stashing assets for the 2023 nba offseason

blazers getting a far out unprotected first from the celtics was coup

the last time we saw porzingis at center in the playoffs he was completely unplayable. he’s healthier now (in theory anyway) and the celtics perimeter defenders are obv very formidable. but man idk. i guess we’ll see how it plays out. maybe the celtics can invent like upside down defense

one good thing for the celtics when questionably rearranging their big man rotation is that the best defender against embiid in the playoffs is his own mind

its big al horford, who tbf does live in embiids head

zinger is a really good rim protector but teams will hunt him on the perimeter in the offs which maybe the celtics can just live with it since theyre such good defenders top to bottom, staying healthy is the main thing for him

i think we can say confidently that if they see the bucks in the playoffs playing drop coverage against pick and rolls is probably a bad idea. but mazzulla has a whole season to experiment

yeah you cant just play a straight drop against guys like dame or really anyone these days its more of a multiple switches type thing to keep the big man back when you can, like denver does with joker or bucks with lopez

it did feel like the bucks and celtics rosters both hit a wall last playoffs but that the teams decided to take different approaches this offseason. but then the bucks switched up and now the celtics are directly connected to their overhaul. it should be a very fun year in the east

yeah celtics and bucks both loaded up and should be better but its far from guaranteed

then theres this guy whos laughing not crying thinks its funny actually

This off-season was fun lmao

— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 1, 2023

there’s no way to statistically quantify this (i don’t think) but it feels like jrue is the only player i can remember to get brought in as the final piece for an eventual champion and then also be shipped out as the scapegoat (of sorts) for the same core of players

yeah was thinking the same, funny stich

and then traded again to the ex team’s rival as the final piece to beat them

celtics winning this year would be poetic from a jrue standpoint

weve got to be getting close to n embiid trade demand could happen this year if the sixers really suck

lot of change for the celtics but at least the hendrix levels are steady

This is not basketball-related, but one of Jrue's kids is named Hendrix. So the Celtics still have two dads (Derrick and Jrue) with a Hendrix, despite trading away Rob, who also has a kid named Hendrix. hard-hitting stuff

— Souichi Terada | 寺田惣一 (@SouichiTerada) October 1, 2023

So not only did Joe Cronin not trade with the Heat…..He traded with Miami’s two biggest conference rivals, made them better teams, took back a better package and gave those rivals the one thing that the Heat needed to make a leap.

I got that right?

— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) October 1, 2023

nothing is handed to you in this life…

some people questioned my read that the blazers seemed mad at the heat... everyone has their own path to travel in this life

xp also made giannis switching teams less likely, tho the heat prob didnt have the pieces for that deal anyway

jrues you can use

Very happy here that the blazers found a way to get several big men in exchange for dame. trading for herro would have made for the stupidest roster on earth. getting rob will make ayton work for his minutes. Maybe brogdon gets healthy again. could be a fun season (shld be read as: hoorah for messy drama!).

also funny that portland traded dame to a contender but also routed the guy who has most destroyed him over the years to a conference rival

https://x.com/tjonesonthenba/status/1708531892541435933?s=46&t=delhXlmZBYazm252j4iaFA

there’s a timeline where the heat’s two main rivals giving up boatloads of assets for two 33 year old point guards on cap busting contracts is actually a blessing in disguise

my last memories of jrue holiday, jaylen brown, khris middleton etc not exactly keeping me up at night

one could say you're not mad actually u think its funny

hahaha

yeah the heat are just biding their time at this point until bam and tyler herro are ready to dominate the league

btw I wonder if this will be a referendum on the heat as a team that can just strongarm their way into a contender, like as a FA destination are they the lakers or are they the knicks? at some point riley is gonna be gone and what do they really have at that point? are they going to keep building contenders off of surplus value from undrafted guys?

the heat feel like they're still potent, but with all the jockeying for top spot season-by-season they feel like they're falling back in a crowded pack. the west still feels like where the most nba champions will come from in the next five or six years. the nuggs will hold off the east for a season or two until some other west teams rise up to the top.

heat can salvage their summer by adding Malcom Brogdon for the low low price of Tyler Herro and a couple firsts

btw I wonder if this will be a referendum on the heat as a team that can just strongarm their way into a contender, like as a FA destination are they the lakers or are they the knicks?

― k3vin k., Sunday, October 1, 2023 4:08 PM (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

star free agency doesnt really exist anymore current heat team is built off of really good moves and development, i think theyll prob remain near the top of trade demand destinations just as far as the place goes since players like miami, but obvs that only goes so far

lakers seem to be head and shoulders above everyone as far as that goes tho

who knows what happens when rileys gone guess well see if its heat culture or riley culture, maybe spo will take over start slicking his hair back

I will do it I’ll slick back my hair

one could say you're not mad actually u think its funny

ahahah

good to see the celtics go from one big non shooting point guard to another

smart and rob my two favourite players on the celtics gone, kinda stings

yes they have flaws and that’s part of why i like them

i’ll tell you guys what happened with the heat, it’s pretty simple

riley didn’t adjust quickly enough to a shift in the player acquisition market where you need war chests of assets to pull off big trades. he got shaq for two rostered players and maybe one pick, he got dragic for only two firsts. they outfoxed the league on jimmy and cemented another real deal iconic era for the franchise & i’ll put that up there with many of the most consequential moves of the last five or whatever years. but unless you’re dumping a star for a pick haul — something the heat have never done and will never do — it takes years to build up a pick war chest

the upshot is that if they decide to keep hoarding their pick assets, they eventually will get to the point where they can make the kinda pick laden trade offers that teams want, and it won’t be necessary for them to lean on strong arming so much. but if riley wants to try and win now they may have to make a lesser move or two. it’s a bit of a fork in the road but their track record of success is so long that i can hardly call it a crisis or anything. people have pronounced them dead plenty of times but they just went out and essentially took a sledgehammer to the rosters of the two big dogs in the conference.

