Sources: Cs/Kemba want a breakup (other sources contradict)

[gouki88]

Boy, the Kemba hate is strong. The guy has done nothing but work his ass off to be as good as he can be and has averaged 19/5/4 with slightly above average efficiency in his time here and people just want to buy him out/salary dump him/trade him for role players.

He is one of the most likeable athletes to come into Boston in years and everyone is dumping on him. I don't get it.

You want to package him and picks and youth for an upgrade, that I get. Just ditching him because....I don't know....he represents everything that went wrong this year in the minds of many, that I do not get.

This.  Also, by at least one metric (RAPTOR being the one I found), he was the Celtics best player last year when healthy.  ESPN's Real-Plus Minus had him 3rd, behind Tatum and Brown, but still at net positive, and at 57th overall was right behind Anthony Davis (55th) and Bradley Beal (56th).  Is his health concerning?  Absolutely.  Is he the best fit next to Tatum and Brown, given their development the last two years?  That's questionable.  Is he trash?  Far from it.  His production was probably worth ~$20 million this season.  That's not great when he was paid $34 million, but he also wasn't the problem.  The problem is easy to see when you look at something like RAPTOR -- we only had six players with a positive score, and three of them missed all or most of the Nets series.  You can have crappy depth if you're healthy, or you can have bad health if you have good depth, but you can't have both, and that's not Kemba's fault.  Last year, in comparison, we had 8 players who were positive, and better health. 

I'm on board with trading Kemba for someone who is a better fit for the roster, but the concept of moving him just to get out from under his contract, which could very well be entering it's last year anyway?  People need to get a grip.

Careful now, people might not be receptive to analyses of Kemba’s game that aren’t exclusively about his height or Miami’s strategy to target him last post-season

[Kernewek]

I think the problem is that Kemba the contract is an impediment to a lot of moves that people would like to see to change the roster up. So if you're not particularly happy about the prospect of running it back with the same squad next year, it's logical that you'd want Kemba to be shipped out.

In other words: it's not the player, it's the contract.

The title-town chest-beating isn't worth anyone's time, though. Personally, I try to appreciate the good players while they're here rather than trying to play armchair GM.

[Somebody]

I think the problem is that Kemba the contract is an impediment to a lot of moves that people would like to see to change the roster up. So if you're not particularly happy about the prospect of running it back with the same squad next year, it's logical that you'd want Kemba to be shipped out.

In other words: it's not the player, it's the contract.

The title-town chest-beating isn't worth anyone's time, though. Personally, I try to appreciate the good players while they're here rather than trying to play armchair GM.

I just wish for us to not misuse our good players while they're here

[Rikibellevie]

Boy, the Kemba hate is strong. The guy has done nothing but work his ass off to be as good as he can be and has averaged 19/5/4 with slightly above average efficiency in his time here and people just want to buy him out/salary dump him/trade him for role players.

He is one of the most likeable athletes to come into Boston in years and everyone is dumping on him. I don't get it.

You want to package him and picks and youth for an upgrade, that I get. Just ditching him because....I don't know....he represents everything that went wrong this year in the minds of many, that I do not get.

This.  Also, by at least one metric (RAPTOR being the one I found), he was the Celtics best player last year when healthy.  ESPN's Real-Plus Minus had him 3rd, behind Tatum and Brown, but still at net positive, and at 57th overall was right behind Anthony Davis (55th) and Bradley Beal (56th).  Is his health concerning?  Absolutely.  Is he the best fit next to Tatum and Brown, given their development the last two years?  That's questionable.  Is he trash?  Far from it.  His production was probably worth ~$20 million this season.  That's not great when he was paid $34 million, but he also wasn't the problem.  The problem is easy to see when you look at something like RAPTOR -- we only had six players with a positive score, and three of them missed all or most of the Nets series.  You can have crappy depth if you're healthy, or you can have bad health if you have good depth, but you can't have both, and that's not Kemba's fault.  Last year, in comparison, we had 8 players who were positive, and better health. 

I'm on board with trading Kemba for someone who is a better fit for the roster, but the concept of moving him just to get out from under his contract, which could very well be entering it's last year anyway?  People need to get a grip.

Careful now, people might not be receptive to analyses of Kemba’s game that aren’t exclusively about his height or Miami’s strategy to target him last post-season

There is the haters, who see Kemba as a player on the very end and make it sometime personal and the Lovers also... Thep roblem wasn't only against Miami...
Realisticly his load management al year, injuries adding unstability to an unstable team, injurys to a team allready hurt by that. Add defensive questions to a team which is already has liability on team defense, effort, size.  As a men there is 0 question, but as a leader, there is also some...

Personnaly I don't think we have to trade him for an even worst contract. But for a Porzingis straight up, it might be an option if our staff believe on his come back and his fit. But preferably, if we unload Kemba and Thompson contract, we still could have 20+M to put on a good vet guard + 2 other servicables role players with MLE and TPE; getting a better passer/leader PG (Lowry?) a strectch 4 and another sub Big... This isn't fixing on bad points of Kemba, it is more thinking about the stability and the reconstruction of our core, that didn't worked well this year, not only because of injuries and Covid...

