I wouldn't want to trade Jaylen but I don't hate this:
Jaylen for Randle, Josh Hart, and Obi Topin and picks...
It's a home run for the Knicks!
I don't hate the idea of Randle. I actually don't consider him to be as good an overall player as Jaylen Brown, but he's not far off, he's a similar age, and I think he's a better fit for team needs. I really think the Celtics are desperate for a reliable, skilled offensive big who can get easy, high percentage shots in the paint when the jumpers aren't falling. Also having a guy who can draw doubles down low would also help to create space for the Tatum and the other shooters on the perimeter. Neither Ron or Horford is a dependable inside threat.
I'd also be ok with the following:
Chicago gets:
- Jaylen Brown
- Malcolm Brogdon or Marus Smart
- Al Horford
Boston gets:
- Zach Lavine
- Nikola Vucevic
- Lonzo Ball
- Pick(s)
For Chicago:
- Jaylen Brown gets his opportunity to be the #1 guy on a huge market team, and the Bulls get a young star player worthy of building the franchise around - something they have been desperate for since the Derrick Rose thing fell apart and they foolishly gave up on Jimmy Butler.
- The Bulls get a good starting calibre point guard, which they desperately need with all of Lonzo's medical uncertainty
- The Bulls get a servicable starting center (Horford) and quality veteran who can fill in for Vucevic and who gives the team $20m or so more to play with once his contact comes off the books in the near future
For Boston:
- Celtics gets a guard who is a more reliable shooter, is less turnover prone and has a more modest ego (likely a better fit alongside Tatum) while still being young enough to grow alongside Tatum and offering Boston more cap flexibility (versus if they re-signed Brown)
- Celtics finally get a dependable big man who can give them 17/10 every night, and who has played 70+ games in 4 of his last 5 seasons. They also get a quality inside scorer who can get them easy points when the jumpers aren't falling, and a big body to help deal with larger teams like Philly, Denver, etc.
- Celtics gets a pick or two as compensation for taking on Lonzo's contract, and a high risk/high reward piece in Lonzo Ball (who could be a huge add if he does by some chance come back from injury well)
I kinda feel like this move might make be nice for both teams.
Boston starting 5:
Smart/White, Lavine, Tatum, R-Williams, Vucevic
Boston bench:
White/Brogdon, Pritchard (who now has a role), Ball (if he returns), Gallinari, Hauser, Muscala, Griffin
Bulls starting 5:
Brogdon, Brown, Derozan, Williams, Horford
Other option may be to do JB+Smart for Lavine+Vucevic straight up, then include a 3rd team to get the bulls a repalcement big. [/list][/list]
Respectfully this would be a pretty bad trade. Lavine still has very serious injury concerns. Vucevic would be ok if he was making like 12 million, but he will get more than that and is awful defensively. We might get some insurance money for ball. But unless he retired there is no cap relief from what I understand (and since he is retired why would he). Not sure we get an injury exception for him given we are getting him with the injury. Bulls would do this trade in a second. Might be getting the two best players in the deal.
Lavine has some injury concerns, but Jaylen has had his share of injury issues as well - he hasn't played 70+ games in a season since 2018/19 season some 5 years ago. Lavine has missed more games overall, but if you're going to take a risk on one of these guys I'd rather take the risk on Lavine for 4 years/$160M then Jaylen Brown at 5 years /$290M.
To be honest, I think the big gains here would not be the move form Jaylen to Lavine, but:
1. The cap relief from Lavine's much more managable contact
2. The improved consistency from adding Vucevic as that 3rd scoring option
I think having Vucevic as a #3 would be huge, as it would reduce our over-dependence on Tatum, which I think is one of the biggest reasons why this team has been so wildly inconsistent. Right now we are so dependant on Tatum and Brown that if either one of those guys doesn't show up (due to foul trouble, injury, or just having a bad game) there team just completely falls apart.
I feel in our past years when we had a clear #3 option (e.g. a healthy Gordon Hayward or a youngish Al Horford) we were far more consistent, because we always had that third guy who could step up when one of the main two didn't.
I also think it makes it much harder for teams to deal with us back when we always had three scoring threats (Kyrie/Tatum/Brown, Kemba/Tatum/Brown, Tatum/Brown/Hayward, Tatum/Brown/prime Horford). Those teams were never as strong at their best as our current team is (because our #1 and #2 weren't as good as Tatum and Brown) but they seemed to be much more consistent from one night to the next. I think it was just harder for teams to smother our top two guys - the way they do now - when we had that third threat to worry about. This season we kinda had to depend on Brogdon/White/Smart/G.Williams to fill that role by committee, but that's not the same as having that one consistent #3 guy that every team knows is dangerous and has to think about every time they play you.
I feel having that third consistent scoring threat (in Vucevic) would take huge pressure off our #1 and #2 guys and would help a lot in maximising out nighly consistency - which proved to be our achilles heel this season.
