Welcome to the daily discussion thread! You can use this space to discuss little things that don't need their own post. This is also the perfect space for pictures, videos, and links that would otherwise go against the sub's rules. Just don't be jerks and don't break any Reddit-wide rules. Have at it.

Welcome to the daily discussion thread! You can use this space to discuss little things that don't need their own post. This is also the perfect space for pictures, videos, and links that would otherwise go against the sub's rules. Just don't be jerks and don't break any Reddit-wide rules. Have at it.

I’m going to be in Boston late October and I intend to go the Celtics/Bulls NBA cup game Friday night.

Just wondering if will it be sold out soon or at all?

Thanks

I had no idea he was still playing and I’m shocked he’s only 34. I feel like he should be much older.

I went into this mostly trying to figure out whether Boston’s obsession with controlling possessions and “winning the margins” was actually helping or hurting them. Ended up digging pretty deep into pace, shot-clock usage, late-clock efficiency and how last year compared to both the 2025 team and the 2024 title team. The thing that really stood out was how often the Celtics were ending up deep in the clock, and how ugly the offense got once possessions reached that point.

With Brown gone, I think this year’s team has less margin for error, which would normally make you think they should play even more carefully. I kind of came away thinking the opposite. This roster might be better off attacking earlier, living with a few more imperfect decisions and letting some possessions get a little messy. Curious if people see it the same way or think the slower, more controlled approach is still the right one.

Welcome to the daily discussion thread! You can use this space to discuss little things that don't need their own post. This is also the perfect space for pictures, videos, and links that would otherwise go against the sub's rules. Just don't be jerks and don't break any Reddit-wide rules. Have at it.

I'm watching last season highlights because I am struggling without basketball. Fuck me do I love watching Garza work! That is all.

If the Clippers pick falls to 1-16 range, it will be a swap. One thing to note is this is regardless if the Celtics make it to the playoffs or not that year. Example is if the Celtics pick at #12 and the Clippers pick at #8, the Celtics get the 8th pick and the Spurs get the #12 pick, while the Spurs which are probably title contenders at that time, the Clippers get the late first round pick probably at around 25-30 range. Let’s hope the Celtics continue to contend at that time because the worst case scenario is the Clippers will have a better record than the Celtics and the 2028 pick will be a waste.

If the Clippers pick falls to 17-30 range, the Celtics get the pick outright, while they deal with the Spurs with the swap. Example is Clippers somehow make the playoffs and have the say 18th pick, and the Celtics pick at #25, the Celtics get #18 and the hypothetical 25-30 pick from the swap with the Spurs and the Spurs get the #25. Again, the worst case scenario is when the Celtics miss the playoffs, so the Celtics get the Clippers 18th pick and the hypothetical 25-30 pick, Spurs get the lottery pick from Boston.

However, the best case scenario will be the Celtics contend on 2028, while reaping the benefits from either a lottery pick from the Clippers or owning two but mid to late first round picks from the Clippers and the swap with the Spurs.

If I made some mistakes from this post, I hope someone can clarify in the comments but from what I understand, these are the scenarios for the 2028 Clippers pick. It’s still the offseason that’s why I had time to analyze this. Which scenario would you prefer?

In Brad Stevens' end of season press conference, he pointed out that the team wasn't able to get good looks at the rim, that he wanted to improve that, and that he thought it would have to come from outside the team.

If you look at rim pressure as percent of total shots taken within 5 ft of the rim, the Celtics were last in the league last year at 24%. The league average is 32%.

When they won the championship they were at 30%, close to league average. Then they ran back the same team in 24-25 and the rim rate dropped to 26%. Then they shipped out Jrue, KP, Horford and Kornet, and it dropped further to 24% with Tatum missing most of the year.

Digging into the individual players:

It's not really the personnel changes. The guys that got traded away last year didn't take a ton of shots at the rim, and the KP/Kornet/Horford/Queta grouping only took 7.6 rim attempts per game, less than the Queta/Vucevic/Garza group.

The big change has been with Brown and Tatum.

Brown went from 37% at the rim in 23-24, to 33% in 24-25, to 27% in 25-26 — from well above league average to well below, although still higher than our team average. He had fewer attempts at the rim in 25-26 than in 23-24 despite taking 3 more total attempts per game. In the past two years his 3-point rate has gone down too, so basically he replaced rim attempts and 3-pointers with midrange shots at mid-40s efficiency.

Tatum has drifted the same direction, and traded those rim attempts for threes:

There's a big split in those threes between catch-and-shoot and pull-up:

It feels like he got trigger-happy on taking the pull-up 3 — he's been second in the league in pull-up 3 volume in each of the last two seasons, well ahead of legit snipers like Steph Curry and Jamal Murray. To be fair, he fairly often (~2 times per game) takes the 3 with under 7 seconds on the shot clock, which is a bailout low-percentage shot that hurts his percentages. But I think he could help the team by cutting down those attempts.

