Celtics 2026-2027 Discussion

[LightSkinSmurf]

The prima dona ****head has instructed teams to send voice memos making their pitch for him to join. Any other athlete and this reeks but the media continues it’s lifelong crusade to excuse this loser

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49318587/teams-sending-recruiting-voice-notes-lebron-james-via-rich-paul

He is trying to have one more "decision" before retirement. I honestly forgot he still hasn't chosen a team yet until now. Such a drama queen.

 

[borisman]

What I'm going to hate about Drama Queen's last season is that, along with all the flowers other teams will be throwing at him, is Celtics might be giving him a piece of the parquet. I will be out of my mind if they do this. He did nothing to deserve it. He had 2 memorable games, for me, (one was the 2008 battle against Pierce) and one was against a broken down 2012 Celtics team (the lockout season) in game 6 where Rondo had a triple-double in the ECF. The Heat still had to beat the C's in a game 7 to advance. I say F! U! LeBum.
I would take Bird, Jordan, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, Russell and even Magic over this ring chasing, self-anointed king.
My wish is for all the great past Celtics fans to rise up (from the dead if they have to) and have a No Kings protest on his last game in the Gahden. Boo the **** out him. Show no respect. He certainly had none for us.
(this is what happens before I finish my first cup of coffee)

 

[LightSkinSmurf]

What I'm going to hate about Drama Queen's last season is that, along with all the flowers other teams will be throwing at him, is Celtics might be giving him a piece of the parquet. I will be out of my mind if they do this. He did nothing to deserve it. He had 2 memorable games, for me, (one was the 2008 battle against Pierce) and one was against a broken down 2012 Celtics team (the lockout season) in game 6 where Rondo had a triple-double in the ECF. The Heat still had to beat the C's in a game 7 to advance. I say F! U! LeBum.
I would take Bird, Jordan, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, Russell and even Magic over this ring chasing, self-anointed king.
My wish is for all the great past Celtics fans to rise up (from the dead if they have to) and have a No Kings protest on his last game in the Gahden. Boo the **** out him. Show no respect. He certainly had none for us.
(this is what happens before I finish my first cup of coffee)

Not sure if I would take Kobe but I agree with everything else. I would take Kobe if you take into account the fact he stayed with his team his whole career but didn't he try to leave like once or twice? Or wanted to leave. I can't remember. Those are the 2 games I think about as well. I respect LeBron as a basketball player if you ignore everything other than his skills and ability.. But it's hard to ignore everything else with him. Guy is 41 and still as annoying as ever.

 

[borisman]

Not sure if I would take Kobe but I agree with everything else. I would take Kobe if you take into account the fact he stayed with his team his whole career but didn't he try to leave like once or twice? Or wanted to leave. I can't remember. Those are the 2 games I think about as well. I respect LeBron as a basketball player if you ignore everything other than his skills and ability.. But it's hard to ignore everything else with him. Guy is 41 and still as annoying as ever.

If it wasn't for Kyrie and Ray Allen hitting those 2 shots, LeBron has 2 less rings. Not only is he a ring chaser, he's a stat chaser as well. I don't respect those things about him. Great player, no doubt. But man is he an unlikeable person.

Edit: and I don't know how much I count LeBron's covid championship either. Playing in a bubble, with no fans? Not really legit, IMO.

 

[1960Pats]

I think it's going to be a bit harder to trade A 57 million dollar garbage contract for anything other than more garbage, so you've gaIned nothing.

I disagree with the notion that Tatum is the guy to carry this team. We're going to go back to the days of JT walking it up the court and then pounding the ball for 10 seconds before taking a questionable 3. His 3 point shooting has declined. He's averaging less than 35 percent over the past four seasons.

Johnny coined the phrase 'fiddle and diddle' for that kind of nonsense. It killed the C's last year.

I'll miss Brown but not as much as I'd normally miss a star leaving.

 

[1960Pats]

What I'm going to hate about Drama Queen's last season is that, along with all the flowers other teams will be throwing at him, is Celtics might be giving him a piece of the parquet. I will be out of my mind if they do this. He did nothing to deserve it. He had 2 memorable games, for me, (one was the 2008 battle against Pierce) and one was against a broken down 2012 Celtics team (the lockout season) in game 6 where Rondo had a triple-double in the ECF. The Heat still had to beat the C's in a game 7 to advance. I say F! U! LeBum.
I would take Bird, Jordan, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, Russell and even Magic over this ring chasing, self-anointed king.
My wish is for all the great past Celtics fans to rise up (from the dead if they have to) and have a No Kings protest on his last game in the Gahden. Boo the **** out him. Show no respect. He certainly had none for us.
(this is what happens before I finish my first cup of coffee)

Being an older fan I can also add a few more names, starting with Russel and Wilt.

The respect angle is right on too. He shows that only to himself.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

The only seemingly legit championship LeBron ever won in a 23 year career was the one with the Cavs. Keep in mind of course that going into that season the Cavs were actually the super team not the Warriors. The narrative changed because as usual LeBron‘s team was struggling while the Warriors won 73 games But if you look at the preseason betting odds, it was actually the Cavs that were the favorites due to having LeBron, Kyrie, and Kevin Love, who was the biggest free agent signing as LeBron left Miami for super team 2.0. By the finals. It became David versus Goliath, but in reality, it wasn’t like that at all.

Whichever team he goes to you can expect it to follow the exact same cycle as every other season. Pundits can’t figure out why the team is not meeting expectations, they report that LeBron is frustrated with his role, the team fires the coach, then makes some dumb trades based on what LeBron thinks is best, Then after whimpering out in the postseason, everyone cries that LeBron didn’t have enough support This will be after he has selected his final team as the best place to win a championship.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Serious question though. Can anyone name one teammate that has been better playing on LeBron James team then elsewhere? Just one?

