The question is what is jrue worth. He is aging and on an expiring. I have seen some say multiple first round picks which seems much too high. I have seen suggested player packages that don’t make sense. Depends if Portland wants a pick or players I guess, depending on the offer but I would say equivalent of a first rounder probably (say mid round).
The trade was done for the playoffs. The Bucks have had trouble on offense in late-game situations in the postseason. Doesn’t help that Giannis was hurt last year and Middleton was out the year before, but even so, they were just lost offensively in crunch time. They’ll certainly lose defense in Jrue (plus he’s an awesome dude), but the thought of Giannis and Dame plus the possibility of Middleton getting better looks is scary.
As a Bucks fan, I’m disappointed that Jrue didn’t end up in the West, but I’m also not sure how the Celtics are going to defend big teams now. Feels like Giannis and Brook will be able to do whatever they want in the paint.
(of course, playoff rosters will look different than they look now)
Yeah I think the Boston roster is very much a frankenstein’s monster at this point. It could be terrifying or failure horribly, and I am not convinced their coach is the right job for the job.
Boston and Milwaukee will both be fun to watch this year though.
I’m emotional over losing Bob Williams, but I like it in the aggregate. Jrue > Smart and Zinger > Time Lord. I posted on here I thought Brogdan lost something as a playmaker, though obviously he was great from 3 until he got hurt against Miami.
Not super worried about losing Williams vs Bucks - he couldn’t defend Giannis at all, and I think he wasn’t a good matchup with Brook - size issue and he couldn’t help off Brook as much as other bigs. Brook could then roam off defense since Williams couldn’t space. Different story with Porzingis.
Just let everyone (in all of the NBA) be healthy please.
I think this is right, except that I would expect Horford to come off the bench if everyone is healthy. Derrick White was too great last year to come off the bench. The advanced numbers where he was the PG last season are insane. I don’t know how it will work with him and Jrue, but part of sending Smart out was turning it over to White.
In a normal playoff series, it’ll be Tatum/Horford/Porzingis that take all 96 of the 4/5 minutes. Against the Bucks I assume we’ll see Oshae Brissett or Lamar Stevens play the Grant Williams role of taking Giannis offensive fouls for 20 minutes. Stevens is a little thicker, not quite Grant level.
And yeah, Porzingis can get hurt. Horford can get hurt, Jrue can get hurt. It’s true of every contender - Milwaukee went out in 5 games last year in the first round.