The Weekend Greenie Bag - We're Talkin Re-Drafts

Morning everybody and welcome back to the latest edition of the Weekend Greenie Bag. My apologies last week, before I knew it it was late Sunday and I realized I hadn’t thrown this blog up. I can put my hand up, I fucked up, that’s on me. But we’re back and better than ever with plenty of your takes to talk through. For those who maybe clicked on this blog (appreciate the #pageview, every one counts!) contributing to this blog is easy. You can tweet me whatever basketball thought comes into your brain with #GreenieBag, or if you weren’t blessed with 280 characters you can email me at greenieceltsbag@gmail.com. It’s easy and all the cool kids are doing it so you probably should too.

Now, your questions…

You know I hadn’t weighed in on this story, but when I saw this question I figured it was time. If you haven’t read the Jaylen story, I recommend it because it’s fantastic, but he also had some pretty heavy quotes, most noticeably about the culture of the Celtics, and how it was more say one thing act another type of situation.

Initially, I get where Jaylen was coming from. Like myself and many of you, Jaylen is an Isaiah guy. It’s true that the Celtics preached a certain way of doing things, buying into their “system”. Within that culture there’s aspects of loyalty, hard work, sacrifice, all that shit that sounds cliche that we all tend to roll our eyes at, but it’s true. It was an awkward situation for everyone involved for sure, and I think it poses an interesting question.

Will how Ainge and the Celtics treated Isaiah have any potential impact on future players/free agents? From the outside looking in, are players going to see this situation and think “man, that could be me”, and decide not to play or resign in Boston? I think that’s a little extreme, mostly because if the Celtics end up being as good as we all hope, they will be a destination. I also think that as much as Jaylen enjoyed played with Isaiah, he’ll share those same feelings with Kyrie. He was just grieving. I get it.

Greenie I know we’ve all been taking turns conducting the Yabu hype train, but I think its time to address the giant Theis in our collective pants. With no bigs from last year returning and Morris most likely taking most of Olnyk’s minutes, there’s an open rotation spot for a second big off the bench and Theis looks to be that guy. What intrigues me about him the most is that he has several years of playing professionally already under his belt, the bulk of which he was doing yeoman’s work on the glass, which is exactly what this team needs right now. Yeah its only been one game, in the preseason, but the guy seems to have a knack for positioning himself in the right place like a seasoned veteran. Also looks like he can guard multiple positions so obviously Brad is all in. – Paul

Paul sent this in after Theis’ debut 12/7 performance, and let me tell you, the fun didn’t stop. He would grab 17 more rebounds over the next three games and I have to agree with Paul, he looks great. We didn’t really see the same sort of outside shooting that YouTube promised me, but I’ll let that slide because of his rebounding/defense/rim protection. He’s listed at just 6’9 but definitely plays bigger, and I agree, you can for sure use him at multiple positions.

So let me add this all up. He rebounds, he protects the rim, he is supposed to hit threes, and you can use him on all different types of players?

This is where I suppose the h8ers will point out that it’s preseason and to put any stock into Theis’ production is stupid. Oh yeah? Well you’re stupid

What a diabolical question Alex. I am standing at my desk in this hotel clapping for you. Love it. Now, my lifetime is a little extreme, that’s 30 years of drafts, and I’m not really interested in doing that much thinking. So I changed it to drafts since 2003, or basically the Danny Ainge era. This is what I came up with

2007: Rd 2, Pick 32 – Gabe Pruitt

Who would I have liked to take instead? Oh I dunno, maybe this dude named Marc Gasol who went 16 picks later in the second round

2008: Rd 1, Pick 30 – J.R Giddens

Ah yes, the J.R. Giddens pick, can’t believe that didn’t work out. You’re probably thinking well, it was a late pick so who could possibly have gone later? Well, I hear DeAndre Jordan is pretty good, and he went 5 picks later. You could also argue for Goran Dragic, but considering they had just drafted Rondo, this doesn’t bother me as much.

2011: Rd 1, Pick 25 – Marshon Brooks

Maybe it’s cheating because the Celtics traded this pick, but if I could do that over again I’d keep the pick and take this guy Jimmy Butler instead. He went 5 picks later. I could have done without JuJuan Johnson (who they ended up with)

2012: Rd 1 Pick 21 + 22 – Jared Sullinger/Fab Melo

God dammit Ainge. We could have been GS. Draymond Green went 13 picks later.

2013: Rd 1, Pick 13 – Kelly Olynyk

Sigh, Giannis

2014: Rd 1, Pick 16 – James Young

OK this one hurts me, but I can call a spade a spade. Celtics probably would have been better taking Rodney Hood here. Alright I’m not having fun anymore.

The celtics must be the toughest team in the league. If a fight breaks out I’m taking the celtics against any other team in the league. Good luck throwing mitts against Yabu, Semi (imagine that headlock), Jaylen (boxer), Baynes (grit), T-roze, Marcus Smart, and Marcus fucking Morris. Name a tougher team cause you can’t – Eric

You’re right Eric, I can’t so I won’t. Combat muscles like you fucking read about. You didn’t even mention Baynes!

Been a die hard Greenie fan for about two years now and somehow you find ways to be better each year. I don’t know how you have time to do the nba last night recaps but Im all for it. Anyway to my question I was wondering who you think will be the leaders in points assists and rebounds this year for the Cs? Watching this game tonight I feel like Hayward is a dark horse contender for assists. Irving should lead the team in points and Hortford in rebounds but any other favorites to win those categories? – Henry

First off Henry, thank you for reading, I truly appreciate it and I’m glad you enjoy the blogs. Basically the secret is don’t sleep, and I’m a basketball junkie just tryin to break free from the cubes. I like where your head is at, and I agree Hayward is a sneaky candidate. Mostly because I think we’ll see a lot of him run the offense sort of like he did in Utah

Could he beat out Kyrie who will prob live in the 5-6.5 range? It’s certainly possible. Scoring will probably be Kyrie not only because of his offensive ability, but how this offense utilizes their PG. Will he replicate Isaiah’s 29 a game? I don’t think so, but as long as he’s efficient I don’t really care. For rebounds it most likely will be Horford at around 7 a game, but you know what, if Baynes starts and plays decent minutes, it wouldn’t shock me to see him be our best overall rebounder.

You bet your sweet ass it is Rory*

*this is me trying to speak it into existence so that it actually happens.

I dunno Charlie, does this sound like something a crazy person would say after watching this?

I didn’t think so either.

And that’ll do it for this week’s Greenie Bag. This blog is back to regular programming every weekend from here until the end of time, so don’t forget to hit me up throughout the week. Oh and guess what, Celtics play for real in 2 days. We did it.

Have a great Sunday everybody!