Tag: Jayson Tatum

Jayson Tatum Has Officially Made His First NBA All-Star Team

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Boston.com – Celtics forward Jayson Tatum will join teammate Kemba Walker in the 2020 NBA All-Star Game next month in Chicago.

“I am extremely blessed and grateful,” Tatum said in a statement released by the team. “Third year to make the All-Star team it is a surreal feeling. I’m just very excited and it is a dream come true.” Tatum will be one of seven reserves representing the Eastern Conference, joining Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat, Jimmy Butler also of the Heat, Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors, Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers, Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Domantas Sabonis of the Indiana Pacers.

I have been sky high on Jayson Tatum for a long time, which is not exactly a hot take for a No. 3 overall pick, but I do expect big things for the young man. If you were able to take a look at the most frequently used words on my twitter account, “Tatum” has to be up there.

For the last two and a half years I’ve been predicting that one day Tatum will be First Team All-NBA so being named to the All-Star team in year 3 is a great first step.

Some people are saying that Jaylen Brown should have made the team over Tatum as he has a better FG% and 3 point %. Although Tatum has a higher efficiency rating and is averaging more points, rebounds, and assists per game than Brown. So both were deserving, but I think Tatum should get the nod.

Tatum is the youngest All-Star the C’s have had since Antoine Walker and while he might not have a signature dance move (yet), Tatum has the potential to be the best homegrown player since Paul Pierce.

Now on to my favorite Tatum content on the internet.

The Gamblers Guide to Betting on the Celtics and the Atlantic Division This Year

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So we’re two weeks into the 2019-20 NBA season and the Celtics are a solid 4-1 with wins over the Knicks (twice), the Raptors, and an incredible comeback win over the Bucks. Their only loss came on opening night to the Sixers, made worse by the sight of Al Horford in a Philly jersey. The Celtics look like they’ll be a pretty good team made better possibly with addition by subtraction. Kemba Walker looks like a match made in heaven as a guy who can drop 30 a night, yet is more than happy to pass up a last shot to blossoming superstars like Jayson Tatum.

What made that Tatum game winner even better was that it was the exact same play that the Celtics ran in Orlando last year leading to Kyrie throwing a fit on the court for not getting the ball. Oh and Kyrie continues to be an absolute PILL in New Jersey, memorialized by Jackie MacMullan’s great piece last week. Enjoy the ride, Nets fans.

Now for the most important part: the gambling.  Its a little early to overreact one way or the other and the Celtics’ unlikely come from behind double digit win over the Bucks probably skews things a little bit. But pick your spots with this C’s team and you could make some decent cash as they continue to surprise people.

  • Philadelphia 76ers
    • ESPN Projected Finish: 57-27, 2nd in the East
    • Key Storylines: Addition of Al Horford, Finally Getting Over the Hump, Overcoming Lack of Depth
    • 5-0 Against the Spread

The Sixers took their biggest weakness last year, a lack of bench depth, and doubled down on it. They lost Jimmy Butler and JJ Reddick, but picked up big man Al Horford to pair with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. The Sixers have arguably the best starting 5 in the league, but the end of the bench is pretty barren yet again. With that being said they are 5-0 and the current No. 1 seed in the East so while they don’t have much margin for error, they are one of the most talented squads in the league.

  • Boston Celtics
    • ESPN Projected Finish: 48-34, 3rd in the East
    • Key Storylines: Loss of Kyrie Irving and Al Horford, Addition of Kemba Walker, Addition by Subtraction, Jayson Tatum the All-Star
    • 3-2 ATS

If the Celtics are going to go anywhere this year its going to largely be due to Jayson Tatum. Sure Kemba Walker is the latest max free agent in town and Jaylen Brown just got PAID, but this team needs Tatum to become an elite wing player this season if they want to do some damage. I’ve been predicting big things for Tatum despite a less than stellar second season. So far this season he looks excellent averaging 22 PPG while shooting 40% from the field, an impressive 48% from three and an abysmal 75% from the line. Along with Pascal Siakam, Tatum was voted by ESPN as the most likely player to make their first All-Star team in the East, both earning 68.2% of the votes. With Tatum and likely Kemba making the All-Star team, an improved Brown, a finally looking like a basketball player again Gordon Hayward, and All-World defense from Marcus Smart, this team could be in business. As we seem to say every year since KG and Perk left town, the Celtics will need someone to step up as a rim protector/rebounder/big man presence. Whether thats Enes Kanter, Daniel Theis or Robert Williams evolving into the role, the C’s will need someone to step up if they want to compete with the Sixers.

