Kemba Walker (Kemba to formalize agreement on Sunday, pg 40)

[Fafnir]

Let's not do something silly and start a new thread that the C's are at front of the line for Kemba.
Let Woj drop the bomb before opening a new thread or just adding an edit to this one.
I for one of many think Kemba will sign here and then we may trade one of our wings (ahem, Jaylen) and a pick for a quality big that may surprise people.

That's what I think too. In addition to targeting Kemba, I think Danny is going to address center by trading one of our many wings.

You really need 3 quality wings in today's NBA.

I understand exploring a Jaylen trade, because he has value and is an upcoming FA. But we need to get some very good players/pieces back.

[BringToughnessBack]

Why is his assist per game total so low over his career? It actually look similar to Kyrie's but Kyrie did improve his last year with our team to almost 7 per game.

How is his defense? He can definitely score though and his points per game numbers have been going up year over year...would assume they maxed last year at his peak age of 28.

It definitely feels like the smoke is building in relation to our interest in him. Smoke screen or real is the question.

[saltlover]

I'm sure they will explore trading Jaylen given that he's coming up for a new contract. I don't really see a trade were the C's get back enough, but who knows.

I would be very surprised to see Jaylen traded.  They can afford to keep him, so the rookie deal ending isn’t really an issue.  I mean, I’m sure they’ll listen to offers, but they would have to get something very good in return.  It wouldn't be for some generic big just because they don’t have one.  And I’m not sure the quality of big man it would take for Ainge to make that trade is in the market.

[gouki88]

Why is his assist per game total so low over his career? It actually look similar to Kyrie's but Kyrie did improve his last year with our team to almost 7 per game.

How is his defense? He can definitely score though and his points per game numbers have been going up year over year...would assume they maxed last year at his peak age of 28.

It definitely feels like the smoke is building in relation to our interest in him. Smoke screen or real is the question.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Kyrie's assist numbers increased when he had a team more suited to point guard play + a good coach. When you look over some of the teams Kemba has been put on it's a wonder he's been between 5-6APG for his career.

His defence is quite poor though, or at least it is from memory. Again his effort could improve on a better team with more of the offensive load shared around.

Definitely interested in seeing how DA plays this

[saltlover]

Why is his assist per game total so low over his career? It actually look similar to Kyrie's but Kyrie did improve his last year with our team to almost 7 per game.

How is his defense? He can definitely score though and his points per game numbers have been going up year over year...would assume they maxed last year at his peak age of 28.

It definitely feels like the smoke is building in relation to our interest in him. Smoke screen or real is the question.

His assist rate is low for a PG because he spends a lot of time on the floor with Batum and MKG.  Neither of those two are very good shooters (MKG is horrendous).  Furthermore, Batum’s biggest strength is in passing/running an offense.  So he sucks up a lot of assists (he and Kemba share the load with that responsibility) while Walker is the primary scorer when he’s not facilitating.

[Fafnir]

Why is his assist per game total so low over his career? It actually look similar to Kyrie's but Kyrie did improve his last year with our team to almost 7 per game.

How is his defense? He can definitely score though and his points per game numbers have been going up year over year...would assume they maxed last year at his peak age of 28.

It definitely feels like the smoke is building in relation to our interest in him. Smoke screen or real is the question.

He is a scoring point guard, his assists have been pretty consistent over the course of his career. I would expect him to be similar in Boston with maybe a slight uptick based on Stevens system and better scorers to pass to.

Defensively Kemba plays harder than Kyrie consistently, though he is smaller. His help defense is his biggest issue. He's an aggressive three point shooter, which is great.

[Fafnir]

Why is his assist per game total so low over his career? It actually look similar to Kyrie's but Kyrie did improve his last year with our team to almost 7 per game.

How is his defense? He can definitely score though and his points per game numbers have been going up year over year...would assume they maxed last year at his peak age of 28.

It definitely feels like the smoke is building in relation to our interest in him. Smoke screen or real is the question.

His assist rate is low for a PG because he spends a lot of time on the floor with Batum and MKG.  Neither of those two are very good shooters (MKG is horrendous).  Furthermore, Batum’s biggest strength is in passing/running an offense.  So he sucks up a lot of assists (he and Kemba share the load with that responsibility) while Walker is the primary scorer when he’s not facilitating.

While this is true, at his core he's still a scoring PG. I think 6-7 APG is the most you can expect if he comes to Boston.

Which is fine given that we want Tatum/Hayward doing things with the ball as well.

[saltlover]

Why is his assist per game total so low over his career? It actually look similar to Kyrie's but Kyrie did improve his last year with our team to almost 7 per game.

How is his defense? He can definitely score though and his points per game numbers have been going up year over year...would assume they maxed last year at his peak age of 28.

It definitely feels like the smoke is building in relation to our interest in him. Smoke screen or real is the question.

His assist rate is low for a PG because he spends a lot of time on the floor with Batum and MKG.  Neither of those two are very good shooters (MKG is horrendous).  Furthermore, Batum’s biggest strength is in passing/running an offense.  So he sucks up a lot of assists (he and Kemba share the load with that responsibility) while Walker is the primary scorer when he’s not facilitating.

While this is true, at his core he's still a scoring PG. I think 6-7 APG is the most you can expect if he comes to Boston.

Which is fine given that we want Tatum/Hayward doing things with the ball as well.

Oh, I don’t disagree.  If Boston is looking for a pass-first PG, they should go after Rubio.  I’m just putting his assist numbers into context.  Charlotte needed him to be a scoring PG, and he is very, very good at that.  Presumably we’d ask the same of him.

