Your Trade Deadline Day in Hindsight

[jambr380]

I'm fine with the Fournier deal and, as I've said, I actually think he might be better than Gordon at a much lower price. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors, but let's hope there really is talk of an extension or it will have been a bad use of the TPE.

Javale McGee went for 2 late 2nds, while Theis was essentially traded for Wagner and salary filler. The only thing I can think of is that Ainge actually targeted Wagner as a potential low-cost replacement for Theis in lieu of a 2nd. I would have preferred even one second and any expiring salary worth less than $4.5M for the purposes of a buy-out. Wagner and decent buy-out guy is palatable for Theis, but it would have been nice to try and recoup one or two of the 4 2nds we've sent out recently and still get the buy-out player.

Random 2nd round picks have virtually no value as you can always find one available.

Oh, I get it. You can pretty easily purchase one from a team during the draft. They are just nice to have around to sweeten a package. We still have all but two of our future 2nds, so I am not too concerned. Danny valued Wagner at a higher price than a 2nd - that is fine - and I am not going to freak out about it. I just hated losing Theis for seemingly nothing when Javale Freaking McGee returned two 2nds.

[td450]

Getting Gordon would have been the right moment to move on from Marcus Smart. I'm clearly in the minority, but I see him as a problem for this team's chemistry long term.

He doesn't accept his role, or have a strong understanding of what he is and isn't as an offensive player. This is particularly problematic because Kemba is not a guy with game management skills either. Between them, we can't count on end of game discipline. Neither guy is a choker, but neither is efficient, and they rarely produce the end of game passing we need. They either make their shots or they don't. They make us a bad 4th quarter team.


With Fournier now, its difficult to see how the C's give minutes to Langford and Nesmith.  Given his emotional makeup, I expect Smart to be a problem over the long run, because the team will have to ask him to accept a smaller role over time, and he won't respond well.

The only way that doesn't happen is if we clear others out (Kemba/Langford/Nesmith) to protect Smart's role. That just doesn't make sense. He shouldn't be our starting point guard long term, and we need  Langford and Nesmith to become something.

So to me, not using Smart to get Gordon was a big mistake.

We'll see what happens this summer, but I assume the goal is to re-sign Fournier for at least a couple of years. That leaves Smart and Thompson on expiring contracts totaling around $24M salary. By not giving up any of our 1sts this deadline, it gives us a number of options for trades this offseason.

As reported, Smart has a good deal of value around the league; Nesmith also seems to have some buzz. If say, Beal wanted out or TOR wanted to move on from Siakam, I think it would be pretty easy to put together a solid package. I think Danny just wanted to maintain flexibility with his picks and he did so while acquiring a very good player in Fournier.

I understand your point, but Smart isn't good enough to be the best piece in a deal for a real star. Gordon was exactly the type of player you can get with Marcus. We have absolutely nothing at the PF spot, and we are loaded up with guys who can play instead of Smart.

[Kuberski33]

I'd have done the Fournier deal.  But....realistically it's window dressing and there was no move available that would suddenly turn this team a contender. The picture right now is bleak.

Anyone remember when Ainge - after a string of poor performances said he might have to make a deal just to make a deal?  He kind of admitted doing that this morning on the radio. He said that he could sense the coaches and players getting discouraged and felt like he had to do something.

I think this team is staring into the abyss unless they get real lucky with either Langford or Nesmith emerging - Kemba suddenly getting healthy or they unload Kemba and hit on whichever lower priced replacement comes in.

Other than that best case scenario is what we see now - a team hovering around .500 with little to no flexibility and no realistic chance to compete for a title - or tahe worst case (and not out of the question) a complete blow up job as soon as Jaylen and Tatum say they want out (which could be a lot sooner than many of us would care to admit).

[Roy H.]

Anyone remember when Ainge - after a string of poor performances said he might have to make a deal just to make a deal?  He kind of admitted doing that this morning on the radio. He said that he could sense the coaches and players getting discouraged and felt like he had to do something.

