The Solution to Our Problem (AKA How to Get Harden & Move Walker): Ball Bros.

[boscel33]

If you're moving Walker and parts for harden, OK.  You lose me when you have Brown included.

I guess, yes I've been a Brown fan since before he was selected, but I don't understand the willingness to move on from him, especially for Harden.  He will wreck this team like he has Houston (threw a ball at a rook a couple days ago).  I don't want him on this team!  I don't want him taking away from Tatum. 

Let this play out!  Golden State build around Steph and Klay.  They were 7th and 11th picks in their drafts.  They won their first title when Klay was 25 and Steph was 27.  We have plenty of time for JT and JB to grow and the C's become the next GSW.

[slamtheking]

Ainge 1st rounders in the last decade


2010 - Bradley - Became a solid starter
2011 - JaJuan Johnson - Couldn't stick in the league at all
** (but he also drafted E. Moore in the 2nd round who has become a solid rotation guard)
2012 - Sully - Solid rotation big for a few years; Fab - Not an NBA player (RIP)
2013 - Olynyk - Still a quality rotation big
2014 - Smart - core piece; James Young - not an NBA player
2015 - Rozier - solid rotation guard; RJ Hunter - not an NBA player
2016 - Jaylen - All-Star caliber wing; Yabu - not an NBA player
2017 - Tatum - Superstar
2018 - Timelord - backup center with promise
2019 - Langford - injured, too soon to say; Grant - useful role player already
2020 - Nesmith - can't say yet; Pritchard - can't say yet


So . . . 17 picks total. 

Three top 10 picks.  All major hits.

Three late lottery picks.  One hit and two that are too soon to tell.

Five mid-1st picks.  Three hits, one mixed (useful but fell out of the league fast), and two total busts.

Six late 1st rounders.  Two that are already end of rotation players, so you can call those hits.  One incomplete.  Three total misses.



I dunno ... that seems like a pretty good success rate, to me.  It's just hard to build out your team via the draft when you're mostly picking in the last third of the first round.

What Ainge did is hit big on the top 10 picks he had.  That's much more important than finding role players at the end of the 1st round.


It seems worse because a lot of the guys Ainge drafted in the middle of the 1st who became solid NBA players got paid and the team let them go.  But that was needed in order to have cap space to sign guys like Hayward, Horford, and Kemba.  You can't pay a premium to keep young role players (i.e. 7-9th men) and also chase max FA.

You can rationalize it all night long but the reality is that we are in a slightly worse position compared to when we drafted Tatum. It seems like all this asset accumulation went to waste

there's nothing wrong with what he said.  he's completely right.   you're taking the discussion in a different direction.  you have a point worth discussing in whether those assets could have been used better but that's not the same as evaluating the players Danny did take in the draft.

[tstorey_97]

Let's trade a young key defensive player on a good contract who also has a high quality offensive game and is committed to the team for....

One of the top 5 offensive players in the game who is paid $41M, is 31 years old and doesn't have a defensive game.

Ainge and Auerbach have always risked trades/draft picks where they ended up with a player who had above average defensive games.

Ainge got Ray Allen a top offensive player
Auerbach got Maravich off waivers

In both cases the Celtics were already strong defensive teams.

Smart-Brown-Tatum are the defensive core of the team without which playoff games will be lost.

Did you watch the Celtic's Raptor's series? That is what Celtic's basketball is all about and is what the future is built on.

Harden in three years on a "end of career contract" being added to a top defensive team makes a lot of sense to me.

Harden weakening the Celtics defensively whilst adding a $41M contract to the mix sounds like everything Red taught Ainge NOT to do.

Davis was the correct player to "commit to" ...this Harden guy? Yikes.

[GreenlyGreeny]

Seeing what Harden did the other night, going maskless at a club, has turned me. Beating the Bucks helped.

I still think we should try to move Kemba for Ball and get his RFA rights. Dude can ball and shut things down. More points for Tatum and Brown. Maybe Tatum, Brown, Ball, Smart is good enough to win it all. It’s nice balance.

[gouki88]

Seeing what Harden did the other night, going maskless at a club, has turned me. Beating the Bucks helped.

I still think we should try to move Kemba for Ball and get his RFA rights. Dude can ball and shut things down. More points for Tatum and Brown. Maybe Tatum, Brown, Ball, Smart is good enough to win it all. It’s nice balance.

That's a huge talent downgrade. Unless we get JJ Redick back too I don't see why we'd do that.

It's also not something that seems to be of any interest to New Orleans

[GreenlyGreeny]

After seeing that Christmas Day Disaster, it’s obvious that Brown is not good enough and this team is not good enough. As much as I dislike Harden off-court, we need him on-court and maybe he’ll wise up here. Whatever it takes to get Harden while retaining Tatum and Smart. Literally anybody else should be up for grabs.

[PhoSita]

We need to become the kind of team that doesn't need any one guy to take 25 shots.

We don't need to add a guy who will make that dynamic even worse and also play zero defense.

Not to mention, if you trade for harden he's gone in two years. No doubt about it.

[GreenlyGreeny]

We need to become the kind of team that doesn't need any one guy to take 25 shots.

We don't need to add a guy who will make that dynamic even worse and also play zero defense.

Not to mention, if you trade for harden he's gone in two years. No doubt about it.

It’s no longer true that Harden does not play D or pass:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YuwJawBy2sQ

I watch those highlights and think to myself that Harden/Tatum is probably instantly the best duo in the NBA. Retain Smart and Harden does not need to drain energy defending the opposing team’s best guard.

Dude is actually a phenomenal PG, too. Mike D’s system and the pairing with Paul/Westbrook has totally distracted everyone from the fact he’s not only a shooting maestro, but a passing Houdini. If Stevens can mold him into an MVP again the next two years, with one or two titles, I think he re-signs. Heck, I bet he loves being a Pg again and that alone does the trick. If not, we’ll have cap room to pair Tatum with someone like Jokic, who’s bound to want out of Denver.