Tag: 76ers

Vegas Underdog Celtics Go for the Sweep Tonight Against Vegas Favorite Sixers

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The Celtics have been underdogs in each of the first 3 games against Philly this series and are now up 3-0 and on the brink of a sweep. Massholes everywhere are putting Vegas bookies in the hurt locker this past week. The Celtics were +9 the other night for christ’s sake and it took a buzzer beater (and confetti!) just for the Sixers to force OT and lose again.

The Celtics, per usual, are fun as all hell to watch because they’re tough, gritty, smart with the ball, and are playing above their talent level. Once Hayward got hurt 5 minutes into the season, most reasonable hopes of a Larry O’Brien trophy went out the window. Then once Kyrie Irving got shut down for the season, I was content to just win a round. Not the C’s though. These guys are giving the Sixers fits, who are basically the bully on the block that gets punched in the nose and doesn’t know what to do.

Young guys like Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are setting records and look years beyond their age. Seriously, these guys have been incredible. I’m done with the Kawhi Leonard trade rumors. I’m not moving these guys for anyone outside of Anthony Davis, let alone both of them for a player who’s battled injuries and has been a general sourpuss for the last 2 years.

Terry Rozier has become a national story as Scary Terry continues to put up huge numbers both on, and off the court (and murdered Eric Bledsoe as a result).

Al Horford has probablyyy heard the Average Al nickname and its probablyyy pissed him off as he’s looked like the max player we all hoped for night in and night out. Just look at the numbers. In the playoffs this year, Horford is AVERAGING 17.9 points (a career high)  and 8.6 rebounds per game.

Not to jinx it, but assuming the C’s don’t completely implode, we’re set up for another classic Eastern Conference Finals rematch with LeBron James. The Celtics bodied LeBron for the first half of his career and legitimately chased him out of Cleveland because he couldn’t get past Boston in the playoffs. The second and third acts of his career have been a different story though as LeBron has been ridiculously great for an unprecedented number of years and taken the Celtics behind the shed a few times along the way. At 33 you’d think LeBron would be slowing down, but nope the guy has gone Super Saiyan and is just putting on an absolute clinic carrying the Cavs to the ECF hitting iconic game winners in the process (soft defense by Toronto is besides the point).

So whether the Celtics are ready to get past LeBron remains to be seen, but goddamn will it be fun to watch. A young, long, athletic, and best of all cocky squad of guys in their early 20s gunning to knock off the best player of my generation will be legitimate theater.

Celtics Go Up 2-0 On the Sixers as Likely ROY Ben Simmons Drops ONE Point

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Likely Rookie (not really a rookie) of the Year Ben Simmons was on fire last night with ONE point the whole goddamn game. I feel like I could get at least 2 points in a game on pure luck alone. You had Philly’s gigantic freak of nature center Joel Embiid hitting freaking fallaway three pointers, yet Ben Simmons can’t get one basket??

The onslaught of memes though are going to take some monster playoff games for Simmons to ever really scrub.

76ers Now Using Virtual Reality to Try and Fix Markelle Fultz

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Bleacher Report – The Philadelphia 76ers have reportedly begun using virtual reality technology with guard Markelle Fultz as part of his rehabilitation, hoping he can rebuild confidence in his ailing jumper. Kyle Neubeck of the Philly Voice profiled Fultz’s search for his lost jumper and included the tidbit of information Monday. The Sixers are reportedly using the technology to help Fultz “visualize the mechanics he’ll use in a game, to remember how easy it once was for him to rise up with the ball and shoot from anywhere on the court and to be able to do so without the glare of the cameras or other people around him.”

Markelle Fultz has legitimately become one of the strangest stories in recent NBA history. The No. 1 overall pick that was dynamite in his lone year playing college ball, plays 4 horrendous games in the NBA, the team cites a shoulder injury, and then months later it comes out that he has some kind of hitch in his shot.

This is a guy who shot over 40% from 3-point land in college. All of a sudden he can’t hit a jump shot? What? I suppose it could just be a case of the yips, but that doesn’t explain why he can’t play at all. Rajon Rondo couldn’t shoot for shit, but he was (is) still a successful point guard in the NBA. Now the 76ers are busting out the Virtual Reality goggles to try and fix Fultz? This story just gets weirder and weirder.

