The Celtics have an unbalanced roster. We have a lot of guards and wings, and hardly any proven bigs. Another imbalance is that we have an All Star (Walker), but other
potential All Stars are still really young.
It's not my original idea (
https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1875504&start=40), but trading Hayward + assets for Blake Griffin makes sense for both the Celtics and the Pistons. The Celtics try to contend and the Pistons start a rebuild around Langford, Kennard, Doumbouya etc, since Rose/Griffin/Drummond won't bring them any further than an early playoff-exit.
With
Kemba Walker (26/4/6) and
Blake Griffin (25/8/5) we'd have 2 All Stars in their primes. Alongside that, Brown and Tatum are at least above average starters.
Isn't that much better than hoping that Brown and Tatum will become perennial All Stars and other youngsters like Edwards, Langford, Grant Williams or Robert Williams can become starters at the level of Brown and Tatum?
I want to shift the focus towards
winning instead of developing rookies, and those two things generally don't go hand-in-hand.
My proposal would be as follows (trying to keep the Memphis pick):
To Boston: Blake Griffin
To Detroit: Gordon Hayward, Romeo Langford, '20 Milwaukee 1st, '21 Boston 1stIf Hayward returns to his former self than the Pistons win the trade, though it's not really about winning the trade. Griffin is just a much better fit for us. It would be a sad ending for Hayward in Boston, but on the other hand it can be a fresh start for him.
Our new rotation:
Walker/Edwards
Brown/Smart
Tatum/Ojeleye
Griffin/Theis or G.Williams
Poirier or Timelord/Kanter