"That Has Turned Into Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, Enes Kanter...That's A Disaster" - Hey Nick Wright, People Don't Forget
Is this childish? Yup. Is it maybe a little premature because the Celts have only played one playoff series? You betcha. But do I give a shit? No, no I don't. With all the trolling Nick Wright does when it comes to the Boston Celtics, we all get to expose his horrendous takes and make fun of him for it. I don't care if this is his schtick, I don't care if this is eating the trash, when you come out and say what he did in that clip and then the Celts complete a 4-0 sweep, you get to chip back. That's how sports works.
So let's take a second to dissect what Nick Wright declared as fact before the season.
1. Enes Kanter/Kemba Walker/Jayson Tatum is a disaster
Now he starts off telling the truth. Ainge's first plan was Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. But when he learned that he would have to gut his team for 1 season of AD, he changed gears. As he should have. But in his next breath is where Nick Wright went downhill quick. A disaster? Well let's see. Jayson Tatum threw up an All NBA caliber season and is asserting himself as a borderline top 10 player. Kemba Walker had just a good a season as Kyrie Irving without any of the drama. Enes Kanter and Daniel Theis outperformed what Al Horford gave this team. They finished with the
5th most wins
4th ranked offense
4th ranked defense
3rd ranked net rating
Only team in the NBA with 3 20 point scorers
Call me crazy, but that might be the exact opposite of a disaster.
2. Tatum/Brown/Hayward are three guys who play two positions, how do they make that work?
I dunno, flawlessly? Now Nick Wright isn't alone in this. A lot of even Celtics fans said that Hayward should come off the bench this season despite the fact that he was having his best season since UTA and the two Jays were flourishing with Hayward on the court. That's what people don't get. Having a healthy Hayward out there is what opened everything up for the two Jays. The reason is didn't work last year was because Hayward wasn't healthy, Brad gave him his old role and guys resented it. But once the players saw Hayward was back to his All Star caliber self, magically things worked out.
3. The defense is bad
See the previous statement. 4th ranked defense in the NBA. Oh they have to go up against Al Horford and Joel Embiid? Man that seemed so tough. Oh wait the Celtics swept Embiid and Horford? But wait how is that possible if Enes Kanter is the one playing defense? What's that? He held Embiid to 1-4 shooting yesterday in the biggest game of Embiid's season? That's so strange.
Remember, it was FACTS that the Celts had no defensive answer for the 76ers. Facts he said.
4. The Celtics project to be the 11-12th best team in basketball which is where they will be
5. Of course, they are worse than they were last season
That's my favorite part of the entire clip. The way he said "of course" was beautiful. Not only were they better across the board than they were last season, they were one of the best teams in the ENTIRE LEAGUE all season long. They didn't just have a good month. They were consistently dominant on both ends of the floor from the jump.
So will Nick Wright admit he was wrong? Of course not. He'll move the goalposts like he always does. He's already done it with Jayson Tatum. Trolls do what trolls do. All we can do it sit back and laugh. It had to pain him watching the Celts destroy the Sixers like they did while Theis/Kanter did their thing against Embiid/Horford. It has to kill him that Jayson Tatum is turning into a star right before our eyes. So I'd just like to thank Nick Wright for each and every time he opens his mouth about this team. He doesn't get that this type of trolling doesn't make us upset as Celtics fans. It makes us feel more confident. If he was smart he would flip the script and start pumping their tires. Then I'd be really nervous.
A disaster. He said the word disaster. I don't know what we had to do to get so lucky but boy am I glad this tape exists.