[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by law90026

Isn't the issue though that the assets are starting to dwindle? Those picks are beginning to dry up (Nets next year, maybe a Lakers pick or else it's a Sac pick in 2 years time) and so are the tradeable assets. If IT, Bradley, Smart and whoever else need to be paid next year, suddenly there's a lot less to play with.

By the time Brown and Tatum are good to go, iT and Horford are going to be past it. It's just a really odd mix if you ask me.

IT & Horford are approaching their downside, which is why I was fine with drafting Fultz & moving on from IT next summer if Fultz lived up to the hype. But those other assets don't just dry up, they turn into real players. Maybe Jaylen Brown (or Ante Zizic) is as good as I think & improves his perceived value. Maybe Jayson Tatum is as good as Ainge thinks. Maybe the Nets pick miraculously turns into the #1 again, just like last year where I would've put the odds on that around 10% before the season started. The rotation players like Bradley, Smart, Crowder will stop being underpaid soon, but they're still good players, and after years of a low salary table the Celtics owners will have no problem paying the luxury tax if necessary.

Originally Posted by nol

The youth here is about 2 years younger than players like Giannis or Porzingis who are better than all of them combined. The Celtics downgraded from Fultz to Tatum in order to better attract veteran free agents and appear to have whiffed on it.

It's pretty difficult to trade up in the draft. Philadelphia only was able to do so because Boston hoarded backcourt players for so long and ended up in a position where neither of the clear-cut best players fit their team.

You can keep saying things like this all you want but it won't make it any more true. Ainge traded down because he thought Jayson Tatum is better than Markelle Fultz (and I guess Josh Jackson too). We both disagree with that assessment, but positional fit had little to nothing to do with it.

Boston's been targeting one free agent since KD turned us down last summer & he decides in the next 24 hours. (Blake Griffin may have been plan B, but I think once LAC traded Paul & committed to the 5 year max it's not even worth talking.) Jimmy Butler & Paul George didn't pick their destinations. But the idea that we chose another 19 year old SF & held on to our other 19 year old SF to increase our chances of signing SF Hayward is laughable.

Originally Posted by nol

Walker has been healthy for the past 2 full seasons, and when you play the 'what if their best player gets hurt?' game, the answer for the Hornets is the same as it would be for just about every other team.

Apparently it flew under the radar, but Kemba missed the last few games of the season to have his 3rd left knee surgery in the last 2.5 years. Yes, it was allegedly "routine" & "minor", but that many knee surgeries scares me for little PG's who rely on quickness, just like IT's hip surgery scares me until we see him back at 100%.

Originally Posted by law90026

Don't think anyone disputes this. However, injuries do occur. When KD went down earlier this year, there was real concern that the Warriors were going to struggle and they dodged a bullet because the injury wasn't as bad as feared.

That was the real media concern. Then GS won 13 in a row & Steph Curry kind of regained the swagger he'd been missing when they were working hard to integrate KD. (And to KD's credit he was able to make a seamless transition back in.) An injury to Steph or KD would make the Warriors beatable, but they'd still be the favorites.