BGleas

Which I think is the right way to go. I know some people are down on "positionless" basketball because of Crean, but that's not really what Crean ran. It might have been his goal, but he never got there. Crean ran more 3-guard lineups, which I hated personally. Positionless is more a pg, a big, and then a bunch of interchangeable guys between 6'5ish and 6'8ish that can all handle, shoot and drive, while defending multiple positions. IU never really had that under Crean.

I would also say that Flint was hired not only for East coast recruiting ties, but for his decades long experience as a D1 college basketball coach, both as an assistant and head coach. That's important for a young coach like Miller.

User error, I read the exchange with you and Brass Cannon completely wrong. I thought you were commenting on the part of his post about Forrester being happy to come off the bench for four years. On Morgan, I agree, it would be bad to lose him for his senior year. Unless he completely breaks out this year in a big way, I don't see him leaving.

I would be highly shocked if this kids mentality is "can't wait to come off the bench for four years". They interviewed his Dad on ITH and one of his quotes was that what excited them about IU was that Archie felt Jake could make a big impact right away. While there's some rawness here of course, a 6'10", long athletic kid is not coming here to ride the bench. I'm sure with his size and athleticism he's hoping to improve into an NBA caliber player. Not saying that will come to fruition, but I doubt he'll be happy coming off the bench for four years.

Archie definitely needs to land the big fish/elite talent, but what I like is that he's targeting guys and then landing them. At a basic level, recruiting is about accumulating talent and getting the guys you're targeting. Especially towards the end, so many times Crean swung and missed on primary, secondary and even third options. At at least early on, Archie is targeting guys and landing them fairly quick. Regardless of some of those guys are ranked, that's huge IMO.

Where would he go though? Are you saying declare for the draft? There's a lot of basketball to be played, but he'd have to really, really breakout this year IMO to be someone a team would draft.

I think Colin is a really good defender. He communicates, is almost always in the right position, and most likely is directing others guys to be in the right spot too. Is he going to get blown by when switching to an elite driver sometimes? Sure. But I'll take that over the guys that's constantly out of position or not always giving an effort. How Colin's injuries impact all of that remains to be seen, but at least pre-injury I liked his D given his athletic limitations.

I don't know why this debate is always so difficult. It's not that hard. Nobody on the "ranking matter" side has said rankings are absolute. I think the majority agree that they're a guide for evaluating players, and while certainly falable, they are a pretty good indicator of the talent level a team has. Is Victor Oladipo better than Jeremy Hollowell? Of course, but that doesn't mean rankings don't matter. Is Gordon Hayward better than Hanner Perea (or really anyone IU has had recently)? Of course, but that doesn't mean rankings don't matter. Rankings are a piece of the puzzle, and yes there are factors that go into a kids ranking beyond simply how good he is. Thinngs like exposure (the AAU program a kid played in), competition, location, etc can all impact things, and quite often things like character and toughness are not taken into account. Ranking are NOT perfect. But, if all things are equal over a 10 year period I'll take all top 100 kids and you take all kids 100+ and my team will be much better over that period. Doesn't mean your team won't have some good years or even beat mine on occasion over that period, but my team will be in contention much more consistently and better positioned and more likely to win titles, etc.

Heard a stat on Mike & Mike this morning, no player in NBA history under 6'0" has ever made an All-Star Team after turning 30. The Celtics had a looming IT problem with him being a free agent next summer, and this move was largely about fixing that issue. IT had already made several comments in the media this offseason about the Celtics "backing up the Brinks truck" to keep him. This move clearly shows Ainge/the Celtics were very uncomfortable with giving a 30 year old, 5'9" point guard a 5-year max contract. While giving up the Brooklyn pick hurts, the Celtics still have a lottery pick coming their way from the Fultz/Tatum trade. That's why the trade is a win-win, Cleveland clearly got what they needed, and while the Celtics gave more than other teams have given for stars they still have great picks coming their way and didn't leverage their future.

They wouldn't have had the cap space for Hayward after trading for Butler, and with Butler on board Hayward probably doesn't come. As much as I love IT, and I actually am not a huge Kyrie fan, Kyrie is an upgrade when you take everything into account (age, contract status, etc.). The Celtics had a big IT issue looming. Again I like IT, but are you giving a 5'9, 30 year old point guard a Max extension next summer? Now the C's have at least two years of a younger, more talented player.

You wouldn't give that pick for a PG one year rental. As far as Butler, the C's were targeting Hayward in free agency, so it's basically getting Irving and Hayward vs. just Butler.

As a Celtics fan I think this trade is a win-win for both teams. Yes, the Celtics gave up more than others have for stars, but Kyrie is also just 25 with two years at a good price left, and IT (who I love) is almost 30, has a bad hip, needs to be maxed next summer and as much as I love him he was exposed a bit in the playoffs. Teams figure IT out over 7 games. I hated to give up the Brooklyn pick, but Brooklyn could actually be slightly lower with how bad the East is and them adding Russell, Crabbe and Carroll. Also, the Celtics get the Lakers pick if it falls between 2-5 (It turns in Sacramento's 2019 if it's not in that range) so could actually still end up with a better pick than Cleveland gets. Lakers have a little more talent than Brooklyn but play a tougher schedule.

Big difference too though is that VO and Sheehey were top 150 guys, so while not 5* or 4* they were still nationally ranked recruits so I wouldn't exactly call them "flyers". Gelon is more in the Priller, April, Zeisloft, etc. group.

I feel like it appeals and resonates to both old school and new school.

Small thing, but does it seem like since Archie got here they're using the Indiana script much more as a sign-off to these videos? Would love to see that implemented more, even on an alternate road jersey or something?

You never know, remember Ben Simmons' year at LSU. They also had 5* Antonio Blakeney as a freshmen. It was a complete disaster.

Really interesting read, thanks for sharing!

To me, that is the pitch. I'd tell him, "Listen, you're going to the NBA. Go to Duke, go to UK, go to Louisville, come to Indiana, either way you're an NBA player. No question. But, here's the deal, go to those schools and you're another stud guy that went to those schools. You're a great player on a list. Come to IU and you're a legend. Come to IU and you're the guy synonymous with starting this new era. We'll be tied together as the guys that brought IU basketball back.You'll be treated like gold in Indiana the rest of your life. Let's do this together, let's put IU back where it belongs together!"

Agree, but don't sleep on the Bucks. The Greek Freak is legit and they have a nice young, athletic core.

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.