[RodyTur10]

Makes no sense to me. When we sign Walker we have used all our cap space. We didn't draft a center. We let Baynes go for cap space. We almost only have guards and wings on the roster. Are Ainge/Stevens that extreme that they think that total positionless basketball is the way forward?

If we start our 5 best players, it will look like this (I'd find that crazy, although there's a small margin between genius and crazy):

Starting: Walker/Brown/Tatum/Hayward/Smart

(bench: Edwards, Langford, Ojeleye, G.Williams, R.Williams)

In football (soccer) Spain used a revolutionary system of 4-6-0 (no strikers/attackers) and they became European Champions in 2012, but I can't see something weird like that working in basketball.

We don't have the cap space to sign a starting caliber center somewhere, so this must be a false rumour.

[mmmmm]

Plan A Kemba
Plan B Brogdan

But Boston is going to have to really over pay for Brogdan to get him away from the Bucks.

Brogdan doesn't really fit unless you trade Brown or Smart.

Disagree.  He's PG who can handle the ball and run the offense but also can work well off-the-ball with a ball-handling forward (as he has had to with Giannis).   So he should be good acting as either conventional PG or complementing Hayward.   And he should be able to play next to either Brown or Smart.

Brogdon
Brown
Hayward
Tatum
Insert-Favorite-Mid-Level-Big-Man-Here

Smart simply returns to his role as first guard off the bench and probably still gets ~28 mpg.

Rozier is really the guy who gets clipped (rescinded) in this scenario.  Because with Brogdon, Smart, Edwards and Waters you have 4 point guards on the roster.   All are good defenders, too.   So you let Rozier go and use his cap space as I described, to get a big.

You also let Rozier go in the Kemba alternative, but you lose that cap space to Kemba's larger salary.

[Green-18]

Makes no sense to me. When we sign Walker we have used all our cap space. We didn't draft a center. We let Baynes go for cap space. We almost only have guards and wings on the roster. Are Ainge/Stevens that extreme that they think that total positionless basketball is the way forward?

If we start our 5 best players, it will look like this (I'd find that crazy):

Starting: Walker/Brown/Tatum/Hayward/Smart

(bench: Edwards, Langford, Ojeleye, G.Williams, R.Williams)

I don't think that has any chance of working and we don't have the cap space to sign a starting caliber center somewhere.

Ainge wont sign Walker without having a plan in place for the front court.  Danny is likely targeting Walker or Vucevic.  It might boil down to Terry + Vucevic vs Kemba + "insert center".   

[GreenShooter]

Makes no sense to me. When we sign Walker we have used all our cap space. We didn't draft a center. We let Baynes go for cap space. We almost only have guards and wings on the roster. Are Ainge/Stevens that extreme that they think that total positionless basketball is the way forward?

If we start our 5 best players, it will look like this (I'd find that crazy, although there's a small margin between genius and crazy):

Starting: Walker/Brown/Tatum/Hayward/Smart

(bench: Edwards, Langford, Ojeleye, G.Williams, R.Williams)

In football (soccer) Spain used a revolutionary system of 4-6-0 (no strikers/attackers) and they became European Champions in 2012, but I can't see something weird like that working in basketball.

We don't have the cap space to sign a starting caliber center somewhere, so this must be a false rumour.

[/b]
You can still make trades in the NBA, no?

[OldSchoolDude]

Danny is not just going to add Kemba and no frontline guy. He will get them both somehow.

Exactly, which I why I'm in favor of signing Kemba.  Ainge wont make the signing without a solid plan for the front court.

So who can we get if we sign Kemba?  There are also rumors that we are looking to trade for Steve Adams, so could we do that without giving up much?  Supposedly OKC is looking for a salary dump and ownership has said they would be willing to go over the cap and pay the tax.

I'm thinking if we could we'd look something like:

PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jason Tatum
PF: Grant Williams  (given all the hype hes been getting on this board maybe he should start)
C: Steve Adams
 
 Bench

PG: Marcus Smart
SG: Romeo Langford
SF: Gordon Hayward
PF: Robert Williams
C: Vincent Poirier (French Euro league Big we've been linked to)

Back end of the bench towel swingers

Carson Edwards
Tacko Fall
Aaron Harrison

[aingeforthree]

Makes no sense to me. When we sign Walker we have used all our cap space. We didn't draft a center. We let Baynes go for cap space. We almost only have guards and wings on the roster. Are Ainge/Stevens that extreme that they think that total positionless basketball is the way forward?

If we start our 5 best players, it will look like this (I'd find that crazy):

Starting: Walker/Brown/Tatum/Hayward/Smart

(bench: Edwards, Langford, Ojeleye, G.Williams, R.Williams)

I don't think that has any chance of working and we don't have the cap space to sign a starting caliber center somewhere.

Ainge wont sign Walker without having a plan in place for the front court.  Danny is likely targeting Walker or Vucevic.  It might boil down to Terry + Vucevic vs Kemba + "insert center".   

I think it ultimately depends on who Ainge can sign like you said. If it’s Kemba, I think Rozier is signing elsewhere and the next step is adding to the front court.

I still think a trade goes down in this situation. I think he deals Jaylen Brown and keeps Tatum and Hayward. Who is he targeting ? That’s the million dollar question.

[Moranis]

I'd much prefer Cousins than any other free agent available.  By far the highest upside and greatest need on the team.