#GusSaltonstall

The $115M Man: Why I Love The Jaylen Brown Contract

Gus Saltonstall

Oct 22, 2019
3 min

The $115M Man: Why I Love The Jaylen Brown Contract

Branded Sports The Boston Celtics recently agreed to give fourth year player Jaylen Brown a four-year deal that could be worth as much as $115 million. The agreement between the player and organization comes in the wake of Brown, very publicly, turning down a 4-year deal worth $80 million. The contract announcement turned some heads across the NBA media landscape, but the majority of the negative chirping was contained to the Twitter world. It’s undoubtedly a hefty sum of mon

2019-20 NBA Schedule: The Worst Games of the Season

Gus Saltonstall

Aug 13, 2019
4 min

2019-20 NBA Schedule: The Worst Games of the Season

Detroit Bad Boys The NBA just released the official schedule for the 2019-20 season. Already articles from OTG, ESPN, Bleacher Report, and many others have released enticing works on the best matchups of the coming season. Plenty of information is available on such story lines as the Christmas slate of games, and which team has to travel the longest distance during their campaign. There’s importance in knowing when the first time the new look Los Angeles team’s duke it out ag

Hot Take Marathon: The Houston Rockets Will Win The NBA Championship in 2019

Gus Saltonstall

Aug 9, 2019
5 min

Hot Take Marathon: The Houston Rockets Will Win The NBA Championship in 2019

For The Win - USA Today With the talent of James Harden and Russell Westbrook, the coaching of Mike D’Antoni, and the roster moves of Daryl Morey — the Houston Rockets will win the NBA Championship in the 2019-20 season. The team currently sits with the fourth highest odds to win the title in the coming season, according to Vegas. However, the general conversation around the NBA media and twitter world has the Rockets far and away behind the two teams from Los Angeles, Milwau

Hot Take Marathon: The Atlanta Hawks Will Make the Playoffs

Gus Saltonstall

Aug 6, 2019
3 min

Hot Take Marathon: The Atlanta Hawks Will Make the Playoffs

USA Today The Atlanta Hawks finished the 2018-19 season in the 12th spot of the Eastern Conference with a 29-53 record. They gave up a league worse 119.4 points per game, including score lines like their 149-114 loss to the powerhouse playoff pusher Orlando Magic. The young Hawks finished dead last in the weakest division in the NBA. Even the Washington Wizards were better than them in 2018-19. However, in the midst of some very obvious failures, there were also undoubted pos

Can Joel Embiid Win the 2019-20 NBA Finals MVP?

Gus Saltonstall

Jul 28, 2019
5 min

Can Joel Embiid Win the 2019-20 NBA Finals MVP?

TalkBasket The Philadelphia 76ers are a relatively easy choice to make the NBA Finals in the 2019-20 season. Along with the Milwaukee Bucks, the 76ers team that plays in the Wells Fargo Center seems head and shoulders above the rest of the Eastern Conference. Even with the loss of Jimmy Butler to Miami and J.J Reddick to New Orleans — the trio of Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris, alongside the addition of perennial All-Star Al Horford and wing player Josh Richardson

2019 NBA Free Agents: DeAndre Jordan

Gus Saltonstall

Jun 25, 2019
4 min

2019 NBA Free Agents: DeAndre Jordan

New York Post Overview: Like so many other players in the NBA signing contracts in recent years, DeAndre Jordan has made quite a bit of money for himself. The center out of Texas A&M signed a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2015 for $87,616,050. He followed that up by signing a one-year deal worth $22,897,200 with the Dallas Mavericks — all of it guaranteed. Jordan went on to struggle to find his role on a disappointing Mavericks team, before getting traded mi

Best Fan Moments of the 2019 Playoffs

Gus Saltonstall

Jun 18, 2019
11 min

Best Fan Moments of the 2019 Playoffs

USA Today With the NBA postseason now behind us it seems like the right time to reflect on the spectacle of the 2018-19 playoffs, before the memories of the earlier rounds and the greatness of the Finals fade away into free agency and the start of next season. The Toronto Raptors are the champions of the world. The Golden State Warriors quest to win four out of five was ended by a strong Toronto team, a myriad of injuries, and inconsistencies on the defensive end. At the end

2019 NBA Free Agents: Enes Kanter

Gus Saltonstall

Jun 17, 2019
4 min

2019 NBA Free Agents: Enes Kanter

Bleacher Report Overview: Enes Kanter is a truly challenging player to gauge the value of. What he does on the basketball court is a confusing mishmash of undoubted offensive skill, offensive rebounding and high motor play, juxtaposed with a proven inability to defend or put up the “correct statistics” for what signifies value in the modern NBA. Kanter is just finishing up his ninth regular season and his fourth postseason. The 2018-19 season was a strange one for the big man

NBA Finals X-Factor: Kevin Durant

Gus Saltonstall

May 29, 2019
3 min

NBA Finals X-Factor: Kevin Durant

For The Win - USA Today Kevin Durant has already been ruled out for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night in Toronto. The team isn’t even sure if Durant will travel to Canada for either of the first two games, and he hasn’t even been cleared for any sort of on-court work. The reigning Finals MVP hasn’t played in a game since going down with a “calf sprain” in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals against the Houston Rockets. Speculation swirled immediately over th

Five Thoughts: Bucks vs Celtics Game 3

Gus Saltonstall

May 4, 2019
4 min

Five Thoughts: Bucks vs Celtics Game 3

CBS Sports The Milwaukee Bucks are legit. Paul Pierce is backtracking faster than James Dolan scurrying off to band practice. Giannis Antetokounmpo has returned to looking like the MVP of the 2018-19 Season, and the Boston Celtics are in some trouble. The Bucks won Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals 123-116, winning the game in the third quarter, where they outscored the Celtics 40-31 — the difference in the other three quarters between the two teams was actually +2