I honestly cannot name one teammate in his entire career who benefited from playing on his team and then was exposed when he went somewhere else. On the other hand, I can name so many teammates, whose game simply tanked or disappointed when joining up with LeBron. Not once has there been any kind of multiplier effect we’re having LeBron enhanced teammates production, and allow them to do things that they couldn’t do anywhere else. Many players have complained, though often with just offhand comments, that they hated playing on his team.

I really can’t think of many superstar athletes who are given so much praise for **** that they really didn’t do.

Please add Steph Curry to the list of players you would take over LeBron. Steph is the greatest player of his generation.

 

[jimnance]

Serious question though. Can anyone name one teammate that has been better playing on LeBron James team then elsewhere? Just one?

I honestly cannot name one teammate in his entire career who benefited from playing on his team and then was exposed when he went somewhere else. On the other hand, I can name so many teammates, whose game simply tanked or disappointed when joining up with LeBron. Not once has there been any kind of multiplier effect we’re having LeBron enhanced teammates production, and allow them to do things that they couldn’t do anywhere else. Many players have complained, though often with just offhand comments, that they hated playing on his team.

I really can’t think of many superstar athletes who are given so much praise for **** that they really didn’t do.

Please add Steph Curry to the list of players you would take over LeBron. Steph is the greatest player of his generation.

Most glaring omission is Wilt.
He's easily top 3 all-time.
MJ is #1
Russell, Wilt,Kareem, Magic, Bird in whatever order you put em in are the next 5.
The Big O, Olajuwon, Kobe,Duncan are the next 4.
That's your rock-solid top 10. Pretty indisputable IMHO.
Unlike most of you, I saw  all of em play.
11-16 is very difficult. There's lot of guys you can a make a case for. I'd probably put LeBron at # 11. No higher. No way. Its a tossup to me if LeBron or Steph is #11.
BTW, I doubt you'd find many knowledgeable people, who also watched all the top 10 guys I listed, who would put him higher.
Depending on the rest of his career( he still has work to do), Jokic has a shot at being top 10. He's the only currently active player who does.

 

[JoeSixPat]

It will be interesting this summer league season to see if players are showing signs of taking it to the next level

Hugo and Amari are already showing signs of getting in sync even if both have been rusty

Meanwhile Cenac is indeed raw, but there's raw talent and aggressiveness at the rim there too - which is something you can't teach.

It didn't go down but DAMN - look at this determination to get the 2 points

Give him a year or two to develop that athletic ability and he could be a HUGE contributor in a potential dynasty run after the cap reboot

 

[1960Pats]

The only seemingly legit championship LeBron ever won in a 23 year career was the one with the Cavs. Keep in mind of course that going into that season the Cavs were actually the super team not the Warriors. The narrative changed because as usual LeBron‘s team was struggling while the Warriors won 73 games But if you look at the preseason betting odds, it was actually the Cavs that were the favorites due to having LeBron, Kyrie, and Kevin Love, who was the biggest free agent signing as LeBron left Miami for super team 2.0. By the finals. It became David versus Goliath, but in reality, it wasn’t like that at all.

Whichever team he goes to you can expect it to follow the exact same cycle as every other season. Pundits can’t figure out why the team is not meeting expectations, they report that LeBron is frustrated with his role, the team fires the coach, then makes some dumb trades based on what LeBron thinks is best, Then after whimpering out in the postseason, everyone cries that LeBron didn’t have enough support This will be after he has selected his final team as the best place to win a championship.

I thought that Kyrie carried that Cavs team, not LeBum (I stole that from you @borisman, thanks)

 

[1960Pats]

Most glaring omission is Wilt.
He's easily top 3 all-time.
MJ is #1
Russell, Wilt,Kareem, Magic, Bird in whatever order you put em in are the next 5.
The Big O, Olajuwon, Kobe,Duncan are the next 4.
That's your rock-solid top 10. Pretty indisputable IMHO.
Unlike most of you, I saw  all of em play.
11-16 is very difficult. There's lot of guys you can a make a case for. I'd probably put LeBron at # 11. No higher. No way. Its a tossup to me if LeBron or Steph is #11.
BTW, I doubt you'd find many knowledgeable people, who also watched all the top 10 guys I listed, who would put him higher.
Depending on the rest of his career( he still has work to do), Jokic has a shot at being top 10. He's the only currently active player who does.

I'd probably take Steph ahead of LeBum if it were me.

As a long-time NBA fan what's your take on the way the game has changed? I'm having trouble adjusting to the ridiculous carrying that I see and the moving picks. It seems like playing defense is next to impossible these days.

I also don't care for the way the players from the 60's and 70's are overlooked. When you think about it, because of expansion, the players from that era were going against much stronger teams than players of today. Russell faced Wilt's teams a hundred times in the regular season and fifty in the playoffs. LeBum has played almost twice as many games as Bill but hasn't faced any of the top players for even fifty games in the regular season, I don't think.

I miss Johnny... "Wilt Chamberlain just reached out and pushed KC Jones. HE JUST REACHED OUT AND PUSHED HIM!"

 

[ViperGTS]

It will be interesting this summer league season to see if players are showing signs of taking it to the next level

Hugo and Amari are already showing signs of getting in sync even if both have been rusty

Meanwhile Cenac is indeed raw, but there's raw talent and aggressiveness at the rim there too - which is something you can't teach.

It didn't go down but DAMN - look at this determination to get the 2 points

Give him a year or two to develop that athletic ability and he could be a HUGE contributor in a potential dynasty run after the cap reboot

Yeah that was nasty and showed good awareness. He got some height on that one as well. My jaw dropped when I saw that.