  • Brooklyn Nets
    • ESPN Projected Finish: 45-37, 5th in the East
    • Key Storylines: Addition of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, Kyrie Still a Pill
    • 2-4 ATS

This will be a much safer bet next season when Kevin Durant returns to the court, assuming he’s healthy, but in the meantime they will be a fun team to watch. Despite all his bizarre antics and issues with the media, Kyrie Irving remains one of the most electric one on one players in the league. While thats not necessarily the best path to winning a title, it definitely will steal the Nets some games they have no business winning.

  • Toronto Raptors
    • ESPN Projected Finish: 45-37, 6th in the East
    • Key Storylines: Defending Champs, Loss of Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, Growth of Pascal Siakam
    • 4-2 ATS

Man what a roller coaster ride 2019 has been for Drizzy Drake’s favorite squad. Sorry let me clarify, I meant Drake’s hometown team the Raptors not his other favorite squad the Golden State Warriors. Winning their first title behind a Herculean effort from Kawhi Leonard solidifying his spot as the best player in the NBA…to Kawhi walking away and now defending their title with Pascal Siakam and not much else. Siakam was voted by ESPN as the co-favorite to earn their first time All-Star bid in the East. Its hard to be mad as the defending champs, but they went from the favorites (especially with a rapidly imploding Warriors team) to a team that will be scrapping for a bottom half seed in the East this year.

  • New York Knicks
    • ESPN Projected Finish: 26-56, 13th in the East
    • Key Storylines: ….lottery picks and 2020 Free Agency?
    • 1-6 ATS

If you bet real, actual, American dollars on the New York Knicks then you are on your own. Sure Marcus Morris is great to watch when he’s on, but you are banking on the latest iteration of James Dolan’s madness here. Maybe if you get them in a parlay, but other than that I cannot advise gambling on this dumpster fire.

So to wrap it up, who has the best shot at winning the division? Lets not get ahead of ourselves and ask who’s going to take down LeBron and the Lakers or Kawhi and the Clippers in the Finals quite yet. As of late October, the Sixers had become -200 favorites to win the Atlantic, improving from -160 on opening night. The Celtics remained the second-favorite, but were well back at +420, only a shade ahead of the new-look Raptors at +490 with all odds via Sports Betting Dime. Expect those odds to be a little closer together when they’re updated next. Boston’s impressive 116-105 win over the 60-win Bucks made a statement that Brad Stevens’ team is going to be a tough out this year.

I LOVE the Celtics at +420 to win the division. Sure that means catching the Sixers and winning 50+ games, who ESPN has them finishing 9 games behind, but those are odds to bet on. The Sixers at -160 is almost even money and forget it if Embiid misses time with the annual injury or load management concerns. The Raptors feel pretty unlikely to leapfrog both Boston and Philly so I’m not sold on them, and I think this season is a holding pattern for Brooklyn and yet another rebuilding year for the Knicks. So slap down some cash on the Celtics and enjoy the ride.

Al Horford Says Celtics Weren’t “Going to Be Able to Coexist” With Kyrie Irving

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Boston Herald – As far as on the court, it’s certain Horford wasn’t interested in playing another hand from the same deck. I asked him if his decision would have been different if Irving had remained.

“I’m not sure that has anything to do with it for me,” Horford said. “I just think that if Kyrie would have stayed, I don’t know if it would have worked. There would have had to be some major changes as far as players, because it was just clear that the group that we had just wasn’t going to be able to coexist.”

And what about if he’d known Kemba Walker was coming. Horford paused.

“I don’t want to get caught up in the past,” he said, “but, yeah, that would have been totally different.”

Longtime Celtics writer Steve Bulpett caught up with old friend Al Horford and the big man had some interesting quotes on the dumpster fire that was the Celtics last year.

Horford reaffirmed what everyone has been saying for the past 6 months; this team just could not gel. Whether you want to blame that on Kyrie being a piss poor leader or on the young guys feeling themselves a bit too much is up to you, but the issue was real.