Playoff Spotlight: Derrick White

Gus Saltonstall

Apr 22, 2019
2 min

Playoff Spotlight: Derrick White

Fox Sports Asia The San Antonio Spurs perform in the playoffs. David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard all led teams to championships in the past 25 years under the master tutelage of Gregg Popovich. Even with the Spurs coming into the 2019 playoffs as a seven seed, very few people were picking the two seed Denver Nuggets to blow the Spurs out of the water—let alone beat them in a seven game series. It looks like people were justified in their

Top 5 Playoff Players of Week 1

Gus Saltonstall

Apr 21, 2019
4 min

Top 5 Playoff Players of Week 1

NBA.com Top 5 Playoff Players of Week 1 (Not including games played on Sunday, April 21st) The first week of the NBA Playoffs has already led to a collection of fantastic moments between the 16 teams participating. With the Orlando Magic’s D.J. Augustine’s hesitation three to upset the Toronto Raptors in the first game of the series, to the Clippers huge comeback win against the defending champion Golden State Warriors, and the heated rivalries between Russell Westbrook/Damia

2019 Playoff Preview: Boston Celtics

Gus Saltonstall

Apr 11, 2019
4 min

2019 Playoff Preview: Boston Celtics

NBA.com The Boston Celtics did not live up to expectations in the 2018-19 regular season. The door seemed wide open for the Celtic’s to stamp their dominance over the conference with LeBron James leaving for Los Angeles and a healthy combo of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. Success on paper however doesn’t always translate to the hardwood, and the Celtics finished at just 49-33. Barely good enough for a fourth place finish within the conference, as the team struggled with it

Top 15 Fan Moments of the NBA Season

Gus Saltonstall

Apr 7, 2019
6 min

Top 15 Fan Moments of the NBA Season

Sporting News With the NBA season winding down it seems like the right time to reflect on the unique pleasure that is the 82 game campaign. Baskets were made, charges were taken, and many predictable scenarios played out in the way one would expect. The Golden State Warriors are at the top of the Western Conference, Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden are battling it out for the MVP crown, and the New York Knicks still stink. Other narratives didn’t go at all as predicted.

OTG Team Awards: New York Knicks

Gus Saltonstall

Apr 1, 2019
4 min

OTG Team Awards: New York Knicks

Elite Sports NY The New York Knicks were the worst team in basketball this year. Even with so few wins in the 2018-19 season and a massive trade midway through the year, there were still bright spots throughout the roster that deserve mentioning. Without further ado, here are the team awards for the New York Knicks. Sixth Man of the Year: Allonzo Trier Allonzo Trier has to be the feel good story of the Knicks’ season. The 6’5, 200 pound former standout at Arizona went undraft

Evaluating Enes Kanter After the Nurkic Injury

Gus Saltonstall

Mar 28, 2019
4 min

Evaluating Enes Kanter After the Nurkic Injury

Blazer's Edge The Portland Trail Blazers are in the midst of one of their most successful seasons in the past decade. The team sits 20 games over .500 at 47-37 and is on track for an impressive 50 plus win season. The Blazers are looking to eradicate the memory of the embarrassing first round sweep they suffered at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans last postseason. Damian Lillard and C.J McCollum make up one of the most impressive backcourts in the NBA and big man Jusuf N

The Power of Capital Letters

Gus Saltonstall

Mar 25, 2019
3 min

The Power of Capital Letters

Pounding The Rock The NBA has a seemingly new metric to predict game trends every other week. Over the course of the past decade statistics have been firmly lodged within the center of all decision making in the league. From the mouth of the prophet Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey to the rest of the basketball community—everything from popularizing the corner three point shot, to draft decisions, to deciding which players deserve massive contracts—is now in some w

The Other Guys: Bryn Forbes

Gus Saltonstall

Mar 23, 2019
3 min

The Other Guys: Bryn Forbes

USA Today In the most predictable storyline of the NBA season the San Antonio Spurs and Gregg Popovich are getting hot going into the playoffs. The Spurs are winners of nine of their last 10 games, and were undefeated in the month of March until they lost to a tough Miami Heat team Wednesday night. The Spurs have set the standard of what it means to produce sustained success in American professional sports. Locking down the team’s 22nd successive winning season with their 42n

The Other Guys: Serge Ibaka

Gus Saltonstall

Mar 21, 2019
2 min

The Other Guys: Serge Ibaka

USA Today The Toronto Raptors have had a dominant season. After defeating the New York Knicks 128-92 Monday night, the team becomes the second squad to 50 wins in the Association. Toronto has won their games by an average margin of 5.5, and they hold the best winning percentage against teams below .500 at 32-4. The team has two perennial All-Stars in Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry, the likely Most Improved Player of the Year in Pascal Siakam, a championship pedigree in Danny Gr

Atlantic Division: Top 5 Players of the Week

Gus Saltonstall

Mar 18, 2019
4 min

Atlantic Division: Top 5 Players of the Week

NBC Sports The Atlantic Division had a subpar week as a whole for the games played between Monday, March 11th and Sunday, March 17th. The Philadelphia 76ers were the best of the group with a perfect 3-0 record, and the Boston Celtics were also able to take home a winning record at 2-1. However, the Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors all finished with more losses than wins on the week. The wins and losses split was weak on the week for the division, but there w