Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
With the Lakers once again struggling, Magic Johnson admitted that he thinks the team should try to lose every game in an attempt to get a better draft pick.
Should the Celtics take a similar approach?
Tommy Heinsohn is not on board with that plan.
“I will leave the city if the Celtics were to do that,” said Heinsohn. “You’re in here to create a winning attitude. You know how difficult it’s going to be for Philadelphia who have apparently been trying to do the same thing. To reconstitute a winning attitude for the fans, they’re losing fans by the hundreds every time they lose a game, it will take years to rebuild it.”
CSNNE – Heinsohn will ‘leave the city’ if Celtics tank
Even with the late game struggles, this year’s Celtics seem to be a whole lot better than the team we saw last year. Ainge may still be in an evaluating mode more than a ‘win at all costs’ mode, but I don’t think there’s any tanking going on around here now. As far as that strategy goes, it’s interesting because the majority of the old school guys are 100% against it. Magic Johnson is the only exception I can recall and I’m actually pretty surprised he came out and said he wants the Lakers to lose. It could pay off for the Lakers if they landed a top pick, as they’d possibly look to trade it for an established piece to put next to Kobe for his final tour. But Tommy is right…tanking essentially creates a loser’s mentality and often causes more harm than good in most cases. But the lure of landing the next Tim Duncan or LeBron James will always exist.
As for perennial tanking — Tommy’s right about the Sixers. They certainly can get better over time, but will they even sniff contender status? It took KD and Russ a few years to turn a bad team into a playoff team and they’re talent level far surpassed the skills of Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter Williams. Throw Embiid into the mix and you have a solid core, but you also have two seven-footers with serious injury history. On top of that, Philly is set to land a top pick in a draft front loaded with big men and they have Dario Saric coming in the mix in a year. Even if all those guys pan out, some will seek bigger roles elsewhere (like Greg Monroe now), and they could lose those assets for nothing.
Page 2: James Young suffered a right shoulder subluxation…huh?
Boston Celtics rookie James Young is undergoing testing Thursday after suffering a right shoulder injury while on assignment with the Maine Red Claws in an NBA Developmental League appearance.
Young suffered a right shoulder subluxation in the third quarter of a game against the Delaware 87ers on Wednesday night. The 19-year-old collided with Delaware forward Drew Gordon at midcourt, while attempting to catch a long outlet pass. Young walked off the court under his own power, while clutching his right shoulder.
“I guess his shoulder subluxed and they are doing more tests to see the extent of the injury,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Thursday afternoon. “Those can be very, very short term things, or they can be a little bit longer. That’s the extent of what I know. He’s getting X-rays right now.”
Boston.com – James Young suffers right shoulder subluxation
Just googled ‘subluxation’ as I can’t recall ever hearing that term before. It’s a complete or partial dislocation, which reminds me of the shoulder injuries Avery Bradley went through earlier in his career. Thankfully the injury was to Young’s right (non-shooting hand), as he’s been on-point with the three ball so far up in Maine. Before the injury this Wednesday, Young was 5-7 from deep against the Delarare 87ers:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ylb_iOCvMk?list=UUpGimyrbwRtrcJ-CIiRDXbA]Strong D-League play should always be taken with a grain of salt (see Fab Melo), but it’s just nice to see Young drilling step-back threes in the video above. His ability to get the shot over most defenders should pay dividends for us in future late-game scenarios. I’m not sure how much playing time Young will get this season (if any), but he seems like a taller version of Marcus Thornton, in the sense that he probably can’t defend well but he can act as a sparkplug in spots.
The rest of the links:
Grantland – NBA Shootaround: Me against the world
CSNNE –First Quarter Report Card
ESPN – 7,500 pairs of LeBron Nikes stolen
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