Maybe, maybe not. Jimmy Butler is a great player, probably top 10 in the league. That kind of player often can change things.

If you're apologizing to a Wolves fan, it's clear you don't know shit about the NBA besides the big ESPN storylines.

Yeah, well, unless there is ANY sign of him being on the block, eternity is a bit long to wait.

I don't need to be a Patriots fan to trust that BB usually knows what he's doing. Ainge doesn't have quite that level of credibility, but he's got more than enough for me to trust that he's no fool.

He isn't Top 10 in the NBA or in the West for that matter, Top 15 for sure and Kyrie isn't that far behind him

Waiting would be better than bailing out your main rival and trading your one of your most valuable assets away to do so.


Particularly after this deal.

LOOOOOL at all of this

#5 in the NBA in VORP, #6 in WS/48, #7 in RPM, #10 in BPM last year. I'm actually not sure what the argument for Butler not being a top 10 player in the league is, let alone the West.

Irving BTW was #30, #44, #53, and #49 in those. Most overrated player in the league.

If Jimmy Butler was a top 10 player, the Bulls wouldn't have been a 8th seed in the East.

When your entire team besides you is terrible, sure it does.

Simple and in no certain order

4 of the 5 GSW starters
Russ
George
Harden
CP3
Leonard
AD

You forgot the #1 player in the world on your list and #2 best player of all time.

Klay Thompson over Butler? Draymond over Butler?

Oooookay

I know. this is just for the West. I agree with you in regards to Butler barely getting the Bulls in the playoffs in the vaunted East

Butler is great as #2 with another true superstar but he isn't the type to lead a franchise IMO.

Yeah, time will determine that, not you.

And let's face it, one of the Celtics biggest problems was shot-creation. NOBODY outside of IT could create their own shot really. And shot creation is huge in the playoffs, especially, and IT really struggled with it himself in the playoffs.

And you can think Irving isn't that much better than IT overall, but there's no question that his shot creation is at least as good but likely better than IT, and that it's DEFINITELY been alot better in the playoffs. C's now have Irving and Hayward, and their new draft pick, Tatum, appears to have elite skills in that area (or projects to -- nobody really knows how any draft pick will work out).

So you can say the Cs aren't much/any better in the short term, but I don't agree, especially when it comes to playoff basketball.

I watched KI carry the Cavs in quite a few games during the 16 championship series. I think he is been short changed a bit here.

Kyrie has yet to show he can lead a team. Cleveland is still a heavy favorite in the East unless something major happens. Kyrie has an inflated value because of big Finals moments. You have to get there to have those moments. It will be interesting to see if BS can change the way he plays.


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Kyrie/Hayward/Horford is still not enough to beat the Cavs

its basically a downgraded form of Kyrie/Lebron/Love.

Still dont have a chance until Lebron goes West

It's all relative. LeBron will still kick the shit out of Boston in the playoffs. Kyrie being there doesn't change that remotely. In fact, now that they've lost most of their good defenders (and Cleveland has filled a few holes thanks to Ainge), it's probably become easier for him to do so.

And then LeBron will leave the Cavs next season after the Warriors or Spurs beat the shit out of him in the Finals and try to start a new superteam, maybe with the Celtics if he can make up with Kyrie.

It's all relative.

by then Horford will be two years older and on the decline. The Celtics will still have no other center or power forward worth a shit. Marcus Smart will be gone. Kyrie will still be playing no defense. And you'll be able to see who hits or busts between Brown and Tatum. It's all relative.

After the Warriors win next year, he'll go to the Lakers, yeah. That's been known for a while now. He won't be going anywhere near the treadmill team that is now the Boston Celtics.

actually like the Wizards chances now that the Celtics don't have Crowder, Bradley and Olynyk scrapping around.

I feel better about the Raptors chances too. Celtics only won as many games as they did last year because IT had a ridiculous season (Celtics fans who were chanting 'MVP' at him all season have suddenly gone quiet) and the rest of them tried so hard on defense regularly.

