bobsquad wrote:That trade was a humiliation.
No, it wasn't. And frankly, I'm tired to seeing people misrepresent that trade as the Mavs getting "humiliated" and "taken to the woodshed". That narrative is complete BS. Let's look at the actual facts of the trade with 20/20 hindsight:
The Mavs got:
- Rondo on an expring contract
- Dwight Powell on a rookie contract
The Celtics got:
- Jae Crowder and Brandan Wright both on expiring contracts
- The 16th pick of the 2016 draft
The Mavs & Celtics swapped expiring contracts of free agents neither team wanted to re-sign. The Mavs had no intention of re-signing Jae and Brandan. Remember, the Mavs had just invested a max contract into Chandler Parsons that year, which is why Jae was playing only 10 mpg that season. There was ZERO chance the Mavs would pay Jae in free agency that summer. They also dodged a bullet when Brandan Wright got overpaid by the Grizzlies in free agency that summer. I mean if the Mavs really wanted to, they could've just signed Brandan Wright themselves even after the trade. But they had their eye on DeAndre Jordan that summer.
So ultimately: the trade boils down to the Mavs giving up the 16th pick of the 2016 draft for Dwight Powell on a rookie contract. Dwight Powell is better than the 16th best player of the 2016 draft, so the Mavs don't regret giving up that pick. The Celtics also got a nice player in Jae, but honestly they could've just signed him off free agency. The Mavs weren't going to pay Jae to play 10 mpg behind Chandler Parsons. They didn't re-sign Aminu for the same same reason.
Nobody got "humiliated" or "taken into the woodshed" except in the minds of some self-loathing Mavs fans. So please stop perpetuating that myth already.
4. We gave up basically 2 protected firsts, since Wright was flipped by Boston for one as well, and Crowder, though he had fallen out of the rotation, had some value.
The Celtics flipped Brandan Wright to Phoenix for what eventually became two second round picks. One of the picks never played in the NBA. The other picks is Semi Ojeleye, who racked up 30 DNPs while averaging only 10 mpg last season.
The only pick the Mavs gave up was ONE protected first round pick that did not convey until 2016. The only other draft concession they made was a swap of second round picks. That proved to be worthless, since they wound up just swapping the 45th pick for the 46th pick.
And by the way --- the player the Celtics drafted with the Mavs' 2016 first round pick never even played a single game in the NBA.