SmartWentCrazy wrote:Writebloc wrote:SmartWentCrazy wrote:[/b]
Not sure if true, TBH.
An IT/Hayward/PG/Horford core is worse in every way compared to Curry/Klay/KD/Dray. I think we're better off long term keeping Fultz/Ball/Jackson/Tatum and trying to grow organically.
Save for the fact that it is going to be increasingly difficult to keep that core four of Curry/Klay/KD/Dray together, not to mention the bench pieces that surround those four are likely to be worse than what Ainge has accumulated to position around the Celtics. I'm not to be honest if Ainge could swing a deal for George and still pay Hayward max money? If they Wyc and ownership are willing to go way over the cap maybe, but that would be difficult. There will be salary implications in any of these scenarios that people ignore.
It's easy to keep the core together, less easy to keep the auxiliary pieces. They'll be able to replace them on cheap money deals though.
I personally think our best bet is to draft and develop. I think it is the path that gives us the best shot at winning a title.
In some respects that makes sense, but that certainly isn't the path the Celtics are apparently on, if so Horford wouldn't have been made a priority, nor would Ainge be hoarding cap space this season to try to acquire Hayward. There is some amalgamation of a draft and develop strategy and free agency acquisition and trade for key assets happening when you truly look at what Ainge has done so far. He hasn't used just one strategy, instead he's maintained flexibility in order to shift and change to whichever direction is the most advantageous to the franchise. It seems likely that if the lottery gods smile on the Celtics and the organization retains pick 1 or 2 they will keep the pick, if the C's get their typical lottery luck 3 or 4, or horrors worse Brooklyn continues it plunder of tanking squads than a truly despicable 5th pick than Ainge would likely package the draft pick. The Celtics off season is a Choose Your Own Adventure book with a dynamic flow chart that generally leads to positive outcomes. There are few positions where the Celtics end up with a negative situations, most are ranging from wildly successful to generally satisfactory. I think most fans will be slightly disappointing with the generally satisfactory outcome, but that scenario will still put the team in a far better situation than 90% of the teams in the NBA.