Would people still pay IT a max?

[PhoSita]

I really don't think there's a choice.

You've got to hold onto your superstar player.

He's flawed but he's the guy we got.  We've got the assets to build a good young team around him.

That should be the goal.

I disagree, and for one reason. We have a choice.

We have a choice, we have the #1 pick coming in, and either we trade or keep that, theoretically speaking, that player could be your superstar.

And we also have cap room to, again in theory, get another one.

We will have a year to figure this out, but if whoever we get in Free Agency and the #1 pick pans out, we'd have to really think about if we should be giving IT the max or not.

I think if you let IT go, you might as well trade Horford and just go full-on youth movement, because you're not getting any major free agents to come here and you're not going to get even as far as they got this year anytime soon.

[CelticsBR]

All-NBA 2nd Team

Yea what's your point? Harden was all NBA first team and I cringe at the thought of him ever being a Celtic.

Is Harden worth the max?

Teams should sign and support their great players. IT carried this team to a #1 seed and the ECF despite a flawed roster.  It's non-sensical to start over once again, when we have the option of winning now and in the future.

Teams should give their best to win titles. It only makes sense to support great players if it makes the team have a shot at winning

[Roy H.]

All-NBA 2nd Team

Yea what's your point? Harden was all NBA first team and I cringe at the thought of him ever being a Celtic.

Is Harden worth the max?

Teams should sign and support their great players. IT carried this team to a #1 seed and the ECF despite a flawed roster.  It's non-sensical to start over once again, when we have the option of winning now and in the future.

Teams should give their best to win titles. It only makes sense to support great players if it makes the team have a shot at winning

No, it always makes sense to support great players. This idea that we shouldn't attempt to improve unless we are the favorite for a championship is silly and defeatist.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

I really don't think there's a choice.

You've got to hold onto your superstar player.

He's flawed but he's the guy we got.  We've got the assets to build a good young team around him.

That should be the goal.

I disagree, and for one reason. We have a choice.

We have a choice, we have the #1 pick coming in, and either we trade or keep that, theoretically speaking, that player could be your superstar.

And we also have cap room to, again in theory, get another one.

We will have a year to figure this out, but if whoever we get in Free Agency and the #1 pick pans out, we'd have to really think about if we should be giving IT the max or not.

I think if you let IT go, you might as well trade Horford and just go full-on youth movement, because you're not getting any major free agents to come here and you're not going to get even as far as they got this year anytime soon.

That is absolutely fair.

However, if we land a free agent AND Markelle Fultz/the star we trade the pick for, and they both pan out, we'd have to consider not maxing Isaiah.

[jpotter33]

No, I think it's pretty clear he's not a franchise player and doesn't deserve a max.

That being said, there are some circumstances where maxing IT might still make sense, though they're becoming more and more unlikely after this beat down.

If we could 1A) get a secondary scorer in free agency (like Hayward) AND an upgrade at the 4 OR 1B) get a secondary scorer AND an upgrade at the 4 (like Griffin), AND 2) trade AB for future assets to open up playing time for Brown and Fultz and get bigger in the starting lineup, then I could see us making IT a near max player.

Otherwise, I have no desire to run this same basic inherently flawed team back again. Either sign a max FA, upgrade our bigs rotation, and trade AB for future assets or just go ahead and move on from IT now and go with a younger, more two-way focused core of Fultz, Brown, Smart, Rozier, AB, etc.