Kyrie is the guy that openly and bizarrely announced to the media that the Celtics needed a “15 year veteran” to help the team win. Maybe a Sam Cassell or Kendrick Perkins type at the end of the bench could have helped play the role of mentor/player-coach, but this group shouldn’t have needed that.

Lets just kill the Kemba/Horford talk right now too because of the way the NBA cap works in all its mysterious ways, it would have bene just about impossible for the Celtics to fit Kemba and Horford on the team. The only reason they were able to sign Kemba was *because* Kyrie and Horford left, not in spite of it. When one guy leaves it doesn’t automatically open up that salary space under the cap. Infuriating, yet true. The cap is not crap in this league.

The Celtic’s early playoff exit and subsequent gutting is all the more frustrating because of just how talented this team truly was last season.

“I just feel like we had so much talent, just a lot of talent, and we all wanted to do great things. There were just too many of us almost. I just feel like we had so much that it was very, very difficult to essentially keep everybody feeling good and focused on where we wanted to get to. And I do believe that that just kept getting in our way.”

You had 3 All-Stars in Kyrie/Horford/Hayward, a defensive POY candidate in Smart, a couple of future All-Stars in Tatum and Brown and a ton of excellent role players. Except Hayward was coming back from his injury and the ONLY way for him to get right was to play, which obviously took minutes away from Tatum and Brown. Sprinkle in the fact that Kyrie seemingly preferred to play with veterans because the young guys just didn’t “get it” or have the winning experience (despite Kyrie having a grand total of one title). Then you had guys like Terry Rozier and Marcus Morris in contract years playing hero ball trying to get paid. Plus you still had former first round picks like Robert Williams and Guerschon Yabusele trying to carve out roles. To top it all off was Brad Stevens who couldn’t get the team to buy in and Danny Ainge who refused to make any changes to the roster. Thats a recipe for a disaster in hindsight.

Appearing on Anna Horford’s podcast (yes, Al’s sister) Cedric Maxwell actually blames the Celtics more than Kyrie.

“I think the Celtics, for the most part, babied Kyrie too much,” Maxwell said. “When you baby a player for so many times and you’re kissing his ass the whole time, I think, for the most part he has no recourse.”

I mean, he’s not wrong, but still Kyrie is a grown ass man. This isn’t like blaming the parents for spoiling a 5 year old kid. Kyrie is a 27-year-old Duke graduate participant with eight seasons in the league.

Goddamnit what a waste of an opportunity. The Warriors were on their last legs, Giannis was a one man show, the Sixers weren’t deep enough, LeBron was broken down and in the West, and the C’s just could not get their shit together to make a run. Kawhi Leonard won the title almost singlehandedly in Toronto and I firmly believe a cohesive Celtics squad could have taken the Raptors. Unfortunately that team never figured it out and here we are.

The Celtics aren’t a favorite, a top 5 or even a top 10 pick to win it all in most polls this year because of the talent that left town. The C’s acted swiftly and made the best of a bad situation by bringing another elite talent in Kemba Walker to town, but now Boston goes back to being a plucky underdog rather than a pre-season juggernaut. Maybe thats for the best.

Team USA Better Assemble the Next Dream Team After This Disaster at the FIBA World Cup

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ESPN – The U.S. will leave the World Cup with its worst finish in a major international tournament, assured of finishing no better than seventh after falling to Serbia 94-89 in a consolation playoff game Thursday night.

The previous worst finish for a U.S. men’s team in 45 tournament appearances was sixth at the 2002 world championships. The Americans — the top-ranked team in the world — will be either seventh or eighth in China, depending on the outcome of their consolation finale Saturday.

Just a couple of days after getting bounced by France in the FIBA World Cup (Team USA’s first loss in 13 years, snapping a 58 game winning streak), they were officially embarrassed today, losing to Serbia in the consolation game. So no gold medal, no bronze medal, now not even a 5th place finish for the most disappointing Team USA in my lifetime.

I understand its just FIBA, I really shouldn’t care. Maybe I care more because half the team is made up of Celtics and it reflects poorly on my hometown team’s chances this season. Sure. Or maybe its just embarrassing for the US to send a team of kids and scrubs to represent the country before getting their teeth kicked in. This ain’t the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team.

This team was in trouble from the second that Turkey game ended last week and we all knew it.

