celtics wave

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@MoggedByTatum Did you pay for premium

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@BetEdgeCash @OnyxOdds In the regular season he was much better than JB but yeah he played really bad in playoffs

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@csruinedme Also JB when he doesn’t have the ball one on one sits and doesn’t do anything to help the offense like getting open or moving out of the way so people have an open lane

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@zebweb We looking at 2k ratings to assess players values

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@yeahmrmetoo1 @MoggedByTatum Mitchell is a top 10 player. JB is a top 25 player

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@NewMediaSports_ 😭

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@BeLiKeDime @Savageboston @CLNSMedia Lmao your a joke

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@xmike87 @Savageboston Did you even watch the press conference

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@JaysGotNext ECF was a complete robbery and I think FMVP should have been Tatum but it was close

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@DWhite_Defender Kessler isn’t good tho

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@HardwoodKnocks

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@PolymarketHoops @FearTheBrown Overrated

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@MoggedByTatum

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@HardwoodKnocks Delete your account idiot

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@MoggedByTatum It’s perfect because they will be bad but not top 5 bad so they will have highest odds

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@CelticsLead Paul george lmao

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For how much trade talk Trey Murphy is in with the Celtics it’s kind of unbelievable to me like he’s not that good
I would rather keep white than trade him and picks for murphy

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@CookedbyRiley Celtics are atleast a top 5 seed. Probably top 3.

[databallr @databallr]

I have some more thoughts on this trade from the perspective of the Boston Celtics.

When Brad Stevens decides to trade Jaylen Brown, a Finals MVP in his prime, he probably has some good reasons.

Boston has spent years winning in roster construction.

The Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis trades set the Celtics up to win a title.

They've repeatedly signed contracts that have returned multiples on the court.

Queta. Hauser. Pritchard. Kornet. Garza. Baylor.

I am bullish on the Mitchell Robinson signing, too.

That is an organizational edge.

When Tatum and Brown are both getting paid supermax money, Boston becomes less flexible. The roster becomes more fixed. Their capital is tied up. The front office has fewer ways to turn its advantage into wins.

Flexibility is more valuable for a team that can use it well.

If you are going to trade Jaylen Brown after a 28 PPG season, given the success of this team, the evidence that the Celtics will not fall apart without him needs to be strong.

And the evidence is as strong as it can be in this situation.

Across multiple versions of this team, across different rosters and contexts, the Celtics have consistently produced elite results on the court without him.

The Tatum only lineups have annihilated the league.
Jaylen Brown has a negative 5 year RAPM in his prime. This is shocking.

This suggests Boston may not need this specific player at this specific price on this specific team.

Why?

Because they are playing AI hoops, also known as "Mazzulla ball."

Mazzulla ball is a strategy built on shot quality and possession math.

Make quick decisions. Turn the ball over less than your opponent. Take a fuck ton of threes. Crash the glass and capitalize on the extra misses taking that many threes mathematically creates. Defend.

Apply so much pressure outside the arc that a stressed defense concedes an easy inside the arc bucket marginally more often.

That is the machine.

High three-point rate. Low turnovers. Offensive rebounding. Defense.

And Jaylen Brown is not especially great at the things this machine values most.

He is a talented, physical, turnover-prone, two-point-heavy scorer who can get you tough buckets. This is not the ideal archetype for this system.

With Jaylen on the court, 44% of Boston’s shots came from three.

With Jaylen off the court, that number jumped to 51%.

With Tatum on and Jaylen off, Boston is shooting 58% of their shots from 3 in the last two seasons.

That is a clear shift in how they play.

With Jaylen, Boston is playing half Mazzulla ball. Without him, full Mazzulla ball.

The Jaylen Brown trade for Paul George and two firsts has people scratching their heads.

Look, Paul George is older. He has durability risk. He may decline more than expected. He has two years left at around $50 million per year. He may not end up providing much value to Boston.

But he fits the system.

He is an excellent three-point shooter. He can defend. He can force turnovers at an elite rate. I have very little doubt that he will improve Boston's defense in a tangible way. And, he can still get you tough buckets when the system needs one.

I have news for you guys.

The Celtics are going full Mazzulla ball next year. People thought they were taking a step back after their playoff collapse. No. They are going all in. If you don't like three pointers, turn the TV off, it's going to be unwatchable.

They traded away Jaylen Brown, an anti-Mazzulla ball player.

They brought in one of the best shooting forwards in the league in Paul George. A Discount Tatum at this stage of his career, if you will.

They just acquired one of the best offensive rebounders ever in Mitchell Robinson. He had a 21% offensive rebound rate last year.

Tatum Mazzulla ball without JB has been so effective, why not also just run Discount Tatum Mazzulla ball when Tatum is off the court?

They are going to try and shoot nearly 60% of their shots from three and clean up >30% of their misses.

Trading Jaylen for PG, picks, and flexibility is not a talent for talent bet.

It is a bet that Jaylen Brown's talent is less useful for this team's playstyle than his points per game and contract say he is.

A bet that the Celtics are not dependent on him to win in the playoffs.

A bet that having a talented tough-bucket scorer is less valuable than having everyone aligned in the same system.

A bet on Paul George still being impactful at 36.

A bet on Payton Pritchard thriving with more opportunity.

A bet on the front office continuing to make great decisions.

A bet that Mazzulla ball does not actually fail in the playoffs like many think, and that the increased variance of Boston’s three-point strategy potentially causing a series loss in the playoffs is an outcome with a probability they are comfortable living with.

And, of course, a bet that Jaylen Brown does not become the most impactful version of himself in Philly and make them regret it.

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@csruinedme Jdub 13???