Jaylen Brown to Portland

[BK_2020]

I thought I had already posted this but apparently it wasn't.

Boston sends:
Jaylen Marselles Brown ($53.1)

Portland sends:
Ayton ($35.5)
Avdja ($14.3)

Why Boston:
Boston are in a rather dire situation, having a massive payroll but only a handful of playable dudes including no good option at C. They break up their most expensive tradeable piece into two players, one of them a decent center on an expiring deal who might be extended for 10-15% of the cap. Deni is a decent approximation of what Brown gives at a far cheaper price. This move gets them closer to dipping under the 2nd apron this season and dipping under the tax next season.

Why Portland:
Portland are ready to win and have a huge logjam at center. They clear out Ayton and replace Deni with a wing who can lead their offense and solidify their defensive identity. Scoot - Sharp - Brown - Grant/Camara - Clingan is a respectable lineup. Maybe not a championship winning one, but addition of Brown will help them build a winning culture while the rest of the team grow into their idealized versions.

Why for Brown:
It just feels right for Jaylen Brown to go to Portland. Maybe send Pritchard there, too.

Why for Deni and Ayton:
I don't know what Deni likes. I hope he likes Boston.
Ayton probably happy to get away from playing with two other starting centers.

A rare trade in which everyone including the players come out feeling happy and fulfilled.

[Malapropism]

Brown has the pedigree, but I'd rather have Avdija based on his contract, age and where the team is. His contract would be an amazing fit in Boston though, so I understand it for them.

On pure value, it's fair maybe? Avdija was traded for 2 mid firsts. He's worth more than that now. Could Brown fetch 3 1sts on the market? Maybe on the right team. I don't think Portland is that team.

[JRoy]

A thousand times no for POR.

Not paying top dog money for a guy that will never be top dog.

[BlazersBroncos]

No way for Portland.

[Texas Chuck]

A thousand times no for POR.

Not paying top dog money for a guy that will never be top dog.

I find this fascinating since you are also adamantly opposed to trading Deni before he gets top dog money for being less of a top dog. Really good players get paid. If you want to only pay true franchise players, well.....

[tmorgan]

Brown is one of those guys that you could justify a super max for when the league salary cap structure felt like 30 max guys in the league was fine.

That number is no more than 15 now, maybe less, and having two on the same team adds a lot of problems if luxury tax is an issue. JB should not be one of those 15, but he is. Boston’s either going to have to keep him or come to terms with the idea that he isn’t bringing back a huge return.

FWIW, this is also true for Booker. AD. Mitchell. Towns. All very good players, and not in the geriatric NBA range yet. But not worth their contracts, or the contracts they are about to get.

[hugepatsfan]

I don't think Brown on a super max is inherently a problem. It's a problem for BOS because they have Tatum as a better player on one and then a bunch of good, highly paid players on top of that. It's a cumulative issue. A lot of the teams that BOS fans hypothesize trading him to have similar issues though.

POR is not one of those teams. They don't have another supermax. They don't have anyone on their team good enough to realistically expect a big deal. Brown on a supermax is fine for their cap sheet. But the problem is that those are the same reasons why they probably don't want to trade for a guy like that now. Just not worth it to them.

[hugepatsfan]

Brown is one of those guys that you could justify a super max for when the league salary cap structure felt like 30 max guys in the league was fine.

That number is no more than 15 now, maybe less, and having two on the same team adds a lot of problems if luxury tax is an issue. JB should not be one of those 15, but he is. Boston’s either going to have to keep him or come to terms with the idea that he isn’t bringing back a huge return.

FWIW, this is also true for Booker. AD. Mitchell. Towns. All very good players, and not in the geriatric NBA range yet. But not worth their contracts, or the contracts they are about to get.

To be fair, I think this trade offer is coming to terms with that. Avidja is a good, young player but I don't see him ever making an all star team. I would say one good player isn't exactly a "great return" for someone who's considered a top 20ish player by a lot of parties.

[One_and_Done]

Portland fans will be outraged, but it's Boston who shouldn't do this. Deni will never be as good as Brown is right now. Makes no sense for a win now team.

[tmorgan]

Brown is one of those guys that you could justify a super max for when the league salary cap structure felt like 30 max guys in the league was fine.

That number is no more than 15 now, maybe less, and having two on the same team adds a lot of problems if luxury tax is an issue. JB should not be one of those 15, but he is. Boston’s either going to have to keep him or come to terms with the idea that he isn’t bringing back a huge return.

FWIW, this is also true for Booker. AD. Mitchell. Towns. All very good players, and not in the geriatric NBA range yet. But not worth their contracts, or the contracts they are about to get.

To be fair, I think this trade offer is coming to terms with that. Avidja is a good, young player but I don't see him ever making an all star team. I would say one good player isn't exactly a "great return" for someone who's considered a top 20ish player by a lot of parties.

