Big Man Options

[RockinRyA]

Still cant understand why Ainge drafted 3 guards and a undersized PF instead getting at least 2 legit big men..there was some available..but Ainge loves those guards

We don't need 2 more bigs to sit on the bench. I doubt any of the draftees will get time before Williams, Poirer and Theis.

[trickybilly]

Boban.

[Somebody]

I think we've all gone up and down the teams in the NBA, wondering about the right fit for this team.

As currently constructed, I don't think a single name mentioned makes sense for this team. We don't have similar contracts invested in similar talent level to make the trades fair. We are either giving up way too much, or the players we want have too high of salary.

If a player was bought out, it might make sense to pick them up (Gasol, Whiteside, etc.), but I don't see another fit for a trade whatsoever, except ...

One player that is not on the list and I don't believe has been mentioned in this thread.

The only player that makes sense to me is Karl Anthony-Towns. I think a package of Smart-Tatum-Theis-Memphis 1st gets the value in the ballpark of what Minny would be looking for (although they may want more). At this point, there is no evidence whatsoever that Towns is trying to get out, and there's no reason the Wolves would trade him unless things blow up.

Given that he is the most likely possibility I see, it seems pretty clear that the Cs will focus on internal development. Williams, Williams, Tatum, and Brown will need to be able to hold their own, or they won't. I don't see Danny making a trade he loses just to sure up an area of weakness right now, especially if the player is only marginally better than our young bigs that are sill developing (ie Dedmon, etc.).

I think Towns is likely a target for Ainge -- a few years down the road.  I don't think it's likely that the Wolves will look to trade him anytime soon.

I agree though that Towns is the most obvious next big name that the Celts might try to get in on.  I suspect that once it  became clear the Celts weren't getting AD, Danny started thinking about the next superstar talent that could eventually be available, and Towns is the most obvious answer (unless you think Giannis will leave Milwaukee in 2021).

Question is whether they will have the assets to go after Towns if and when he does become available, or if they'll have to try to chase him in free agency.

Towns has five years left on his deal (including this year). I know player movement is big, but who was the last superstar traded with more than two years left? The reason he's not on the thread is because I was focused on guys I thought might actually be moved.

I agree with the second point, the real answer might be internal development. Maybe Robert Williams can be a starter by years end.

I imagine we'd have to give up the equivalent of what the Lakers paid to get Kareem if we want KAT in a year or two: two lottery picks, a young prospect who projects to be a star and a very good role player. Imo a package of 3-4 1sts with the Memphis pick included, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart would be the minimum that the Wolves would be looking for, and I'd be ecstatic if we got him for that cheap. His offense has been transcendent so far from this small sample size, I'd go so far as to say that he'd join the holy duo of big man offensive centrepieces in Kareem and Shaq if he keeps up this production throughout the season, and his defense looks much improved.

[Fierce1]

I think Tristan Thompson is also an option.

Just because it's hard to do, it doesn't mean it can't be done.

Ainge found a way to sign Kemba.

Tristan Thompson is a good option for the Celts because it would not cost the Celts Hayward or Smart.

Trading Hayward for a guy like Drummond is like one step forward and one step backward.

Hayward gives the Celts 4 weapons on the court.
Tatum, Kemba, Hayward, and Brown are all weapons that can't be left unguarded.
That's the strength of the Celtics, they have multiple players who can score all the time.
So why sacrifice one of the 4 weapons when an upgrade can be done without sacrificing a key player of the team.

[Androslav]

Out of the proposed, I think that only D.Favors, T.Thompson, and C.Zeller are realistic options.
Others are either too expensive and would require decimating our core, or their contract goes beyond 2 years from now, which makes them too constricting for our cap health.

There is still a lot of time till the deadline to see who out of the 3 would actually be available for what we would offer.

[gpap]

I think Tristan Thompson is also an option.

Just because it's hard to do, it doesn't mean it can't be done.

Ainge found a way to sign Kemba.

Tristan Thompson is a good option for the Celts because it would not cost the Celts Hayward or Smart.

Trading Hayward for a guy like Drummond is like one step forward and one step backward.

Hayward gives the Celts 4 weapons on the court.
Tatum, Kemba, Hayward, and Brown are all weapons that can't be left unguarded.
That's the strength of the Celtics, they have multiple players who can score all the time.
So why sacrifice one of the 4 weapons when an upgrade can be done without sacrificing a key player of the team.

Not really, Tatum, Brown and Hayward are all wing players, of which we have an abundance of. If I had to give up Hayward or Tatum for a dominant big like Drummond, I do it.

