If you are unfamiliar with Nick Wright, he is a talking head on Fox Sports 1 television. Most everything I have ever seen from him has been shared in jest on Twitter, retroactively trashing the takes he is paid handsomely to spew for hours every day. He is as unabashed in his love for LeBron James as he in his hatred of the Boston Celtics, so much so that I am pretty sure I saw him walking around TD Garden in a LeBron jersey at a playoff game during the 2018 Eastern Conference finals.
trading LeBron to the Celtics.” data-reactid=”16″>He did think Boston might not be so bad in a 2018 segment he spent trading LeBron to the Celtics.
Wright flip-flopped from preferring Kemba Walker over Kyrie Irving when he thought the former might join LeBron’s Los Angeles Lakers in free agency to liking Irving over Walker when the latter chose the Celtics instead. Mental gymnastics at its finest.” data-reactid=”17″>In the span of a few days over the summer, Wright flip-flopped from preferring Kemba Walker over Kyrie Irving when he thought the former might join LeBron’s Los Angeles Lakers in free agency to liking Irving over Walker when the latter chose the Celtics instead. Mental gymnastics at its finest.
bashing Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge about his unwillingness to trade top draft assets for players like DeMarcus Cousins, Jimmy Butler and Paul George, all of whom have played for multiple teams since said bashing.” data-reactid=”18″>One of Wright’s running schticks has been bashing Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge about his unwillingness to trade top draft assets for players like DeMarcus Cousins, Jimmy Butler and Paul George, all of whom have played for multiple teams since said bashing.
doesn’t really know what he’s doing” in 2017, admitting he was “spectacularly wrong about him” when the Celtics cashed in a Brooklyn Nets pick for Kyrie Irving in 2018 and then blaming both Ainge and Celtics coach Brad Stevens for the “structural issues” that led Irving and Al Horford to leave in 2019 free agency.” data-reactid=”19″>Over the years, he has flip-flopped on this, too, suggesting Ainge “doesn’t really know what he’s doing” in 2017, admitting he was “spectacularly wrong about him” when the Celtics cashed in a Brooklyn Nets pick for Kyrie Irving in 2018 and then blaming both Ainge and Celtics coach Brad Stevens for the “structural issues” that led Irving and Al Horford to leave in 2019 free agency.
a magician in years past.” data-reactid=”20″>This, of course, after referring to Stevens as a magician in years past.
Where Wright has been most wrong, though, has been his evaluation of Jayson Tatum, the ascendant Celtics superstar who has only gotten better since making his first All-Star team at age 21 earlier this month and will almost surely be named Eastern Conference Player of the Month.
Celtics star Jayson Tatum has taken his game up a level this season. (Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
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Let us review, shall we?
his draft board, ahead of Markkanen but still behind Ball, Fox, Fultz and Jackson.” data-reactid=”40″>June 22, 2017: Amid reports that the Celtics were trading down from the No. 1 spot to No. 3 while adding Sacramento’s 2019 lottery pick via Philadelphia in the process, Wright to his credit upgrades Tatum to fifth on his draft board, ahead of Markkanen but still behind Ball, Fox, Fultz and Jackson.
If the Celtics draft Jayson Tatum they will have turned the #1 pick into the 5th best player in the draft + 2019 Kings 1st rounder.
— nick wright (@getnickwright) June 22, 2017
elite-level NBA star” and “a superstar.”” data-reactid=”56″>October 17, 2018: At the beginning of Tatum’s second season, just prior to struggling in a sophomore slump campaign, Wright declares Tatum an “elite-level NBA star” and “a superstar.”
one of the 75 most valuable trade chips in the NBA” — “a homeless man’s Kawhi Leonard.”” data-reactid=”59″>Feb. 6, 2019: Wright believes a Lakers package of Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma should trump a Celtics package of Tatum and Jaylen Brown in a trade for Anthony Davis. He also thinks Tatum is the best asset of the bunch, insinuating that Kuzma is a significantly better trade chip than Brown. Wright goes on to call Brown “an athletic defender who is going to be offensively challenged” and not “one of the 75 most valuable trade chips in the NBA” — “a homeless man’s Kawhi Leonard.”
The Celtics, of course, never got too far down the road on a deal with New Orleans, since Irving was leaving and Anthony Davis made it pretty clear he was not going to re-sign in Boston. For the record, though, Brown is averaging a career-high 20 points on 49/38/74 shooting splits this season.
down on Boston’s title prospects after news broke that Davis was headed to Los Angeles and Horford was leaving along with Irving in free agency. Walker’s signing readjusted that thinking a bit, but not for Wright, who called Ainge’s summer “a disaster.”” data-reactid=”78″>July 4, 2019: Admittedly, I too was down on Boston’s title prospects after news broke that Davis was headed to Los Angeles and Horford was leaving along with Irving in free agency. Walker’s signing readjusted that thinking a bit, but not for Wright, who called Ainge’s summer “a disaster.”
“You still have the same problem of Tatum, Brown, Hayward,” says Wright. “Those are three guys who play two positions. How are we going to make that work? Those things did not go away, and the identity of this team has been defense. With Kemba Walker at point guard and Enes Kanter as your center … you have no defensive answer [against Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Toronto]. Those are facts. This team last year had the second-highest projected win total in all of basketball behind only Golden State, and next year they are going to be projected as about the 11th or 12th best team, which is about where they will be, so of course they are worse than they were last season.”
As it turns out, the versatile triumvirate of Tatum, Brown and Hayward is Boston’s greatest weapon, as many expected, and a big part of why they are projected to win nine more games than last season. The Celtics currently own the NBA’s fourth-best record and third-best defensive rating.
“Jayson Tatum is really, really good, and Jayson Tatum is on his way to maybe, maybe, making an All-NBA team this year, which would elevate him to the star category, which he is not currently in,” he says. “He’s in the category of really, really good player. … If you think Tatum’s a star, then you think there are more than 20 stars in the league. There’s not more than 20 stars in the league.”
Celtics fans: Take a deep breath. This is why I said “Tatum isn’t a star”. There’s 15 guys in the league clearly better than him, another dozen right there with him. There aren’t 20 “stars” in the league. https://t.co/ixwWaB8vCk
— nick wright (@getnickwright) February 27, 2020
There are actually 24 players in the All-Star Game. We should also note that Wright includes several players who are not even playing this season and others who are not in Tatum’s league on his list.
Imagine talking about someone this much and literally never saying a single correct thing about him. Given how often Wright has been wrong, at this rate Tatum might catch his beloved LeBron.
Follow @brohrbach” data-reactid=”103″>Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
