Ainge and the treasure trove

[crimson_stallion]

Dwight could really fit well here.  He's not blake griffin. He's not Anthony Davis or Cousins.Or Kevin Love.   But he's better than Horford I feel.  Get HOward and Gallinari or something like that.  Howard is a superstar.  Hayward.  I don't know.  I just feel like something should happen here.

I could get really excited about dwight howard.  I like it.

Call me crazy, but I'd actually rather have Howard than Griffin or Love lol

I just feel that the abilities he would bring (dominant rebounding, interior defense and rim protection) are things we have desperately needed ever since Perk left for OKC, and that adding those talents would take this team to a whole other level.  It doesn't come at the expense of offense either, as he is still very much capable of contributing consistently on that end of the floor too.  Plus Dwight manages to score some 14 points per game on only around 8 field goal attempts, and even in his prime he was scoring 22 a night on 13 FGA - meaning he's the type of guy who can get you points without the need for you to constantly run everything through him.  That makes him a perfect complementary star, and it should allow his game to age gracefully since he doesn't have to always be the center of attention.

Griffin and Love are very good players, but they are both much more offensive oriented and they are guys who I feel really need to have the ball in their hands all the time in order to give their best.  Griffin averages 24 points on 18 FGA, and Love averages 16 point on 13 FGA.  You basically need to run plays for those guys 24--7 to make sure they always have the ball, so that they can do the one thing they do really well (score).

I feel like we already do a pretty decent job of spacing the floor with Thomas, Bradley, Crowder and Olynyk out there, which creates space for Thomas to get in to the paint.  Adding Howard to the mix as an interior scoring threat makes it even harder on opposing teams - you have to defend the perimeter (Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk) and defend the driving lanes (Thomas) and on top of that you also need to defend the paint or you risk getting destroyed down there by Dwight. 

That is a really tough offensive lineup to game plan against I think, and with Dwight's dominance of the boards you can put just about anybody next to him (Olynyk, Thaddeus Young, Crowder) at PF.  Hell, with Dwight out there I think even Sully would work ok, since he'd have plenty of space to step out and hit those midrange jumpers (which is one of the few things Sully does on offense that doesn't make me cringe).

[iadera]

Boston is a place where players try to show more than they usually do (in other teams). When you enter the arena, you look at the banners, realize who played for this franchise, history, tradition, you just have to give your best. I think Howard would appriciate that. He played for Lakers, I know, but that was different time and situation. This, what DA is building here is far more than that, and my opinion is that DH would fit in all that and try to make title run.

[LarBrd33]

Ainge doesn't discriminate when it comes to star talent.  Bad attitude?  Injury history?  Bad fit?  3 feet tall?  Doesn't matter... If the guy is a quasi star and can be had for the right price, ainge will pull the trigger.  That's why we almost went all in on Allen iverson before KG and Ray became available even though iverson was almost done at that point and supremely overrated.

The Dwight thing could have legs.

[walker834]

The difference here is Howard is 30.  i think AI was 36 at that time and was really finished. I agree Howard has some questions.  But I also believe it could work because we have a better supporting cast this time than when we got KG and Ray. I think Dwight and Gallinari could work with this team. Plus I have concerns about the fact we are going to have to start using these assets. The Brooklyn pick isnt going to be this big mystery.  We are losing expiring contracts that are valuable to make deals.  Plus Ainge can't make all these picks anyways.  We have a full roster of valuable players.  I explained all this in the other thread though in the transaction idea section. We might be able to hold out until this offseason and I agree the Brooklyn pick this year is valuable but getting what we need is what it's ultimately about either way.

Howard is kind of beat up  for his age.  I have my concerns but I also don't so much with our current roster if he can be a big name player for anotehr 5 years and above average on the court as well with is skillset. He's still Dwight Howard.  Above average for him is still a special player.

I don't know if this will happen but we are getting to that point where these assets we have have to start paying dividends or we are going to start to lose them.

There are very few players who can affect our team like Howard can potentially. We can keep waiting and waiting but like I said we are going to start losing assets.

We can potentially get lucky and land a star or sign a max player outright in free agency but again those players have to be available to us.  It hasn't happened yet..

We have 8 picks this draft.  Ainge is not going to use all these picks.  We don't want to be in that position. I'm sorry.  The 2018 Nets pick is more valuable as insurance to me in ways where we can make a deal like this.

[walker834]

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=82661.0

i do this I think if we can sign both Howard and Galinari to 5 year less than max deals.  That would allow us to extend our current core past 5 years plus have 2018 to potentially get a player to jumpstart our team past that.  That's gives us a 5 year window with Howard and Gallinari and we are set up well past that as well with our young core and guys like Smart and KO and everyone else. We might be able to find a younger star player who fits what we need but I don't know.

It might be worth it to wait until this offseason, but this team is getting real close to that point where we either make a move or start losing guys.

