2021 NBA playoffs thread

I watched another of those basketball breakdowns. Good stuff.

 

Ummmm... WTAF?

 

That's... certainly something. I have no idea if Stevens will be any good, but it seems like his effect on the players was lessening as time went by. The idea of pushing him upward to the GM seat and now having him making decisions on said players, instead of getting a fresh perspective with an outside hire, makes me more pessimistic than optimistic on the move.

 

We by the Bay were really fortunate to watch and root for his greatness for three wonderful years. Those teams were beautiful to watch.

 

Lakers played a good one last night.

 

The Celtics' problem is not one any GM or coach can really address. Tatum is their superstar, but he's an incredibly erratic player no matter how talented he is. He can go off for 50 on any night, but he's also capable of going 4-22 from the field the next. Not surprisingly, the Celtics are therefore incredibly erratic given their overall talent. Stevens tried to compensate for this by stressing commitment to strong team defense, but that is also very hard to sustain for a season, and the NBA is full of essentially unstoppable players anyhow.

 

FTFY

 

Hawks won theirs in St. Louis

 

I have no idea if Brad Stevens will be any good as a GM. He did a terrific job as coach but it felt like he was becoming less effective. This feels like a decision made in part because they wanted a new coach but didn't want to fire Stevens.

Ainge absolutely had to go. He's butchered the past few seasons and having a Trumpist insisting he's totally unaware of any racism in Boston -- and that the last person he'd listen to is an NBA player -- isn't really tenable for an NBA GM these days.

 

One of the things I do enjoy about the NBA playoffs is reputations are made and destroyed. Lillard was a HoFer going into the game - he came out of it as a first-ballot, head of the class type guy

 

Agree. Think it is odd that they give the keys to a guy who has never worked in personnel, especially as Ainge apparently ran a pretty tight operation.

Maybe someone will now rank the top 10 trades that Ainge almost made. That was always my favorite leak to the Boston media.