I think this team is staring into the abyss unless they get real lucky with either Langford or Nesmith emerging - Kemba suddenly getting healthy or they unload Kemba and hit on whichever lower priced replacement comes in.

Other than that best case scenario is what we see now - a team hovering around .500 with little to no flexibility and no realistic chance to compete for a title - or a worst case (and not out of the question) a complete blow up job as soon as Jaylen and Tatum say they want out (which could be a lot sooner than many of us would care to admit).

I don’t think that Danny would ever do a deal just to do a deal. I think that he thinks this trade made us better, and that it was important to the players not to entirely punt the season.

[Kuberski33]

Anyone remember when Ainge - after a string of poor performances said he might have to make a deal just to make a deal?  He kind of admitted doing that this morning on the radio. He said that he could sense the coaches and players getting discouraged and felt like he had to do something.

I think this team is staring into the abyss unless they get real lucky with either Langford or Nesmith emerging - Kemba suddenly getting healthy or they unload Kemba and hit on whichever lower priced replacement comes in.

Other than that best case scenario is what we see now - a team hovering around .500 with little to no flexibility and no realistic chance to compete for a title - or a worst case (and not out of the question) a complete blow up job as soon as Jaylen and Tatum say they want out (which could be a lot sooner than many of us would care to admit).

I don’t think that Danny would ever do a deal just to do a deal. I think that he thinks this trade made us better, and that it was important to the players not to entirely punt the season.

I do think it was the best option available to them and Danny took it. But I also think Fournier has given them no indication that he's committed to signing an extension to stay. He's rolling the dice on a move that he wouldn't have made under normal circumstances but things have been going south for this team for several weeks now.

[Roy H.]

Anyone remember when Ainge - after a string of poor performances said he might have to make a deal just to make a deal?  He kind of admitted doing that this morning on the radio. He said that he could sense the coaches and players getting discouraged and felt like he had to do something.

I think this team is staring into the abyss unless they get real lucky with either Langford or Nesmith emerging - Kemba suddenly getting healthy or they unload Kemba and hit on whichever lower priced replacement comes in.

Other than that best case scenario is what we see now - a team hovering around .500 with little to no flexibility and no realistic chance to compete for a title - or a worst case (and not out of the question) a complete blow up job as soon as Jaylen and Tatum say they want out (which could be a lot sooner than many of us would care to admit).

I don’t think that Danny would ever do a deal just to do a deal. I think that he thinks this trade made us better, and that it was important to the players not to entirely punt the season.

I do think it was the best option available to them and Danny took it. But I also think Fournier has given them no indication that he's committed to signing an extension to stay. He's rolling the dice on a move that he wouldn't have made under normal circumstances but things have been going south for this team for several weeks now.

That’s fair.  Here’s the quote:

Mark Murphy: Ainge: “I want our players to feel hope, and I want our coach to feel hope. That’s why I did something now. I sensed some discouragement (in the locker room).” 5 hours ago – via Twitter Murf56

[elcotte]

Anyone remember when Ainge - after a string of poor performances said he might have to make a deal just to make a deal?  He kind of admitted doing that this morning on the radio. He said that he could sense the coaches and players getting discouraged and felt like he had to do something.

I think this team is staring into the abyss unless they get real lucky with either Langford or Nesmith emerging - Kemba suddenly getting healthy or they unload Kemba and hit on whichever lower priced replacement comes in.

Other than that best case scenario is what we see now - a team hovering around .500 with little to no flexibility and no realistic chance to compete for a title - or a worst case (and not out of the question) a complete blow up job as soon as Jaylen and Tatum say they want out (which could be a lot sooner than many of us would care to admit).

I don’t think that Danny would ever do a deal just to do a deal. I think that he thinks this trade made us better, and that it was important to the players not to entirely punt the season.

I agree with this. He wants to add to what he has in order to keep the assets engaged.