I also get that its become more and more popular for NBA stars today to obsess over their bodies and to manage their workload. The NBA season is long and LeBron can’t lead Team USA every single year, but where was James Harden or Anthony Davis? Steph Curry? Kawhi Leonard? Russell Westbrook? Kyrie Irving? Paul George? Klay Thompson?

Even guys like Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, and Damian Lillard could’ve carried this team to gold. So its a tough spot to be in because the US is expected to win gold every single year, but we invented the damn game and have more than 90% of the best players in the world. I don’t think being the best is asking all that much.

USA Basketball better look at this as more than just a down year; its am embarrassment to the sport. I have enough embarrassment to go around from the US Mens Soccer Team, but at least they’re just not very good. The basketball team can and should dominate. So bring me the next Dream Team. Bring me an outrageous collection of talent and just run other teams out of the gym. Its time for the USA to re-establish its dominance on the hardwood.

Jayson Tatum Just Got Injured at the FIBA World Cup

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So Team USA narrowly avoided disaster and escaped with a first round W over Turkey, but it took some pretty fortuitous bounces, going to overtime, oh and the Celtics best young player getting hurt for that to happen.

Its too early to tell whether its a serious injury or not, but Tatum needing help to get off the court is not a good sign. Hopefully its just a tweaked ankle and he’ll be fine in a couple of days, but until then we panic.

How Team USA Could Save the Celtics

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Image result for celtics team usa

After what was an absolute tornado of a start to the NBA offseason, things have since settled down quite a bit. Most guys around The Association are now currently lounging out by their opulent backyard pool oases or living it up on some private Carribean island, getting as much R&R as possible before things start ramping up again in late September.

Image result for nba players vacation

Go ahead. Live it up for now, Bron Bron.

But for some – like the Celtics’ very own Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum – there is no rest for the hungry. This past Monday marked the start of training camp for Team USA out in Las Vegas, and the aforementioned quartet make up just four of the 15 players vying for the final 12 spots on the roster that is set to play in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, which begins on August 31 in China. (The U.S. is scheduled to play its first contest on September 1 against the Czech Republic.)

While many of the league’s stars have already chosen to refrain from playing in the tournament in order to prevent injury and not gas themselves out for the upcoming NBA season, the new core of the Celtics is choosing to flout that sentiment entirely. Gone are the days where megastars like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and James Harden lead the way for our nation’s squad; instead, the roster now seems to be structured more so with slightly less talented “stars” who will need to learn how to play together and execute true team basketball in order to be successful.

Image result for team usa fiba world cup

Oh how quickly things can change…

This type of environment is one which could help anyone become a more complete and well-rounded player. But there are perhaps very few others in the league who need a crash course on just how to play in this type of atmosphere more than those who were on the Boston Celtics last season.

Look, I don’t think we need to rehash the many examples of why the 2018-19 Boston Celtics were a piss-poor excuse for a professional sports team. I think it’s in the book. However, I will say that very few times in my Boston sports fandom have I disliked one of my own as much as I did that “team,” and fortunately the franchise did take some steps in the right direction to help right the ship this offseason – most notably by jettisoning selfish brats like Kyrie Irving and Terry Rozier and then, in turn, replacing them both with an absolute class act like Kemba Walker. Above all, I also like how Danny Ainge decided not to give up, or give away, the still incredibly promising young assets on the roster, including Smart, Brown, and Tatum.

Image result for brown smart tatum

See. There were still some smiling moments on the team last year.

While all four still need to officially make the roster, it seems pretty much like a foregone conclusion. Even if that’s not the case, they all seem inflated by the experience so far, and each of them should at least get something positive out of their time in the desert. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Kemba had this to say about his current Team USA mates and the opportunity being presented to them this year (h/t ESPN.com):

“This is like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a lot of us. I think a lot of us are happy those guys pulled out because this is our chance. It’s our chance to get on the big stage and showcase our talent. A chance for us to do something new. It’ll be a new-look team. Everybody is kind of doubting us, but I think we’re hungry.”

Of course, he is talking about Team USA as a whole, not specifically he and his Celtics brethren. But still, that attitude is one that will hopefully translate from the court in the Far East all the way across the world to the locker room and inner depths of the TD Garden next season.