as for the post riley future, i’m sure they will put it in spo’s hands and i assume he’ll be around for a really long time. i think they’re grooming chris quinn or caron butler to be the next coach. who knows if that will actually work but it’s still better than the plans most other franchises have for 5-10 years down the road

i typed all of this next stuff out before this latest digression and i want to post it before i copy and paste again on my phone and lose it all

in all seriousness…

i think the bucks have to be considered the east favorites and second title favorites overall now and prob for the next few years. but that roster is only pointed in one direction. it’s just a question of whether the fall comes slow or fast. they have a 2-3 year window i think — and if giannis leaves the window closes. but there’s no arguing they have a great shot (on paper) of winning one in that period. my question: can they get in one full, healthy playoff run with a core of guys who are all in their 30s and have all had various major injuries/surgeries in recent years (giannis excepted of course)?

as far as boston goes, i’ve always been of the opinion that the Js would eventually run into at least one title. but they apparently want to extend jrue and giving out big extensions to two guys who have never played with tatum & brown, or together, and are either aging or oft injured, is a big gamble. i feel like w/ the jrue trade they’ve now made a series of moves to replace marcus smart without losing his skill set … and i kinda question like, was marcus smart really the problem? something prob needed to change but that’s a big one. is this just a shell game that didn’t really change much? jrue is a better player and maybe that little bit is what matters, but they also gave up some real stuff to get him and i wonder how much room there is for him to be better than marcus given the presence of tatum and brown. in stretches or games where tatum and brown aren’t on the court, jrue can amp up his offense in a way smart can’t and i think that will matter for them. but im not sure they’ve changed their ceiling much w/ all of these moves — tho maybe it all clicks and they have. entirely possible. they seem committed to this roster one way or another tho

i’m just talking playoff situations btw. i expect in the regular season they’ll be 1-2 especially with the new rest rules — bucks and celtics both have 3 guys subject to that now.

i also would be pretty shocked if the heat don’t do something at least by the deadline, even if it’s just to beef up their rotation. they’ve changed the roster at the deadline 2 out of the 4 butler years, and if they wanna target crowder, igoudala type role players again they do have real assets to throw out for those kinda guys.

and then there’s the fact that the best team is prob still in the west. not that that should prevent either of these teams from pushing as hard as possible now — but the bucks will likely have to beat better than chris paul, devin booker and de’andre ayton next time around

last thing i’ll say…

since butler joined the heat, the eastern conference title count is looking like this

butler & bam - 2
giannis & middleton - 1
tatum & brown - 1

the rosters around them all have changed over the years, significantly now, but those guys have been the constants. i’m excited to see what the scoreboard look like this time next year. the east should be really fun

https://i.imgur.com/ouWbjF7.png

lol

i don't buy that the top west teams are better than bucks or celtics but i don't think they're worse either

smart and rob my two favourite players on the celtics gone, kinda stings

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, October 1, 2023 5:20 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm both drafted by the cs grew up with the team i think smart was like the 8th highest tenured player with one team in the league

i don't buy that the top west teams are better than bucks or celtics but i don't think they're worse either

― ciderpress, Sunday, October 1, 2023 6:23 PM (fifty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

id put nuggs celtics bucks as the top three teams right now in some order with the nuggs being 1, but obvs theres a lot of unknowns as we havent even seen the celtics and bucks play, also all these trades could end up being pretty meaningless if no one can figure out how to guard joker

i think the bucks have a higher ceiling than the celtics but they gotta get there

bucks supporting cast is dicey but if 35 y/o lopez keeps doing his thing they get a bounce back season from middleton and the rest of the guys play good enough they could be pretty sick

celtics just gonna play crazy d and jack a bunch of threes idk they still have not addressed the lack of playmaking situation that causes their offense to melt into a little puddle in big playoff spots, one thing the celtics have going for them is they still have a lot of draft picks so have some room to address weaknesses in season, a luxury the bucks dont have

i feel like w/ the jrue trade they’ve now made a series of moves to replace marcus smart without losing his skill set … and i kinda question like, was marcus smart really the problem?

well obviously neither the celtics or anyone else knew jrue was available until last wednesday so this was much more opportunistic than strategic, but it seemed to me like an obvious move that they really had to get done within reason. it seemed like a breakup with brogdon was happening one way or another but as everyone is saying jrue is a beast and you rearrange what you need to rearrange to add him when you're already within striking distance of the finals. it's funny that we're already seeing a major ripple effect of the new CBA play out multiple times, which is that teams that are all in have incentives to go even more all in. i'm pretty ambivalent about this as a fan because the end of the run for these celtics is in sight--if they don't get it done in the next two years it's all over. but that was true before this trade, so yeah you go ahead and make this trade.

i will certainly miss rob who was a weird and joyous player, and i hope he can bounce back in portland or wherever else. ultimately in addition to the health stuff i think he became hard to fit given that the never were willing to play him as the sole big man when it mattered.

and marcus, i do think there were some aspects of his game that were tough for them to work around, and i think him being the longest-tenured celtic maybe wasn't ideal for the set of personalities on this team. jrue is also a better player in just about every respect.

the thing that scares me most is still the f'n coach.

yeah the mazulla sitch is dicey

ESPN Sources: In what’s expected to be a continued attempt to push for a trade, Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden isn’t in attendance for the team’s media day today. Harden remains upset that the organization hasn’t moved him to the Clippers.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 2, 2023

lol this guy