That’s where the disagreement lies, then. I think Deni WILL make an all-star team or three. He continues to improve and has a true all-around game. He may (probably won’t) never reach Brown’s level in 2024, but that’s where the money comes into play. His remaining contract is so insanely cheap (3/39, no options and declining) and Brown’s is so big (4/236, standard raises), that there’s absolutely no way I’d even consider a 1-for-1 trade, or even with offloading Ayton.

I know Brown had an off-year and missed 9 more games and all, but also consider that Deni had a better OBPM, DPBM, VORP, and WS this year. For under 1/3 the salary. And Deni’s salary goes down from here.

Not even remotely close, at least to me. Welcome to the money matters era.

[tmorgan]

Portland fans will be outraged, but it's Boston who shouldn't do this. Deni will never be as good as Brown is right now. Makes no sense for a win now team.

Except Deni was just a better player this year, unless you consider a considerably less efficient 5.3 more points per game some kind of trump card.

[One_and_Done]

Portland fans will be outraged, but it's Boston who shouldn't do this. Deni will never be as good as Brown is right now. Makes no sense for a win now team.

Except Deni was just a better player this year, unless you consider a considerably less efficient 5.3 more points per game some kind of trump card.

Jaylen had some injury issues, but nah he was still better. Alot of Jaylen's value come from his D. Deni is never going to be that good.

[tmorgan]

Portland fans will be outraged, but it's Boston who shouldn't do this. Deni will never be as good as Brown is right now. Makes no sense for a win now team.

Except Deni was just a better player this year, unless you consider a considerably less efficient 5.3 more points per game some kind of trump card.

Jaylen had some injury issues, but nah he was still better. Alot of Jaylen's value come from his D. Deni is never going to be that good.

Except JB wasn’t better by ANY real metric — and Deni is also a good defender. I get JB played hurt some. I mentioned that Deni isn’t likely to ever reach JB’s 2024 level. But it’s still a hell no from Portland for 200 million reasons.

[BK_2020]

You guys are treating Ayton like he's a salary dump but I consider him a fairly valuable piece. He's 7 ft tall, had long arms, and can move without tripping over himself and catch balls thrown at him.

[Myth]

I’d want to find a way to put Brown next to Deni/Camara, not replace Deni with him. I’d rather find something with Sharpe, picks, salary savings+??? for Brown. If no deal, that’s fine. But taking on Brown’s contract while also giving away Deni I think just makes the team expensive without being competitive enough. I think the path is either expensive+competitive (Brown while retaining core players), or mid while cheap (no trade), but not expensive while mid (trade key pieces for Brown).

[JRoy]

A thousand times no for POR.

Not paying top dog money for a guy that will never be top dog.

I find this fascinating since you are also adamantly opposed to trading Deni before he gets top dog money for being less of a top dog. Really good players get paid. If you want to only pay true franchise players, well.....

I have NO problem trading Deni for the right return.

Trading the most highly paid second banana in nba history to pretend to be top dog while POR has -NO- way to acquire that kind of player seems suboptimal.

Would rather move up in the draft. This idea is ludicrous.

[JRoy]

Portland fans will be outraged, but it's Boston who shouldn't do this. Deni will never be as good as Brown is right now. Makes no sense for a win now team.

I can see that argument. Brown is really a nice player. Deni is pretty good with great contract.

Some other team can try JB as their #1 guy. Good luck.

[Cricket23]

I don't think this is remotely close for Boston. I like Deni, he's a solid player, but I think sometimes players get overrated while putting up numbers for bad teams in regular season games when the opponent is not taking you completely seriously.

[JRoy]

Brown is one of those guys that you could justify a super max for when the league salary cap structure felt like 30 max guys in the league was fine.

That number is no more than 15 now, maybe less, and having two on the same team adds a lot of problems if luxury tax is an issue. JB should not be one of those 15, but he is. Boston’s either going to have to keep him or come to terms with the idea that he isn’t bringing back a huge return.

FWIW, this is also true for Booker. AD. Mitchell. Towns. All very good players, and not in the geriatric NBA range yet. But not worth their contracts, or the contracts they are about to get.

To be fair, I think this trade offer is coming to terms with that. Avidja is a good, young player but I don't see him ever making an all star team. I would say one good player isn't exactly a "great return" for someone who's considered a top 20ish player by a lot of parties.

That’s where the disagreement lies, then. I think Deni WILL make an all-star team or three. He continues to improve and has a true all-around game. He may (probably won’t) never reach Brown’s level in 2024, but that’s where the money comes into play. His remaining contract is so insanely cheap (3/39, no options and declining) and Brown’s is so big (4/236, standard raises), that there’s absolutely no way I’d even consider a 1-for-1 trade, or even with offloading Ayton.

I know Brown had an off-year and missed 9 more games and all, but also consider that Deni had a better OBPM, DPBM, VORP, and WS this year. For under 1/3 the salary. And Deni’s salary goes down from here.

Not even remotely close, at least to me. Welcome to the money matters era.

I don’t know if I agree about Deni making the all star team. Competition is stiff.

[Norm2953]

Portland is in the process of being sold and current ownership is holding off on arena improvements
until the team is sold. It's not likely current ownership will want to take on JB's contract for next
season if the sale of the team drags on