Seriously, though, look at how happy the four of them look together:

Not one of those smiles look forced (although Jaylen’s is admittedly a bit suspect). That’s some genuine, Grade-A, non-pasteurized cheesing going on right there. What a crew!

Mattes, come on, dude! It’s one freakin’ picture. It literally means nothing. Let’s see what actually happens when real, meaningful NBA action starts.

OK. Fine. Valid point. But after a season in which we were bombarded with negativity and depressing results, I’m choosing to be hopeful from what I’ve seen so far. And above all, Kemba seems like he could truly be this team’s saving grace – a real deus ex machina for a franchise which looked headed for a major setback at the beginning of the summer – because of the way he carries himself and his willingness to do anything to win. Here’s what Smart said about his new teammate after the four went out to dinner earlier in the week:

You see, my wishful thinking is not just based on pure speculation, folks.

So, again, while we have quite a ways to go before the regular season, and while summer basketball has diddly squat to do with what will happen in the months ahead, I’m going to try and continue looking on the bright side. Either way, it’ll be fun to see the future of the franchise showcase themselves on the world stage and prove to everyone that this team still has the talent to be a force in 2019-20. For the first time in months, I have hope for the future of my basketball team. I’ll take that as nothing but a win.

(THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: Welp. Now Smart is now apparently going to be out “indefinitely” with left calf tightness, and nobody is sure when he’ll get back out on the court. But the point remains the same. The camaraderie already built up over the past week or so has been vital, and hopefully Smart heals up in short order.)

After Signing Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter, Are the Celtics Done Making Moves?

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Boston Herald – A few days before the Celtics hit Las Vegas, it’s fair to say Vegas isn’t big on the Celtics…Having placed the Celtics last fall at a low of 8-1 to win the 2019 championship, the wise people with the sharpened pencils and crystal balls at Westgate SuperBook now put them at 25-1 to be the last team standing next June.

And even that seems optimistic to some. One athletic accountant of our acquaintance believes the C’s are only rated that highly because of what could happen between now and then and because they’ll still draw some interest at that price.

The Celtic roster you see today will not be all that you see in the middle of October. The club is not done making moves, and according to teams around the league that we spoke to Monday, the C’s are very active in trying to see what free agents may still shake loose and what kinds of sign-and-trade deals could free up a better chunk of money to attract a large person.

Granted this article is a bit vague and devoid of many specific details, the fact that its coming from Steve Bulpett is why is sticks out to me. Bulpett is one of the most connected and longest tenured NBA writers in the country so when he says something like this I take note.

I have no idea what this could really even mean because the Celtics are already strapped for cash after the Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter signings. You would need to trade Gordon Hayward and his max salary (which as I said on The 300s Podcast last week I don’t think the C’s will ever do) or some combination of Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and another asset of  your choosing (Yabusele, Timelord etc.) to get a big time deal done. A sign and trade with DeMarcus Cousins was the big one Mattes and I kept going back to as a swing for the fences possibility, but I have zero idea how to finagle the numbers to make that work.

After picking three times in the first round this year, the Celtics are just about out of the beaucoup assets they sat on for the last half a decade. The Memphis Grizzlies pick (top 6 protected in 2020 or unprotected in 2021) and a TBD Charlotte Hornets pick added in the Terry Rozier sign and trade are the only assets the Celtics now own aside from their own picks. No longer can Danny Ainge dangle a treasure chest of future lottery picks in front of rival GMs. Technically the Rozier sign and trade is intentionally unfinished as the C’s debated including a third team (which would have allowed for a Horford return before he signed with Philly) in the transaction.

That opportunity is still there if the C’s want to try and squeeze a little more juice out of Rozier, which Charlotte will be more than willing to do because without the S&T they can’t afford Scary Terry. The C’s own Bird Rights on Rozier so they can pay him the big money he wants and then trade him to Charlotte in the Kemba S&T.

Man, the NBA salary cap rules are a trip huh?

At the very least, maybe Danny is trying to do Terry a solid for not napalming the team in the media like Kyrie did for months.

TLDR; the Celtics will have to either get creative as all hell or yet again tear down their roster and rebuild on the fly by trading multiple starters if there is a big move still to be made .

#The300sPodcast – Next Up for the Celtics: Kemba Walker

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Red and Mattes jump into The 300s Podcast studio to discuss all the swirling Celtics rumors that are out there. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the NBA Offseason is the best show on TV.

