BGleas

Always a good discussion! Again, it’s all opinion. But, I’ve had Kawhi in the upper tier for several years, not just post-Toronto. I’ve always thought he was in that LeBron and Durant group, a level above guys like PG, Harden, Westbrook, etc. As far as Curry, I’ve just always appreciated his game more than some others. Yes, he needed Klay, but I don’t think that the discussion has ever been that the top guys don’t need a second fiddle. Yes, Curry needed Klay. LeBron needed Wade and Kyrie. Jordan needed Pippen, etc., etc. But, those teams were built around Curry, LeBron and Jordan.

Oh, it’s absolutely just my opinion. I didn’t present it as a fact. I’m also not ignoring what PG did last year. I know what he did, but even while it was happening I never seriously considered OKC a championship contender, and that is really the point. Guys I think you can build around to win a title? LeBron, Durant, Kawhi, Curry, Davis. That might be it. I mean as the clear #1. Giannis might be added soon. Like I said, you can definitely win a title with PG. Heck, you put PG on the Lakers and they’re probably still the title favorite. You put PG with Kawhi and they’re a title favorite It’s semantics, sure. But yes, I do think there are only a handful of guys that can carry a team to a title. That doesn’t mean only those guys can win titles. Again, the ‘08 Celtics are a good example. None of Pierce, Garnett or Ray Allen are on the Kobe, Duncan, LeBron level, but you put the three of them together and their legit champions (that Celtics team was a KG knee injury away from going back-to-back and maybe 3 straight. It’s my opinion. I think PG is a fantastic player, like you said, top 10. But PG is a notch below LeBron, Durant when healthy, Kawhi, Curry, and maybe soon Giannis. It’s not a huge slight to him. He’s at the very top of that 2nd tier, IMO.

I think the answer to the PG thing is kind of in the middle. I don't think you win a title with PG as your "Batman", but I think you can absolutely win a title with a 1A/1B with PG being one of those guys. The difference? I don't think Toronto wins a title with PG and their second best player being Kyle Lowry. That's a clear Batman/Robin scenario. I think Kahwi is on a different level than PG, it's splitting hairs, but I do think Kahwi is a notch up. But, take the '08 Celtics. KG was the heart and soul of that team, but Pierce was the guy they went to in winning time. Who was batman and who was robin? Most would probably say KG was Batman, but again Pierce was the guy finishing. Pierce was the guy matching LeBron when they both put up 40 in Game 7 when the Celtics beat the Cavs. Pierce was the Finals MVP and outplayed Kobe. My point? PG can absolutely win a title in that situation. Put him in the Pierce role and yes, their winning a title. I just don't think a team built around PG is winning a title.

I love how you answered this. So many times when comparing players from the 80's, etc., people say, well that guy had no perimeter game so he would get killed in today's game. Or, that guy was only 225lbs, guys like Dwight Howard would kill him, etc. When talking Kareem and asking how he would play in 2019/20, you have to add in that he would have today's training, today's nutrition, today's luxuries, equipement, etc. that current players have, and also that if Kareem was in this era he would absolutely have worked on extending his range. He was a long, athletic center that would be an absolutely beast in any era. The same thing is when people try and say Dirk was better than Bird or that Bird is a notch below some of the all-time greats and they point to Bird's 3pt percentage. Well, in 1980 6'9" guys didn't practice shooting 3's like they do today and nobody took them at the volume or practiced them at the volume they do today. If you dropped a 24 year old Bird in today's NBA, training and working on 3pt shooting like they do today, he would be phenomenal.

Note, he's giving Rich Paul the credit for the AD trade, not Pelinka.

What’s your point? If Bob Knight didn’t have Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Isiah Thomas and Steve Alford he’d have zero national championships. Yeah, talents matters. You have to have some of the best players to win. That’s college, high school, 5th grade travel and yes, the NBA. That doesn’t mean the coaches are ‘glorified babysitters’.

That is not accurate.

Mostly because Brad Wanamaker is playing great as the backup pg right now. He’s won that job and Stevens rightfully trusts him.

She had a tweet earlier today, can't remember if a full article accompanied it, about how impressed she was with Tom Allen.

My take is that Stevens isn't using Edwards correctly. I don't mean that as a knock on Stevens at all, he's coaching a good team that is playing as well as anyone in the NBA, so his job isn't to give a second round pick his ideal role, because that would be bad for the team. But with that said, Edwards is currently playing a couple minutes with Kemba and then the rest of his time Brad Wanamaker is at point. So, Edwards role to this point has been as a spot-up shooter. That is absolutely not his game. He's an off-the-dribble shooter, not a spot-up shooter. He needs the ball in his hands to be effective. His career will come down to his ability to adapt to that. I look at two guys that I think are similar, Jimmer Fredette and Eddie House. Eddie house adapted to the NBA and learned how to be a sniper receiving passes from stars. Jimmer could never adapt to that, he needs the ball in his hands. No NBA team is building their team around the ball being in Jimmer's hands or in Carson Edward's hands. His career will go as he's able to adapt to being a shooter off the ball.

Given his age and what he’s dealing with, I actually thought Knight looked/sounded pretty good.

