Potential Free agent/trade/sign tracker
- Thread starter iowamcnabb
- Start date
Here is a good explanation:
As Westerholm explained, like many nicknames, Time Lord’s origins trace back to Twitter — specifically a place known as “Weird Celtics Twitter.”
Ryan Hebert, who goes by @HebertofRiffs on the platform and is one the more prolific Weird Celtics Twitter personalities, takes credit for helping spur the nickname. Hebert told Westerholm that he had been a fan of Williams during the center’s college days at Texas A&M University. And, of course, as a Celtics fan, he thought the under-hyped defensive star could be a perfect fit in Boston.
However, in the days leading up to — and even after — the 2018 NBA Draft, some experts raised questions about the undoubtedly talented Williams’s work ethic and “motor.” When he fell to the Celtics in the late first round, Hebert and his Weird Celtics Twitter peers were ecstatic. However, when Williams missed that first conference call and flight, it seemed to confirm the doubts in the minds of skeptics.
“Robert Williams’ Celtics career off to worst start imaginable,” read a WEEI.com headline in July, before the rookie had even suited up for a game for the Celtics.
Hebert felt the general reaction in the media to those few initial mistakes was a bit dramatic.
“Local writers and talk-radio people overreacted, and the whole point of Weird Celtics Twitter is to make fun of them and media in general being too uptight,” he told Westerholm.
In an attempt to support Williams and get under the skin of those “uptight” media figures, Hebert and friends began joking that the rookie hadn’t actually been late, per se, but was simply “operating on a different timeline concurrent to the one we are in,” like some sort of basketball-playing “Doctor Who” character.
And thus, Time Lord was born.
As Westerholm explained, like many nicknames, Time Lord’s origins trace back to Twitter — specifically a place known as “Weird Celtics Twitter.”
Ryan Hebert, who goes by @HebertofRiffs on the platform and is one the more prolific Weird Celtics Twitter personalities, takes credit for helping spur the nickname. Hebert told Westerholm that he had been a fan of Williams during the center’s college days at Texas A&M University. And, of course, as a Celtics fan, he thought the under-hyped defensive star could be a perfect fit in Boston.
However, in the days leading up to — and even after — the 2018 NBA Draft, some experts raised questions about the undoubtedly talented Williams’s work ethic and “motor.” When he fell to the Celtics in the late first round, Hebert and his Weird Celtics Twitter peers were ecstatic. However, when Williams missed that first conference call and flight, it seemed to confirm the doubts in the minds of skeptics.
“Robert Williams’ Celtics career off to worst start imaginable,” read a WEEI.com headline in July, before the rookie had even suited up for a game for the Celtics.
Hebert felt the general reaction in the media to those few initial mistakes was a bit dramatic.
“Local writers and talk-radio people overreacted, and the whole point of Weird Celtics Twitter is to make fun of them and media in general being too uptight,” he told Westerholm.
In an attempt to support Williams and get under the skin of those “uptight” media figures, Hebert and friends began joking that the rookie hadn’t actually been late, per se, but was simply “operating on a different timeline concurrent to the one we are in,” like some sort of basketball-playing “Doctor Who” character.
And thus, Time Lord was born.
OK, so "Time Lord" talk aside...
For the Blazers trade, we don't need to include Len so far as salaries go, and I can't imagine they covet him given they would have Ayton and Clingan in front of him. I'd much rather keep Len as a full-sized backup C and only send Huerter. We do have that empty roster spot to work with. (If they are going to accept the trade with Len, they'll accept it without him, is what I think.)
The Nets trade works financially for both teams, and gets the Nets a bit more space under the apron.
The scary thing here is that we are sending out our only Expansion Draft Fodder contract in Colby. If there was to be an expansion draft in June 2025, as of right now we are good - we protect eight players (Fox, Sabonis, DeRozan, Murray, Monk, Huerter, Ellis, Carter) and dangle Colby, nobody else is under contract. But if we were to make this set of trades, all of a sudden we'd have to expose two players. We could protect eight (Fox, Sabonis, DeRozan, Keegan, Monk are five obvious protects) but would have to expose two of the following (Kris, Ellis, Carter, DFS, Williams) assuming that the expansion draft rules stay the same as the last two. Kris seems obvious, but oddly enough, we'd end up keeping him, because probably any one of those other four gets nabbed instead. Maybe Williams doesn't if he's not healthy (but then, the trade failed). DFS has a player option so exposing him is also dangerous - expansion teams love taking players who then opt out so that they don't have to worry about the salary ceiling the first couple of years. Ellis and Carter are insta-gone if we expose them.
Now, we don't KNOW that there will be an expansion draft this year (in fact, that's a quick turnaround, but we've seen it happen before), but if there is one, and we make these trades, we get caught a bit with our pants down. For that reason alone I might rather send McLaughlin (once Carter is back) or Orlando than Colby in the Nets deal. If they just want the pick, maybe they still do it?
For the Blazers trade, we don't need to include Len so far as salaries go, and I can't imagine they covet him given they would have Ayton and Clingan in front of him. I'd much rather keep Len as a full-sized backup C and only send Huerter. We do have that empty roster spot to work with. (If they are going to accept the trade with Len, they'll accept it without him, is what I think.)
The Nets trade works financially for both teams, and gets the Nets a bit more space under the apron.
The scary thing here is that we are sending out our only Expansion Draft Fodder contract in Colby. If there was to be an expansion draft in June 2025, as of right now we are good - we protect eight players (Fox, Sabonis, DeRozan, Murray, Monk, Huerter, Ellis, Carter) and dangle Colby, nobody else is under contract. But if we were to make this set of trades, all of a sudden we'd have to expose two players. We could protect eight (Fox, Sabonis, DeRozan, Keegan, Monk are five obvious protects) but would have to expose two of the following (Kris, Ellis, Carter, DFS, Williams) assuming that the expansion draft rules stay the same as the last two. Kris seems obvious, but oddly enough, we'd end up keeping him, because probably any one of those other four gets nabbed instead. Maybe Williams doesn't if he's not healthy (but then, the trade failed). DFS has a player option so exposing him is also dangerous - expansion teams love taking players who then opt out so that they don't have to worry about the salary ceiling the first couple of years. Ellis and Carter are insta-gone if we expose them.
Now, we don't KNOW that there will be an expansion draft this year (in fact, that's a quick turnaround, but we've seen it happen before), but if there is one, and we make these trades, we get caught a bit with our pants down. For that reason alone I might rather send McLaughlin (once Carter is back) or Orlando than Colby in the Nets deal. If they just want the pick, maybe they still do it?