burke, Exum, Lyles, Burks

Denver - Mudiay, Harris, Nurkic




Given the chance to swap cores with one of the above teams, if I were running the Celtics, which ones would I turn down?

Denver.  Maybe Phoenix, but I'd probably go for it. 

I might change my mind on Denver if Mudiay goes out and has a great rookie season, unencumbered by Ty Lawson's presence.

I'd definitely trade young cores with: Milwaukee, NO, Minny
I'd definitely not trade young cores with: Denver, Phoenix

Tough ones:
-Sacramento: So this is basically a referendum on Cousins. I think I'd say no because then if he just turns into Andrew Bynum 2.0 you're completely sunk.
-Utah: I'd probably say yes because as they say, you can't teach size.
-Orlando: I'd probably say yes but this one is really close. It's really Vuc and question marks, but if one of those other guys hits, that would be pretty scary.
-Philly: I think this is actually 50/50 given the latest on Embiid.

I think we are in the mix for teams with very good young cores. It'd be better to have Wiggins or Davis obviously, but I think we're in the conversation with these other teams.

[Evantime34]

So here is part of the article:

Beginning with last month's draft and culminating with the summer leagues, the focus has been on the NBA's youngest players since the Golden State Warriors finished off the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals several weeks ago.

It's part of the annual cycle in the league and it makes for a nice balance. One team's fans get to celebrate, while those who root for the handful of other top contenders plot to overthrow the newly crowned champions. The rest are left to hope for the future, and this is the time of the year to dream of all these young pieces growing into something special.

Today we're ranking the top young cores across the league using projected three-year WARP. The error bars on these kinds of forecasts are large by nature. For one thing, young players are inherently more difficult to project than veterans. And once you get beyond the coming season, the picture changes in ways that even the best projection model can't foresee.

But we do the best we can with the data available, and try to anticipate aging curves using factors like age, experience, athletic indicators and draft slot. Nevertheless, if a player has a low statistical baseline from whence to grow a projection, it's tough to predict All-Star production.

In the end, the system is a little biased toward players with at least some positive NBA production already under their belts. Still, this is a great way to glimpse the teams strictly through the prism of the young talent that they have accumulated. That's defined here as any player likely to be on the roster who won't yet be 26 by the end of the 2015-16 regular season. For some teams, including our top-ranked club, the good news just keeps getting better. For others, well, you can always just disagree.

Everybody is waiting on the Celtics to acquire or develop their next superstar, but in the meantime Danny Ainge has put together one of the deepest rosters of young talent in the league. The talent pool in Boston was made even deeper this summer with the additions of Rozier, Hunter and Jordan Mickey through the draft, and the recent acquisition of Perry Jones III via the trade market. Is there a star here? Can the crafty Ainge parlay this group into his next big three? At least he has given the Celtics plenty to work with.

[clover]

The Bucks are the only ones I'm absolutely certain about. Though I can see the argument for 3 or 4 other teams.

[PhoSita]

I guess what it comes down to for me is that I'd trade every single one of our guys under 26 for a single player like Cousins, Drummond, or Davis, or even a relatively unproven elite talent like Wiggins, Okafor, Towns, or Jabari.

I think we could have a discussion about Orlando's pieces, but I think Oladipo and Vucevic are better proven assets than any we have, and Gordon and Hezonja probably have at least as much upside as Smart.  I'm not that high on Peyton, but some people really like him, and Harris is a nice young scorer.

[Boris Badenov]

This ranking seems to equate having a lot of young players with having a valuable core.

Unfortunately for us, five quarters are actually worth much less than a dollar in the NBA world.

No it really doesn't, but it does value having a lot of promising young players. The Pelicans are second with only Davis and Holliday.

It adds the projected WARP over the next three years for those players who will be 25 and younger this season. The "w" in WARP is wins. Our guys are projected to help us win games.

I understand what it does, and the Pelicans example is a perfect counterpoint.

They have a promising young core. We have a promising young crust.

[dreamgreen]

Can you post the ranking for those of us without insider?  You don't need to post the whole article (nor should you).


As for the rankings, let's take a look at the top young cores that are out there:

Philadelphia - Okafor, Noel, Embiid, Wroten, Saric, etc.

