The Weekend Greenie Bag - It's Time To Brace Ourselves For The Summer Of Yabu
Alright it’s time to take a break for a second from NBA free agency to check in for this week’s Weekend Greenie Bag so we can see what is on the minds of fellow stoolies. If you’re experiencing a lazy Sunday you know that for the most part things have been relatively quiet so this if the perfect time. There has been a bit of Celtics news since we last spoke, and obviously that inspired some of your questions/takes. As a reminder to participate each week in this blog simply tweet me whatever with #GreenieBag or you can email greenieceltsbag@gmail.com. It’s safe, easy, and always open. With Summer League about to start I expect all of you to give me your best overreaction.
With that said let’s not waste any more time and get right to it
We’re starting off with Taylor’s question because I want to formally address the Baynes signing. I cannot stress how excited I was to see it, not just the fact that it was a 2 year deal (player option YR2), but the price. Just 11 million!! If you’ve read the blog before you know how strongly I feel that Baynes is the perfect center for this team, and the type of center this team desperately needed for years. He defends at an extremely high level, he’s physical as hell, he can make a corner three, and he makes his FTs. There were a lot of factors that contributed to the Celtics league best defense, and Baynes is high on that list. I love how he not only can guard his position, but once you switch him onto a small player he has the quickness to not make a complete ass of himself. All that for 5.5M a year is a godsend. I love that he wanted to be here and basically told Danny do whatever you have to do in order to make it happen.
Now while you’re getting ahead of yourself assuming we sign Smart, I am getting more confident with each passing hour. We haven’t seen any crazy contracts go out that would suggest the market for Smart is going to be something Ainge doesn’t feel comfortable matching. In terms of your question, I’m not so concerned with the bench needing shooting, only because this team is going to add a whole bunch of shooting in Kyrie and Hayward and Theis. This will now give Brad more options so that he always has an elite shooter or two on the floor with the second unit. Who knows they could always just cut Nader and find a shooter at the deadline if needed.
Love all the blogs.
I’m convinced Yabu will be summer league MVP what your thought on his chances? – David
Well David, I tend to agree
As of right now he’s the leader in the clubhouse for the highly coveted Summer League Crush Award. Previous winners include Terry Rozier and Jayson Tatum, so as you can see things tend to work out for whoever is lucky enough to walk away with the final rose. We’re a handful of days away from seeing Yabu hit the court, and as you can imagine I’m pretty fucking excited. The Summer Of Yabu is going to be the best part of my entire summer.
What do you think the probability is of Danny sticking his nose into the LA/SA Kawhi trade and giving up a pick or two and ending up with Kuz? – Matthew
I’d say pretty slim. I think the Celts are done wheeling and dealing for now. Naturally this means there 100% will be a trade but I don’t think we’ll see him involved in whatever the end result is with Kawhi. We’ll hear him maybe be used for leverage, but that’s about it.
I will say this though, I was able to trade for Kuzma in 2K with Nader/1st and you know what he’s decent at best. He can make the open corner three but he’s also kind of slow and can’t really dribble. Definitely one of those guys who is better in real life and got sort of screwed in 2K. If the 2K version is who Ainge would ultimately end up with, it’s a pass for me*.
*Unless they really would do that Nader/1st trade. Then I’ll get him from Logan myself.
Now that he George staying in OKC, do you think this alters Lebrons thinking or do you think he has been all in LA no matter what? Thanks – Will
Well this is the 1 million dollar question isn’t it? We’re all just sitting around waiting for LeBron to announce what he’s doing. Today’s news is that there is a meeting with PHI only LeBron isn’t there, Nick Wright is saying he already made his decision, and meanwhile we’re just stuck here speculating. I personally think LeBron knew George was going stay in OKC for a while, and that didn’t really impact his decision either way. I find it highly unlikely that James was take off guard last night. Not someone as connected as him. I think what Lebron is waitig for is the resolution of the Kawhi drama. If he ends up on PHI, LeBron would be a moron not to go there. If Pop finally gets the price he wants from the Lakers, LeBron will be a Laker. If Kawhi stays put, it wouldn’t shock me if Lebron/Boogie team up for if LeBron stays in CLE for one more year.
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Basically this is the biggest domino, but I don’t think George staying in OKC impacted it all that much. Probably old news to those involved.
