Trade/Free Agency Thread 2023-24, part 11th Heaven

[sam_I_am]

The Celtics were 33-14 (70%) without Rob last year and 24-11 (68%) with him. 20 minutes of 6/6 can be replaced. It would be a different story if he could play 33 min per game.

[BK_2020]

I love Rob for his potential but he wasn't really amazing even when he played. Health permitting he may one day reach his peak and bring us basketball fans a lot of joy, but even in his 20 minutes he was nowhere near as impactful as 40 year old Horford.

[Boss66]

Not sure what he means by the part in blue
Winner: Jrue Holiday’s bank account
Is Jrue Holiday a winner for moving from playing next to Giannis Antetokounmpo to playing next to Jayson Tatum? That’s up for debate.

What’s not up for debate is that the Bucks were already deep in the luxury tax and Holiday is up for a contract extension, a negotiation that was going to get sticky. Now he’s with a Boston team that allegedly wants to extend him and he wants to work with them. This could be a marriage that keeps the Celtics in the top tier of the East for a few years at least, and gets Holiday the next contract he wants.

[ConstableGeneva]

Stevens and FO had ownership's full backing:

Celtics ownership has given a clear directive to the front office to do whatever it takes to win the franchise’s first title since 2008...

"Players don't like playing in Boston." Brogdon, Porzingis, and Holiday all had Boston on their shortlist.

The Blazers were not required to make a deal that suited Holiday, but a league source said the guard’s camp provided Portland with a short list of preferred destinations, and the Celtics were on it.

It's just another challenge for Tatum who's routinely carried bench units the past couple of seasons.

Although the Celtics have a fearsome starting five and can bring All-Defensive pick Derrick White, a star of last season’s playoffs, off the bench, there are some depth concerns. The regular rotation, for now, likely will include Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard, Luke Kornet, and Oshae Brissett.

Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/01/sports/celtics-jrue-holiday-trade/

[jordb2k7]

Continually lost in all of this is the idea that Tatum is just the same guy as last year. It’s fair to expect he will be even better on top of the talent upgrades we have made.

[Shak_Celts]

Just want to say; the folks in Portland are petty of the highest order! I love it!

[fallguy]

I want a TON of Hauser early in the season. Same with Brissett and PP.

[fallguy]

Continually lost in all of this is the idea that Tatum is just the same guy as last year. It’s fair to expect he will be even better on top of the talent upgrades we have made.

Yup yup yup

[ConstableGeneva]

Continually lost in all of this is the idea that Tatum is just the same guy as last year. It’s fair to expect he will be even better on top of the talent upgrades we have made.

I love Smart and Rob but there's an argument to be made that life will become easier for Tatum with what Jrue and KP bring on offense.

[playa-hater]

I want a TON of Hauser early in the season. Same with Brissett and PP.

absolutely agree. With all of our talented scorers, we need a "make you payer" for spacing purposes. Hauser has BIG time Potential in that regard. same for PP.

[165bows]

I definitely get the depth thing but the other top teams are pretty top heavy Dolly Parton style themselves. Denver barely goes 6 guys, Suns are very thin, Milwaukee's 6th man is Portis and I guess 7th is Beasley on a vet min. Miami did amazing with what they had but still rode a once in a lifetime ride with a bunch of castoffs who ditched them and left them with left .

Deepest team at least in the east is prob NY, with Hart, Quickley, and Divincenzo off the bench. It's kind of a weird doppelganger of last year's Celtics team where they are to the point of being a bit overloaded in the back court.

Forgot to tag CC on this but what about Boston's 24 pick for Kuminga, he fits the TPE and Boston's roster.

Barring that, just see if they can get Muscala back lol.

[jordb2k7]

Continually lost in all of this is the idea that Tatum is just the same guy as last year. It’s fair to expect he will be even better on top of the talent upgrades we have made.

I love Smart and Rob but there's an argument to be made that life will become easier for Tatum with what Jrue and KP bring on offense.

I don’t think this is a hard argument to make. Rob catching lobs is the only thing offensively that’s better than what we have. Unicorn and Jrue provide so much more balanced offense. I can’t wait

[ConstableGeneva]

Praying hard JB would be willing to downshift his self-creation/scoring and ballhandling role on offense and focus more on defense/rebounding. We just added Porzingis (can be our 2nd scorer) and Jrue (primary playmaker/another scoring option). White's role should be elevated too.

