I didn't see a post about it, so I apologize if there was one and I missed it!
I saw the video in an article from Celticsblog if you want to watch it.
In regards to who will win the Eastern Conference:
Scalabrine: If Tatum comes back in February, do you look at the East differently?
Forsberg: Not terribly.
Scalabrine: We're the best team in the East if he comes back.
Forsberg: How early do you expect him to be Jayson Tatum?
Scalabrine: April 1st
If Scal is right (which IDK how clued in he is organizationally), do you expect Brad & co. to do anything at the trade deadline just in case? Or keep it rolling with who we have and see what happens? Or would you even want them to do anything?
Deadline is February 5th, so we wouldn't have a large sample size at all of what JT would look like when he comes back if he is back before then.
20 comments
No serious contender is trotting out Queta and Garza as their center rotation. Gotta fix that somehow.
Think you are reading too much into it. Even if he is back in April I think we just get him back up to speed the rest of the way and make bigger swings in the summer. Next season is the focus
We need to trade for a big.
Anything notable about April 1st?
Do I think we are the best team in the east if Tatum comes back – no. Do I think we’re like top 3, probably. Teams like the Knicks and cavs have a ton of talent across their entire roster, and it’s with guys who have at least been contributors in the playoffs vs with us, most of our role players have 0 playoff success in their roles – even pritchard you cannot say has been a successful playoff contributor in a starting level role.
Also Tatum likely won’t be fully 100% when back, like he won’t be the same dude cutting to the basket with the ball on 75% of our offensive plays. It’ll be hard for him to maintain the same level of rebounding also.
This is the daily argument in our chat group
Some refuse to believe JT will be back to form this season and chant for tanking
Others are saying there is a real probability JT will be back on court in February and back to himself by April.
‘+ expect a trade for a top 10 / top 15 center by the deadline and it’s a totally different ceiling.
I feel it would be a terrible idea JT coming back into full metal playoff situation, go for the picks this year and keep these young guns quiet until next year. Literally nobody is watching or even talking about us this year good to fly under the radar and go again next year imo
All I know is that we are SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE than the team that got eliminated by the Knicks last year. We have no shot at winning a ring this year. We have no shot at winning a ring next year too if we don’t improve the roster. Like absolutely no chance. The Thunder would sweep us. The nuggets would beat us in 5.
I think a lineup of Dwhite, JB, JT, Minott, and a true starting center; with backups PP, Walsh, Scheierman, Hauser, Hugo and Queta can be contenders.
The Tatum injury is the pretext the new cheap owner is using to avoid taxes
Brad might dump Simons, but he won’t do it because of Tatum. This season is all about positioning the team for next year.
Scal is trolling.
Is everyone taking this April Fools comment seriously? Surely its a wind up from Scal
first of all, Scal is never right. secondly, we all pretty much know he is coming back even if it’s just to shake some rust off.
We don’t have any reliable bigs. I don’t want JT having to comeback and shoulder the rebounding load
Hey man I love Scal… This is stupid as shit.
If Tatum somehow wins a ring with the current roster he immediately becomes the GOAT above Jordan or Bron and wins MVP 20 years back to back.
Regardless of Tatum coming back, we need a reliable center BAD. Queta is growing on me and has shown insane improvement, but he still doesn’t feel like a starter to me. Not to mention he can’t do it all himself. Unless we can get that and tighten up the defense, “best team in the east” even with Tatum feels like major rose-tinted (green-tinted?) glasses
Can we get like Dennis Rodman to just aggressively rebound the ball?
I expect January
We are in a title window, not a title season. Whatever they do needs to address the lack of front court scoring scoring defense. They need an elite player there for the next 4 years if we are going to seriously contend.
A draft pick doesnt do it. It would take 4 years for them to even be ready for that role. So I dont think we approach it differently either way. I think if there is absolutely nothing then you duck under the tax and keep your options open in case next year is a disaster also. But plan A should be getting a young big who can develop and fit the simons salary slot with room to go up once the cap goes up some more.