[radiohead]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/mavericks-kristaps-porzingis-frustrated-next-to-luka-doncic-but-trade-interest-is-minimal-per-reports/

Porzingis is apparently disgruntled with his role in Dallas. Could he thrive with Boston under a new coach? Porzingis + Brunson for Kemba and filler?

[Birdman]

I don’t think Porzingis would fit with Tatum & Brown..plus he has 3 more years on that big contract, am I right?

[radiohead]

I don’t think Porzingis would fit with Tatum & Brown..plus he has 3 more years on that big contract, am I right?

Yup, 3 years to go, but then again he’s only 25 years old. I’m actually all for keeping Kemba and see how the new coach uses him with JT and JB. But if Kemba is adamant on leaving, then a KP trade could be something interesting. It could be a “buy low” on KP, but it could also be a major blunder by Brad.

[Celtics4ever]

I think they will oblige him.   No one wants a guy on the team who doesn't want to be here.   He has always been a good citizen for him to be talking about the issue it has to be eating at him.  The thing is why wait until Ainge is gone to say this as his problem was with Danny?

Danny is gone.

[jbpats]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/mavericks-kristaps-porzingis-frustrated-next-to-luka-doncic-but-trade-interest-is-minimal-per-reports/

Porzingis is apparently disgruntled with his role in Dallas. Could he thrive with Boston under a new coach? Porzingis + Brunson for Kemba and filler?

I have extremely low expectations for Porzingis, he’s underachieved on two teams now. That said I’d roll the dice on him over an extremely undersized pg on a max deal whose lost more than a step.

[td450]

I think the problem is that Kemba the contract is an impediment to a lot of moves that people would like to see to change the roster up. So if you're not particularly happy about the prospect of running it back with the same squad next year, it's logical that you'd want Kemba to be shipped out.

In other words: it's not the player, it's the contract.

The title-town chest-beating isn't worth anyone's time, though. Personally, I try to appreciate the good players while they're here rather than trying to play armchair GM.

Yeah, but the contract is in place, as is the structural issues of the teams salary cap. It will be very difficulty for the C's to get out from under this contract AND obtain the ability to reuse the money on someone else. The C's would have to gut the team to reach a point where they could shed Kemba and then sign a free agent. Other strategies are possible but all have problems. All require a fortuitous offer from another team or teams.

The main problem with Kemba is that he is just a scorer, and he matches up very poorly with Marcus Smart.

The team needs passing and creating. It needs a power forward desperately. In the right combination, it would be fine keeping Kemba for 2 years. But if you want to keep Kemba, you cannot keep Smart, and you have to get players in that can make this work.

[radiohead]

I think they will oblige him.   No one wants a guy on the team who doesn't want to be here.   He has always been a good citizen for him to be talking about the issue it has to be eating at him.  The thing is why wait until Ainge is gone to say this as his problem was with Danny?

Danny is gone.

Maybe he really was planning to say something once the season ended, so as not to distract the team. And it just so happened that Danny resigned a day after the Celtics were eliminated.

[Birdman]

Kemba just needs to get those knees healthy,,he still a great player when he is 110% healthy..now if it a chronic knee issue, then he never be healthy

[hwangjini_1]

Kemba just needs to get those knees healthy,,he still a great player when he is 110% healthy..now if it a chronic knee issue, then he never be healthy

it is exactly that, a chronic knee issue. it has to do with the cartilage...or rather the loss there of.

[jambr380]

Kemba just needs to get those knees healthy,,he still a great player when he is 110% healthy..now if it a chronic knee issue, then he never be healthy

it is exactly that, a chronic knee issue. it has to do with the cartilage...or rather the loss there of.

Seeing as how he had no setbacks this season, and he will finally have a full offseason (first since 2018) to rest and strengthen the muscles around his knee, I believe that he can be mostly healthy for the next two seasons and be a very good third option on a team that desperately needs one.

Danny said in April that Kemba could play back-to-backs, but that they were being cautious with him due to the condensed season. Kemba said himself that he is planning to play in back-to-backs next season. I've said before that I am not vehemently against the concept of trading Kemba, but to attach assets just to get rid of him, or to trade him for a clear downgrade, makes no sense to me.

[Celtics2021]

Kemba just needs to get those knees healthy,,he still a great player when he is 110% healthy..now if it a chronic knee issue, then he never be healthy

it is exactly that, a chronic knee issue. it has to do with the cartilage...or rather the loss there of.

Seeing as how he had no setbacks this season, and he will finally have a full offseason (first since 2018) to rest and strengthen the muscles around his knee, I believe that he can be mostly healthy for the next two seasons and be a very good third option on a team that desperately needs one.

Danny said in April that Kemba could play back-to-backs, but that they were being cautious with him due to the condensed season. Kemba said himself that he is planning to play in back-to-backs next season. I've said before that I am not vehemently against the concept of trading Kemba, but to attach assets just to get rid of him, or to trade him for a clear downgrade, makes no sense to me.

I don't think you can go that far.  It's not clear as to whether the injury he sustained to the same knee that caused him to miss the playoffs was either made worse by, or reinjured, his other knee problem.  It's certainly possible that but for his knee problems he would have been able to play through the bone bruise, or that attempting to play through it in game 3 caused additional injury.