You wanna know how to fix his jump shot? Have him recite the profiles of all the girls in Playboy. Boom. Problem solved.

Danny Ainge Continues to Look Aces as Jayson Tatum Shines and Markelle Fultz is Now Shooting Lefty?

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Yahoo – It’s been a week since the Philadelphia 76ers announced they were shutting down rookie point guard Markelle Fultz indefinitely due to the right shoulder soreness and “scapular muscle imbalance” that had rendered the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft virtually unable (or perhaps unwilling) to shoot jumpers or free throws. Exactly what caused the issue and why Fultz and the Sixers (mis)handled it the way they did very much remain open questions, but while the situation sure doesn’t seem any more normal than it did a week ago, it had, at least, quieted down some. And then came Monday, when reporters at the Sixers’ practice laid eyes on Fultz back on the floor to get some work in … and doing it with a southpaw stance.

So Jayson Tatum scored 21 points against the Haws last night and is now averaging 14 pts and 6 rebounds a game and hit another ballsy 3 pointer last night.

Each night he looks more and more like a key cog for the Celtics…at 19 years old. All while No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz, who Danny Ainge passed on, continues to have issues that are seemingly being exacerbated by the 76ers. Remember when everyone freaked out that Danny traded the No. 1 overall pick? Then freaked out again when Danny said he would’ve picked Tatum at No. 1 either way?

Danny must just be laughing his balls off at the recent turn of events. First it was Fultz having a wonky free throw shot out of nowhere. How did no scouts bring this up during the last 12 months of the Fultz hype train? Well then his agent said it was because of a shoulder issue that he developed while altering his shot in the Summer League. Umm why the fuck is the No. 1 overall pick messing with his game before even stepping on an NBA court? Well the injury had gotten so bad that Fultz couldn’t get his arms over his head. Fultz’s agent blamed the team and the team fired back and the two sides couldn’t seem to agree on what treatment Fultz was actually getting. Putting fluid in? Taking fluid out? All of this resulted in a free throw shot that Hey, Arnold would belly laugh at.

Not to mention the guy who was jacking up five 3-pointers a game in college had taken ZERO 3-pointers in the NBA. So the team recently shut down Fultz to give him some time to rest his seemingly out of nowhere bum shoulder and get his head on straight.

Now news comes out that Fultz is taking shots in practice left handed. Huh? Of course players mess around with weird shots and practice different things because you never know, but reporters at the Sixers practice said Fultz was shooting almost exclusively with his off-hand. Ruh roh.

Sure maybe he’s just shooting lefty so he can practice with the team while his right shoulder heals. Or maybe its another situation of the Sixers bungling an injury diagnosis. Seriously this team has been stacking Top 5 picks for years and they are all littered with injuries. They had the No. 1 overall pick this year (Fultz) and last year (Ben Simmons), and the No. 3 overall pick both in 2015 (Jahlil Okafor) and 2014 (Joel Embiid). Embiid has clocked 39 career games, Ben Simmons has 9 under his belt, and now Fultz is missing time after just 4 games played. All while Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum continue to light it up for the C’s, not to mention that other lottery pick they used to snag Kyrie Irving. Maybe Danny does know what he’s doing after all. #TrustTheProcess indeed.

Joel Embiid is the George Costanza of the NBA

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Joel Embiid is the absolute living, breathing reincarnation of George Costanza. Unprecedented levels of mailing it in and the king of snaking it til you make it.

Seriously, you almost have to respect it. 31 games played out of a total of 246 games he’s been in the NBA for. I would kill to show up for 12 PERCENT of my job and still get paid an exorbitant amount.

In an Effort to End Tanking, NBA Changing Draft Lottery in 2019, Which is Perfect Timing to Not Affect the Celtics!

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ESPN – The NBA’s board of governors voted to pass legislation on draft lottery reform and guidelines for the resting of healthy players in the regular season, league sources told ESPN…The lottery reform changes will be instituted for the 2019 NBA draft..The NBA needed a three-fourths majority to pass draft lottery reform, which is designed to discourage teams from tanking to pursue the best possible odds to select highest in the draft order.

