Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Tatum tore up the league in his rookie season. This summer, along with his trainer Drew Hanlen, he got a chance to work with one of his basketball heroes — former Laker Kobe Bryant. After working with Tatum, and seeing a mashup of Tatum and Bryant’s games that circulated Twitter, Bryant wanted to know why the Lakers didn’t simply take Tatum.
From Evan Daniels’ podcast with Hanlen: “We actually showed Kobe it yesterday, and he was like, ‘Why didn’t the Lakers draft him?’ Which was pretty funny after seeing that. Jayson idolized Kobe.”
To hear Danny Ainge tell it, Boston always wanted Jayson Tatum in the 2017 draft and they would have taken him first if they couldn’t have swung that trade with Philadelphia.
*perennial reminder: The Philadelphia 76’ers gave Danny Ainge a first round pick potentially as high as 2nd overall so he could draft the guy he wanted.
Boston dropped to 3rd so they could select Tatum because everyone knew Los Angeles would take Lonzo and Lavar Ball with the second pick (everyone knows they’re a package deal).
However, Kobe Bryant, after a year of watching the Lakers and a weekend of working out with Tatum, is openly wondering why the Lakers passed on Jayson.
I don’t know what kind of player Lonzo will ultimately become. He really is an elite-level passer and someone with an elite-level skill should have a place in the league.
But Tatum has the ability to be a special, all-around player very quickly. He could become Boston’s best player before his rookie contract is done. It’s possible that, by that point, there will be a significant segment of Lakers fandom who will lament the decision to bring the Ball reality show to life rather than draft a star player.
They can join the Philadelphia fans at the bar to commiserate. At least the Lakers didn’t give up a lottery pick to draft Lonzo.
Page 2: Kyrie recruited Hayward before coming to Boston
David Griffin former Cavaliers general manager said on Cleveland sports radio Sunday the visit Hayward went on turned into a commitment from the then 23-year-old forward. Apparently Irving had commitments from Hayward, Trevor Ariza and Channing Frye before LeBron James returned to the team in free agency.
A commitment from Hayward didn’t necessarily mean he would have ended up a Cavalier. As a restricted free agent, the Utah Jazz had the right to match any offer sheet Hayward signed. He ended up signing a four-year $62 million offer sheet with Charlotte, which Utah subsequentially matched.
NBCS Boston: David Griffin: Kyrie Irving had Gordon Hayward committed to Cavs before LeBron signed
We knew Kyrie had recruited Hayward to go to Cleveland pre-LeBron return, but we didn’t know he’d secured the commitment.
This, of course, means very little overall but it’s a nice nugget to throw into the discourse about Kyrie’s free agency. When people tell you Kyrie has talked about wanting to team up with Jimmy Butler or Kevin Durant, you can throw right back at them that he’s talked about playing with Gordon Hayward too… and had actively recruited to play with him before.
This was part of the discussion on today’s Locked On Celtics podcast. Jay King makes a simple but important point in here… all these star players would love to play on the same team because that would probably be fun… that doesn’t mean they’re all going to do it.
[protected-iframe id=”8e6c6b7bacc06c9699bbe0bb07f16107-142507471-1227608″ info=”https://player.megaphone.fm/LKN4795485384?” width=”100%” height=”200″ scrolling=”no”]No one knows what Kyrie is going to do next summer. He’s got so much going for him in Boston that it would be hard to imagine him going, but he’s such a unique person that it’s hard to know what fuels that decision.
We shouldn’t worry about that too much, but it’ll be interesting to see how far the media pushes the question and how he’ll respond during the season.
And Finally…
Do you miss Ricky Davis trying to get buckets? You know you do.
Well, you can go watch him do it again this Friday at the Garden.
Ricky Davis will be back playing hoop at TD Garden on Friday, part of the Big3 basketball league that makes its first stop in Boston in its two-year tenure. Davis is playing his first season with the Ghost Ballers, a member of the eight-team league that has allowed former NBA players to get back on the court and relive their playing days in the halfcourt format.
Davis played parts of 12 seasons in the NBA and 2½ with the Celtics. He was eventually traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in January 2006 in the deal for Michael Olowokandiand Wally Szczerbiak. Though the mid-2000s were hard times, Davis did average 17 points in each of his two full seasons.
“Man, those are some of my greatest moments,” he said of his time with the Celtics. “Playing with Boston is another level. They’ve got some of the best fans ever with all sports. So I was blessed to be able to be out there in a Celtics jersey. But coming back to Boston, it’s fun.”
I’ll admit, I only catch the Big 3 here and there, but it seems fun and it’s a way to watch some of your favorite former players back on the court.
Scal and Big Baby will be there too. Could be a fun trip back in time.
The rest of the links
Herald: LeBron James says joining Lakers is ‘a dream come true’
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