What if: Cs decided to trade Tatum?

[Vermont Green]

I don't consider any player entirely untradeable but Tatum is pretty darn close.  Sure, he is not perfect, he is not Kevin Durant (although Kevin Durant was not the same Kevin Durant when he was 23) but you only "decide" to trade a player if you think it is going to make the team better.  Even as he approaches UFA status.

I don't see any of the trades mentioned as making us better.  I am not sure if this is a mediocre team or not.  We are 12-10, that is below my expectation and probably most everyone's expectation but does anyone really think Tatum is the problem?  That trading him would somehow make us better?  And if 12-10 is an underachievement, what are we if we achieve or slightly overachieve?  Are we 14-8, 15-7?  Is that still mediocre?  Is anything less than a title mediocre?

If we did somehow get to the point where we were trying to blow it up or whatever, I would be targeting players like Towns, a skilled big.  Look what Philly is trying to get for Simmons.  Tatum is clearly better than Simmons.  Most of the packages presented wouldn't even get Simmons, much less Tatum.

[Goldstar88]

Realistically, you’re probably either getting

Package A: salary filler, 1 polarizing prospect and a bunch of picks+swaps.

Package B: all-star on the last years of his prime and a pick or 2.

Why is that realistic? Young stars would generate better returns than that.

Agreed. Those aren't the likely outcomes of trading a young All-Star like Tatum.

have to agree.  C's wouldn't ship Tatum for anything less than an MVP candidate coming back.  might mean adding something to Tatum to make it work but he's too good and important to this team to deal for spare parts or taking risks on players rehabbing their games physically/mentally.

An MVP candidate? There's 2-3 in the league -- Tatum ain't even close to bein' one of 'em -- and none of them is getting traded for Tatum. He'd almost certainly be the best player in the deal, but I think the Cs would hold out for either another All-Star, or 2 really good young players & change.

Yes, let’s trade a quarter for 3 nickel's. Top players under 25: #1: Luka #2: Tatum. Enough said.

[gouki88]

Realistically, you’re probably either getting

Package A: salary filler, 1 polarizing prospect and a bunch of picks+swaps.

Package B: all-star on the last years of his prime and a pick or 2.

Why is that realistic? Young stars would generate better returns than that.

Agreed. Those aren't the likely outcomes of trading a young All-Star like Tatum.

have to agree.  C's wouldn't ship Tatum for anything less than an MVP candidate coming back.  might mean adding something to Tatum to make it work but he's too good and important to this team to deal for spare parts or taking risks on players rehabbing their games physically/mentally.

An MVP candidate? There's 2-3 in the league -- Tatum ain't even close to bein' one of 'em -- and none of them is getting traded for Tatum. He'd almost certainly be the best player in the deal, but I think the Cs would hold out for either another All-Star, or 2 really good young players & change.

Yes, let’s trade a quarter for 3 nickel's. Top players under 25: #1: Luka #2: Tatum. Enough said.

Did you read the OP? He's not advocating for trading Tatum. It's just a hypothetical

[Goldstar88]

Realistically, you’re probably either getting

Package A: salary filler, 1 polarizing prospect and a bunch of picks+swaps.

Package B: all-star on the last years of his prime and a pick or 2.

Why is that realistic? Young stars would generate better returns than that.

Agreed. Those aren't the likely outcomes of trading a young All-Star like Tatum.

have to agree.  C's wouldn't ship Tatum for anything less than an MVP candidate coming back.  might mean adding something to Tatum to make it work but he's too good and important to this team to deal for spare parts or taking risks on players rehabbing their games physically/mentally.

An MVP candidate? There's 2-3 in the league -- Tatum ain't even close to bein' one of 'em -- and none of them is getting traded for Tatum. He'd almost certainly be the best player in the deal, but I think the Cs would hold out for either another All-Star, or 2 really good young players & change.

Yes, let’s trade a quarter for 3 nickel's. Top players under 25: #1: Luka #2: Tatum. Enough said.

Did you read the OP? He's not advocating for trading Tatum. It's just a hypothetical

Right, hypothetically would you trade a quarter for 3 nickels.

[Rosco917]

Before you think about trading Tatum take into account...Tatum is heathy physically. The kid is very seldom out of the lineup for any reason. (knock-wood)

While his partner Jaylen Brown is quickly gaining the league reputation of being injury prone. He's still injured as of the Philly game just played.

We have a detailed account of Tatums off-season workouts, but Brown not so much. He's only 25 years old, come on. Whats' he going to be like at 28? It's either his knees or his hamstring... continually. He missed last years playoffs entirely, after being on the IR two or three times during the year.

I'm thinking maybe Browns name should be substituted for Tatums.

[Jvalin]

This seems like asking "what if the C's decided to trade Paul Pierce"?

If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas. In the meantime, how about we keep our best player who's only 23 years old and is under team control for 4 years?

[todd_days_41]

This seems like asking "what if the C's decided to trade Paul Pierce"?

If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas. In the meantime, how about we keep our best player who's only 23 years old and is under team control for 4 years?

Is Tatum our best player? Case Closed?

