BGleas

Awesome pickup for the Celtics. Hayward fits what they need so perfectly. The Celtics biggest flaws were a consistent second scorer to take pressure off IT, a shooter/scorer on the wing and a rebounder. Hayward solves the first two perfectly.

Fenway is amazing, been to tons of games there, awesome place. But yes, seems odd to take him to an empty stadium unless he's shown an interest in touring it. Who knows, not guarantees they get him but I'm sure Stevens and Ainge know what they're doing.

Being a Boston sports fan you'd think I would have known that. But, not being in the market and being busy this weekend, I actually didn't realize the Sox were on the road. Have to agree, unless Hayward showed some interest in touring Fenway, which is entirely possible, I agree it's pretty stupid.

Fenway is part of the Boston atmosphere in the summer. They showed a video on the jumbotron of Celtics legends talking about the Garden and guys like LeBron and Kobe talking about how amazing the fans at the Garden are. I mean it's July, it's not like they could take him to a Celtics game.

There was no reason to give any of that up. Ainge offered three first round pick (not Brooklyn's though) and two starters on draft night, that absolutely crushes what Indy got.

Atlanta is going full tank mode, as they'll Milsap as a free agent as well. Odd move for Charlotte. Cody and Howard can't really play together. It's been shown that Cody struggles at the 4 but thrives at the 5. I don't see how he plays with Howard. Just a a strange move for Charlotte. Cody needs to get out of there.

It's kind of making me hope PG and Lonzo Ball end up in L.A., and Lavar just ruins the entire thing and makes it a drama filled nightmare and the team implodes. I mean as a Celtics fan I'd hope for most of that anyways, but can't stand the way PG is screwing the Pacers.

Problem with Melo is that 3/5 of the Cavs starting lineup would be minus defenders. I don't think they'll end up with Melo.

Cleveland would want him and wouldn't care about the 1 year rental. What the Pacers need to do is get an offer from Cleveland and then use it as leverage to make the Lakers play ball. The Lakers won't want George going to Cleveland. Too much of a risk if he goes to Cleveland and they win the title. Will George really leave a title team that has LeBron asking him to come back? It will make L.A. step up their offer.

Not sure about that. If, granted a big if, Embiid stays healthy, the Sixers will be legit. Embiid is the real deal.

As a Celtics fan, a few thoughts on this... 1) I have to believe Danny just isn't sold on Fultz, he better be right 2) With that said, while this is a deep, talented draft, there is not a LeBron, Durant, Anthony Davis, etc. There's no player that if you draft them you automatically are set for 10+ years. At best Fultz is a John Wall, Kyrie Irving, etc., and while Irving won a title with LeBron, and they're both great players, you're not competing for titles just because you have Irving and Wall. They're not all-time, historical greats. 3) I'll be ticked if the larger plan here is flipping all these picks to get Jimmy Butler and sign Blake Griffin. That team while good, definitely doesn't get you a title against the Warriors, and probably doesn't even get you by Cleveland. 4) I'll be happy if this is just because Danny loves Josh Jackson and he took advantage of the Sixers for the extra picks, or if somehow he's figured out that Anthony Davis might be available and he's acquiring assets for that. Not probably, but I can hope on Davis. This either needs to be a play for a mega-star, or just that Danny loves Jackson and thinks he's the best player. I'd hate to see trading Jaylen Brown, some other pieces, and the #3 pick for Jimmy Buter. That would bum me out. Either go big with something we're not even seeing yet (Davis) or keep the young players and build with them around Horford, IT, etc.

Whoops, disregard my previous post. Not good.

I don't think that's a terrible hire. It's not Donovan or someone like Jay Wright, but McDermott has had success at Northern Iowa and Creighton. He struggled in his only other Power 5 job (Iowa State), but he's done some great things in his other stops.

No they're not. They might quite often result in the same outcome, but they're not the same thing. One is basically telling a kid that he doesn't have a spot, the other is telling him he's not going to play much and he'll need to be comfortable with that if he wants to stay. Back in my college days I had teammates who were given the brutally honest conversation and still chose to stay.

I was talking about Davis specifically. Last year he was not in condition enough to play 30+ minutes. While he'll be better conditioned this year, and our pace should be slower , I still don't expect him to be a 25+ minute guy.

That was Archie in the A-10, entire different ball game than the Big 10. Plus, while Davis had some nice flashes as a freshmen, he's not exactly proven in big minutes and is a guy who conditioning has been a problem for. I think a real backup 5 would get plenty of minutes and be a pretty big need. Whether there's one available or not, I don't know.

We have no backup for Davis though. We're really thin at the 5. I mean, if Davis were to roll and ankle or something and miss a week or so who plays the 5? Certainly not anyone that's actually a 5.

Absolutely, but no reason they shouldn't at least be competitive. You gotta at least show some fight.

This is embarrassing. I never thought the Celtics would win the series, but hoped they could push it 6 or at least make it a competitive 5. I've spent a ton of time in the Garden, but have never seen anything like this.

I would say to dig a little deeper. Yes, you can make the elite-8/final four comparison to Crean, but there's not a lot of context or substance behind that. Look at how he carries himself. Listen to what he says, the way he talks about basketball, his philosophy, etc. The way he talks about and to players. How he talks about X's/O"s. Look at where he comes from. He's from a basketball family, his dad is a legendary coach in PA, his brother was a successful player and now coach. Archie himself was a successful player and now coach. He grew up in the gym, he's spent almost all of his life in the gym playing and around coaches. I have no idea what the future holds or how he'll ultimately do, but given how he played, how he's coached to this point, what he says and how he relates to basketball people and his philosophies, etc., I understand being cautiously optimistic, but I don't see many reasons to be as skeptical as you are, and I really don't see a comparison to Crean. Again, I don't what's going to happen. Is he our Bill Self, or is he just going to maintain Crean's highs but minimize the Crean dips? I don't know, but I can say that to this point I'm really encouraged.

If the Celtics win a title in the next 10 years Billy King should get a ring, be asked to ride in the parade, and even get a banner in the rafters.

Yeah, it's been pretty incredible. The foresight to hire Stevens, the absolutely fleecing of Billy King/Nets, acquiring Thomas and putting him in a position to thrive, etc. They also have Brooklyn's pick next year.

Awesome week to be a C's fan!! I think Fultz is the guy if they don't trade the pick. I'm actually hoping they keep it and sign Hayward as a Free Agent. They really need rim protection and length/athleticism on the wing, but I think at #1 you have to go BPA, and Jaylen Brown looks like he's going to be really good.

Since when did Thomas Bryant have a bad attitude? So he complains about some fouls? Who cares? The kid gives his all on the court and plays with emotion. Outside of Yogi, he's the biggest reason IU won the league title and went to the sweet sixteen two years ago. I'd rather have a kid that you need to try and reign in, than have one you have to try and get to play hard.

I don't have the links, as it's been a few articles I've read examining this over the years, but in terms of NBA production I think it's less about age/years and more about minutes. I think I've read in the past that the magic number is somewhere around 36,000-40,000 minutes.