For next year:

We're removing Brown, who still got to the rim more than the other non-center regulars, and adding:

• Paul George, who doesn't get to the rim at all (15%) but is a great floor-spacer (42% on catch-and-shoot 3's).
• Mitchell Robinson, who takes 100% of his shots at the rim but doesn't shoot often — about 1 more rim attempt per game than Garza, who I'm assuming he's taking the minutes from.

I think the hope is that these changes are both beneficial to helping Tatum get to the rim at a higher rate again, although that'll only move the overall rim rate by a small amount even if he's at 35% usage. What gives me some optimism is that Tatum's net stats have typically been outstanding with rim-attacking centers:

So I expect Robinson will fit into that scheme well. To put those numbers in perspective, Tatum is typically +10 or +11 overall the past three years, which is a great net number, but not at the top of the league with Wembanyama and Shai at +17. Paired with the right centers, he can vault into that neighborhood.

Welcome to the daily discussion thread! You can use this space to discuss little things that don't need their own post. This is also the perfect space for pictures, videos, and links that would otherwise go against the sub's rules. Just don't be jerks and don't break any Reddit-wide rules. Have at it.

Too many fans saying we messed up, we traded JB for scraps, we’re going to be a bad team next season, etc. just need to look at the facts straight up. This team has been trying to trade JB for years now because he just doesn’t fit with what the team does. JB’s a great player but is not what the team needs, especially with that contract. Last year was a showcase for JB to get his value up and people now see how other teams value him. When was the last time a player looked bad for the Celtics under Brad and Mazulla? Garza and Minott was very serviceable last year and that should speak volumes to how this team is constructed. JB has been the odd man out in terms of advanced stats year in/out for the past couple of years. You can’t say it’s because of match up etc, because other players like Tatum and White have better advanced stats especially on/off.

We got Paul George because he fits the system and was unfortunately the best any team could offer us, even after a year of showcasing “superstar” Jaylen Brown. Appreciate the player, but also know that he was traded for reasons not only because of cap, and has been on the trade block for a couple of years now.

The point of trading JB was to improve the team. We collected some assets and a big moveable contract good through next year, to let us be players for the next big name to be traded.

The issue is, there are only like 10ish guys who are decisively better than Brown, and thats just on a single season ranking. Taking into account some of these guys wont age as well as Brown, and that Brown was making the same money, the list gets cloudy after Jokic.

Jokic is in a tier on his own as far as targets go.

After that, the only superstar level player who MAY be looking at a trade is Anthony Edwards. Its highly unlikely Minnesota moves on from AE for pretty much anything, they just added fellow ravioli brains LaMelo Ball to compliment Edwards. If Edwards does for some reason want out of Minnesota, it won't be until he gets his supermax deal, which probably wont be until the season after next.

Following that, there's another steep drop off in talent. The 2 guys that stand out to me are Evan Mobley and Bam Adebayo. Both guys are considered the 2nd best players on expected playoff teams. I dont see Cleveland or Miami having any interest in abandoning ship in the next 2 - 3 seasons.

I can't see anyone in this range who is decisively better than Brown, and would also be looking to hop teams. This really just leaves Jokic as the only saving grace.

Id love to hear thoughts on who else might be available next offseason. I can't find a name. I've seen a lot of hypothetical conversations about moving PG's contract and getting someone back who better compliments the team, but outside of Jokic its been this hypothetical mystery man.

Dude is a straight stud and is gonna be stuck behind Keyonte George, Darryn Peterson and Lauri Markkanen. Not to mention to team also has JJJ, Brice Sensibaugh and Isiah Collier, all of whom like to have to ball in their hands. No way dude gets the playing time or ball in hand as much as he deserves. Trade Hauser and Walsh or some picks and we get another self-creator / ball handler, two or three years down the line he can be our 2nd or 3rd best player. I swear this dude is gonna be a straight beast someday and you can absolutely get him at a discount right now. Utah needs role players the Celtics need creators let's make it happen Brad, I know you and Danny can get it done, just gotta get in a few rounds of golf or something

A crappy clippers team that finishes bottom 3 won’t actually guarantee a bottom 3 pick which sucks. The system was made to stop tanking but what about actual bad teams

Welcome to the daily discussion thread! You can use this space to discuss little things that don't need their own post. This is also the perfect space for pictures, videos, and links that would otherwise go against the sub's rules. Just don't be jerks and don't break any Reddit-wide rules. Have at it.

Sixers sign Tacko Fall, Jameer Nelson Jr. to Exhibit 10 deals

No, like, what are we actually doing here? I'm sick of these debates.

