Brandon Knight, who was sent to the Cavaliers at this season’s trade deadline, is embracing his role as a mentor to Collin Sexton, Joe Vardon of The Athletic writes.
“I don’t know what the process was before I got here … I do know since I’ve gotten here I try to talk to [Sexton] as much as I can,” Knight said. “I see myself a lot in him as a young guard having vets around me, having to learn when to score and when not to score, trying to use my speed but also trying to slow down. There’s a lot of things I had to deal with. So when I see him do certain things I’m like, ‘Man, I used to do that.’ ”
Knight and Sexton were each selected eighth overall in their respective drafts. Knight started for most of his career and he knows what it’s like to feel the pressure of being a top selection.
“It took me a couple years,” Knight said. “If we can get him to do that — what I learned year four — by year two, how much better will our team be? I just try to tell him those little things.”
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Sixers assistant coach Billy Lange has interviewed for the St. Joe’s head coaching job, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Lange has been with the team for six seasons.
- The Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks‘ G League affiliate, has fired coach Jordan Brady, according to the team’s Twitter feed. “We greatly appreciate Coach Brady and his staff for their efforts the past 2 seasons,” GM Dave Dean said. “While they have played a significant role in the organization’s growth on the court and in the community, we feel it’s in the best interest of the Herd to explore other options.”
- Something needs to change in Boston, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports contends. Inconsistency has plagued the Celtics all season, prompting Forsberg takes a look at some potential lineup changes that coach Brad Stevens could make.
Prior to the season I didn’t think Boston would dominate as most said. I had them pegged at #3 in the east, though I was quite wrong overall.
#1 Philly #2 Milwaukee #3 Boston #4 Washington #5 Toronto #6 Indiana. Man was I wrong overall… but still I am surprised that Boston won’t even get to 50 wins… that is a real surprise & a testimony of how bad they have been this year. Stevens & Ainge need to start doing better & real quick!
There is such a thing as having too many talented playmakers, and this is what has caused Boston to struggle this season..There are simply too many cooks in their kitchen and not enough sous chefs
Every successful team is primarily built around having two starting playmakers, and maybe another one off the bench. The rest of those teams are typically built with those players being surrounded by complimentary role players and specialists..
Now, before someone points to the Warriors, they’re obviously the exception. However, even still, they start 3 big playmakers, but they still have solid, role players and specialists around them..Their stars are also all extremely capable of being successful without having the ball constantly in their hands and without needing plays ran for them on a consistent basis..Their role players are also players that know their roles, and have bought into their scheme. This just is NOT the case in Boston..
Boston, with Kyrie, Tatum, Hayward, Rozier, Brown, they simply have too many players that need the ball and require getting into a rhythm to be successful. On the flip side, they don’t have enough specialists surrounding those guys that are going to be content catching and shooting, rebounding, mainly only scoring off putbacks drawing charges, and/or playing max-effort, solid defense 100% of the time regardless of their offensive touches.
In my opinion, the best thing for Boston very well could be to lose Kyrie this off-season. Let Rozier take over the reigns at PG, and have Heyward initiate the offense for the bench unit. Then, they should look to add a guy in the mold of Aminu, or a defensive minded 4, that is also capable of knocking down an open 3, like a PJ Tucker and then they should get the most out of all of their talent.
Rozier, Tatum, Brown, Horford, and a new stretch 4 start. Then, let Smart, Hayward, and Baynes run the second unit with some complimentary pieces around them..With those 7, that stretch four, a couple shooters, and another offensively opportunistic defensive big there’s no reason that group and Stevens shouldn’t get to 50+ wins and make a run for the East next season…
If AD goes to Lakers in a trade maybe Celtics should look at Jonas Valanciunas instead. He was a #5 first round pick a few years ago and I’d doing quite well with am Memphis.
lol
That’ll show them!