– Kemba Walker signing a max deal with the Celtics?

– Kyrie Irving is a PILL

– Al Horford is likely gone

– Are the Celtics’ young guys getting off too easy for their role in the drama around the team last season?

– Recapping the Celtics draft night and what it means for the 2019-20 roster

– NBA Free Agency and potential fits for the C’s

Celtics Have 3 Picks in the NBA Draft Tonight. BRING ME BOL BOL!

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We are entering a youth movement. The sooner you accept that the sooner you can go back to watching Celtics games without smashing the TV. Now tonight is the NBA Draft and the Celtics have three first round picks, 14, 20, and 22. AKA trash picks. Picking that late in the NBA Draft gets you bench players and home run swings on high ceiling guys with massive red flags. Enter Bol Bol. This has been the only guy I’ve wanted the Celtics to draft all year long (assuming they didn’t backdoor their way into another top 5 pick, which they didn’t). Son of the NBA shot blocking legend Manute Bol, Bol Bol is one of the few college basketball players that I’ve somewhat followed this season because the dude just fascinates me. He is 7’2″, runs like a deer, oh and did I mention he DRAINS threes?

Now it seems like the Celtics drafting Bol Bol is a legitimate possibility tonight. Granted he is 7’2″ coming off a foot surgery, but hey scared money don’t make no money.

It looks like the masses are coming around to my line of thinking too as the Sporting News has the C’s taking Bol at No. 22, the NY Post has the C’s taking Bol at No. 22, and CBS Sports has the Celtics drafting Bol at No. 20 tonight. ESPN currently has Bol ranked at No. 15 in their Top 100.

Either way, just about everyone has the big man sliding to the 14-25 range in the first round, so if they want him the Celtics will likely have ample opportunity to grab him.

The Ringer had a great piece on just how dangerous the big man could be in the league:

“At 19, he already possesses an offensive arsenal that should make him a gamebreaker in the modern NBA…his shot is the skill which makes him an NBA player. He hit on 52 percent of his 25 attempts at Oregon and 48.9 percent on 45 attempts on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League circuit…I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player of his height as fast or dexterous.And that’s scary. Momentum is mass times velocity, and Bol generates an awful lot of momentum on his skinny legs.”

He would have been a Top 5 pick if not for the injury or if he were able to go straight from high school to the draft, which cannot return to NBA rules soon enough. However the injury derailed his one and only college season and hurt his draft stock. Bol played in just 9 games at Oregon averaging 21.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.7 blocks, 56.1 field goal %, and an eye popping 52.0% on 3 pointers.

While a foot injury to a 7 footer scares the shit out of me, this is EXACTLY why Danny Ainge has all these picks.  In the absence of an Anthony Davis mega deal, you have three first rounders so you can take a flyer on a guy like Bol. While he could flame out and never make an impact in the league, he could also drink some more milk, solidify his bones and become one of the best players in the NBA. The last time Danny passed on an unproven, high ceiling player was in 2013 when he passed on Giannis Antetokounmpo in favor of Kelly Fucking Olynyk. While Olynyk has become a decent role player in the NBA, Giannis is arguably the best player in the league right now. This isn’t the NFL where you can build quality depth through the draft with mid round picks. No, the 14th pick in the NBA draft gets you bench players and home run swings. There are very few elite NBA players that come this late in the draft without some major red flags around them.

Barring a massive draft night trade (which allegedly is a possibility), the Celtics are staring a youth movement right in the face. Bring me Bol Bol and lets swing for the fences, Danny.

The Celtics Now Belong to Jayson Tatum

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Danny Ainge refused to include Jayson Tatum in any Anthony Davis deal (as he should have). Kyrie Irving is as good as gone. Al Horford just opted out of his last year. Look around guys.

The Celtics now belong to Jayson Tatum.

