Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I don't get to shut it down after a couple of decent July performances.
- I hate what Las Vegas Summer League has become. There's no need to put all 30 teams in the middle of a 115-degree desert and force them into a dumb “playoff” at the end. No one cares about who “wins” summer league.
They're there to watch the phenoms at the top of the draft, all of whom play two or three games at the most, or get a glimpse of some young players on their favorite teams so they can say “I saw him way back when.” All of which is great.
By the end, though, everyone is just dragging themselves to the finish line. Yes, competitive nature kicks in, but no one should be spending two weeks in Vegas under any circumstances. But it’s become a money-maker, which always trumps everything. Heaven forbid the league leaves a couple of bucks on the table for something that makes sense.
- People are most indignant when they don’t like a take about their favorite young player.
- I like Hugo Gonzalez. A guy who sees the game and tries as hard as he does will be fine.
- Bronny James looked okay. I don’t know what kind of player he’ll become or if he’ll get a consistent role in the NBA just yet, but he didn’t look like a guy that should just be dismissed. I think he’s at least earning an opportunity.
Of course, the national media will take that 10 steps too far, but my point stands.
- I’m happy for Damian Lillard. It’s good to see a guy making a life decision instead of ring-chasing. Lillard wanted to be with his family, so that's what he did. Finishing his career without a ring shouldn’t taint anything about his legacy.
I’m not sure what the hell the Blazers are doing with this roster, but good for Dame nonetheless.
- The Celtics did have an offer out to Lillard, which led to this photoshop.
REPORT: The Celtics are the current favorites to land Damian Lillard, per @BrettSiegelNBA pic.twitter.com/0QYSTTlVfW
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 16, 2025
This is what happens when you have 20-somethings just pumping social media content out without realizing what they're doing.
- I’ll make my quarterly plea to add the numbers 01, 02, 03, 05, and 06 into the mix for the Celtics. If 00 and 0 can exist, why can’t 5 and 05?
At the VERY least, give us 01 and 02. The numbers 1 and 2 were retired for Walter Brown and Red Auerbach. I think we can take some liberties with those. Or un-retire them. Brown and Auerbach, especially Red, have been honored in so many ways that putting those numbers back in circulation would be fine to me.
- Adam Silver on NBA expansion: “In terms of the most recent team transactions, there’s no question that those purchase prices have an impact on any economic analysis of a team. It doesn’t necessarily complicate it more, but it certainly is an indication of value. It’s just one other factor we have to look at as we are trying to think what is the value of expansion, what does it mean to dilute the existing equity and how additive is this potentially to the league by adding an additional team.”
Translation: Current owners want to keep all their TV money right now and THEN they’ll take the expansion fees later. It’ll probably be at least a couple more years before we see another team in the NBA.
I think the talent level is there to expand. Adding 36 new players into the league won’t dilute the talent all that much. And by the time we get to expansion, the second apron will have spread talent round a bunch already. I don’t think an expansion draft will be that detrimental to teams.
- Silver on the second apron: “I will say, early days, we’re happy with where we are. I can understand where a player at a particular team may have felt that he lost an advantage to the extent that before we had a second apron, particular teams were in a position to significantly outspend other teams.
Of course, the goal of the second apron, without having a hard cap, was to do a better job leveling the playing field. It’s not perfect. But we wanted to create a league where every team was in a position to potentially compete for championships. …
So I like what we’re seeing right now. I’m not ready to declare, we are not going to have dynasties. I’m sure Sam Presti isn’t ready to hear that.”
I’ve been telling you all that the second apron is doing exactly what the league wanted, and here’s the commish confirming it. This is all going according to plan. The Celtics just happened to be first in line.
It sucks for Brad Stevens, but at some point Boston will be at the bottom and a team like Detroit will be at the top and we’ll be saying “there’s no way they can keep Cade Cunningham AND Jaden Ivey AND Jalen Duren” as we look to pick at their expensive carcass.
I don’t like it either, but this CBA is working as intended.
- The Clippers have done a great job picking up pieces for one more run. Bradley Beal, John Collins, and Brook Lopez fill needs and fit well. I think Beal’s production in Phoenix was overlooked because of the dumpster fire there. I think he’s a really good pickup for them.
- Reactions to the WNBA are always interesting. People don’t just say “I don’t like it,” or “it’s not for me.” Many of the comments tend to cross into discrediting the whole league’s progress as a whole.
No one is required to like the WNBA. It’s totally fine not to. You don’t have to watch it or read about it.
What I will say is that the criticism the WNBA faces is not far from what the NBA has faced. Nearly 30 years into each league’s existence, the WNBA is on the rise while the NBA was struggling with drugs and racism. The league was facing a challenge from the ABA, which was derided as street ball. When the merger happened and the Blazers faced the Sixers in the 1977 NBA Finals, fans were split among racial lines when it came to the “white” Blazers and the “black” Sixers.
Ratings were so bad that the Finals were on tape delay. Then Larry Bird and Magic Johnson came into the league and it took off.
The WNBA is in a much better place than the NBA was at this point. They have followed similar paths of growth and expansion. I don’t know if the W will take off the same way the NBA did, but I can see the similarities in how both leagues have grown, and even better players are on the way.
- I’m curious if Al Horford is going to retire, or if he’s just waiting for the Jonathan Kuminga situation to play out in Golden State.
- Kuminga is an interesting test of restricted free agency in the new second apron era. He reportedly wants $25 million a year but only a couple of teams can pull that off in a sign-and-trade without worrying about being hard-capped at the first apron because of it.
That leaves non-taxpayer mid-levels for him, or a shorter contract with the Warriors to just enter unrestricted free agency.
I think he would have gotten a deal done by this point in the past. Now, the rules make restricted free agency for promising but still unproven talent very difficult. When we look at how this CBA has impacted the middle class players, Kuminga’s situation could be one of the prime exhibits in the players’ case against continuing this deal.
- The home run derby is nice and all, but I will always prefer the old school classic.
I don’t remember when I started watching this as a kid, but I do remember it being shown on some channel where I got to watch these legends go toe to toe. This was one of my favorite things to watch.
Like, imagine some classic show where Sam Jones would get to go one-on-one with Oscar Robertson. That would have been amazing.
- Phoenix and Milwaukee made stunning, if not stupid, decisions to waive-and-stretch huge-money guys as part of their re-tooling. While I’m not exactly sure where either of those teams will go from here, I’m pretty sure both Beal and Lillard are in good places.
So for that, I’m saying the waive-and-stretch guys are having the Best Week Ever!
- Today’s AI-generated image: We’re about to enter the NBA’s quiet time.
I’m choosing to interpret that not as a misspelling, but rather a sarcastically elongated “straiiiiight ahead” as if to say “good luck finding any.”
- Here’s my latest podcast, if you’re bored.