What If: The Celtics Draft SGA (And Don't Trade For Kyrie)

[td450]

We had debates on this at the time, and I think the general thought was Ainge would have taken Bridges.

This is my memory of it. Miles Bridges would obviously have been a terrible result, but pairing Mikal and Smart would have been cool.

Mikal is who he would have taken, though who know what happens with Miles if he is in Boston and not Charlotte. 

I do also think there is a chance he would have taken Sexton.  Remember this was a full year after we made the trade so Thomas wouldn't have been on the team, and Sexton did fit the profile of guys Ainge liked (though we did have Rozier still at that time). 

Either way, Mikal, SGA, or Sexton would have been a much better result.

As I've consistently maintained, it wasn't the trade for Kyrie that was the problem, it was Ainge's inability to pull the trigger on the necessary follow-up trade.  Boston probably has a title if he would have just pulled the trigger on Leonard or Davis, even with the risk they just left in free agency.  And who knows what would have happened in free agency after that. 

Ainge just never fully committed to win now or build for the future.  That was the problem.

I get that history shows that both Leonard and Davis improbably managed hold up just long enough for one season and won titles, despite otherwise being mostly broken ex superstars for the last 5 years.

But to still argue doubling down on Kyrie would have worked after all that is happened, well... that is hard to understand.

I never would have acquired Irving, I knew exactly who he was as a player.  I took a lot of crap for the 2 years he was here because I was honest about who he was as a player. I was right though.  But, if you acquire Irving, it doesn't make sense to not go all in and actually build a team capable of winning a title.  Ainge pretty clearly was putting all his chips in the Davis basket, only for Davis to not want to come to Boston and have Ainge shy away.  Though who knows, maybe if Ainge actually pulled the trigger at the deadline, giving Boston 1.5 years of Davis it might have really worked out.  You can't acquire a Robin and then not make the effort to acquire Batman.  Didn't need to acquire Robin to begin with, but once you do, you have to go all in.

I don't know why you keep saying that.

Irving misses the playoffs, and it becomes quite obvious we have something in Tatum and Brown. Everyone already knew Kyrie was an unstable guy, but he still had considerable value around the league. We could have traded him, even for 80 cents on the dollar. At that point, was he worth more than a #8 and a utility player we don't need? Probably, maybe...

It really didn't matter if Ainge got more or less than he paid. Things had changed and he should have taken market value and moved on. He surely could have.

[Ed Monix]

IMO, the person who thinks about this alternative universe the most is Steve Ballmer.

They actually drafted SGA and had a second 1st, with Michael Porter Jr available, but instead picked Jerome Robinson…MPJ was selected next by the Nuggets.

You could actually say that out of everyone in the draft, the Clippers should have been the team that took a chance on MPJ because they had two picks in the late lottery.

Having Shai Gilgeous-Alexander & Michael Porter Jr as your young core would be much more appealing than old broken Leonard & George plus the long list of picks owed to the Thunder.

[Ed Monix]

Ex-Celtic Brian Scalabrine revealed during the Celtics’ game against the Oklahoma City Thunder that, had the Celtics kept the Nets pick, they would have used it on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Scalabrine’s remarks were later shared by Chad Finn of The Boston Globe.

Scal has indicated on recent Celtics broadcasts that he had intel that they would have selected Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in ‘18 had they not traded the pick in the Kyrie deal. Pretty interesting alternative scenario there.

I'm not sure that this is true.  I think that guys connected to the team like to romanticize what could have been, and it always seems like these after-the-fact "what if" scenarios benefit the Celtics decision makers.  "We would have taken Durant"; "We would have taken SGA", etc.

But, thinking about the fact that we could have SGA now alongside Brown and Tatum -- and not have the memory of the Kyrie era -- is enough to ruin my day.  Haha.

I must say that I do still fantasize about a scenario where Ainge selects Mikal Bridges in 2018 with the last Brooklyn pick.

Ainge pays Thomas a reasonable figure (given his injury status) thus never gets his reputation as a cutthroat GM. Horford never leaves the team because Irving never creates mayhem. Gordon Hayward never gets injured from Irving’s lob and has a healthy and productive career as a Celtic.

Smart eventually supersedes Thomas as point guard, Tatum slowly earns his spot over an ageing Hayward and Bridges develops into a cheaper, better fitting version of Jaylen Brown.

In 2020, Ainge selects (and keeps) Desmond Bane. In the 2021 draft Ainge trades Jaylen Brown for Evan Mobley.

—————————

Boston Celtics

2022-23

Smart
Bridges
Tatum
Mobley
Horford

Hayward, Williams III, Bane