The NBA Draft Thread

[ill steelo]

He led his team to playoff victories over teams featuring Jimmy Butler and John Wall. He was the leading scorer in both of those series, and his shooting splits were rock solid as a whole but particularly against Washington.

You can build a winning team with him as your starter 100%.

Title team?

I mean LeBron James was ringless until he had two other all NBA talents, similar stories for Jordan Kobe Shaq etc.

I certainly don't think Zeke is incapable of starting on a contender

 

[MajinZuub]

Been saying this since the hype with him began, you're not winning a championship with that dude starting for you.

So you don't think the Warriors could win it all if you swapped IT for Curry for instance?

Could? Maybe. Would? No His style of play isn't very "Warriors" and he's not a back to back MVP, you saw what Steph was doing out there last night.

 

[frshstunna]

TBH I know he had a great year but no team truly needs a ******-sized chucker at PG, especially one coming off a serious injury.  

Been saying this since the hype with him began, you're not winning a championship with that dude starting for you.

I mean it depends who else in the starting line up with him lol

 

[User 15002]

Boston's depth is what beat Washington. When the Wizards exploited Thomas they did well. The failure came with the second unit. Wiz have no contributors after the starting five if Oubre is not on.

 

[100027]

I mean it depends who else in the starting line up with him lol

Yeah if he were the 4th best player maybe you'd be aight.  But I'd still be nervous with him starting.

Boston's depth is what beat Washington. When the Wizards exploited Thomas they did well. The failure came with the second unit. Wiz have no contributors after the starting five if Oubre is not on.

Exactly.

 

[ill steelo]

Boston's depth is what beat Washington. When the Wizards exploited Thomas they did well. The failure came with the second unit. Wiz have no contributors after the starting five if Oubre is not on.

Boston averaged 110 in the series, 120+ in their 4 wins. Washington could not defend them, Thomas was an integral of part of that.

 

[B Sox]

lets not get into this. No, IT wont ever be a back to back MVP and lead a team to back to back finals as the number one option against a 10x harder Western Conference.

I am not saying that IT is as good as Curry. I just don't think it's farfetched to think a team featuring him, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green could win an NBA championship. They would be favorites against any team in the league.

 

[100027]

I am not saying that IT is as good as Curry. I just don't think it's farfetched to think a team featuring him, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green could win an NBA championship. They would be favorites against any team in the league.

Maybe, but replacing a free-flowing playmaker like Curry with an Iso guard like IT would have a significant impact on the team, even aside from the drop in skill level from Curry to IT.

 

[B Sox]

Boston averaged 110 in the series, 120+ in their 4 wins. Washington could not defend them, Thomas was an integral of part of that.

Yup. And that's with the Wizards knowing that he is far and away the best option offensively and them keying in on him. John Wall could not do anything to remotely slow him down.

 

[frshstunna]

If the Wiz had any type of bench they woulda won

 

[B Sox]

If the Wiz had any type of bench they woulda won

Of course. They have more talent in their starting lineup.

 

[B Sox]

Maybe, but replacing a free-flowing playmaker like Curry with an Iso guard like IT would have a significant impact on the team, even aside from the drop in skill level from Curry to IT.

IT averaged 27 points and 7 assists while shooting 46% from 3 against the Wizards, with them knowing that he is their only real offensive option. He would not be such an Iso guard if he didn't have to be, and if he were surrounded by the 2nd best player in the league and 2 other top 20 players like Steph is.

Some of y'all are acting like he's some scrub. Sure, he definitely has serious defensive inefficiencies, but he can also absolutely light you up offensively. Ask John Wall.

 

[User 15002]

Basketball 101. Good offense beats good defense. Advantage will always be to the offensive player when you are dealing with pros. Boston is far deeper than the Wiz. In a seven game series means the difference between fatigue and being able to finish.

 

[B Sox]

Basketball 101. Good offense beats good defense. Advantage will always be to the offensive player when you are dealing with pros. Boston is far deeper than the Wiz. In a seven game series means the difference between fatigue and being able to finish.

Of course. So basically you're just making my point that because IT is so good on offense, you could potentially swap him for Curry on this Warriors team, and they would still probably win the championship. Therefore, he could be a starter on a championship team.

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

Harrison Barnes was a starter on a championship team. Bar is not too high

 

[P C H]

I used to be in favor of not giving IT the max. Not anymore though.