Why is it somehow disrespectful to JB, or hard for people to accept, that Tatum is the better player? That shouldn't be shade toward JB at all.

When they were on the same team, I already thought it was weird how people constantly tried to pit our two best players against each other and force fans to pick sides. But now? Tatum is our guy. JB isn't even on the Celtics anymore. We shouldn't be hesitant to simply admit who the better player is.

And none of this is a diss to JB or an attempt to discredit what he's accomplished. The problem is that the media and NBA discourse keep forcing this conversation because apparently the only way to prop JB up is to tear Jayson Tatum down, wow.

I've never seen a player have to deal with this level of constant nonsense every single day. I wonder how he puts up with it.

It isn't easy being Jayson Tatum.

A massive punishment for the Clippers (if it sticks) is an ideal outcome I was rooting for, because their 2028 pick in theory is going to the Celtics and them losing the ability to trade some of their future 1sts makes their path toward competing in the 2027-28 season much harder.

However, before we start celebrating a potential top 5 pick, it's fair to consider the worst-case outcomes. A LOT can happen a season. In May 2025, I certainly didn't expect that we'd see Tatum get seriously injured, Knicks knock us out after blowing back-to-back 20 point leads, see Horford, Jrue, Porzingis elsewhere, have Philly knock us out in round 1 after blowing a 3-1 lead, see the Knicks win a title, and trade Brown to the Philly where he formed a super team with a min contract LeBron james.

Clippers have no incentive to tank so will be attempting everything possible to be competitive. They more than likely will suck this year and unfortunately their 2027 pick is going to the Thunder.

So what can they do to be competitive in 2027-28?

I thought the Zubac trade was killer at the time, because they net Mathurin, the top 5 pick and a future 1st. They've now seen Mathurin walk and lost that future 1st, but selected Keaton Wagler at #5. Not sure how high Wagler's ceiling is, but high potential players can develop a lot quicker than expected and in theory he could be contributing at a high level in 2027-28.

In addition to not having their 2027 or 2028 1sts, they are forfeiting 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033 (if the full punishment sticks). However, some of that blow is softened by the recent Kawhi trade where they are picking up Ingram (41 mil player option in 2027-28), Dick and unprotected Raptors picks in 2031 and 2033

Assuming Ingram picks up his 2027-28 player option, Garland is their only other player making serious money that season (44 mil) during his final year. Neither player is amazing, but both are 20 point scorers who can help them stay competitive.

Can they make a big trade before 2027-28?: That still should be a slight concern. The expirings of Garland/Ingram, the two raptors 1sts, and recently selected #5 Wagler can get them in the discussion for players in the same way Boston fans are banking on "Paul George's expiring + mostly shitty picks" to land them a superstar.

Can they sign someone major before 2027-28?: I think this would be a bigger concern. I imagine Garland and Ingram are both two guys who could be tradeable in 2026-27 to bring in picks and expirings. Clippers have no other major money on the books so if they wanted to position themselves for free agency in summer 2027, there's a bunch of names they could look to throw money at next Summer and the fact remains that if there's cap space, Los Angeles will always be a destination celebrity athletes want to play in (Lakers owe like 10 of their 12 championships to another team's superstar gifting themselves to Los Angeles). Potential 2027 free agents: https://www.nba.com/news/looking-ahead-nba-free-agency-2027 ... Many of the guys listed there unrestricted (or player options to become unrestricted) like Jokic, Durant, Steph, LeBron, Towns, Kyrie, Davis, etc probably get extended before hitting free agency, but given the insanity we've just experienced this year, I wouldn't bet my life against the Clippers acquiring as many picks as possible this season, freeing up all their cap room, making a huge trade for a max contract superstar, signing another, then convincing LeBron, Durant, Steph, and Davis to all opt out and join forces for the vet min on their newformed LA Super team. Who knows. Is that likely? Of course not. But a lot of crazy shit can happen in a year and it's not at all unthinkable that the Clippers are competitive in 2027-28.

The other wrinkle is the draft odds flattening. Even if they suck and have the worst record, their pick can now fall as low as 12th. There's a 72% chance a bottom 3 team ends up outside the top 5. This works in reverse though. If the Clippers are a play-in team, there's still like a 2.7%-5.4% chance they end up with the #1 pick and something like 11%-25% the pick ends up top 4. Worst case, they'd make the playoffs in 2027-28 and screw up our golden asset.

TL;DR: 2028 Clippers pick is juicy and might have gotten juicier, but don't go counting chickens yet.

Welcome to the daily discussion thread! You can use this space to discuss little things that don't need their own post. This is also the perfect space for pictures, videos, and links that would otherwise go against the sub's rules. Just don't be jerks and don't break any Reddit-wide rules. Have at it.