Would you have traded Smart or Brown first?

[Homerclease]

Anyone is tradable outside of Tatum if the price is right. I had/have no qualms trading either if it makes the Celtics better

[cloverleaf]

Ideally neither but to get Porzingas and a couple picks for Smart is a great trade.

There really isn’t a comparison to Brown though. He’s an all NBA player at the beginning of his Prime. You wouldn’t trade him for Porzingas.

If Porzi had a better record on health, you'd do that in a minute. Personally, I'd do it anyway. Porzi is way above Brown not just in skill and height, but on D and, critically, in being a complementary match for Tatum. Porzi is also going to cost a little more than half of what JB's salary will be on his new contract.

Brown doesn't begin to have the rounded skills or BBIQ of a legit All-NBA player. He does what he does really well and in a flashy way, but then gives far too much of it back with his outright stupid play, lack of dribbling/left hand, lack of court vision, and lack of court or defensive awareness or ability or willingness to pass the ball to his teammates. His flash and his perpetual, somehow aggrieved, pout get him high usage, which is what got him the raw scoring numbers for a dubious All-NBA nod.

But the guy was 12th on just his own team in on/off last year, at -3.8 (he's been in the negative 4 of his 7 years in the league). Last year his TS% was just at league average, while he was significantly below average in 3pt and FT shooting. He has an asst/TO ratio 1.1.

Brown is great at charging to the basket from nowhere and he is a very good midrange shooter. Sure, pure repetition should help to pare down his repertoire of stupid plays by a bit and maybe he'll be able to improve his FT and 3pt shooting a bit. But handle is one of the notoriously most difficult skills for pro players to improve on--and after 7 years we should probably not expect any significant gains for him on that front.

Brad probably should have traded JB for less than KD last year, but I'd get out while the getting out is still decent. Tatum apparently wants to keep Brown (though JT's no Einstein either and not a player I'd want to delegate my GMing to) and I expect the C's probably will keep and pay him.

[BrianFitz]

This unrequited love for a delusional scrub who thought he was better than he actually was is irrational...

I would take a possible All-Star in Zinger over a never gonna be an All-Star in Smart. I think Boston gains a lot and loses some things in the trade. But I do like the trade.

But to call Smart a delusional scrub is going deep into hater territory.

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

This unrequited love for a delusional scrub who thought he was better than he actually was is irrational...

I would take a possible All-Star in Zinger over a never gonna be an All-Star in Smart. I think Boston gains a lot and loses some things in the trade. But I do like the trade.

But to call Smart a delusional scrub is going deep into hater territory.

\

Fair criticism, perhaps a good player who had no self-awareness of his true value?
And was overly coddled by Boston management over the years, to the point that it forced a former Rookie 0f The Year
to come off the bench and restricted White and Brogdon in crucial 4th quarter moments, when they were much better choices
than Smart. And a guy who would have never accepted Porginis as the 3rd Star on the Team.

[BrianFitz]

This unrequited love for a delusional scrub who thought he was better than he actually was is irrational...

I would take a possible All-Star in Zinger over a never gonna be an All-Star in Smart. I think Boston gains a lot and loses some things in the trade. But I do like the trade.

But to call Smart a delusional scrub is going deep into hater territory.

\

Fair criticism, perhaps a good player who had no self-awareness of his true value?
And was overly coddled by Boston management over the years, to the point that it forced a former Rookie 0f The Year
to come off the bench and restricted White and Brogdon in crucial 4th quarter moments, when they were much better choices
than Smart. And a guy who would have never accepted Porginis as the 3rd Star on the Team.

Yeah, for sure. I agree with all that.

[tleikheen]

Heart and soul is overrated and is just another way of saying not overly talented as the rest of the teammates . Heart and soul soon forgotten when better talent added to the Celtics starting lineup soon makes the fans forget and move on.