This is great news for Celtics fans in the sense that we won’t be getting fisted out of the last of our coveted (hopefully) lottery picks. Not so much for small market teams that rely on tanking. Christ, Sam Hinkie wrote the book on tanking. Dude got canned by the Sixers, but they wouldn’t be where they are today without him. Trust the Process indeed.

Thankfully the Celtics have already pocketed all those Nets picks:

2018: No. ? – Traded to CLE as part of Kyrie Irving deal
2017: No. 3 – Jayson Tatum (Right to swap with Nets and BOS traded down from No. 1)
2016: No. 3 – Jaylen Brown
2014: No. 17 – James Young

Now the C’s will bank on the 2018 Lakers pick being a Top-2 pick next summer. Looking back, the Celtics “only” got two top-five picks from the Brooklyn trade. Imagine if they’d gotten none because of changes to the Draft Lottery?

Starting in 2019, when the Celtics no longer have top, unprotected, golden lottery picks, the rules change. Perfect. If this shit happened four years ago those Nets picks are DRASTICALLY less valuable and maybe Billy King still has a job.

Long story short, having the worst record in the league is no longer a one way ticket to a top pick. Things are a lot murkier now.

“The three teams with the worst records will share a 14 percent chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick, a change from the descending percentages of 25, 19.9, and 15.6 in the current system.”

So while it was always a nail biter for the team with the worst record because you still only had a 1/4 chance of getting the No. 1 pick; now thats down to a 14 percent chance for 3 teams. In theory that should deter a team from saying fuck it and just tanking down the stretch if the bottom three teams all have the same chance of getting the No. 1 pick. Teams will still tank to get down to the bottom 3, but I guess its a step in the right direction if the NBA truly wants to eradicate tanking (good luck).

“Four teams — increased from three — will become part of the lottery draw, which means the No. 1 lottery seed could drop no further than fifth, No. 2 could drop no further than sixth, No. 3 no further than seventh, and No. 4 no further than eighth.”

Imagine having the worst record and somehow dropping to the No. 5 overall pick? If I’m a fan of that team I’m drinking a bottle of whiskey on Draft Lottery night.

Gotta love the NBA though, they’re always pivoting, always changing shit. Remember back in 2006 when they tried to introduce a new basketball and reversed course like 2 weeks later?

Well virtually every player in the NBA bitched about the new ball. Why change the only piece of equipment that actually matters? Who the hell knows. But hey they tried it. It bombed. And rather than just forcing it down everyones throats because it was the league’s decision they said yup you’re right, fixed it, and moved on. Thats what keeps leagues relevant, adapting to the times, trying new things, and if it doesn’t working cutting your losses and moving along. Not burying your head in the sand (NFL vs CTE) or staunchly opposing evolution (MLB vs everything).

So good luck to all the Lottery teams in 2019, I’m just glad the Celtics will have no part of it because I can’t handle that kind of stress in my life.

Why the Celtics Won the Trade of Isaiah Thomas for Kyrie Irving

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Wow. Last night the Celtics traded Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the 2018 Nets pick for Kyrie Irving. As I said at 7:30 last night, I go off the grid to workout for ONE hour and I come back to find Trader Danny has fundamentally changed the structure of the Celtics with another blockbuster trade. Seriously, sleep with one eye open around this guy.

First things first, it sucks to see Isaiah Thomas go as he was absolutely integral in putting the Celtics back on the map the past couple of years and vice versa. Celtics went from a middling team to the No. 1 seed in the East. Isaiah went from a third string point guard in Phoenix to Boston finishing in the Top 5 for MVP. He had 40 and 50 point games while getting his teeth knocked out and even putting on dazzling performances after suffering tragic family losses. IT seemed like a genuinely good dude with a massive chip on his shoulder who just wanted to prove the world wrong. And he’s done that. IT, the last pick in the 2011 NBA Draft just got traded for Kyrie, the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

While IT has been hands down my favorite Celtics player since KG and it sucks to see him go, Kyrie is so, so, so good that its hard to not like this deal. The Celtics upgraded at PG getting one of the best scorers in the entire NBA. Kyrie isn’t exactly a defensive savant either but he’s 6 inches taller than IT, which alone will allow him to more effectively cover the positon defensively. Kyrie is also going to create even more space for the Celtics on offense, especially in the playoffs, as other teams won’t be able to smother and trap Kyrie as they were prone to do with IT. Teams will have to account for his one-on-on play and continuously have help defenders and double teams waiting for Kyrie, which will open up even more opportunities for guys like Al Horford and Gordon Hayward.