There's some serious height bias with IT I think. If your name isn't Lebron, or maybeee Giannis, you're as much of a max guy as IT is. The end of IT's deal will probably be bad but

1) It sucks, but you just have to cross that bridge when you get there. Besides, if Fultz and the 2018 top 3 pans out, and you get lucky in FA, then it's just a 'harmless' (well not really harmless but yeah) casualty of IT's prime peaking at this time.

2) He's a turnstyle defensively, but his impact / ability on the game rivals whoever you wanna name in the east. None of these guys have shown to move the needle more than IT. Not Wall, Butler, George, whoever. It isn't the end of the world to have a 29ppg efficient scorer be the bridge for Fultz and your 2018. They are in a position where they could potentially win now and take advantage of fortuitous circumstance, while bringing their young guys along.

3) I don't think anyone seriously would have the balls to let IT walk given what he's brought to the C's since he's arrived

in reality, you have to give him the max on the basis of that. I saw some of you say that they'd be bidding against themselves, and while that may be true, if boston doesn't give him the max and lowballs him, he'll take a deal elsewhere out of spite if nothing else, and that would look really bad on behalf of the C's.

4) Letting IT go would signal a rebuild / domino effect. You'd essentially be advocating for the C's to ''blow it up'' and there's no guarantee that the C's would be able to rebound anytime soon even with the gold mine of BKN picks. Just look at the lottery right now, full of teams that have been rebuilding for some time.

Keep him, be active in FA, keep fultz, and go from there.

 

[User 15002]

If he walks then they just get another FA that can play D. Nobody would hold it against the Celtics if they didn't max out Thomas at this age and health status. IMO if they max him then it will make other FA think twice from coming.

 

[frink85]

If he walks then they just get another FA that can play D. Nobody would hold it against the Celtics if they didn't max out Thomas at this age and health status. IMO if they max him then it will make other FA think twice from coming.

I'm sure the Celtics fans will, both casual and hardcore

 

[lovehateself]

 

If he walks then they just get another FA that can play D. Nobody would hold it against the Celtics if they didn't max out Thomas at this age and health status. IMO if they max him then it will make other FA think twice from coming.

I'm sure the Celtics fans will, both casual and hardcore

nah i dont think so

i dont buy the " hes the most popular celtic, more than bird" crap....

 

[P C H]

Y'all for real?

Man The Boston Celtics fans / community would be livid if they let go of IT, not to mention they probably wouldn't get a star of that caliber to replace him so the team would immediately start sucking, making the backlash even worse as you unnecessarily go from a good playoff team w/ a star to a lottery bound team winning like 30 games.

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

You have to move him. You need to move him. But you can't..

 

[B Sox]

If he walks then they just get another FA that can play D. Nobody would hold it against the Celtics if they didn't max out Thomas at this age and health status. IMO if they max him then it will make other FA think twice from coming.

I don't understand how it would make other FA think twice from coming whatsoever. If they were to just let him walk, given how great he has been and how beloved he is by fans, it will make it look like players are disposable. Don't really see how that would give any big free agent a warm feeling.

 

[P C H]

Quote:

You have to move him. You need to move him. But you can't..

IMO,

The position of GM in the league is designed for you to make some 'bad' moves. You don't wanna be Billy King with it, but because of things like the Salary cap, the randomness of the Draft, etc. GM's aren't perfect and as a result will have to make a few ''bad' moves for the sake of the franchise moving forward.

How many agents would try and steer their star players away from Boston if Boston doesn't max out IT? The fanbase would revolt, you'd nosedive into tanking, and At the end of the day, Maxing IT out would be a "bad" move but it's a necessary one for a plethora of reasons and if Fultz and your 2018 pan out, then it really isn't the end of the world at all.

 

[B Sox]

Quote:

How many agents would try and steer their star players away from Boston if Boston doesn't max out IT? The fanbase would revolt, you'd nosedive into tanking, and At the end of the day, Maxing IT out would be a "bad" move but it's a necessary one for a plethora of reasons and if Fultz and your 2018 pan out, then it really isn't the end of the world at all.

Boston would never get a top free agent again if they were to just let IT walk. If anything, maxing him would be a show of goodwill which will be appealing to future free agents when the team is ready to actually compete in the post Cavs/Warriors era. In the meantime, if they were to get Hayward, they are a Cavs injury away from potentially being in the Finals, while also developing a crop of young talent for the future.

The idea that re-signing him would be some awful move just doesn't seem logical. The only hesitation I'd have is if the hip injury is so serious that it causes him to not even be remotely close to the player he was this year.

 

[Quincy McCall]

IT helped them build their image after the Big 3, have to retain. Not like that is the worse thing they could do