[todd_days_41]

Realistically, you’re probably either getting

Package A: salary filler, 1 polarizing prospect and a bunch of picks+swaps.

Package B: all-star on the last years of his prime and a pick or 2.

Why is that realistic? Young stars would generate better returns than that.

Agreed. Those aren't the likely outcomes of trading a young All-Star like Tatum.

have to agree.  C's wouldn't ship Tatum for anything less than an MVP candidate coming back.  might mean adding something to Tatum to make it work but he's too good and important to this team to deal for spare parts or taking risks on players rehabbing their games physically/mentally.

An MVP candidate? There's 2-3 in the league -- Tatum ain't even close to bein' one of 'em -- and none of them is getting traded for Tatum. He'd almost certainly be the best player in the deal, but I think the Cs would hold out for either another All-Star, or 2 really good young players & change.

Yes, let’s trade a quarter for 3 nickel's. Top players under 25: #1: Luka #2: Tatum. Enough said.

If you don’t want participate in the discussion — maybe don’t? It’s a hypothetical discussion of the best package one guy could fetch, so relax.

[Chef Parish]

Before you think about trading Tatum take into account...Tatum is heathy physically. The kid is very seldom out of the lineup for any reason. (knock-wood)

While his partner Jaylen Brown is quickly gaining the league reputation of being injury prone. He's still injured as of the Philly game just played.

We have a detailed account of Tatums off-season workouts, but Brown not so much. He's only 25 years old, come on. Whats' he going to be like at 28? It's either his knees or his hamstring... continually. He missed last years playoffs entirely, after being on the IR two or three times during the year.

I'm thinking maybe Browns name should be substituted for Tatums.

There's something off with Tatum, but I agree with your Brown comments. Been thinking the same thing.

[todd_days_41]

Before you think about trading Tatum take into account...Tatum is heathy physically. The kid is very seldom out of the lineup for any reason. (knock-wood)

While his partner Jaylen Brown is quickly gaining the league reputation of being injury prone. He's still injured as of the Philly game just played.

We have a detailed account of Tatums off-season workouts, but Brown not so much. He's only 25 years old, come on. Whats' he going to be like at 28? It's either his knees or his hamstring... continually. He missed last years playoffs entirely, after being on the IR two or three times during the year.

I'm thinking maybe Browns name should be substituted for Tatums.

There's something off with Tatum, but I agree with your Brown comments. Been thinking the same thing.

It’s a fair point. One of the reasons I think Tatum would fetch a larger package — and this using him as the source of my pie-in-the-sky question. 

[Jvalin]

This seems like asking "what if the C's decided to trade Paul Pierce"?

If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas. In the meantime, how about we keep our best player who's only 23 years old and is under team control for 4 years?

Is Tatum our best player? Case Closed?

Here we go again. The annual conversation of whether Brown is better cause Tatum is having a slow start to the season.

Yes, imo Tatum is our best player. I have no doubt about that. Just the fact that he's a reliable PnR ball handler at his size instantly separates him from Brown. The way I see it, the only 6'8"+ players who are better PnR ball handlers than Tatum are LeBron and KD. PnR is quite possibly the most unstoppable team move in today's NBA. Tatum is a shot creator. He can create shots for himself. He can create shots for his teammates as well. Brown is a scorer. To his credit, he has come a long way as a passer and ball handler. Tatum is hands down a better option in the half court. Brown is hands down a better option in the open court. Always gimme the elite half-court talent over the elite open-court talent. The vast majority of playoff games are won in the half court.

[Goldstar88]

Realistically, you’re probably either getting

Package A: salary filler, 1 polarizing prospect and a bunch of picks+swaps.

Package B: all-star on the last years of his prime and a pick or 2.

Why is that realistic? Young stars would generate better returns than that.

Agreed. Those aren't the likely outcomes of trading a young All-Star like Tatum.

have to agree.  C's wouldn't ship Tatum for anything less than an MVP candidate coming back.  might mean adding something to Tatum to make it work but he's too good and important to this team to deal for spare parts or taking risks on players rehabbing their games physically/mentally.

An MVP candidate? There's 2-3 in the league -- Tatum ain't even close to bein' one of 'em -- and none of them is getting traded for Tatum. He'd almost certainly be the best player in the deal, but I think the Cs would hold out for either another All-Star, or 2 really good young players & change.

Yes, let’s trade a quarter for 3 nickel's. Top players under 25: #1: Luka #2: Tatum. Enough said.

If you don’t want participate in the discussion — maybe don’t? It’s a hypothetical discussion of the best package one guy could fetch, so relax.

I did want to participate. The hypothetical trade packages leave the C’s worse off. The other teams would be all over it, though.

Now that I think about it, don’t think I’d even trade Tatum for Luka. Jayson is a better shooter, rebounder, and defender. Just a better two way player.

[liam]

What could be fair value? Giannis would be nice.

[todd_days_41]

What could be fair value? Giannis would be nice.

Good luck with that! Kelly Olynyk says: what up.

[liam]

What could be fair value? Giannis would be nice.

Good luck with that! Kelly Olynyk says: what up.

I'd take Jokic, Doncic, LeMelo, Bridges, & Kia Jones as a package or Wood, Green, and Segun...