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.
James dominated this series. He had 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in Game 4, and for the lopsided series, he averaged 30.3 points, 11 rebounds and 9.3 assists, becoming the first player in NBA history to average at least 30 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in a series, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
He also joins another exclusive list: He will play in his fifth consecutive NBA Finals, joining of short list of former Boston Celtics who did it in the 1960s and he is the first non-Celtic to do it and first to do it with two teams.
Yup… up until last night, the only players to go to five straight NBA Finals have all been Celtics.
Now LeBron has done it.
But, unlike LeBron, Bill Russell didn’t need to join forces with Wilt Chamberlain and Bob Pettit in St. Louis to make that happen. So that last quoted line is misleading because it means to say he’s the first to make five straight Finals with two teams combined.
Now I don’t hate LeBron quite like some of you do, so I’m not going to take away from the impressiveness of going to the Finals again. Atlanta had no answers for him at all in this very quick series. The New York City Police Department should get an assist for breaking Thabo Sefolosha’s leg, and Matthew Delevedova gets another for taking out Kyle Korver (who needs surgery to fix his badly sprained ankle) and Al Horford, that latter of which could have at least helped make the series 2-1 rather than 3-0 going into last night and somewhat interesting.
But you need breaks to get where you’re going (no, Thabo, no pun intended there) in the NBA, and LeBron got a few. Now he’s in the NBA Finals again, waiting for Steph Curry and the Warriors to finish off Houston. The Dubs will try to be the first team since Michael Jordan’s first Bulls title to win it all with no Finals experience.
So if anyone would like to join me in the front cab of the Warriors bandwagon, hop in. I’m throwing on a double-zero Golden State throwback and hopping into the driver’s seat. Steph Curry’s season, and postseason, has been too good and too much fun to end without him raising trophies in a few weeks.
Page 2: Can James Young make an impact this season?
“We had our interviews in Chicago [earlier this month] at the combine and we interviewed 18 guys. A pretty consistent question is, ‘Do you understand how hard this is going to be?’” Stevens said last week during a stint as guest co-host on Mike & Mike. “It’s a hard transition — 82 games in and of itself is a monster.
Added Stevens: “They may have an idea — like I had an idea [jumping from the college level] — but it’s different. It’s really difficult. We had a 19-year-old this year in James Young, who we think is going to be a fantastic player, whose work ethic is good, who comes to the gym every day, who’s getting better — and he didn’t always get that validation of how much better he’s getting by playing time. That’s a hard position to be in because you’re going through the mundaneness of everyday work and not getting the reward of playing time.
“Ultimately, over the course of time, [Young is] going to be ready, sooner rather than later.”
ESPN Boston: Young and Hungry?
I was asked this question yesterday on Twitter…
@RedsArmy_John Pondering today – C’s need a shooter, could James Young fill that role next year and allow C’s to spend $ elsewhere?
— James Constantino (@MrCocoMarsh) May 26, 2015
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It’s a complicated question because, as James said, the Celtics really do need a shooter. And, as Brad Stevens suggested, James Young really could be the guy.
But even as the Salt Lake City and Las Vegas Summer League approach in a couple of months, it won’t be until November or December that we really find the answers. Which means July and August will be spent throwing money at free agents who may help in that role, only to find that role suddenly crowded as Young matures.
We’ve seen what Young does to D-League talent, and Summer League is full of that level of talent. So I’m fully expecting Young to impress a lot of people (I’m going to try to keep my wits about me when this happens so I don’t write stupid things in July). Hell, he impressed people in a few regular season games this past season. There’s no doubt this kid can shoot. But can he PLAY?
Can he create his own shot a the NBA level? Can he move without the ball? Can he work within the offense, help his teammates, and play a little defense? And if he does start doing that, can he maintain it? Can he become a consistently good player?
It’s there. We can see it in him. But, unfortunately, we’ve seen it in other guys before. We’ve seen that frustratingly tantalizing talent bubbling just below the surface but never breaking through many times over the recent past. What’s James Young going to do to be different? What’s he going to do to not be the next Gerald Green type who has to spend half is career maturing overseas before returning and becoming a solid contributor?
The question with Young isn’t “can he.” He can. But will he?
And Finally…
.. few things piss me off more than Twitter “doctors” who sit on their couches and question the decisions of actual doctors. So when Steph Curry came out of the locker room two nights ago after that scary fall, he was ushered back with the Twitter uproar about whether he was making the right decision.
Well, he did, because he was checked not once, but twice
In fact, according to Warriors general manager Bob Myers, the team doctors made Curry duplicate the concussion protocols to be doubly sure.
After that, Curry went into the hallway and ran back and forth a few times, which is not on any concussion protocol, but was common careful sense after such a scary fall.
[…] Curry looked, sounded and tested fine on Monday night and there were no indications about any further problems, Myers said on Tuesday, before the Warriors departed their hotel to fly back to the Bay Area.“At the very, very end, when he passed the tests, then it became ‘there’s no reason he couldn’t play,’” Myers said. “So then it was, he passed the tests, passed them once, passed them twice…“At that moment, he looked at me, said, ‘Yeah, I’m ready to go.’”
Some people think team doctors are just a bunch of Dr. Nick Rivieras who give the diagnosis the team needs when in fact these are all people with their own private practices and reputations to uphold. When I needed surgery to repair a separated shoulder, I went to the practice run by the Celtics team doctor because that made me feel confident that it would be properly fixed. If they were just a bunch of hacks who did Ainge’s bidding, it’d be obvious, and no one would want to actually see them in real life.
Same with the Warriors doctors, who would have been ruined if Curry went out there on national TV with a concussion. They’d have had to answer questions about why they let a concussed player out there, why they’d rubber-stamp risking the MVP’s health in a Game 4 blowout when they’re up 3-0.
Curry is ready to go tonight. Time to drop 41 on Houston at home and prepare to end LeBron’s season.
The rest of the links:
Globe: There’s no such thing as a sure thing in NBA draft | Herald: Brad Stevens enjoys watch and learn role for draft | CSNNE: Possible small forward targets for Celtics | Crowder making great strides in return from knee injury | Celtics readying for draft prospect workouts all week | ESPN Boston: Celtics salary by the numbers | MassLive: Celtics rumors: Crowder wants to stay long term | Is Robert Upshaw worth the risk?
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