The Detractors:

  • “Kyrie is not that much of an upgrade over Isaiah.”
    • He’s 3 years younger, healthier, bigger and has one more year left on his contract than Isaiah. At just 25 years old Kyrie can grow with the Celtics core of Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum and be right in his prime as the other two are coming into theirs. As much as I love Isaiah, the core probably would not have been good enough quick enough as he and Horford would be in their 30s by the time Brown and Tatum enter their prime.
  • “The Celtics have just wrecked their team chemistry.”
    • This I admit could be an issue as the Celtics now only return 4 players from the 2016 team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals and only 1 out of 5 starters. That is CRAZY. However, one of the reason’s I’m not higher on the NBA in general is because, more than any other sport, talent wins above all else. It doesn’t matter how great your chemistry is if you don’t have 2 or 3 of the best players in the league. The NBA is built around a core of hypertalented superstars and if you don’t have at least a couple of them you’re porked.
  • “I hate to trade Jae Crowder and Ante Zizic.”
    • Always loved Crowder and he was a key guy off the bench. Again this is why I’m not a GM, but if we’re going to look at this emotionlessly, thats what Crowder was; a guy off the bench. You do not turn down trades for 25-year old 4x All-Stars over bench players. And for anyone crying about trading Ante Zizic I ask you this; Have you ever even seen Zizic play? Granted I’m not a scout, but this is a guy who was so good that he couldn’t get on an NBA roster and got stashed overseas his rookie year. I’m not sweating over trading a guy with exactly 0 minutes played in the NBA. Plus, we still have the Dancing Bear.
  • “Who is going to rebound for us?”
    • WHO HAS REBOUNDED FOR US THE LAST FOUR YEARS?! The Celtics as an organization have effectively punted on rebounding. Last year the Celtics were 22nd in Offensive Rebounds per game and 22nd in Defensive Rebounds per game. Not exactly world beaters to begin with.
  • “I hate trading the 2018 Nets pick.”
    • It sucks to trade one of our treasured assets, but thats exactly why Danny got them. He’s been trying to trade these things for years, he just has never found a deal he wanted to pull the trigger on. Plus how many of these things are you going to keep? The Celtics have already drafted No. 3 overall the past 2 years and still have a potential Top 5 pick next year (more on that below.)

How about Danny Ainge though? This guy has effectively turned a 36-year old Paul Pierce and a 37-year old Kevin Garnett directly or indirectly into: Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Jason Tatum, Al Horford, Gordon Hayward and the 2018 Lakers potential No. 2-5 pick.

And if Kyrie re-signs with the Celtics then Danny looks like an even bigger genius for the Jayson Tatum move, trading down from the No. 1 overall pick to No. 3 while also scooping up the 2018 Lakers pick from Philly. This is HUGE looking back because without that Lakers pick in his back pocket I highly doubt Danny makes the Kyrie trade, having to surrender the Nets pick. He basically, as many said at the time, got the guy he wanted in Tatum while also picking up an additional draft pick. And while many people laughed at Danny for trading the No. 1 overall pick for another one of his coveted draft picks, the fact of the matter is he got a great player while also adding a back up lottery pick, which allowed him to more aggressively shop the Nets 2018 pick.

For those of you that are mourning the end of the “Pierce/KG Nets Trade” well fear not, because its not over, not really. The Celtics got that 2018 Lakers pick by trading the No. 1 overall pick, which was the Nets pick. So we still have one more year to live off of the Nets misery if we’re getting technical. One more asset/player to build off of, while the Nets continue to send Billy King hate mail.

PS – This Isaiah trade just reinforces my longstanding personal policy of never buying a player’s jersey unless they’ve recently signed a contract extension. I’ll never forget buying a Sergei Samsonov jersey in 2006, only to see the Bruins trade him A WEEK LATER. Which is why the next Bruins jersey I bought was a Patrice Bergeron jersey, fresh off his 8-year contract extension.