[boscel33]

 

Why not simply develop our own, now that Kanter and Theis is injured, I think this is the better time to give VP playing time to develop his confidence and show what he can do, also the season is still one week old, some teams with new acquisitions are still adjusting.

Tacko Time! 

Just kidding.  While I think in two to three years, he'll be a formidable bench player, i don't believe he'll be a starter, but it's still fun to cheer and root for him.

I know we're three games in, but is it time to start re-evaluating Tatum?  He might be the best chip we have.  It just seems as though, he never got over the trade rumors from the past.  KAT would look good in Celtic Green for sure!

[Androslav]

I think Tristan Thompson is also an option.

Just because it's hard to do, it doesn't mean it can't be done.

Ainge found a way to sign Kemba.

Tristan Thompson is a good option for the Celts because it would not cost the Celts Hayward or Smart.

Trading Hayward for a guy like Drummond is like one step forward and one step backward.

Hayward gives the Celts 4 weapons on the court.
Tatum, Kemba, Hayward, and Brown are all weapons that can't be left unguarded.
That's the strength of the Celtics, they have multiple players who can score all the time.
So why sacrifice one of the 4 weapons when an upgrade can be done without sacrificing a key player of the team.

Not really, Tatum, Brown, and Hayward are all wing players, of which we have an abundance of. If I had to give up Hayward or Tatum for a dominant big like Drummond, I do it.

Drummond is not a dominant big.
I think we can all agree on that, after all, we have 8 professional years of his track record.
He never dominated, not on defense nor at offense.

[gpap]

I think Tristan Thompson is also an option.

Just because it's hard to do, it doesn't mean it can't be done.

Ainge found a way to sign Kemba.

Tristan Thompson is a good option for the Celts because it would not cost the Celts Hayward or Smart.

Trading Hayward for a guy like Drummond is like one step forward and one step backward.

Hayward gives the Celts 4 weapons on the court.
Tatum, Kemba, Hayward, and Brown are all weapons that can't be left unguarded.
That's the strength of the Celtics, they have multiple players who can score all the time.
So why sacrifice one of the 4 weapons when an upgrade can be done without sacrificing a key player of the team.

Not really, Tatum, Brown, and Hayward are all wing players, of which we have an abundance of. If I had to give up Hayward or Tatum for a dominant big like Drummond, I do it.

Drummond is not a dominant big.
I think we can all agree on that, after all, we have 8 professional years of his track record.
He never dominated, not on defense nor at offense.

I guess I sorta question the merit of this statement.

[gpap]

This is becoming a real Achilles heel for Danny Ainge.

I mean, what is this, the 6th or 7th straight year with a limited frontcourt?? Horford and Baynes were great for us over the last few years, but behind them we got nothing for depth (besides guys like Theis who are more PFs though). Even Horford honestly isn't your "traditional" center, although that's another discussion. So if one guy got hurt, our front court was pretty much screwed.

We also toiled through the years of post KG + Perkins with Sully/Zeller/Amir/Olynyk (ugh).

Even this season, while I like Kanter and hope Timelord does well, this front court was limited in depth going into the season and we all knew it. Now just 1 game in and Kanter's apparently hurt too.

Will Danny do anything about it, or will it just be, "screw rebounding, we love smallball and defense!"

I agree. We seem to be watching this movie every year. We'll see how things shake out but it never ceases to amaze me that Ainge and Stevens still haven't learned their lesson.

[gouki88]

I think Tristan Thompson is also an option.

Just because it's hard to do, it doesn't mean it can't be done.

Ainge found a way to sign Kemba.

Tristan Thompson is a good option for the Celts because it would not cost the Celts Hayward or Smart.

Trading Hayward for a guy like Drummond is like one step forward and one step backward.

Hayward gives the Celts 4 weapons on the court.
Tatum, Kemba, Hayward, and Brown are all weapons that can't be left unguarded.
That's the strength of the Celtics, they have multiple players who can score all the time.
So why sacrifice one of the 4 weapons when an upgrade can be done without sacrificing a key player of the team.

Not really, Tatum, Brown, and Hayward are all wing players, of which we have an abundance of. If I had to give up Hayward or Tatum for a dominant big like Drummond, I do it.

Drummond is not a dominant big.
I think we can all agree on that, after all, we have 8 professional years of his track record.
He never dominated, not on defense nor at offense.

I guess I sorta question the merit of this statement.

Yeah, especially considering he's the best rebounder of the 2010s

[nickagneta]

Without majorly affecting our core 6 guys, I don't see the ability to add a difference making big that would catapult this team into title contention. So for that reason, I say let Timelord, Poirier, and Grant Williams grow this season to see what you have. Who knows, maybe by this time next year we have a Clint Capela type player and a Paul Milsap like player emerging out of our youth in the big man area.