Yes they literally traded all their hustle guys except for Smart and now have to give a really young player significant rotational minutes in Brown or Tatum

plus Marcus Morris is now their 4 and he's terrible so

Just gonna put this up:


[skip]

https://www.si.com/nba/2017/08/24/ky...homas-warriors

Not so fast. Sounds like Cleveland is unsure about Thomas' hip. They might ask for more from the Celtics to complete the trade.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources on ESPN: Cleveland, Boston planning call today to discuss uncertain status of blockbuster trade. <a href="https://t.co/0LzkkWNltR">https://t.co/0LzkkWNltR</a></p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/901477945008685057">August 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
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I imagine Boston will tell Cleveland to **** off.

GS will win it all again dunno how you all watch this unwatchable garbage

I know you just like to troll, but you rip on baseball and basketball and watch a sport where Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have basically won our conference every year for almost two whole decades.

There it is.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Story posting soon on ESPN: After Thomas physical, Cavs planning to seek further compensation before finalizing Irving trade to Boston.</p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/901577881158950912">August 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Wow. This is a disaster for the Celtics.
Posted via Mobile Device

maybe they will decline and the trade will be off. I wouldnt give up anything else if I were them. That would suck for Kyrie, all he wants to do is get out of Dodge before Lebron bails. LMAO

It is a disaster for both teams. Both Irving and IT won't be happy going back to their respective teams.

Celtics should just tell Cleveland to go to hell.

The trade is plenty good as is, and Cleveland is getting greedy.

**** them.

Yeah it's not a good situation for either team because both teams are going to have disgruntled PGs.

However, at least the Celtics would get to keep a likely top 5 pick. I'm very skeptical the Cavs could get something better than that from another team.

Yep they won't. They should do the deal UNLESS they think IT will never be healthy again. I don't think there is any indication that is the case though.

Personally I was giddy with this trade, as I thought it was rather one sided. Cleveland would get a solid PG to replace Irving, a great defensive 2/3, a young center and a lottery pick. Seemed too good to be true. I have no idea what Ainge told the Cavs about the Injury Thomas sustained. The Cavs are not looking to rebuild right now, they still think there is a small chance that if they keep enough talent around James, he will stick around and finish his career in Cleveland. If IT is out for the year(and it is looking like he is), not only will he be gone by years end, but you will likely also lose James. So you are left with Kevin Love and a lottery pick. Now this trade doesn't look so great. If Thomas were healthy, you could have even used that lottery pick to trade for another elite talent at the deadline, of course, you would only do that if James made a firm commitment. I think the Celtics add players of picks to the deal to make it happen as I think it looks much worse for the Celtics.

Bullshit. If he's fugged then they should get more.

Bullshit. The Nets pick is going to be a top five pick. The Celtics gave up plenty on their end of the trade and do not need to give up anything more.

Apparently the Cavs want Tatum or Brown in the deal.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cavs interested in Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum or picks to complete Kyrie trade with Celtics, per <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn">@wojespn</a> <a href="https://t.co/uIXbFYc9nS">https://t.co/uIXbFYc9nS</a> <a href="https://t.co/xQdeN1xQS0">pic.twitter.com/xQdeN1xQS0</a></p>&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/901962611557666817">August 28, 2017</a></blockquote>
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please let this happen so I can laugh every Celtics homer out of this thread

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...c7iezywfuw.jpg

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...relmipmgup.jpg

http://deadspin.com/kevin-durant-tra...ter-1818504820

Looks like Durant forgot to log out of his fake account before defending his own honor online with weak excuses. LMAO

http://uproxx.com/dimemag/kevin-dura...-nba-reddit/2/

Oh and he also has his own fake Instagram account to argue with his critics too. As if there was ever any doubt.

ROFL. weak minded

NBA Finals MVP.

Yep. And?

They beat a guy who might be more weak minded.

