Can Boston win the championship grand slam?

Sorry, not trying to offend anyone, but...

Patriots>>>Red Sox>>> Bruins>>>Celtics

captain stone said:

Irving a top-10-calibre player? No Feckin Way...not even close.

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He’s definitely a top 10 a-hole.

captain stone said:

Irving a top-10-calibre player? No Feckin Way...not even close.

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That leads to the obvious question, and one that I think is important for the Celtics to be thinking about, for a couple of reasons:


How would you slot the top, say, 15 players in the NBA?

Deus Irae said:

That leads to the obvious question, and one that I think is important for the Celtics to be thinking about, for a couple of reasons:


How would you slot the top, say, 15 players in the NBA?

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Beats me...but Irving isn't one of them; of that I am positive.

captain stone said:

Beats me...but Irving isn't one of them; of that I am positive.

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Name 85 players better than Irving. I bet you can’t.

Patjew said:

Name 85 players better than Irving. I bet you can’t.

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Why should I need to find 85 players better than him?

captain stone said:

Beats me...but Irving isn't one of them; of that I am positive.

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From the East:

Giannis
Kawhi
Embid

From the West:

KD
Curry
James
Harden
Davis
Towne


There's nine. Who else rounds out that top 15?

captain stone said:

Why should I need to find 85 players better than him?

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It was just a joke. I tempered my top-10 down a bit.

Deus Irae said:

From the East:

Giannis
Kawhi
Embid

From the West:

KD
Curry
James
Harden
Davis
Towne


There's nine. Who else rounds out that top 15?

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I'd probably toss Lillard & Jokic into the mix and then ask for more parameters to gauge the top guys. If it's dynasty-franchise mode, the young guys like Doncic belong on the list, etc. How do you see the OKC guys with respect to whatever vision of the top 15 you're thinking of? Hard to know where to put Westbrook and George for me. But also my basketball knowledge approximates to a hill of beans.

ForThoseAboutToRock said:

I'd probably toss Lillard & Jokic into the mix and then ask for more parameters to gauge the top guys. If it's dynasty-franchise mode, the young guys like Doncic belong on the list, etc. How do you see the OKC guys with respect to whatever vision of the top 15 you're thinking of? Hard to know where to put Westbrook and George for me. But also my basketball knowledge approximates to a hill of beans.

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I think you can start to really argue about who's in the next 6. There's no definite slotting, IMO, which is why I asked Captain about it. You can argue, with high degree of comfort, IMO, that Irving's not a top 6 player. After that, though, the argument gets less clear and, by at least 10, if not a slot or two before, it's a whole lot of toss ups and yeah buts, with Irving in a group of players that could be argued to fall somewhere between at least 10-15.

That's just my take, but I think it holds up.

The NBA and their convoluted financial system has created a monster. The cap is "flexible" if you want to sign your own players but it becomes more or less a hard cap when bringing on other players. Trades require some level of "equal salaries" going back and forth which can actually create an incentive to overpay (Smart may be easier to include in package for AD because he makes more vs making less) The player cap means players like Kyrie can crap the bed and act like a complete A-%^$ because he knows there will be teams lined up to pay him the max anyways. 2nd tier players get the max all the time because teams cannot risk losing the players for nothing. C's cannot replace Kyrie if they lose him so despite his play and behavior they will likely try their best to bring him back. Players dictate where they go and if you are not a "destination locale" you better hope you get lucky in the draft.

Add in the playing style with everyone shooting 3's including the centers and the ultimate outcome being by far the most predictable of all sports (am sure we are all stunned that the Warriors are where they are) and the league to me has lost the majority of its appeal. I concede that I was a teen in Bird's heyday and maybe my nostalgia for that era has as much to do with those particular teams vs the game in general but my interest level is the lowest its been in decades and the NBA is clearly 4th on my watch list.

All that said and as much as it kills me I would still keep Kyrie and see if they can land AD. If they let him go they are destined to be a 4/5 seed type team for the foreseeable future and that is just about the worst place to be in the NBA.

