brad stevens going to the title game twice at *BUTLER* is exponentially more impressive than anything may has done during the NIL era where Michigan spent in the top 15 (at least). come on.
Yep. And this wasn't Butler from the Big East. This was Butler from the Horizon League. Had Haywood's shot fallen against Duke in the championship game, that would have been hands down the greatest championship game/run in college basketball history.
Texas Western (now UTEP) is calling from 1966....
In any event, Butler winning the NC in basketball would still only be 26.47% as amazing as Indiana winning a football NC 2 years into the CIG era....
@hoosier-clarion We'll see. IU may have dodged a bullet now, but May won a title and left. Indiana is sitting with DeVries entering a year where, if he's on the bubble again, they will likely need a search committee. I am sure many fans would trade places.
Michigan had to have known for a little while and they named Boynton interim head coach, while they can conduct a search in the background, while giving their in-house option a full audition.
They'll slide in Schertz after this season and barely miss a beat. I would trade places easily.
Come on Michigan!! There's someone with BT coaching experience presently coaching a school in SW Indiana who would fit like a glove.
Stevens trade of Jaylen is questionable. Let's see how they come out of this but this could be the start of the end in a town like Boston if it goes badly. I understand that they wouln't want extend Brown for 70 mil per year since will have to do it with Tatum but they seemed like they went from asking for the moon to less than 50 cents on the dollar.
@sig Seems they're resetting a little bit, while staying fairly competitive. Stevens turned the franchise around by acquiring and stockpiling draft capital. The gold standard right now in managing a roster (OKC and San Antonio), did it the same way. This was an opportunity to get rid of an awkward personality, if not unpopular even in the locker room, get a serviceable starter level wing with an expiring contract... and then get back significant draft capital. Not a perfect, no brainer decision. But I think history will probably show it was a good move for the Celtics.
@sig Seems they're resetting a little bit, while staying fairly competitive. Stevens turned the franchise around by acquiring and stockpiling draft capital. The gold standard right now in managing a roster (OKC and San Antonio), did it the same way. This was an opportunity to get rid of an awkward personality, if not unpopular even in the locker room, get a serviceable starter level wing with an expiring contract... and then get back significant draft capital. Not a perfect, no brainer decision. But I think history will probably show it was a good move for the Celtics.
This was about the max extension that Brown would be eligible to sign. I'd have to go look but think Ainge stockpiled most of their draft capital in the past and drafted Brown and Tatum. Stevens trading for Jrue and White was genius. Jaylen is not an awkwerd personality or a locker room cancer. Tatum is 28 so I'd expect that BS will be trading picks for players to improve this season and get back title contending. They are chasing Trey Murphy. Tatum will be 33 when those Philly 1st rounders come up so this isn't really the OKC/SA model. Those were total rebuilds. Don't think this is reset to just be competitive or that they are done. Let's see how it turns out.
@sig Oh Brown is 100% an issue in the locker room, and in the offices. His contract was the obvious main factor here... they needed to get something back for him before losing him for nothing. Someone of his talent and production, and relative lack of off the court issues... teams normally fight harder to figure out how to keep guys like him, AND other teams clamor for them and offer crazy packages like what the Raptors gave the Clippers for Kawhi. He's probably not a "cancer" in the same way most often view that type of player. But from what I've read, he's constantly questioning EVERYTHING front office, and coaching staffs do...both privately and publicly. He's the guy everyone hates having in their meetings because he nitpicks and finds and focuses on the negative, with most interactions. These people tend to get made fun of when they're not around. And that's figuratively what has happened to Jalen Brown.
You're right about Ainge starting the draft capital accumulation for the Celtics. 4 extra picks over the next 4 drafts is significant. And while it isn't exactly what San Antonio or OKC did, its still accumulating picks. Maybe they use those picks in trades, maybe they end up making the picks themselves. Either way, its significant capital they now have at their disposal.
And finally... just from a pure basketball standpoint... this isn't nearly as one sided as it appears. Brown fully ascended because Tatum was out. Tatum, when healthy, is a better overall wing than Brown is. Brown can be dominant offensively, but its often at the expense of others, and from offensive flow. And he's not a particularly good defender, especially off the ball, which is becoming more important than it used to be. It also gives them flexibility to fix other holes in their lineup... Mitchell Robinson being brought in to help stop Joel Embid... for the next couple years, as an example. Can they do that deal with Brown's longer term deal still on the books? Maybe. But it becomes much easier to manage and navigate when you replace it with an expiring deal. And then Paul George. Older, not what he used to be, a lot of money this year. But he's a MUCH better defender than Brown is, and he's still more than serviceable as a starter level wing, with some length, alongside Tatum. When you look at advanced stats, with per minute and usage numbers put in... Paul George, and what he produces, is likely a lot closer to Brown than it seems just looking at box scores.
Anyway... no way to know today. The full benefit of the trade won't flush out until we know what the C's do with those picks. My prediction though... Boston will win as many, or more, games this year than they did last year. And they'll be just well positioned, if not better, in the playoffs.
Woodson came into an ever better situation than Cig, and basically on the ground floor of NIL.Pretty much explains why woodson had no interst in recruiting. The colllege job is way harder now and the good college coaches if given the chane will probably bolt
But he had no idea what to do with the golden opportunity.
Woodson was lazy and couldn't get around his ego. He thought he crapped gold and everyone would just come running to play for him. Bought him a team that any decent coach could have won with and the bum still managed to fail.
For as good of a hire as Cigs was, Woodson was the exact opposite.
Anyway... no way to know today. The full benefit of the trade won't flush out until we know what the C's do with those picks. My prediction though... Boston will win as many, or more, games this year than they did last year. And they'll be just well positioned, if not better, in the playoffs.
Save the fictional drama.
Nobody is claiming Paul George is a bad player. For the same salary he has played one full season of games in the last 2 seasons. Availability matters. He average 16 ppg vs Brown's 28. He is no longer a better defender than Brown. He is 36. You could say the same for Kawhi except Kawhi is still a top 10 player. Don't think PG is close to top 10.
There's not much difference in the Toronto package and Philly package yet one is great and one is insane. More drama.
Brown won the NBA finals mostly based on being the primary defender on Luka. The was a lot of switching but Luka's efficiency numbers vs Brown were the manin reason they were down. Not everyone has to be all nba defense to be a good f=defender. Brown could of won the MVP this season. I would of picked SGA, Jokic or Luka over him but the Celts would of been a lottery team without him.
The salary cap rules now make it virtually impossible to keep 2 super max players. Brown was up for a 70 mil per year extension. Agree that Tatum is the guy and he will be at 70 mil in 28 and 29.
Clippers are currently rebuilding and Boston is more resetting. I don't see how those picks into the future will help on the court around Tatum. They are still good but took a step back while Toronto, Philly, Miami are improving drastically. Pacers will be back and Pistons are fixing some of their issues. I think Boston has picks to trade to improve and will do so. I could also see Boston moving White who is 32 also.
@sig This really isn't all that deep. They didn't want to pay him what he'll be demanding going forward. Many don't think he's nearly as good as his stats say he is. Advanced stats are real, and they aren't favorable for Brown in the context of "SuperMax level players". And he's not well liked. They knew they had to move him at some point fairly soon. They tried for monster packages, and no one bit... We can argue about the deal, and who Jaylen Brown is all we want. The NBA market just answered it for everyone though. He's not viewed, by really anyone, as a SuperMax level player. Should he be worth more than what the Celtics got back for him? Probably, yes. Time will tell whether the move ends up being a good one.