If you had asked me two years ago (23 months ago but whos counting) I would have traded “every player on the Celtics roster” for Anthony Davis. But so much has changed since then. AD shot his way out of New Orleans, he demanded a trade to the Knicks or the Lakers, his agent Rich Paul tried to strong arm a deal to LA mid-season and then made it wildly clear that AD would not re-sign with Boston. Now I get it that it’s Danny Ainge’s job to call that bluff and pull the trigger on a trade because A. Davis may end up loving Boston like Kevin Garnett did and B. Davis suddenly would be sacrificing $50 Million dollars to leave Boston for LA. But, by landing in LA, Davis and Paul both get exactly what they wanted. Maybe it was a bluff, maybe it wasn’t. All I know is I’m not trading Tatum and the rest of the team for a guy who may or may not play in Boston for less than 12 months. I’m just not doing it. Tatum has shown way too much promise and you’d have to throw in heart and soul guys like Marcus Smart *just* to make the money work. Pass.

As for the Kyrie situation, I have been going back and forth on my thoughts because I hate reacting to news that hasn’t happened. I don’t want to bury a guy for a decision he hasn’t made yet. BUT, it sure seems like Kyrie is already out the door. There are reports that the Celtics are resigned to losing him in free agency. In fact Adam Himmelsbach wrote in the Globe that Kyrie has essentially “ghosted” the Celtics leading up to free agency, which would be the least surprising shit I’ve heard about him if true. Kyrie has shown that, despite all his grandiose speeches and delusions of grandeur as this elder statesman, he is just immature. A leader, or even a grown ass adult for that matter, handles last season very differently. I’m 30 and even I know that publicly criticizing younger, more impressionable co-workers is a piss poor way to inspire confidence and improve performance. Read a management book on one of your 6 hour flights for christ’s sake. Even Cleveland.com is criticizing Kyrie for making the same mistakes as the guy he so desperately wanted to get away from on the Cavs.

That doesn’t mean I think things are beyond repair though; I honestly believe Kyrie could come back, show a little embarrassment at the way everything has been handled the past 12 months, put up a good month of basketball and all would be forgiven. But, I just don’t think thats the way he’s wired.

And this is why the Boston Celtics do not kowtow to superstars. The C’s did everything they possibly could have to appease their young superstar in Kyrie Irving and he still is less than two weeks away from likely leaving them at the altar. You may need to do that in order to win an NBA title, but I’d rather live and die with guys like Marcus Smart and Isaiah Thomas than beg a superstar to please come play for our historic franchise. Why?

Woj also tweeted earlier today that Horford has reportedly opted out of his contract.

To be completely honest, I fully expected this from big Al. He is 33 years old with one year left on his deal in a suddenly barren free agent market. This is his last chance to get a long term deal. So he could opt in and cash the $30M check, or he could opt out and potentially negotiate a 3-year $60M deal to stay with the C’s and secure the bag for another $30M. Nobody is going to pay Horford $30M per on his next deal so it makes perfect sense for him to opt out. Orrr he could see the writing on the wall in Boston and try to take a lesser deal to jump ship to a more clear cut contender. Except, theres not so many clear cut contenders out there now with Golden State’s rash of injuries, Kawhi’s uncertainty in Toronto, LA’s revival with AD, Philly’s 3 starters heading towards free agency [plus Ben Simmons needing a max extension next summer], Milwaukee lurking, not to mention the apparent turmoil in Houston. So theres a whole lot of second tier teams that think they have a legit shot at a title next year.

I know Mattes wrote about this potential deal before, but with Al Horford opting out it makes a trade for Mike Conley seem unlikely at this point. Not that a soon to be 32-year-old point guard would necessarily become the face of the Celtics, but its another legit player seemingly off the board. In fact, just check out Mattes’ entire breakdown of what the Celtics can do this offseason with AD off the board.

So to Tatum, Brown and the other young guys: you all privately and publicly battled with Kyrie last year for mostly petty reasons. Kyrie is definitely to blame for that, but Tatum, Brown and co. aren’t without fault. Either way the team suffered as a result. Tatum, Brown and the young guys reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals without Kyrie (and Hayward) so I get it. Well now Kyrie is all but gone so here you go. It’s your team now Jayson. Jaylen can be your 1A, but this is your team.

Tatum has the best pedigree, the highest ceiling, has shown the most elite offensive flashes, and has the length to play D, can be a spot up shooter or get to the rim. I am excited to see what a 3rd year Jayson Tatum looks like with the ball in his hands a lot more. I think Tatum will be an All-NBA player before long….but he better be. Danny just bet the next decade of the Celtics’ fortunes on Tatum being that good. Because if he’s not, we have become the Atlanta Hawks.