2016 NBA Offseason Discussion Thread

[jonathanlambert33]

Dunn also checks all of Ainge's boxes. Experienced, great athlete, can play and defend more than one position, Ainge also personally scouted him numerous times this year. Like I said, maybe they don't pick him, but the interest is absolutely legitimate.

Not to mention, why would Boston spend so much time manufacturing the longest running smokescreen in the history of professional sports when they have been in contact with multiple teams? That's walking a mighty fine line. And poorly run teams pass on Kris Dunn, or BPA if you want to call him that, because they have Marcus Smart. Good ones don't.

 

[bosoxlover12]

Not to mention, why would Boston spend so much time manufacturing the longest running smokescreen in the history of professional sports

lmao dude wtf you're taking this so much further than it needs to be

Obviously there is some interest in Dunn lol. It's not like this situation was "Philly wants Skal Labissierre, and now Boston is going to take him 3rd!!" -- Dunn has always been in consideration. He's been looked at with the third pick as one of the Top 8 prospects in the draft, and has been linked to Boston no less than Marquese Chriss being linked to the Celtics

This isn't the longest smokescreen in the world at all. Prior to last week, the favorites for #3 were thought to be Bender, Brown, or Jamal Murray. You don't think it's strange that the same time we hear Danny Ainge is heavily trying to trade for Butler, Middleton, Okafor, etc that Dunn is now the favorite? We obviously like Dunn -- that makes the smoke believable for Philly to be fire. We need Philly to actually think we're taking him for us to have leverage in the Okafor trade.

But you're being ridiculous now. Dunn has hardly been the favorite for the pick for a long time (I've been following almost every Celtics insider and beat writer that may have been leaked info for the past 3 weeks). He's never been ruled out, because why would he be? But he's almost always been categorized in the 2nd tier of interest, with Chriss and Buddy Hield

This is definitely trade smoke. That, or they already have a deal in place to move Bradley and the later picks to get Brown or Bender at #7/8. But there is no way the team goes forward with Bradley, Smart, and Dunn

 

[bosoxlover12]

Via Chad Ford in today's mock

General managers picking from Nos. 4 to 30 are cursing Celtics president Danny Ainge's name right about now.

The Celtics are patiently exploring trades for the No. 3 pick, while indicating to various teams that they are interested in all of the next six prospects on the board -- Dunn, Jamal Murray, Marquese Chriss, Dragan Bender, Jaylen Brown and Buddy Hield.

Ainge's refusal to tip his hand essentially forces teams to deal with him if they want to be guaranteed to land their favorite player in the draft. It's brilliant.

 

[elcheato]

the draft is thursday 

 

[jonathanlambert33]

I have to laugh at Chad Ford reporting that Boston is interested in every possible player they could take at 3.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

And bosox, if you don't think Dunn hasn't been linked to Boston for FAR more than a week then you just haven't been paying attention. I'm not saying he's been the favorite like you're suggesting.

 

[bosoxlover12]

Chriss was linked to us further than a week ago too. Just because one or two sources say so doesn't mean it's legit at all

The #1 most consistent report re: Boston has been that we want to trade the pick, and we'll leak whatever we want to increase that value


Also you don't think it's weird that Boston hosted Jaylen Brown twice (Murray, Hield as well) yet would take the kid who refuses to give Boston his health reports and won't workout with them whatsoever? It makes sense for Simmons to not workout because he's the #1 pick barring injury, but it really does not make sense for Dunn.

 

[elcheato]

I'll be honest, I'm rooting for whatever scenario causes both of you to go into hyper-defensive mode, and contradict the things you said leading up to the draft.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

I'm not going to contradict anything, like I said a few days ago, I would be absolutely thrilled if Brown goes #3 or even #4 or #5 because it means a player that the Pelicans have higher on their board will be available, and likely two of them would be.

 

[bosoxlover12]

I've never disliked Dunn as a player, but he's really the only player you could draft at 3 that complicates the roster. Our best player is Isaiah, he's been our ambassador for the team, and he's doing everything off the court that he can to try to attract Free Agents like Durant and Horford

And then you draft Dunn? Sure, they could play together -- but almost anyone would tell you: you draft Dunn with the intention of him being your PG of the current and future. It's a slap in the face for Isaiah and negates all direction the team is going imo.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

Chriss was linked to us further than a week ago too. Just because one or two sources say so doesn't mean it's legit at all

The #1 most consistent report re: Boston has been that we want to trade the pick, and we'll leak whatever we want to increase that value


Also you don't think it's weird that Boston hosted Jaylen Brown twice (Murray, Hield as well) yet would take the kid who refuses to give Boston his health reports and won't workout with them whatsoever? It makes sense for Simmons to not workout because he's the #1 pick barring injury, but it really does not make sense for Dunn.

