I can get behind the Smart move. They say he's the glue to their locker room and tempo setter defensively. He's entering his prime and you can move that contract if needed. Williams.. ... really gambling on his ceiling. Seems like a lot of cash for 8/7 and someone who isn't even playing 20 minutes a night. You can argue that those are great stats in that time and if you plug the per 36 numbers, he's a star. Ok, can he actually make that translate with more PT? I've been extremely underwhelmed with his lack of offensive game and limited improvement thus far on that end. They were 7th last year and I'm not sure they're any better this year. Their only additions were Al, Kanter, and DS. The East got a lot more competitive and they're going to be hovering around the play-in tourney in the standings. Lot of money to invest in your own roster without improving by bringing better players in.
Well, only they know. It's a similar situation as THT is to us. Simply looking at his stats does not give the big picture. Only the guys who see the improvement, see him practice and know his ark of success can really judge him accurately.
This guy can take it in the ear too along with Beverly. Just for principle. Screw his opinion rights. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/james-harden-sends-important-message-212452754.html
I hate 3 of the 4 in this picture, 'Do being the exception. I have a lot of respect for KG because he was an absolute monster on the court, wanted to kill you, and was a little crazy. PP is a slew of things that I'm not going to put the swear filter through... it might overheat. Ray was a ring chaser who got unfriended by the C Bags. The pettiness still from KG towards him is great...I love it.
KD was tough only when it came to Euro PG's. Liked him on Minny, hate him ever since. He's on Beverly level of being punchable. Also... dude never had a leg day
Who was the Euro forward KG cheap shotted and got off the floor ready to take his head off and Garnett kept backpedaling? Was it Sasha Pavlovic? Some name like that but I remember at the time of the incident reading he knew how to handle himself.
All that said, KG was still a top 5 PF all time. I still wish our almost trade for him had gone through. Kobe + KG would have overwhelmed the league.
@TIME speaking of that near trade, read this today about that one and a few others involving us (and a few not involving us) There are fewer what ifs for me than what if Kobe gotten more help. I think KG would've resulted in more winning than getting CP3. But CP3 would've extended Kobe's career, we would've dodged the Nash s***-uation, maybe we could've gotten better coaches, not wasted Kobe's final years and who knows.... maybe if he's not being ran into the ground, maybe the Achilles holds up. The other CP trade, the one for both Klay and Steph.... Jesus, GS would've regretted that
Williams made some crazy stats in a few games last year, had him on the fantasy team It's like it was said here, it's a THT type of move. So yeah, it's a gamble. His playing time also makes me wonder if he can be a solid center moving forward, it's a position where a lot of guys just disappear after a few years Smart was a needed move, he's a good trade asset if they put it together with Brown Word is they are laying low to build foundations for a big trade. They didn't spent money stupidly and avoided a Fournier bad contract. Their current success is lying on Tatum and Brown who are starting to prove is not nearly enough. They will need a big change to come close to Brooklyin, Milwaukee and Heat
That's the rub. Tatum is putting up 26 and Brown 25. Tatum can probably get to 30 a night. But I don't see them accounting for much more of the offense. Maybe they'll be more efficient in their scoring. But they're relying on the rest of their unimpressive roster to scrounge up 60 points of offense a night if they're going to compete against the top teams in the East.
But they just signed the legend in his own mind .... who wanted them instead of being only about the money.
I honestly didn't know who Robert Williams was. I guess that's me not following much NBA these days, but it's always fascinating to see fringe guys get paid so well. Same with THT. They must see something they have to have long term and believe in him. More than we believed in Caruso. Hold me.
as others have said, williams is their THT. advanced stats actually like williams more, but i'm skeptical based on my eyeballs (i wonder if he gets exposed a bit as a starter). and in a vacuum, smart may be worth the cash to them, but i, like you, was just thinking that they locked themselves into a 5th place roster for the next two-three years. and i'm really not certain they'll be able to just package up all the non-tatum players for a star (as they seem to be thinking?). we did that, but the star asked to be traded here. do they think beal will ask to be traded there (he might) and that washington would take another package like the westbrook package (they can't and won't)? will anyone else actually try to get to boston? whatevs, not my problem. i just expected them to try to stay a bit more flexible in terms of FA, but maybe they feel like they've gotten burned there.
Brown is way better than Ingram. There's Beal, Lillard, McCollum, Towns, even Simmons... The league is full of disgruntled superstars and we are going to see a lot of trades. You have LA and Nets building super teams. Bucks or Miami looking strong too. Then you have around 10 strong teams we are not here or there. I can see a number of teams taking the chance to make a blockbuster trade to try to get to the upper level while everything is around us and the Nets. A lot of guys that can be traded this year and Brown is an ideal center piece to make that happen. You package with Smart, one of the young guys and pick and it's a wrap. I think Steven's does what Ainge wasn't capable off
KG is a hipocrit as well. He talked trash about players wives and went after what's his name calling him a cancer patient which I'm not gonna lie I laughed. He said he never got personal but many players around the league dispute that heavily. Guys like MJ, Gary Payton, Michael Cooper, Kobe etc etc all talked a ton of trash but it was more to get themselves motivated and you off your game then it ever was personal. I love that kind of fire. KG is very similar to Connor McGregor in that regard, a dirtbag. Ask his ex wives..
you sure? right. do those teams want marcus smart and robert williams for 30 million combined over three years or just...not, though? ainge was capable in some cases, he just chose not to. and then AD shunned them. like i imagine lillard will. beal's their best shot, but if washington chooses to move him, they'll want more than brown/smart/late 1sts. AD's price was ingram/ball/#4 overall pick/buncha 1sts and stuff PG's price was SGA/gallo/even more picks i guess harden went a little cheaper, but that situation was a little different. my point is that i don't know if signing williams and smart will help them complete a big trade, and it could hurt depending on what the other team wants.