Celtics trade Kemba Walker for Al Horford

[Fantaxp7]

I can't wait to see what else we do this off season. This really has set the tone.

I also hope we somehow get Carlisle.

[sully00]

We had to get off the Kemba money yesterday. Danny wasn't able to get that done. Glad Brad didn't over-analyze and pulled the trigger on the first decent deal available.

Horford will be a very good mentor for the Williams twins and can still give us at least 25 mpg of above average production/impact. A steadying presence was severely lacking in the two years he was not here.

Can't complain about giving up a middling 1st and also complain about having too many young guys on the roster.

If anything, good or bad, I like that Brad was decisive re Kemba.

But come to think of it, it wouldn't surprise me if Dany and co. already had this in the pipeline and Stevens was just the one to officially execute the deal.

I think Stevens mentioned at the deadline that a former player had contacted the team and was trying to get traded back to Boston. I think we now know that Brad would have made this trade at the deadline. I hate Al's contract but I really like the guy and the player and he essentially just got to take the year off. Horford also makes the idea of Smart starting at PG fulltime a lot more palatable. With them acquiring both Al and Brown you have to wonder if Brad will want to slide Al to the 4. I know everyone wants to ship Thompson out of town but if Boston play him and Al at the 4 and Timelord and Moses at the 5 you can start to get things right defensively in a hurry. It also just cleans up the lack of depth this team has at the end of its rotation. Assuming they bring back Fournier in a 6th man role your 8 deep before even talking about the young guys. Obviously Brown is a young guy and put up numbers on a team that was trying to lose but It I choose to be the optimist on this one.

I wasn't saying it back then but Ainge really should have just signed Al and Terry. It would have saved Brad a first round pick if nothing else.

[Andrew McCeltic]

an underrated element to all of this is how it now seems more obvious than ever that there was a major disconnect between Brad & Danny over the Horford/Kemba situation a couple years ago. Today's trade has a lot to do with $$ and flexibility, but there's also an element of Brad bringing back a player I don't think he ever wanted to lose in the first place.

Don’t think there’s much evidence for that. Kemba for Horford has been talked about for a year.

[chrisab123]

We had to get off the Kemba money yesterday. Danny wasn't able to get that done. Glad Brad didn't over-analyze and pulled the trigger on the first decent deal available.

Horford will be a very good mentor for the Williams twins and can still give us at least 25 mpg of above average production/impact. A steadying presence was severely lacking in the two years he was not here.

Can't complain about giving up a middling 1st and also complain about having too many young guys on the roster.

If anything, good or bad, I like that Brad was decisive re Kemba.

But come to think of it, it wouldn't surprise me if Dany and co. already had this in the pipeline and Stevens was just the one to officially execute the deal.

I think Stevens mentioned at the deadline that a former player had contacted the team and was trying to get traded back to Boston. I think we now know that Brad would have made this trade at the deadline. I hate Al's contract but I really like the guy and the player and he essentially just got to take the year off. Horford also makes the idea of Smart starting at PG fulltime a lot more palatable. With them acquiring both Al and Brown you have to wonder if Brad will want to slide Al to the 4. I know everyone wants to ship Thompson out of town but if Boston play him and Al at the 4 and Timelord and Moses at the 5 you can start to get things right defensively in a hurry. It also just cleans up the lack of depth this team has at the end of its rotation. Assuming they bring back Fournier in a 6th man role your 8 deep before even talking about the young guys. Obviously Brown is a young guy and put up numbers on a team that was trying to lose but It I choose to be the optimist on this one.

I wasn't saying it back then but Ainge really should have just signed Al and Terry. It would have saved Brad a first round pick if nothing else.

Rozier while he worked out better than Kemba wanted to be paid like a Top 3-5 PG in the NBA in Boston. He was just as big of a reason for that **** show a couple years back as Kyrie. I firmly believe that if Ainge traded both when Rozier asked out and it seemed like Kyrie wanted out the Celtics would have at the very least had yet another ECF run with that team and the future would have been a lot brighter. Al never would have left.