I don't think it would be weird because we have seen it in the past. I've read many different articles from different NBA personnel that these workouts really aren't groundbreaking information wise, the teams are more about getting that guy into town so they can talk to him and see what kind of person he really is, rather than the player.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

I've never disliked Dunn as a player, but he's really the only player you could draft at 3 that complicates the roster. Our best player is Isaiah, he's been our ambassador for the team, and he's doing everything off the court that he can to try to attract Free Agents like Durant and Horford

And then you draft Dunn? Sure, they could play together -- but almost anyone would tell you: you draft Dunn with the intention of him being your PG of the current and future. It's a slap in the face for Isaiah and negates all direction the team is going imo.

I think you're reading to much into the Isaiah thing. I think he's smart enough to realize that this leaugue is a business and the drafting of Dunn doesn't mean they're trying to replace him, rather than they're taking BPA and upgrading parts of the roster.

 

[bosoxlover12]

Upgrading parts of the roster? Lmao, our best backup is a point guard. Our 2nd best backup is another point guard.

It's not upgrading the roster at all, it's just improving talent. It's saying "We're done developing Marcus Smart, and we're fine having holes at backup SF and backup PF and have Jordan Mickey as our backup C".

 

[jonathanlambert33]

The hard on you have for a bad basketball player like Marcus Smart is highly uncomfortable. Like I said previously, only poorly run franchises pass on a prospect like Kris Dunn because you have a guy like Marcus Smart.

Your best backups aren't PG's either, you're lying now.

 

[bosoxlover12]

https://twitter.com/jakelfischer/status/745969460423561217

 

[elcheato]

All this excitement over a GM keeping a secret. Get loose!! 

 

[bosoxlover12]

The hard on you have for a bad basketball player like Marcus Smart is highly uncomfortable. Like I said previously, only poorly run franchises pass on a prospect like Kris Dunn because you have a guy like Marcus Smart.

Your best backups aren't PG's either, you're lying now.

This is again you claiming you've watched Celtics games, when its clear you just look at stats afterwords
 
Game 4 of the ATL/BOS series is the exact reason why I love Marcus Smart. At 8:58 left in the 4th quarter, Stevens decides to put in his final line, which was Thomas at PG, Turner at SG, Crowder at SF, Smart at PF, and Sullinger at C (defensive alignments). Millsap has 41 points at this point, and is destroying the Celtics, so Stevens puts Smart on him for the rest of the 4th quarter and OT. Millsap scored only 4 points in the remainder of the game. Smart was a defensive star that game.
 
But he also was goddamn confident. He's one of the more streaky players I've seen in a long time, where if he's off, he'll stay off the entire game. But when he's on, he's on. In that same stretch where he held Millsap to 2-6 shooting, Smart shoots 4-6 for 11 points, including a stretch where he took a 82-79pt deficit and hit back-to-back 3s to give Boston the lead.
 
Marcus Smart won us Game 4. He's still incredibly young (2 weeks older than Kris Dunn) and has tons of room for development, where he still shows ton of superstar potential. He's an elite defender already and has the potential to be a really good player. To give up on him this early is ridiculous, when his shooting numbers are eerily similar to Westbrook's in his first two years. 
___________________
 
And absolutely our best backups are PGs lmao. We have 9 players on roster: Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Smart, Olynyk, Hunter, Rozier, Mickey, and Young. There are tons of options to bring back players (Jerebko and Amir have non-guaranteed deals, Sullinger and Zeller are RFAs, and Turner is a UFA) but those are the 9 roster spots at this point. And of those, Smart and Rozier are definitely the best of the bench (assuming Olynyk probably starts next year unless there is a big upgrade, which I hope we do). 

 

[bosoxlover12]

All this excitement over a GM keeping a secret. Get loose!! 

I'm just laughing at nola telling me that Boston is taking Dunn, when it literally couldn't be more obvious that its a leverage move

 

[Mexi]

https://twitter.com/jakelfischer/status/745969460423561217

thats funny

 

[Mexi]

Ainge trying his god damn hardest