Welcome back Sam Cassell

[Roy H.]

If Muscala isn't good enough to play in the playoffs, then why did we acquire him? That pick we gave up turned out to be decent.

If we're giving away picks, why not get someone who will actually play?

Yeah.  He absolutely was good enough to help us, and was helping us until he got dropped from the rotation.

I think the pick we sent out actually ended up being the Miami's pick, right?  #50?  It was looking like we'd get #33 and would have to send out #35, but that didn't come to fruition.

We also sent a separate 2029 #2.

Relevant trades to compare:

* Charlotte deals Plumlee for a #2 and expiring salary
* Hornets get two #2s and send out #2 out for Jaden McDaniels
* Nuggets get Thomas Bryant for two #2s and Bones Hyland
* Lakers trade two #2s and Nunn for Rui Hachimura

It seems like we could have made similar deals, with the one exception potentially being the Bryant deal (Pritchard presumably would have been the outgoing piece).

[Celtics2021]

If Muscala isn't good enough to play in the playoffs, then why did we acquire him? That pick we gave up turned out to be decent.

If we're giving away picks, why not get someone who will actually play?

Yeah.  He absolutely was good enough to help us, and was helping us until he got dropped from the rotation.

I think the pick we sent out actually ended up being the Miami's pick, right?  #50?  It was looking like we'd get #33 and would have to send out #35, but that didn't come to fruition.

We also sent a separate 2029 #2.

Relevant trades to compare:

* Charlotte deals Plumlee for a #2 and expiring salary
* Hornets get two #2s and send out #2 out for Jaden McDaniels
* Nuggets get Thomas Bryant for two #2s and Bones Hyland
* Lakers trade two #2s and Nunn for Rui Hachimura

It seems like we could have made similar deals, with the one exception potentially being the Bryant deal (Pritchard presumably would have been the outgoing piece).

A couple of clarifications. The Hornets wound up getting back their own #2 in the McDaniels trade, so to provide equal value we’d have needed to give back our better 2nd (and even then it was less than equal value, because Portland was 8-10 spots higher at the deadline and the Hornets knew they were tanking).  As for Hachimura, the Lakers sent three 2nds for him, not two — one in 2023, 2028, and 2029.

[BitterJim]

If Muscala isn't good enough to play in the playoffs, then why did we acquire him? That pick we gave up turned out to be decent.

If we're giving away picks, why not get someone who will actually play?

Because less minutes for Al in the regular season should mean he can play more in the playoffs. Ditto for Rob, since less minutes should mean less chance of injury.

That said... we had the solution sitting on the bench in Grant. Neither he nor Muscala should be playing as the only big, so there wasn't really anything that he added that more Grant minutes wouldn't have done

[celticsclay]

If Muscala isn't good enough to play in the playoffs, then why did we acquire him? That pick we gave up turned out to be decent.

If we're giving away picks, why not get someone who will actually play?

Yeah.  He absolutely was good enough to help us, and was helping us until he got dropped from the rotation.

I think the pick we sent out actually ended up being the Miami's pick, right?  #50?  It was looking like we'd get #33 and would have to send out #35, but that didn't come to fruition.

We also sent a separate 2029 #2.

Relevant trades to compare:

* Charlotte deals Plumlee for a #2 and expiring salary
* Hornets get two #2s and send out #2 out for Jaden McDaniels
* Nuggets get Thomas Bryant for two #2s and Bones Hyland
* Lakers trade two #2s and Nunn for Rui Hachimura

It seems like we could have made similar deals, with the one exception potentially being the Bryant deal (Pritchard presumably would have been the outgoing piece).

Plumlee was an ok back up for the clippers. Bryant is demoted to deep bench and hyland seemed to rarely play. Will be interesting to see what happens with Rui cause he seems like he will get overpaid by someone (we definitely wouldn’t have paid to keep him)

[Vermont Green]

If Muscala isn't good enough to play in the playoffs, then why did we acquire him? That pick we gave up turned out to be decent.

If we're giving away picks, why not get someone who will actually play?

Yeah.  He absolutely was good enough to help us, and was helping us until he got dropped from the rotation.

I think the pick we sent out actually ended up being the Miami's pick, right?  #50?  It was looking like we'd get #33 and would have to send out #35, but that didn't come to fruition.

We also sent a separate 2029 #2.

Relevant trades to compare:

* Charlotte deals Plumlee for a #2 and expiring salary
* Hornets get two #2s and send out #2 out for Jaden McDaniels
* Nuggets get Thomas Bryant for two #2s and Bones Hyland
* Lakers trade two #2s and Nunn for Rui Hachimura

It seems like we could have made similar deals, with the one exception potentially being the Bryant deal (Pritchard presumably would have been the outgoing piece).

Plumlee was an ok back up for the clippers. Bryant is demoted to deep bench and hyland seemed to rarely play. Will be interesting to see what happens with Rui cause he seems like he will get overpaid by someone (we definitely wouldn’t have paid to keep him)

I agree, the only one of those players that made a meaningful impact for their team in the playoffs was Hachimura.  That turned out to be a good pick up for LAL.  He probably would have helped us some.  But I am not sure he will be any better than Grant Williams moving forward.  It seems he will be better but hard to know.  I was not expecting Hachimura to be that good but had we traded for him, we would be the ones the position to overpay him in addition to or maybe in place of Grant.

Hachimura could be a dangerous player to sign.  He will probably get really good money based on a fairly short run of good play in a high profile setting.  Maybe he keeps it up but a lot of situations like this end up with an overpaid player.  I don't see his ceiling as high enough to be too worried that we missed out on him.

[Big333223]

Love the Cassell hire. Well respected as a player and as an assistant coach. Cassell is going to be the authority in the locker room they were missing during the playoffs.

[tenn_smoothie]

Of course, we remember Cassell as a rotation point-guard on the '08 title team. Unfortunately, my specific memories of him was yelling at Doc to pull him and put Eddie House in. Why ? Because Sam had a bad tendency to jack up bad shots off the dribble. Eventually, House did get more of those backup PG minutes and Cassell less and it paid off in the playoffs. We don't need yet another coach who encourages bad shot selection - on the contrary. I have no idea what kind of a coach Cassell will be for this team 16 years later, so I will hope for the best. I have very little optimism for this franchise right now anyway, not after they doubled down on Mazzulla.

[Kernewek]

Edit: It is not that I want to see them play regularly. I don't. The main 8 guys are our best player and I want to see them play as many of the minutes as possible. But when they aren't bringing it. When they are playing badly. Those were times when the deep bench could've been better utilized.

Just wanted to say great post lots to discuss there.