It's just one of those things. He missed all of summer, all of training camp and basically all of the preseason. He hasn't had a chance to be involved, where Edwards, Ojeleye and Javonte Green have. Those guys have gotten the practice reps and Langford hasn't. Add to it, that the team has come out of the gates on fire, winning 9 of 10, so I'm not sure you can blame the team and/or coach for not wanting to mess with that. Like I said, Langford will get a chance at some point. It just happens, it's a long season. Every team I was around, everyone got a chance at some point due to injuries, other guys slumps, rest, etc. He'll get a chance and then it will just be a matter of what he does with it. If he comes out and plays really well when he gets his chance, he'll move ahead of someone like Green on the depth chart.

I don't follow why that's a bad use? He gets work with the Celtics coaches in Boston, pregame, post, etc., and then he gets game time with the Red Claws. I'm not suggesting that will continue all season, just for a period of time. At some point he'll get a chance to see the court with the Celtics, but he's been so far behind with all of the injuries.

I think what you'll see is Langford bounce back and forth, especially while Hayward is out. The Red Claws haven't had a game since the one he played in and their next game Friday. So, they re-assigned him to Maine today so he can play Friday in the Red Claws game. My guess is they'll recall him when the Celtics are home, so he can participate in shootarounds, be on the bench, and potentially play in Celtics game if they need him, but then go back to Maine for their games. It's going to be a weird year for Langford, and the injuries and Celtics fast start haven't been great for him personally.

Again though, it was just one game, and it was a close game. You’re not going to play all 12 guys in a close game, and considering all the time he’s missed, he’s not going to play ahead of the guys that have been there in a game like that. I also read that he was under the weather on the injury report. He’ll get a chance, but he will need to make the most of it in short order, or this could be his season (bouncing between Maine and Boston and not really in the Celtics rotation).

It was just one game, and not the type of game where it really made sense to put him in. The Celtics were playing well but just couldn’t put the Mavs away, and then even let the Mavs take a small second half lead. He’ll get a chance at some point, my only worry is that he better make the most of it because right now you can tell Stevens trusts Wanamaker, he trusts Ojeleye, and Javonte Green is playing really well when he gets chances. You can tell Stevens trusts those guys, and we know how coaches like Stevens are with guys they trust. I also don’t know when the Red Claws next game is, they could plan on sending him back and forth.

Want to feel really old? The Mavs play at Boston tonight. The last time the Mavs came to Boston without Dirk Nowitzki on their roster, Luca Doncic and Jayson Tatum were not even born yet.

To 5fouls question, it will be interesting to see if this impacts Langford. I don’t think he’d play ahead of Javonte Green or Brad Wanamaker at this point, so I could see Boston keeping him in Maine for a while longer to get him game action.

No, I believe he’s a righty.

That’s awful. Hayward was off to a fantastic start, looking like the old Hayward and was playing at an all-star level.

I haven't looked this up, but I would guess that way more baseball teams own their stadiums vs. NBA teams. Also, most baseball teams, if not all, aren't competing with another in-season sport (NHL for the NBA) where some of the other sports teams actually own the playing venue. Edit: I'm not saying eliminating back-to-backs can't be done. Just saying the scheduling is no small task. It's really complicated and there are a ton of competing logistics.

Great points! Yes, TV plays a large role in the scheduling as well, absolutely. Also, great point on the Clips/Kawhi. Doc and the Clippers pretty much lied and took a $50K fine just to keep Kawhi happy. Kawhi was mad that the league aired injury issues in their release, so Doc had to go and undermine the league knowing the league was going to fine them. Now $50K is couch change to Balmer, but the higher level point is that the Clippers had to knowingly say something they knew would get them a fine just to keep Kawhi happy.

Yeah, that is a reason why. You're scheduling 82 games for 30 different teams, in 28 different cities with 29 different arenas. It's not like these arena's are only used for the NBA, some of them aren't even owned by NBA teams. The Bruins own the Celtics arena, so the Bruins have first dibs on all scheduling, not just their games, but scheduling concerts, shows, etc. You have to work with every team, every arena, the league office, etc. I'm not sure who owns the Staples Center, but not only do you have to schedule around the Lakers and Clippers, but also the LA Kings and it's a major concert/event venue. Madison Square Garden is a major concert, fight and event venue, etc. I worked with the guy that does it for the Celtics, he would be pulling his hair out for weeks when it was scheduling time. It's a logistical nightmare. I'm sure that's not the 100% only reason there are back-to-backs but it's one of the reasons, absolutely.

It's not as easy as it sounds. There are a ton of complications that go into making an NBA schedule. Not every team owns their arena. Some teams share with NHL teams. There are concerts and other events that the venue host to work around, etc. Just one example is the Spurs, their arena hosts some sort of carnival every year and the Spurs have to go on a 2 week+ road trip. A lot of balls in the air to juggle when putting these things together.

Agree on the Pacers. They're a really good team, really good, but you're never winning a championship and most likely never getting to the Finals with Victor Oladipo as your best player. I love Vic, it's just not happening though. I'm not saying you move Vic, Vic can absolutely be the second best player on a title team, but to win a title you need one of the top 5 or so players in the league. In most cases (the Pistons in 04 being the outlier) you need a legitimate first ballot, all-time great player to win a title. It's just how the NBA works. What the Sheed/Billups Pistons team did was lightning in a bottle. The question for the Pacers is, do they have enough young talent or can they somehow acquire enticing pics through trades, so that they have enough assets to trade for another superstar to put alongside Vic? It can be done, and other similar teams have done it. It requires a smart front office that's willing to take risks, etc. But it can be done.