[Jingles]

We had to get off the Kemba money yesterday. Danny wasn't able to get that done. Glad Brad didn't over-analyze and pulled the trigger on the first decent deal available.

Horford will be a very good mentor for the Williams twins and can still give us at least 25 mpg of above average production/impact. A steadying presence was severely lacking in the two years he was not here.

Can't complain about giving up a middling 1st and also complain about having too many young guys on the roster.

If anything, good or bad, I like that Brad was decisive re Kemba.

But come to think of it, it wouldn't surprise me if Dany and co. already had this in the pipeline and Stevens was just the one to officially execute the deal.

I think Stevens mentioned at the deadline that a former player had contacted the team and was trying to get traded back to Boston. I think we now know that Brad would have made this trade at the deadline. I hate Al's contract but I really like the guy and the player and he essentially just got to take the year off. Horford also makes the idea of Smart starting at PG fulltime a lot more palatable. With them acquiring both Al and Brown you have to wonder if Brad will want to slide Al to the 4. I know everyone wants to ship Thompson out of town but if Boston play him and Al at the 4 and Timelord and Moses at the 5 you can start to get things right defensively in a hurry. It also just cleans up the lack of depth this team has at the end of its rotation. Assuming they bring back Fournier in a 6th man role your 8 deep before even talking about the young guys. Obviously Brown is a young guy and put up numbers on a team that was trying to lose but It I choose to be the optimist on this one.

I wasn't saying it back then but Ainge really should have just signed Al and Terry. It would have saved Brad a first round pick if nothing else.

If we’re trying to get the most out of Horford on the court, having him chase 4s around strikes me as a bad idea. But Kemba to anyone is a defensive upgrade on its own, which is nice.

[ParticleMan]

Having the ability to keep fournier is massive

still not sold on keeping fournier, though trading kemba makes it easier to swallow. the kemba+fournier lineup was a defensive atrocity.

but i think we've got to give nesmith/romeo room to grow. they've shown enough to deserve a chance.

[ddb]

an underrated element to all of this is how it now seems more obvious than ever that there was a major disconnect between Brad & Danny over the Horford/Kemba situation a couple years ago. Today's trade has a lot to do with $$ and flexibility, but there's also an element of Brad bringing back a player I don't think he ever wanted to lose in the first place.

Don’t think there’s much evidence for that. Kemba for Horford has been talked about for a year.

When Kyrie bolted 2 years ago I was told that Brad preferred to keep Al, whereas DA wanted to bring in Kemba instead and roll with Theis/Kanter at C. Brad felt like the young players responded really well to Al's leadership and Al was a bridge from coach to young players.

Let's not forget the team came within a 4th quarter of making the NBA finals with rookie Tatum, 2nd year Brown, Rozier, Smart, Morris and Horford. Horford is the type of player that does so much that doesn't show up in the box score. His impact goes beyond what the common fan can see.
$$ and age aside, I still like this move even if we'r only talking about Kemba for Al. Al never has been a high flyer....He plays an old school game that features a high Bball IQ, underrated passing skills, ability to stretch the floor, terrific communication skills, and leadership on and off the floor.
This team will immediately be better simply by having Horford back on the floor.

[ChopLuey]

Having the ability to keep fournier is massive

Nah, we need two way players. No room for players who can’t defend a chair. Hopefully we can S&T him for something or let him walk.

[SmartWentCrazy]

Having the ability to keep fournier is massive

Nah, we need two way players. No room for players who can’t defend a chair. Hopefully we can S&T him for something or let him walk.

There is absolutely room for Fournier to help us win games, this is silly

[SmartWentCrazy]

Having the ability to keep fournier is massive

still not sold on keeping fournier, though trading kemba makes it easier to swallow. the kemba+fournier lineup was a defensive atrocity.

but i think we've got to give nesmith/romeo room to grow. they've shown enough to deserve a chance.

