WOJ (mini-)BOMB:
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1224428316372996097?s=20
Good to hear. Our rivals in the East are very strong at the PF-C positions. Theis is a terrible fit against Horford-Embiid / Giannis-BroLo / Turner-Sabonis. If the goal is to make a deep playoff run, we need to upgrade the C position.
Would love us to go after Turner, but I'd be happy with Capela as well.
https://twitter.com/chrisgrenham/status/1224430722515193856
Windhorst: I asked a staffer to give me some names that worked salarywise, and this is what he came up with.
That would be a dream trade on our part! We get to keep all our core guys and we add a legit starting-caliber Center in Capela!
Respectfully, Theis should be a core player at this point. Not long-term, hope to keep forever core, but he’s absolutely part of this year’s core. The upgrade from Theis to Capela would be marginal at best, so trading your rookie lottery pick and another lottery pick is a high price. This is compounded by the fact that Theis is under contract for a bargain $5 million next season.
I can get moving Kanter, whom I like, in such a package for Capela. Not sure I’d do it, but I’d get it. Theis just wouldn’t make sense to trade in such a package.
Theis is having a career year. It could be argued that Theis has been the Celtics most valuable player this year. He has been really good on both ends this year.
I'm gonna respectfully disagree about my main man Daniel Theis. I've always liked the way he played the game from his first minute as a Celtic. I also thought the drop off from Horford to him wasn't going to be as severe as others thought.
Still, he's a classic over-achieving role player right now. He's an ideal player to trade while his value is high. He's not going to get better, especially as he loses mobility. His contract is great, but so is Kanter's. He's a player whose production is relatively easy to reproduce, because he does everything above average and nothing really well. He's not the best post defender on the team. He's not the best shot-blocker or pick-and-roll defender big on the team. He's not the best finishing big on the team. The only thing he's best among our bigs at is shooting.
He's a great team guy and a very heady player, but his production is not difficult to replace, especially given CBS's ability to help bigs out-produce their talent (Zeller, Sullinger, Olynyk, Johnson, etc.). I'd love to keep him as a backup. He's a great team guy for the Cs, but he is not a core piece.
I'd be ok with trading either Kanter or Theis for Capela, even if the upgrade is only from a nickel to a dime.