Hard to Believe Ainge will Make any Move Soon Trade Thread

[Curmudgeon]

They’re screwed then. The lack of bench production will be their Achilles heel. Thanks ainge!!!!

Excuse me? The bench production has been fine. That's why we have one of the best records in the league. Pritchard was perfect from beyond the arc last night, and Tacko had more positive impact on the game than Russell Westbrook. The bench is so good--even when depleted by the pandemic-- that Nesmith was a DNP-CD.

Where does all of this "the sky is falling" crap come from?

[MagicBagley18]

They’re screwed then. The lack of bench production will be their Achilles heel. Thanks ainge!!!!

Excuse me? The bench production has been fine. That's why we have one of the best records in the league. Pritchard was perfect from beyond the arc last night, and Tacko had more positive impact on the game than Russell Westbrook. The bench is so good--even when depleted by the pandemic-- that Nesmith was a DNP-CD.

Where does all of this "the sky is falling" crap come from?

The skys not falling but the bench does need help...it’s one thing to win regular season games it’s another to have post season depth. The fact that nesmith didn’t play says more about him and or our drafting than anything else.

[Afam]

I am still a yes on harden. Jaylen playing well is great because it increases his trade value even more if they do trade him, or keep him long term, Win win.

[Curmudgeon]

I'm fine with the team as presently constituted. Could they use more good players? Sure, but that's true of every team. How are Miami, Milwaukee and Toronto doing? As for the Sixers, they haven't played anyone good yet, and they couldn't even beat the Nets sans Durant and Irving. And now they have 7 guys quarantined.

[SmartWentCrazy]

No way. Beal doesnt play defense. He cant lead a team to the playoffs in the East. He’s not a winning player.

When we talk about Harden, we don't talk about defense either. He would improve in here. Wizards have a bad team, tough to win with such a roster.

Hardens defense is way better than beals tho. That’s how bad beals defense is. He ranked dead last for his position in the league

Trae Young esque

[snowman]

I think we are looking at this the wrong way. I really don't think Ainge will use the 28.5 mill exception, or any part of it, during the season, and wait until the off season when we will not be hard capped and can use all of it, unless someone becomes available unexpectedly.

However, we do have 2 smaller exceptions, one for 4,767,000 (from the Kanter trade) and one for 2,505,793 (from the Poirier trade) to use. A backup veteran wing (which is what I think we need) should be able to be found that fits into one of these two exceptions, and could be available during the season. I think we should be looking at teams that have bad records, high total salary numbers and have vet wings that fall into these salary ranges to pick up. They also may not cost a ton in draft capital to acquire.

[MagicBagley18]

When we talk about Harden, we don't talk about defense either. He would improve in here. Wizards have a bad team, tough to win with such a roster.

Hardens defense is way better than beals tho. That’s how bad beals defense is. He ranked dead last for his position in the league

Trae Young esque

Yup. After me and u disagreed last year I made an effort to watch him last season probably 20-25x and then I watched the first 4-5 games this year. I’d def take him via free agency using cap space and I’d def take him using kemba but that’s not possible.

[hugepatsfan]

I still stand by my Harrison Barnes support. He's currently averaging 17.4/6.8/3.3 on 50% and 40% shooting from the field and from 3, respectively.

Not only that though, but among heavy minute rotation players he is 4th on their team in usage at 19.0% behind Fox, Hield and Bagley. (Bjelica also has a higher usage but he's only been playing 15 minutes/game so he's more of a situational scorer than full time guy like the others.)

We don't have the assets to trade for a top level scorer unless we're giving up Tatum or Brown. Maaaaaybe Smart could get a really great scorer in the right scenario for the other team would work but that's not getting you a true top level guy. Realistically, this team needs to be targeting a guy who can be a scoring threat as the 4th option on the floor with starters and maybe 2nd option in some bench lineups and do it efficiently. Barnes is thriving in that type of role on the kings and his combo forward defense/spot up shooting are especially good complimentary skill sets.

Theis has to go in the deal to make money work under the tax (I'm assuming they wouldn't want to go into it) along with one of Nesmith/Langford/Grant but I think it's worth it if we can work out a deal

Kemba / Pritchard
Brown / Smart
Tatum / Ojeleye
Barnes
Thompson / R Williams

You fill in whatever minutes left with Teague and what's left after the Barnes trade of the young guys.

[MagicBagley18]

I am still a yes on harden. Jaylen playing well is great because it increases his trade value even more if they do trade him, or keep him long term, Win win.