Meh, Fournier’s best role would be 6th man and I dont think that impedes Nesmith or Romeo

[GoCeltics123]

Definitely feels like it's very likely Fournier is back now, something like 4/65-70. Unless someone Hayward's him with a crazy offer

[Hal14]

If Stevens gets 2 bags of Hot Fries for Romeo he wins the trade.

Romeo is an Indiana guy. He is more likely to get a Supermax offer from Brad then being traded! Lol

this is going to sound crazy, but I have a good feeling about Romeo. I think he's going to be a good player sooner vs later. I wouldn't be shocked at all to see him burst onto the scene in 21-22.

Agreed. I think Romeo and Nesmith could both make really good strides and make major contributions next season.

[ryaningf]

Having the ability to keep fournier is massive

still not sold on keeping fournier, though trading kemba makes it easier to swallow. the kemba+fournier lineup was a defensive atrocity.

but i think we've got to give nesmith/romeo room to grow. they've shown enough to deserve a chance.

Fournier at 10 million per is a nice add, anything else and you're overpaying for someone who can't defend his position in the playoffs.

I am more than fine letting him walk if somebody is offering 12 mil+/year.

We have holes to fill at 1 and 4. I get the shooting/ballhandling/passing aspect but from the asset allocation point of view the money is better spent at PG or PF. We are overloaded at 2/3 (our best 2 players and our last 2 lottery picks) and Fournier isn't a starter on a championship team so that makes him a luxury if there's a market above 12 million for him in free agency.

[bisme37]

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[The Corey's]

The price you pay for horribly mismanaging your team for 3 years.

[bisme37]

The price you pay for horribly mismanaging your team for 3 years.

Al Horford and Moses Brown doesn't really feel like a punishment though.

[31to6]

I'm so happy thinking about the ball being in the hands of 6'9" Tatum, 6'7" Jaylen, 6'3" Marcus (DON'T SHOOT IT) (MUCH), and 6'10" Horford instead of 6'0" Kemba. He could get his sometimes, and occasionally had a good drive-and-kick, but it was never worth the usage IMO. I never wanted him, and while today's trade is a calculated risk, it's a pretty good way of resetting us to be better defensively (HUGE) and able to more consistently focus our usage on our two high-scoring wings (or 3 if we add FournHub -- he's great for that kick-out role as Nesmith and Romeo mature).

RIP the double-screen for Kemba at the top of the key.
Since that was basically our whole offensive system (ever since the Theis Seal was banned:(, it seems it's time to get a new offensive system.
Sam Cassell or whoever, show us what you've got.

[The Corey's]

The price you pay for horribly mismanaging your team for 3 years.

Al Horford and Moses Brown doesn't really feel like a punishment though.

I don't know anything about brown. Literally nothing but I expect that given how bad kemba is it's a reflection on kembas trade value so I shouldn't be expecting a whole lot.

[bisme37]

The price you pay for horribly mismanaging your team for 3 years.

Al Horford and Moses Brown doesn't really feel like a punishment though.

I don't know anything about brown. Literally nothing but I expect that given how bad kemba is it's a reflection on kembas trade value so I shouldn't be expecting a whole lot.

He's an athletic 7'2" 21 year old center who had like 400 rebounds against us in one half of a game this year.

[ddb]

Having the ability to keep fournier is massive

still not sold on keeping fournier, though trading kemba makes it easier to swallow. the kemba+fournier lineup was a defensive atrocity.

but i think we've got to give nesmith/romeo room to grow. they've shown enough to deserve a chance.

Meh, Fournier’s best role would be 6th man and I dont think that impedes Nesmith or Romeo

The bottom line is you need players that can shoot and score to win games in the National Basketball Association. Fournier can do both. As long as he's willing to take a reasonable deal you absolutely bring him back.