Deus Irae said:

I think you can start to really argue about who's in the next 6. There's no definite slotting, IMO, which is why I asked Captain about it. You can argue, with high degree of comfort, IMO, that Irving's not a top 6 player. After that, though, the argument gets less clear and, by at least 10, if not a slot or two before, it's a whole lot of toss ups and yeah buts, with Irving in a group of players that could be argued to fall somewhere between at least 10-15.

That's just my take, but I think it holds up.

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I think a lot of people would find the player rankings irrelevant because they see Kyrie as a Carmelo type of player. He may be really good individually but doesn’t make players around him better or necessarily lead to more team success. Not clear why this phenomenon happens.

With him as the young alpha dog of the Cavs, they won 21, 24, and 33 games. I’m sure he had a crummy supporting cast and was younger, but those aren’t close to win totals that an elite player should bring despite challenging circumstances. I’m just throwing this out there of this because it’s all the info we have since we know the story with the LeBron Cavs and the Celtics. This doesn’t prove a fact but just suggests a little more that there’s some gap between his stats and his actual value.

TommyBrady12 said:

Sorry, not trying to offend anyone, but...

Patriots>>>Red Sox>>> Bruins>>>Celtics

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I think that depends upon each fan's preference. I'd much rather watch a Bruins or Celts game than a Red Socks game.

1960Pats said:

I think that depends upon each fan's preference. I'd much rather watch a Bruins or Celts game than a Red Socks game.

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True, but we can agree Patriots >>> other Boston teams.

triple crown still likely

Interesting, it seems like the Celtics are the most popular NE team, if the number of instagram followers is any indication...

Celtics - 4.4M followers

Patriots - 3.8M followers

Red Sox - 1.6M followers

Bruins - 1.1M followers

On the other hand, Twitter suggests the Patriots are slightly more popular than the Celtics. Really surprised at relatively few number of social media followers the Red Sox have...was expecting a lot more.

TommyBrady12 said:

Interesting, it seems like the Celtics are the most popular NE team, if the number of instagram followers is any indication...

Celtics - 4.4M followers

Patriots - 3.8M followers

Red Sox - 1.6M followers

Bruins - 1.1M followers

Twitter suggests the Patriots are slightly more popular than the Celtics. Really surprised at relatively few number of social media followers the Red Sox have...was expecting a lot more.

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Age demographics play a lot into this as well. Facebook has a much higher population percentage from the over 30 demographics. Instagram probably has the youngest average age of its membership of the major social media applications.

everlong said:

Age demographics play a lot into this as well. Facebook has a much higher population percentage from the over 30 demographics. Instagram probably has the youngest average age of its membership of the major social media applications.

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An age breakdown would be interesting...but I do think social media is a good indicator of relative popularity as a whole.

TommyBrady12 said:

Interesting, it seems like the Celtics are the most popular NE team, if the number of instagram followers is any indication...

Celtics - 4.4M followers

Patriots - 3.8M followers

Red Sox - 1.6M followers

Bruins - 1.1M followers

On the other hand, Twitter suggests the Patriots are slightly more popular than the Celtics. Really surprised at relatively few number of social media followers the Red Sox have...was expecting a lot more.

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I am 60 years old. The Celtics were my favorite team and basketball my favorite sport till around 1990. I enjoyed the low post game so much and good fundamentals. Both of those aspects of the game are gone. The three point line ruined the sport for me. I barely watch any basketball now. Although the 3 point line was established in 1979, the abuse of it did not become apparent to me till 1990 or so. Probably because the NCAA did not establish it till 1987

TommyBrady12 said:

Interesting, it seems like the Celtics are the most popular NE team, if the number of instagram followers is any indication...

Celtics - 4.4M followers

Patriots - 3.8M followers

Red Sox - 1.6M followers

Bruins - 1.1M followers

On the other hand, Twitter suggests the Patriots are slightly more popular than the Celtics. Really surprised at relatively few number of social media followers the Red Sox have...was expecting a lot more.

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Basketball being the only global sport plays a huge role into this.