Also, many of the trade proposals that keep the core together would probably necessitates a 4 or more for 1 deal. That's not happening until at least January and is extremely unlikely. Most teams would need to cut 2-3 of their current players and eat their salaries just to replace them with our flotsam and jetsam. That is not happening without considerable draft capital being involved.

For those thinking Danny could do a 3 or 4 way deal, that deal would need to still send salary to the team who's player we are targeting(call them Team 1) meaning that team still needs to cut players and eat salary or Team 2(the third team involved) could send a trade exception to Team 1. The only problem with that, is Atlanta is the only team under the cap that can absorb salary and they only have about $1-2.5 million in cap space(depending on where you look)so that scenario isn't happening either.

[saltlover]

I think Tristan Thompson is also an option.

Just because it's hard to do, it doesn't mean it can't be done.

Ainge found a way to sign Kemba.

Tristan Thompson is a good option for the Celts because it would not cost the Celts Hayward or Smart.

Trading Hayward for a guy like Drummond is like one step forward and one step backward.

Hayward gives the Celts 4 weapons on the court.
Tatum, Kemba, Hayward, and Brown are all weapons that can't be left unguarded.
That's the strength of the Celtics, they have multiple players who can score all the time.
So why sacrifice one of the 4 weapons when an upgrade can be done without sacrificing a key player of the team.

Not really, Tatum, Brown, and Hayward are all wing players, of which we have an abundance of. If I had to give up Hayward or Tatum for a dominant big like Drummond, I do it.

Drummond is not a dominant big.
I think we can all agree on that, after all, we have 8 professional years of his track record.
He never dominated, not on defense nor at offense.

I guess I sorta question the merit of this statement.

Yeah, especially considering he's the best rebounder of the 2010s

He arguably is.  That said, Enes Kanter should certainly be in the conversation for that title, especially offensive rebounds, and yet we have this thread decrying our lack of big men after Kanter has missed two games.

[Androslav]

I think Tristan Thompson is also an option.

Just because it's hard to do, it doesn't mean it can't be done.

Ainge found a way to sign Kemba.

Tristan Thompson is a good option for the Celts because it would not cost the Celts Hayward or Smart.

Trading Hayward for a guy like Drummond is like one step forward and one step backward.

Hayward gives the Celts 4 weapons on the court.
Tatum, Kemba, Hayward, and Brown are all weapons that can't be left unguarded.
That's the strength of the Celtics, they have multiple players who can score all the time.
So why sacrifice one of the 4 weapons when an upgrade can be done without sacrificing a key player of the team.

Not really, Tatum, Brown, and Hayward are all wing players, of which we have an abundance of. If I had to give up Hayward or Tatum for a dominant big like Drummond, I do it.

Drummond is not a dominant big.
I think we can all agree on that, after all, we have 8 professional years of his track record.
He never dominated, not on defense nor at offense.

I guess I sorta question the merit of this statement.

Yeah, especially considering he's the best rebounder of the 2010s

He arguably is. That said, Enes Kanter should certainly be in the conversation for that title, especially offensive rebounds, and yet we have this thread decrying our lack of big men after Kanter has missed two games.

Drummond probably is the best rebounder of this decade, but that by itself, that one element of our beautiful game doesn't make him a dominant player.
That is because there are many more elements to the game; like shooting, dribbling, footwork, passing, touch, decision making, defensive awareness and discipline, etc.
In all of those areas, Drummond is probably in the top 5-10% of the worst players in the league.
However, I didn't name him as one of the worst players in the league (even though those are some truly severe weaknesses) and I see folks crowning him as dominant because he does one thing elite.

Elite rebounder - yes
Dominant player - never was

[DefenseWinsChamps]

This might just be reporters drumming up talking points, but I have heard Capella might be available from multiple places now.

Why would the Rockets trade him? In short, if they think they could fill most of his production as a rim runner through a cheaper option, they could trade him away to try to get a lesser rim runner and more depth.

They desperately lack depth right now. They are giving McLemore, Sefalosa, Rivers, and House a lot of minutes right now. Those guys are end of the bench players at best.

The Cs almost have too many guys right now. They could trade Ojeleye or Green if the Rockets liked either of those cheap depth options. Theis and Kanter would probably have to be included for salary purposes (or Smart).

A potential deal could be Kanter, Langford, and Williams for Capella. Or Kanter, Langford, and Ojeleye for Capella. Or Smart and Williams for Capella.

I wouldn't do this deal, because I think Williams will be at that level one day--maybe soon. But still, a trade like that could work.