Pretty sure I'd be tempted by a trade like this:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine/?tradeId=at4k9qp
Rondo, Barbosa, Collins, Bass, Fab Melo
for
Jefferson, Kanter, Hayward
You improve your chances greatly to win this year, while acquiring young assets at the same time that should help build your future one way or another.
I see it as the best of both worlds.
You fill wasted roster spaces of injured players with actual healthy players, and still have a lot of room on your roster to sign other players.
We couldn't get both bigs & Hayward for that assortment of trash! Wish we could but Utah would tell us never ever ring their lines again.
LOL, I agree. But by the same token, it depends on what kind of offers they're getting for Jefferson, someone they seem reluctant to go forward with. And through it all you're getting a premiere PG of the league, despite his partial tear in the ACL, at a discount price which will help keep your salaries low.
Personally, I don't think they're too enamored at paying 4 million+ a year for someone like Kanter, Hayward is good talent for the money, but that's the price one pays to try and acquire players who may change the face of your franchise. Melo sucks, but still a worthwhile project at a low cost to replace Kanter for them.
And there are always picks involved in these sorts of things, and it depends on how teams value them.