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.
Jackson’s multi-year deal with Boston is fully guaranteed for this season only. It’s the kind of commitment that tells you Boston has no plans of unloading him prior to the start of the season despite having 16 players with guaranteed deals, which is one more than the NBA allows prior to the start of the regular season.
A more realistic short-term expectation will be for him to spend a considerable amount of time this season shuffling back and forth between Boston and the Celtics’ Development League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws.
Spending time in the D-League isn’t so bad.
Last season, Rozier averaged a team-high 19.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 8.0 assists in 14 games with the Red Claws, which he said helped him keep his confidence relatively high even when he wasn’t seeing any action with the Celtics.
Boston big man Jordan Mickey was a D-League All-Star last season and he, too, has talked about the benefits of being a D-Leaguer.
Boston had seven picks in the 2016 NBA draft. To put that in perspective, the New England Patriots, who have to maintain a roster of 53 players, had only nine picks in their 2016 draft.
Demetrius Jackson, who had been projected as a mid-to-late first rounder fell all the way to Boston at 45. The Celtics glommed onto the Notre Dame product, and gave him a pretty decent deal for a guy who is another short guard on a team that has apparently decided to corner the market on that commodity.
As with Tyler Zeller’s deal, there’s no guarantee for year two, which means that the team is keeping its flexibility for next year, now that they know they’re not getting Kevin Durant or any other major free agents this year. This has become something of a pattern for Boston: They’ll readily overpay players in order to avoid guaranteeing second years (as in the Johnson and Jerebko deals). In this case, the contract is a nice payday for a draft pick that doesn’t obligate the Celtics to anything long term.
I expect Jackson to make the roster. I don’t think he’ll be traded before the season starts as every other team in the league had a chance to draft him and didn’t. If he is traded, it would almost certainly be part of a larger deal.
Page 2: Where Isaiah Thomas loves Damon Stoudamire
It was endearing, then, when the lefty posted a series of Damon Stoudamire highlights in an Instagram story late Thursday night. “Thanks Mighty Mouse for the highlight tape,” Thomas captioned the first clip, referring to Stoudamire’s nickname. Thomas has said he patterned his game after Stoudamire, and the similarities pop out in the highlights. Some of the stop-and-start dribbles look just like moves Thomas unveiled at the TD Garden last season.
“Our games are identical,” Thomas wrote in another caption.
One of the things I like about IT is that–the occasional stupid technical notwithstanding–he can keep his competitive streak more or less in check. This is a guy who finds motivation in slights without turning into a joyless troll in the process. It’s kind of fun to see IT gripe about his NBA2k rating, because he’s the same guy who was so excited to meet Tiny Archibald.
Finally: Jaylen Brown got a new ride
You may have seen Jaylen’s tweet about his new ride. I thought it needed some improvement.
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