Floor: League MVP
Ceiling: Finals MVP
In all honesty, I would like to see Yabu get 15-20 minutes a night. I would let Monroe walk and see what you have with a Yabu/Williams frontcourt. He showed enough on the defensive end to tell you he isn’t a total disaster, and you have to love the fact that he can stretch the floor. This is why this summer is so important for him. If he shows a real leap and gets even better defensively, Brad will play him. We’ve seen that from Brad before, where if he can trust you on the defensive end he has no problem giving you some run.
For some reason there are still some Yabu doubters out there, but just know once the train leaves the station you will not be allowed on.
The more I think about it, the more I love the idea of LeBron going to LA. In fact, I need it to happen. Could you think of a team you would enjoy rooting against more than a LeBron led Lakers team with Lavar Ball’s son at point and Magic as the President of Basketball Ops? If they could ever get past the Warriors, banner 18 could be the sweetest one yet… – Scott
I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me it doesn’t really matter who is on the Lakers, my hatred for them never changes. It’s the same now as it was in 2010, or 2008, or literally any other day of my life. Doesn’t matter if they are at the top of their conference and good, or the complete disaster they’ve been recently. If LeBron were to end up on the Lakers he would just be another hated Laker.
The thing that kills me is that nothing would make me happier than seeing Magic strike out on every free agent all together, but that just means that LeBron stays in the East and that’s a headache I’m ready to avoid. So essentially they can get LeBron or they could strike out and my mindset would never change. Fuck the Lakers now and forever.
I’m starting to freak out about the Suns sending an absolutely stupid offer to Marcus Smart. They renounced the rights to the only pure point guard they have on the roster (Elfrid Payton) and with that draft night deal where they let an unprotected first round pick go to move up 6 spots they proved that they’re willing to do anything to turn around the losing culture that’s persisted there over the years. Please talk me off a ledge. – Paul
Great news Paul! We have nothing to worry about when it comes to Marcus Smart and the Suns because they don’t have the money to make an offer Ainge won’t match. Shout out Trevor Ariza!
They were also someone I feared heading into last night, them and the Pacers/Mavs specifically. Thankfully they all spend their load on other guys, and the list for Smart is getting smaller and smaller. Everything continues to come up Ainge!
Hey Greenie,
Great work you’re doing man. Keep the green Kool Aid flowing. So we signed Brad Wanamaker today and I want to be one of the first on the Wanamaker bandwagon. I heard some rumblings about the C’s having interest in him a month back so I looked at some film and I think this guy is going to be another one of those Ainge diamonds in the rough. He’s got the size at 6’4 ,210lbs which makes him bigger than Terry and about the same size as Smart. From what I’ve seen the guy can seemingly fill it up on offense. He seems like he has good range on his shot, attacks the basket, and can find the open man. The only question is on defense, but I can’t imagine Danny and Brad bringing in a guy that they know won’t play any D. With our guard situation up in the air over these next couple of years, Wanamaker seems like a great (cheap) option to slide into our rotation and potentially make an impact. This guy is going to be a fan favorite next year. – Ryan
I’m with you Ryan. I didn’t know much about Wanamaker other than he went to Pitt so I did my due diligence and watched about 1,000 YouTube videos so I feel like I’m well versed enough to make a decision. The one thing that stood out to me was he looks pretty damn quick, and while I put a giant grain of salt on that given the competition, it still jumps out at you. With his side I’m interested to see how he slashes and finishes at the rim at this level.
It’s always important to remember to allow this guy to have a transition period since he isn’t playing in the Summer League, but the Celtics have had success with guys that played in this same league. People didn’t think Daniel Theis was going to be anything and Brad found a way to make him a rotational player. Add to the fact that Brad is for sure a point guard whisperer, I am excited to see what he does once he gets Wanamaker in his possession. Guard depth is especially important on this team, mostly because our guards love getting hurt, so having a cheap high upside player to maybe take some regular season minutes is a luxury I don’t mind having.
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And that’s it! Hopefully this helped you kill some time and fend off the Sunday Scaries a little bit. You are now free to head back to Twitter and free agency, or if you want you can enjoy the NBA classic below. As always thanks to everyone who wrote in, I’ll see you all next week.
Have a great rest of your Sunday