Milwaukee - MCW, Middleton, Jabari, Giannis, Monroe

Orlando - Peyton, Oladipo, Harris, Gordon, Vucevic, Hezonja

Sacramento - Cousins, McLemore, WCS

Minnesota - Rubio, Lavine, Shabazz, Wiggins, Towns, Dieng, Bennett

Boston - Smart, Sullinger, Olynyk, Young, Crowder, Hunter, Rozier, Mickey

Detroit - Drummond, Johnson, KCP

New Orleans - Davis, Holiday

Phoenix - Knight, Booker, Len, Warren

Utah - Favors, Gobert, Burke, Exum, Lyles, Burks

Denver - Mudiay, Harris, Nurkic




Given the chance to swap cores with one of the above teams, if I were running the Celtics, which ones would I turn down?

Denver.  Maybe Phoenix, but I'd probably go for it. 

I might change my mind on Denver if Mudiay goes out and has a great rookie season, unencumbered by Ty Lawson's presence.

Really hard to say right now because so many of these young guys have things to prove.
New Orleans of course cause Davis is close to superstar level or is already there.

Milwaukee yes because that core looks really good and has proven talent

After that I'm not sure, I know people here love Cousins but he hasn't proven Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.! If he's so great why does the team suck? He's talked about like a superstar but he can't win games. Superstars put teams on their backs and win games, Cousins has never done that!!

[PhoSita]

If he's so great why does the team suck? He's talked about like a superstar but he can't win games. Superstars put teams on their backs and win games, Cousins has never done that!!

"Either you can carry your team to the playoffs in a stacked conference regardless of the roster around you, or you aren't a valuable star player"

False dichotomy.  Pretty tired of seeing people make that argument, honestly.

[PhoSita]

They have a promising young core. We have a promising young crust.

Are we talking pies, planets, or pizza?

Because many people think the crust is the most important part of the pizza.

[PhoSita]

This ranking seems to equate having a lot of young players with having a valuable core.

Unfortunately for us, five quarters are actually worth much less than a dollar in the NBA world.

This is what I was talking about. It seems like we can't say anything positive about our young players without it being followed by, well they aren't stars so it doesn't matter if they are any good.

Agreed.

Well, at least for me, it's like talking about the merits of the tires, paint color, or upholstery on a car that doesn't have an engine or a transmission installed.

[Evantime34]

This ranking seems to equate having a lot of young players with having a valuable core.

Unfortunately for us, five quarters are actually worth much less than a dollar in the NBA world.

This is what I was talking about. It seems like we can't say anything positive about our young players without it being followed by, well they aren't stars so it doesn't matter if they are any good.

Agreed.

Well, at least for me, it's like talking about the merits of the tires, paint color, or upholstery on a car that doesn't have an engine or a transmission installed.

Sometimes it's nice to just admire the sweet ass tires you have even if the car isn't done yet.

[PhoSita]

This ranking seems to equate having a lot of young players with having a valuable core.

Unfortunately for us, five quarters are actually worth much less than a dollar in the NBA world.

This is what I was talking about. It seems like we can't say anything positive about our young players without it being followed by, well they aren't stars so it doesn't matter if they are any good.

Agreed.

Well, at least for me, it's like talking about the merits of the tires, paint color, or upholstery on a car that doesn't have an engine or a transmission installed.

Sometimes it's nice to just admire the sweet ass tires you have even if the car isn't done yet.

Heheh.  Fair enough.  I like the tires on our car, for what it's worth.  I'm just anxious about when this car will actually get on the road.

[rickinmi]

maybe as low as 4th, but this doesn't take into account Coach Brad tutoring them. I am very happy with these players learning under our great coach!

[D.o.s.]

Today we're ranking the top young cores across the league using projected three-year WARP. The error bars on these kinds of forecasts are large by nature. For one thing, young players are inherently more difficult to project than veterans. And once you get beyond the coming season, the picture changes in ways that even the best projection model can't foresee.

We are also behind the Utah Jazz, FWIW.

[Evantime34]

This ranking seems to equate having a lot of young players with having a valuable core.

Unfortunately for us, five quarters are actually worth much less than a dollar in the NBA world.

This is what I was talking about. It seems like we can't say anything positive about our young players without it being followed by, well they aren't stars so it doesn't matter if they are any good.

Agreed.

Well, at least for me, it's like talking about the merits of the tires, paint color, or upholstery on a car that doesn't have an engine or a transmission installed.

Sometimes it's nice to just admire the sweet ass tires you have even if the car isn't done yet.

Heheh.  Fair enough.  I like the tires on our car, for what it's worth.  I'm just anxious about when this car will actually get on the road.

Yeah we all obviously want the C's to trade for a star or have them draft one in the future. I'm making a concerted effort to enjoy the young pieces that we do have, because I think the upcoming season will be a lot more fun if I focus on what we have instead of pining for what we don't.

For the record I think Smart could become the engine.