2017 NBA Finals:
REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS

6 5 0 1 3 4 39
4 4 2 0 3 1 35
9 4 1 1 2 3 31
13 6 5 3 4 3 33
9 8 0 0 1 0 38

Exactly why the previous generation would have owned their asses

I truly do feel sorry for Durant at this point. Well, as much as you can feel sorry for a multi millionaire and 2nd best basketball player in the World. He keeps saying the haters don't bother him, but they obviously do. Just tell the truth, own your decision and it would be gone by now. He did what he wanted to do but seems ashamed. It's not what he did, it's how he's handled it.


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Carmelo to the thunder.

Thunder turned Payne, Oladipo, Sabonis, McDermott and Kanter into Paul George and Carmelo Anthony

thats one way to unload all your bum players

Dude. Okc can comepete

Greatest NBA off season ever. I am getting excited for the regular season to begin

Sucks that the best 3 or 4 teams are out West.

Be interesting to see how well these 3 will mesh. If they can make it work they now have the firepower.

That’s exciting. Not sure how this works on offense or defense, but it’s fun to think about.

Horrible trade by OKC. Melo is older than I am. He cant defend and he needs the ball in his hands. Hes an isolation hero ball scorer. He does not complement Russ or george at all. Melos value would be on a gpod defensive team needing scorers, not on a team with two established scorers. Im afraid they will take turns again each possession instead of running efficient offense.

How many legitimate stars does the East have now? Are they down to 3? Lebron, Kyrie, and Greek Freak?

The NBA should cut itself in half. The Western Conference is now the NBA and the Eastern Conference is NBA #2.

It's a joke now. It's the worst it's ever been in terms of an imbalance of talent and good teams. Silver's got to do something.

John Wall, maybe?

IT?

Melo to OKC is not going to go as well as some people are hoping. You just put a ball hog in a team run by a ball hog. Lol.

Yeah, OKC won't do shit.

Well, they'll make the playoffs, most likely. They'll also make things interesting through the beginning of the season. Beyond that, though, probably not much.

Russell Westbrook averaged 10.4 apg last season. He isn't a ball hog anymore.

It's going to be interesting to see how they mesh... I think they can make it work. Still not beating the Spurs or Warriors but they will be up there.

The most unimpressive 10.4 in NBA history. He played the whole year like a video game loser by bunching his points and assists. Not to mention he never contested a shot so he could cheat towards the lane for a rebound. **** Westbrook.

Hes a great talent but he still shoots too many 3s and bad mid range shots.eliminate mid range, either go to the hoop & dish or spot up from 3

East teams keep getting #1 overall draft picks. I really don't what more they can do.

According to Woj OKC making huge push to get Wade

Spoken like a true idiot.

A really young team is getting old... quickly. haha.

If Adams keeps improving (keep in mind he's like 23 years old), this starting 5 for OKC will be incredible and fun to watch.

Whatever.

He plays like career mode on NBA2K. For 10 minutes he won't shoot while looking to get his assists. Then the next 10 minutes he'll do nothing but shoot. This means that OKC isn't always getting the best shot, but it serves Russell's statline. Obviously that will change this year, but him and Harden are not the distributors their stats say they are.

Actually, he's 24:

11 points and 8 boards on 60 percent shooting last year.

Ok... so you're saying he intentionally takes 10 minutes off to concentrate on passing. This is the worst sports take I've read... maybe EVER.

If this happens, who is the 6th man? Melo? Wade? Roberson?

Wade is to old to play significant minutes.

Roberson, of course. Picking up Wade would be fantastic. He doesnt need to be healthy all year, just during the playoff push

Maybe you missed the Justin Houston thread

Have you seen Enes Kanter play defense?

It’s a great trade. Whether they can make it work or not is yet to be seen, but a Presti turned 3 people that were unplayable in the playoffs and VO to George and Anthony.

George, Roberson and Adams are great defenders. The defense will be fine.


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