Video: Top 10 plays from around the NBA 1/28 (and a walk down free agency memory lane)
Here are the top 10 plays from around the NBA from Thursday's games. You know who keeps popping up on these NBA highlights? Christian Wood. The Celtics were rumored to be a top landing spot for Wood in free agency, but he signed with the Rockets while Danny Ainge continued to play hardball with the Pacers in what looked like an eventual Gordon Hayward sign-and-trade.
Of course while Ainge waited for the Pacers to improve on their reported offer of Myles Turner, Doug McDermott and a 1st round pick, the Hornets signing of Montrezl Harrell fell through, and all of a sudden the Hornets had extra cash to spend. Michael Jordan swooped in and increased his offer and Hayward who previously took less to sign with Boston in 2017, wisely decided not to wait around any more for Ainge to work out a deal with Indiana and took the Hornets offer while it was available.
The Celtics then left without Myles Turner, and Wood off the board, set their sites on Paul Milsap for some reason, but he decided to re-sign with the Nuggets. Boston would eventually sign Tristan Thompson to fill their goal of improving their big man rotation.
Wood is starring for the Rockets averaging 23.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game. Myles Turner for his part is leading the league averaging 4.2 blocks per game (looking like the modern day Dikembe Mutombo. No one is even a distant 2nd). Gordon Hayward is having an all-star caliber year for the Hornets. Shoot, Victor Oladipo is also having a great comeback year. Basically everyone linked to the Celtics this offseason is playing like an All-Star.
Tristan Thompson for his part hasn't necessarily underperformed. He is essentially providing the skill set he's always had. He's just not a star or a potential star. One of his main attributes, at least far as the Celtics reporters mention, is that he is a great locker room presence. Same goes for Kemba Walker.
But unless you're a "Danny Ainge can do no wrong" guy, you have to look at this past free agency period as a bunch of missed opportunities. Re-signing Gordon Hayward would have been wise. If you weren't going to re-sign him to remain in Boston a sign-and-trade to Indiana for either that Myles Turner package or one with Oladipo made sense. And if you weren't going to sign-and-trade Hayward, the Celtics should have gone full steam after Wood when free agency began.
Related:
Checking in on Gordon Hayward https://t.co/jAZcnCKqOY pic.twitter.com/KFqahEEHqa
— CelticsLife.com (@celticslife) January 26, 2021