I’m a yes also but it’s not happening and I’m ok with that. Still think it’s a mistake but it ain’t happening. I’m fine with seeing what happens if that what ainge decides but I do think we can get harden and keep our depth and become the best team in the east and real championship contender.

Alas, ainge ain’t trading for him so it’s a moot point

[Triple7]

I think we have one of the worst scoring bench among contenders. As of now, we only have a handful of players that can create their own shot. We have Tatum and Brown among the starters. Smart have been horrible offensively these past few games. Our bench only has pritchard (a rookie), and then maybe Teague, who is also on a slump. I can’t see anybody else that can create their own offense other than those. We have a bunch of role players, and not a lot of scorers.

[keevsnick1]

Ya I still probably wouldn't trade Jaylen for either guy, but admittedly for different reasons. With Beal its not enough of an upgrade. Don't get me wrong, he's the better player, but I really just dont think he changes your maximum upside enough for that trade to be worth it. With Harden he does change your maximum upside, but the contract length and age combined with the current composition of the team make it hard to justify in my opinion. You sort of want someone who is Harden's impact level at Beal's age, unfortunately that guy was AD a year ago and he didn't want to be in Boston. Giannis was as well before he resigned in MIL.

I've seen a lot of "You have to trade Jaylen if you want an upgrade." Maybe thats true given the composition of our team, but trading Jaylen for a star right now given how he's playing would be almost unprecedented. I mean go back an look at guys trade for superstars or stars recently its just hard to find someone included in those deals who was as good at the time of the trade as Jaylen is right now. A top 15 player doesn't typically bring back a guy who is what a top 25 player AND younger/signed longer than the target in a trade.

Usually its a bunch of picks, with at least one of those picks being a lottery level pick.
+
Expiring contracts (cap relief basically)
+
One very interesting young guys OR multiple less interesting young guys
+
A veteran on a good contract

Or some combination of the above.

[MagicBagley18]

Ya I still probably wouldn't trade Jaylen for either guy, but admittedly for different reasons. With Beal its not enough of an upgrade. Don't get me wrong, he's the better player, but I really just dont think he changes your maximum upside enough for that trade to be worth it. With Harden he does change your maximum upside, but the contract length and age combined with the current composition of the team make it hard to justify in my opinion. You sort of want someone who is Harden's impact level at Beal's age, unfortunately that guy was AD a year ago and he didn't want to be in Boston. Giannis was as well before he resigned in MIL.

I've seen a lot of "You have to trade Jaylen if you want an upgrade." Maybe thats true given the composition of our team, but trading Jaylen for a star right now given how he's playing would be almost unprecedented. I mean go back an look at guys trade for superstars or stars recently its just hard to find someone included in those deals who was as good at the time of the trade as Jaylen is right now. A top 15 player doesn't typically bring back a guy who is what a top 25 player AND younger/signed longer than the target in a trade.

Usually its a bunch of picks, with at least one of those picks being a lottery level pick.
+
Expiring contracts (cap relief basically)
+
One very interesting young guys OR multiple less interesting young guys
+
A veteran on a good contract

Or some combination of the above.

I agree with you on beal. He’s better for now but you get him and lose Jaylen - how much better are you really? It’s counterproductive and then u can debate how much longer will beal be better than brown? & how much better is beal? if you add beal to Tatum and brown then you’re really on to something.

Unfortunately it’s hard to do with free agency unless kemba is moved or opts out and virtually impossible with no Jaylen via trade. As far as harden u make good points on brown but it’s also just as a rare for an mvp caliber player to be moved with multiple years left on a deal so it kind of cancels itself out.

It’s never happening now but the big hang up on harden really was getting him and then having no depth. I think browns played himself to a point where houston will take less as long as he’s the centerpiece just like they would with Simmons and we could really have a contender around him with a legitimate championship window of at minimum 2-3 years. Irrelevant tho bc ainge won’t do it

[Homerclease]

They’re screwed then. The lack of bench production will be their Achilles heel. Thanks ainge!!!!

Excuse me? The bench production has been fine. That's why we have one of the best records in the league. Pritchard was perfect from beyond the arc last night, and Tacko had more positive impact on the game than Russell Westbrook. The bench is so good--even when depleted by the pandemic-- that Nesmith was a DNP-CD.

Where does all of this "the sky is falling" crap come from?

