BGleas

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.

You need an agent way more if you go undrafted. The pay scale is pretty much slotted for all the guys that get drafted, you almost don't even need an agent if you get drafted. Undrafted guys need someone to contact teams for Summer League and Training Camp invites, sift through all the overseas opportunities (which are real, which actually pay what they commit too, etc.).

Oversigning because some guys are going to the NBA is one thing, oversigning because you don't want to grant Matt Roth or Colin Hartman a 5th year is another entirely to me. IMO, Crean fostered an atmosphere where guys felt they had to move on or graduate early, or that their spot wasn't safe. I think that's partly why recruiting began to fall off. For instance, I believe that Crean was still the coach that there is no way Hartman is coming back, and I think that's a mistake. Same thing with Roth in 12-13.

^^^^Or six figures in Europe. Guys as talented as Blackmon can make a lot of money overseas.

The Bryant decision is so huge for next season. While he should certainly do what is best for him, IU could really use him back for another season.

From what I know, teams typically stick to the promises. If I remember correctly, the reason the Sixers took Larry Hughes over Paul Pierce and Nowitzki was because they gave Hughes a promise never thinking either of those two guys would fall to 8. If teams routinely went back on these promises it would really impact their relationship with agents, partly because it's arguably deceitful, but also because a lot of times guys will shut down workout with other teams.

Hardly anyone plays in the post anymore though. Again, I'm not predicting this to happen, just saying it could. Watch the Warriors, there are games where James Michael MacAdoo is their 5. Bryant could certainly do that in a similar system if he develops (not from day 1), and it only takes one GM to think he can develop that.

While one workout can certainly make a GM fall in love with a guy, which has happened, there's more behind it. They may look at Bryant's efficiency as a freshmen and then watch the tape from last year and come to the conclusion that he was put in a bad position last season, and is actually under-valued in this years draft. Teams have algorithm's they use to project players future based on their age, college production, advanced analytics, etc. They may fall in love with a great workout and then use the analytics and tape to draw a conclusion that their system would hide/fix/whatever Bryant's areas of need.

I'm not predicting it by any means, but I've seen it happen and much stranger things have happened in the draft.

They do happen. I remember being at Tony Allen's draft workout in 2004 (I think) with the Celtics. He was considered a high 2nd round guy, and some had him in the late first. He came to Boston in a workout with a few guards, one of who was projected much higher (can't remember who, but we also had a late lottery pick). At the workout the guards the did a 1-on-1 drill where they had to defend each other from the baseline to half-court and try not to let the dribbler get by them. Well, Allen completely shut this other guard down. The guy couldn't get to half-court no matter how many times they went. You could see Ainge watching this and just knew we were taking him at 23 or 24 (can't remember what pick it was, we took Allen and Delonte West back-to-back) I bring it up because I could see Bryant going nuts shooting in a workout, and we know how NBA guys fall in love with 6'10" guys that can shoot.

The thing with Bryant is that it only takes one strong workout. If he goes and works out for some team in the late teens or 20's and on that paticular day he just goes off shooting in drills, as a 6'10" guy that can shoot he could secure a 1st round promise.

I recall when Crean was hired he delayed hiring his staff, or at least Seltzer I think, so that they could recruit without NCAA restrictions for a couple weeks.