Earlier tonight, we passed along the latest notes and rumors from the Western Conference. Here’s the latest from the Eastern Conference:
- Teams around the league believe that the Pacers are simply looking to gather information on the market for Paul George rather than shopping him, David Aldridge of NBA.com tweets.
- Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe (Twitter link) hears that there have not been any “substantial talks” between the Celtics and the Pacers or Bulls this week.
- There’s a feeling around the league that the Knicks “would give Derrick Rose away” in a trade, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Facebook Live link). Rose has recently been linked to the Wolves.
- In the same segment, Wojnarowski adds that he believes the Bulls may be interested in Jahlil Okafor regardless of whether they trade Jimmy Butler. Wojnarowski added that the Sixers would need at least a first-round pick to part with Okafor while the Bulls are likely to try and offload Nikola Mirotic in an Okafor deal.
- Wojnarowski adds (same piece) that the Bulls are firmly behind coach Fred Hoiberg. The organization wants to make it work with the former college coach and if Chicago trades Butler, the franchise could put together a team that’s much younger and possibly better suited for Hoiberg’s coaching style.
- Reggie Jackson‘s trade value is at an all-time low and Wojnarowski (same piece) doesn’t envision the Pistons trading him at the deadline.
- The Hawks acquired Ersan Ilyasova earlier today and Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link) hears that the team isn’t done dealing.
- The Raptors continue to offer Jared Sullinger and a draft choice to teams as they look for help on the wing, Sam Amico of Amico Hoops tweets.
Are the Celtics ever gonna do anything
DA seems to only be interested in completely fleecing a team. Too bad Vlade didn’t accommodate.
Vlade just used the age old standard of making a deal: Get multiple offers, always take the second best one.
My understanding is this was Vivek because he thinks Hield is the next Curry.
No reason to pay too much for guys that don’t put you over the top. Paul George is the only elite name being mentioned. If the Celts can’t get him, keep the picks. There’s no rush. Lebron is still going strong and GS is a beast out west. The Celtics could legitimately have 3 straight top 3 picks. That could set them up for a long run atop the East.
If you don’t think Jimmy Butler is an elite player then you are seriously out of touch
How is Paul George the only “elite” name being mentioned? The only thing he does better than Jimmy Butler is 3pt shooting (38% vs 34%). Jimmy still scores more per36 despite shooting less, gets to the line significantly more, gets more assists and less turnovers. They rebound and get steals/blocks at pretty much the same exact level.
I’m not a fan of trying to boil everything down to 1 number, but Jimmy’s PER this year is 25.5 (12th in the entire league) while George’s is 18.6. That says a LOT. If you want to look at previous years, Jimmy still wins out. The last 2 years he was at 21.3, which is higher that George has EVER been in his career… If you want to look at win shares instead, Jimmy’s WS/48 is .236 this year. Paul George is at .100…
If you only want to put one of them on the “elite” level, you pretty clearly picked the wrong one…
Well said. Paul George is an awesome player but is partially overrated off of reputation. Butler has been the better all around player for a while now
Somebody’s got it right timing is everything just ask Karl Malone, you want to be great when the others matronly good
Are only
Hoiburgs style is farm fed at Iowa State. Send him back there. And make Paxon and Forman the team’s water boys.