The skys not falling but the bench does need help...it’s one thing to win regular season games it’s another to have post season depth. The fact that nesmith didn’t play says more about him and or our drafting than anything else.

I don’t think they make a move until they see what they have in Langford. A lot of us screamed for vets last year and they brought in Thompson and Teague, well so far this year those two have been outplayed by kids. Bigger problem is the starting 5 which hopefully getting Kemba back fixes

[MagicBagley18]

Excuse me? The bench production has been fine. That's why we have one of the best records in the league. Pritchard was perfect from beyond the arc last night, and Tacko had more positive impact on the game than Russell Westbrook. The bench is so good--even when depleted by the pandemic-- that Nesmith was a DNP-CD.

Where does all of this "the sky is falling" crap come from?

The skys not falling but the bench does need help...it’s one thing to win regular season games it’s another to have post season depth. The fact that nesmith didn’t play says more about him and or our drafting than anything else.

I don’t think they make a move until they see what they have in Langford. A lot of us screamed for vets last year and they brought in Thompson and Teague, well so far this year those two have been outplayed by kids. Bigger problem is the starting 5 which hopefully getting Kemba back fixes

Not for anything but that’s not good enough. He’s an injury prone u proven basically a rookie player. You can’t depend on him right now for anything and quite honestly can’t not make moves as a “contender” because you’re waiting on Romeo Langford. I think Thompson has been really good for us tbh.

[Homerclease]

The skys not falling but the bench does need help...it’s one thing to win regular season games it’s another to have post season depth. The fact that nesmith didn’t play says more about him and or our drafting than anything else.

I don’t think they make a move until they see what they have in Langford. A lot of us screamed for vets last year and they brought in Thompson and Teague, well so far this year those two have been outplayed by kids. Bigger problem is the starting 5 which hopefully getting Kemba back fixes

Not for anything but that’s not good enough. He’s an injury prone u proven basically a rookie player. You can’t depend on him right now for anything and quite honestly can’t not make moves as a “contender” because you’re waiting on Romeo Langford. I think Thompson has been really good for us tbh.

I agree, I’m just calling it as it see it and as the Celtics have said. They are really high on that kid. Thompson has been underwhelming IMO. Better than Theis, but he’s getting outplayed by RW3 by quite a fair margin. I think when he’s healthy that they are sticking him in the rotation much like they did with PP.

[hugepatsfan]

I don't think the issue is as much quality of bench players as it is the makeup of them. Assuming Kemba is back and bumps one of the two bigs out, we'd have Kemba/Smart/Brown/Tatum/Thompson (or Theis but let's say Thompson for now). The top bench players behind those guys are:

Theis
Pritchard
Rob Williams
Ojeleye
Grant Williams
Teague

That's a pretty solid #6-11 on the depth chart in terms of talent. Issue is you have two small point guards that really shouldn't play with each other or Kemba. You have two guys in Theis/Williams who should be at the 5 full time and another guy in Grant who can play PF but is also best used situationally as a 5. Ojeleye can log solid enough minutes but can't create his own shot and there isn't enough of that skill elsewhere off the bench.

This team is built with only 3 guys in Tatum/Brown/Kemba who can effectively and consistently initiate offense as top threats on the floor. And one of them is out right now. It just creates too many minutes on the floor where only one of Brown/Tatum are out there, or heaven forbid neither of them. Once Kemba is back, you'll be able to pretty much always have at least two guys out there who can initiate offense as a top threat. It will make a world of difference and minimize the impact of having good bench players but lacking the skill set of shot creation.

[aporel18]

I am still a yes on harden. Jaylen playing well is great because it increases his trade value even more if they do trade him, or keep him long term, Win win.

Jaylen playing very well is great indeed, but not in order to increase his trade value. He's going nowhere, but really, if Harden wanted to play defense as much as you want him on the Celtics, I would want him too.

[Celts17Pride]

Celtics won’t do anything until they get a clearer picture on Walker, Langford and Nesmith. That should happen by the trade deadline. Also other teams will have a clear picture if they are pursuing the playoffs or the lottery. It’s the right move.

Still expect Ainge to make a few changes in March at the deadline

[Curmudgeon]

Still expect Ainge to make a few changes in March at the deadline

Depends on how the team is playing. I expect them to be 1st or 2nd in the East.

[Celts17Pride]

Still expect Ainge to make a few changes in March at the deadline

Depends on how the team is playing. I expect them to be 1st or 2nd in the East.

Doesn’t matter. Celtics are not a championship team. Roster needs to improve