[MaxwellSmart]

Embiid asking out in 3...2..1

[Hal14]

lots of people are going to be surprised at how good -- at least occasionally -- guys like O'Shae Brisset, Lamar Stevens, and Svi Mildsfhialahsdflh look on this team. Guys 7 -- 15 on this roster are walking into their DREAM job at the Auerbach Center tomorrow. Do literally anything positive on the court at least a few times this season and the national TV announcers -- and BOS fans, myself included -- are going to be like "OH WOW"

Svi is going to be a lot better than people think

I agree.

Watching some more footage of Hornets games from late last season, (I've mentioned this before, but) the thing that stands out most to me is Svi's connective passing ability to keep the offense flowing, play unselfish, find the open man and make a quick pass to create or maintain an advantage.

Here's some examples:

Watch on YouTube

:54 nice drive, collapses the defenses and kick out - connective passing to keep the offensive flowing and maintain an advantage on the defense
7:41 really like this play. Gets the ball, the pressure is on, it's crunch time. Doesn't panic. Uses an up fake to let his defender fly by, 1 dribble to gather it. Has an open look at a 3, but passes up a good shot to get a great shot - by zipping a quick pass to his big man teammate under the basket for the easy dunk. Good basketball - good pass
8:42 connective passing. Hockey assist
Also like the play at 9:07 where he makes the smart play to get to the corner so his teammate has someone there to pass it to - he catches it ready to shoot and hits the corner 3. Clutch shot, too - increases the hornets lead from 6 to 9 with about 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

Another game:

Watch on YouTube

8:11 nice pass to the open shooter. Unselfish, good ball mover, good vision

Last one:

Watch on YouTube

2:42 nice assist here. Quick pass..
3:35 nice quick pass to keep the offense flowing and get the hockey assist
5:39 another hockey assist where he catches the ball and passes it really quickly to a teammate that keep the defense on its heels, gets his team closer to scoring
6:20 so unselfish. Getting assists and hockey assists all over the place. Gets the ball, shot fake to get the defender to fly by, then 1 dribble in and kicks it out to the open shooter
6:55 more unselfishness, little pass here to the open shooter for a 3

I wouldn't say Svi is a good defender. But from looking at some more film, I wouldn't say his defense is *that* bad, especially since he'll typically be on the floor with a bunch a really good defenders to help cover up any mistakes. There's some plays here and there where he does look kind of bad on D, but for the most part he seems to hold his own ok on D.

I think he could certainly be a decent contributor for us this season.

[MeanGeraldGreen]

[SuperDeluxe]

lots of people are going to be surprised at how good -- at least occasionally -- guys like O'Shae Brisset, Lamar Stevens, and Svi Mildsfhialahsdflh look on this team. Guys 7 -- 15 on this roster are walking into their DREAM job at the Auerbach Center tomorrow. Do literally anything positive on the court at least a few times this season and the national TV announcers -- and BOS fans, myself included -- are going to be like "OH WOW"

Svi is going to be a lot better than people think

I expect Hauser to be one of the most improved players on this team (not thanks to his offseason work but to the roster changes). He's going to be wide open every. single. time. 24/7. I think I'm drooling.

[Celts17Pride]

lots of people are going to be surprised at how good -- at least occasionally -- guys like O'Shae Brisset, Lamar Stevens, and Svi Mildsfhialahsdflh look on this team. Guys 7 -- 15 on this roster are walking into their DREAM job at the Auerbach Center tomorrow. Do literally anything positive on the court at least a few times this season and the national TV announcers -- and BOS fans, myself included -- are going to be like "OH WOW"

Svi is going to be a lot better than people think

I expect Hauser to be one of the most improved players on this team (not thanks to his offseason work but to the roster changes). He's going to be wide open every. single. time. 24/7. I think I'm drooling.

I have Hauser at the backup 3 and Svi at the backup 2.

[Larry_Russell]

Jrue/prichard/banton
White/walsh/svi
Brown/stevens/hauser
Tatum/brissett/gabriel
Porzingis/horford/korney

That team is LOADED honestly.

Only weak spot on paper is backup guard as not sure if pritchard and walsh are worthy of top 8or9 spot.

[Tyakack]

Just want to say; the folks in Portland are petty of the highest order! I love it!

Miami, "He only wants to come here lol... Let's get this over with.". Portland,