I'm not saying we are there but we are getting close to where the pieces just aren't going to fit and the potential gain of waitng isn't going to outweigh what we are losing.  We have enough picks where we definately have leeway there and can just continue to draft and offer up picks and players but that nets pick this year is not going to be this big mystery pick anymore. That's a big deal in ways if we are to acquire a superstar.  Otehrwise we are looking at free agency for that solely and that's really tough to land superstars that way.  We have a bit of window of 2018 even still but I still think hard on this one. 

We are limited as far as roster spots too. Ainge can only stash guys so much and let players expire.

The window really goes to 2018 to acquire a superstar but I don't know. 

[Greyman]

If this should happen I wonder what Danny will give up. I figure the meat in the sandwich has to include at least one of: Bradley, Crowder, KO, Smart or Nets pick (2016). I may have missed something but I figure IT stays and these are the Celtics best trade chips right now. To land Dwight probably includes two of these with one being the Nets pick.

If we give up the pick I will spend all the time until the draft wondering - 'What if it ends up being the first pick?' Do you suddenly start cheering for Brooklyn to win more games?

[walker834]

I think it should because we can keep talking about mystery players but I can't think of a better player that fits us than Dwight. Yes he has issues and best plaeyrs usually win in the nba but Ainge has to make a move sometime.  I'm trying to think of players we could get that fit us or would even be available better than Dwight and they just aren't there.  We can keep building and drafting but there are issues with that.

Honestly though name me 5 players that we could get better than Dwight?  Lebron? Curry? These guys aren't going anywhere.  Blake even he doesn't necessarily fit us better than Dwight or win us a championship.  Deandre Jordan has the same issues as Howard and is an even worse free throw shooter.  Drummond isn't coming available any time soon.

There is Ben Simmons.  He's out there. We might be able to land a guy down the road as well. Why i would keep at least one of the nets picks.

Howard has been playing well in Houston.  Harden doesn't play any defense. And Howard is up and down. He'd still be a huge upgrade here.

I feel like this could work just because of our style of play and our nucleus is very good. Howard could really just do his thing down low with our current group.

We can keep holding out for a "superstar" but who? Howard is  still that and he's a center.

[walker834]

I would keep our current core and some insurance as far as picks. But I kind of laid the groundwork for that in the transaction section. Maybe we are giving up a bit much to get Gallinari and Howard here but I don't know. I'd put all that on the table.  If Ainge can find an in between by all means but I think that's pretty good.

There are some concerns with Dwight.  We might want to wait until this offseason but players like Lee etc are kind of important as far as making it work.

If it doesnt work we have 2018 to make something happen and if it does we still do.

[walker834]

I think the point of getting Dwight is to keep our current core and have Dwight and Gallanari to go with them to challenge for a title. I would give up picks. I wouldnt give up players except to match salaries. I think the whole reason it should happen is to go with our current group. That's me though. I think to get both Dwight and GAllinari to be traded Houston would want the nets pick this year.  They might budge on that but I don't know.

[walker834]

Something like this though

Target Dwight and Gallinari

Keepers

Smart
Isaiah
Crowder
KO

Potential salary matchers(some more valuable than others here)- I think Amir for Gallinari and Sully and Lee for Howard make sense but that's me. I wouldn't be so quick to give up on Rozier.  But we could substitute Bradley and Turner to match contracts etc. Throw in young players.

Lee at 15 million. Amir at 11. Sully..  Bradley at 9 mil and turner are really the guys here that have to be included. Otherwise we aren't matching roster spots either and trying to add to many players anyways.  There is some leeway though. Lee has to be a principle in  one deal.  And Amir or Bradley has to be the principle in the other though pretty much.

Amir
Sully
Lee
Bradley
Turner
Rozier
Zeller
Young
Rj

Possible picks up for trade-

Any from 2016 and 2017.  Some more valuable than others.  The 2016 nets pick being the most valuable.  I think  some people are overvaluing it though.  It's it's top 2 or 3 that's a big deal.  But outside of that it loses some value.

If we can keep the nets pick and substitute players or other picks that's great.  I'm not sure as it stands that's going to happen though.

Picks to keep

2018 nets pick and ours

We don't have to do this by any means.  We can still just draft but something is out of whack as far as the math. We have 8 picks this year and a full roster.  We could just draft someone to help us and develop them but I don't know.

[greg683x]

I really dont buy into the fact that since we have this 'treasure trove' of picks, that we can just land whoever we want when they become available, like the OP stated.  I think over the last couple years a lot of us learned, it takes more than just picks to land another teams star player in a trade.  Picks arent enough, another team is going to need a young star to sell to their fan base.  That being said, we are in a great position to land these players, but we're definitely not head and shoulders above everyone else.

obviously this dwight trade would be different, but only bc hes a rental and the price is significantly cheaper.