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.
10:42 a.m. PT: Robert Williams, Boston’s first-round pick this season, walks into the room – 18 minutes before the players’ 11 a.m. meeting was set to begin. Larranaga smiles and says, “Hey, can you give us a few?” Williams obliges and heads back to the hallway.
Celtics.com: Exclusive: Go BTS with the Celtics for a Game Day in Vegas
OK I admit that headline was click-baity but I thought considering how Boo Butt has gotten (lived up to?) a bad rap for being late to things, I wanted to throw a little something different into the ether.
Here it is, proof that Robert Williams can show up to things early.
OR…
Maybe he thought the meeting was at 10:30 and he was late. I don’t know. Maybe he can’t tell time.
Let’s just give him the win here and say he was early.
Celtics.com checks in today with a little behind the scenes play-by-play of a day at Vegas summer league.
There are little details in there that are interesting, especially for basketball nerds like me who like to hear terminology and emphasis. Things like “mucking it up” and who determines if there’s a switch on a screen are interesting to me.
Aside from the note that Williams isn’t late for everything, it’s an interesting look at how busy a day can be, even in summer league.
Page 2: The Celtics were apparently willing to give up all their picks for Kawhi
According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe however, with the caveat that Lowe was speaking in a free-flowing podcast setting, the Celtics did offer “most” of their best draft picks, including the highly valuable Sacramento Kings pick.
“I think the Celtics offered most of their best draft picks,” Lowe said, in a conversation with fellow ESPN reporter Mike Wright. “I don’t think the Celtics offered, ‘You can have a bunch of our picks.’ I think some of the picks, at least two of the picks if not all of them that they own from other teams including the Kings, Grizzlies and Clippers, I think those were all in the deal, and the Spurs were like, ‘No, we don’t want that.'”
MassLive: Boston Celtics rumors 2018: Celtics offered Sacramento Kings pick, more in Kawhi Leonard trade talks
This isn’t necessarily new… we’ve heard the Celtics went pick-heavy with their trade offer before. The new nugget here is that Boston seems to have included all their best picks.
This was Boston’s best chance at creating a Warriors-challenging super team. It might have worked if it was a different team with a different coach who wasn’t interested in playing out the end of his time on the bench with a rebuild. Or maybe it would have worked if Toronto didn’t feel it had plateaued.
Let me pause for a minute to look at the potential butterfly effect here…
If Toronto doesn’t collapse in Game 1 of the semis against Cleveland…
If Toronto doesn’t mount a furious rally in Game 3 with DeRozan on the bench…
If DeRozan doesn’t get booted for a flagrant 2 in Game 4…
Kawhi Leonard might be a Celtic.
Maybe he wouldn’t have been, it’s hard to predict how the rest of history goes, but Toronto’s willingness to include an All Star in return for Kawhi was a best-case scenario for a Spurs team that had lost all leverage in other trades.
Keeping the picks keeps Boston on its dual path of contending now and contending later, though. They could still use one or more of those picks in a trade now while using the others to develop players for the Tatum-Brown Banners 19, 20, and 21 era.
This is the true testament to Danny Ainge’s rebuild… the worst-case scenario is still an enviable position for a majority of the league.
And Finally…
The Cavs are trying to stay relevant.
Kevin Love isn’t leaving Cleveland anytime soon.
The All-Star forward signed a new four-year, $120 million contract with the Cavaliers, who are beginning anew following LeBron James’ departure.
[…] Love will make $24.1 million next season before the extension begins, making the whole package worth $145 million over five years. Love waived his option for 2019-20 and there are no other options or trade clauses within the new deal.
He will be paid $28.9 million in 2019-20, $31.3 million in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and $28.8 million in 2022-23.
Herald: Cavaliers sign Kevin Love to 4-year, $120M extension
It’s an interesting move for the Cavs. If they can recapture any of Minnesota Kevin Love, he’ll be good enough to make the Cavs a 6th/7th/8th seed in the East.
That, along with the promising potential of Colin Sexton, could be enough to get people in the door in Cleveland. Dan Gilbert spent a lot of tax money during the LeBron years, he might be looking at a few home playoff games as a chance to make a little of that money back.
I discussed this at length on the Locked On NBA podcast with my special guest SB Nation staff writer Seerat Sohi, aka @DamianTrillard on Twitter.
[protected-iframe id=”fe164894748d6b37b061835f28844c6d-142507471-1227608″ info=”https://player.megaphone.fm/LKN8677664588?” width=”100%” height=”200″ scrolling=”no”]She’s based in Toronto, which means we also had the requisite Boston vs. Toronto post-Kawhi trade discussion so it’s worth checking out.
The rest of the links
MassLive: Former Boston Celtics guard Shane Larkin: Jayson Tatum can ‘easily’ be a top-five player | New Balance has ‘strong interest’ in signing Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward (report)
Herald: Michael Beasley: New Lakers vets can form solid core around LeBron
BSJ: Marcus Smart’s new contract looks very similar to another ex-Celtic’s deal
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