Hayward or Kemba: more trade value

[KGs Knee]

He (Smart) has outplayed Kemba in the playoffs.

Yup

It's not even close.  Honestly, if this is how Kemba is going to continue to play, he needs to be moved to the bench as soon as Hayward is back.  Hopefully, he'll accept that, since his 'team first' attitude was supposed to be one of the major reasons for bringing him in.

[gouki88]

Imo, Kemba is a luxury, not a necessity. We already got a perfect replacement for him in Smart.

Smart has thrived in a starting role during the playoffs. He can do a million things on the court. Unfortunately, he ain't a scorer (although he has improved considerably as a shooter). It seems to me that he needs talented scorers around him in order to maximize his potential. To put it another way, he should be a regular starter.

If Smart is better suited as a starter, then Kemba is expendable. Personally speaking, I'd be open to trading Kemba. That being said, I don't expect us to trade him.

I have to disagree with you about Smart. Don't get me wrong, I love his hustle and am fine with him starting. As long as he understands he's there for defense and should shot when he has a GOOD shot.

While he started hot in game one, he also killed them in the middle of the first. The Celtics were playing great, moving the ball, playing with great intensity, then 4 times in a row Smart took it upon himself the try to force plays. Bad 3's and turnovers that changes the whole course of the game.
Too many times he just attacks the lane with no rhyme or reason and ends up taking an awful shot. Then after he hit a 3, the next play down was a 3 on none. 2 Celtics were wide open under the basket, and he takes another 3. Misses badly and Heat get ball back.

Again, I love a lot of what he brings to the team, but I would never want him to be running it. Unfortunately, for a guy named Smart, he doesn't play why too often.

Here's my point though: If he's taking bad shots while playing next to Tatum, Brown and Kemba, imagine how many bad shots he'd be taking when playing next to Ojeleye, Grant and Romeo.

At the end of the day, Smart is a polarizing player. His shot selection is an ongoing issue, but he's our best defender, plus he's a very good passer. Imo, he has outplayed Kemba in the playoffs.

The problem is he takes the exact same type and number of bad shots, regardless of who he's sharing the court with. He sometimes struggles to defer to the numerous talented scorers we have

[jbpats]

Hayward - he offers more and at a position where good talent is harder to come by.

All star caliber point guards are starting to become a dime a dozen in todays NBA. Kemba is solid but undersized and a defensive liability. How many teams actually need a PG at this point vs a player who can be dominant (or serviceable) playing any position 1-4?

Hayward is obviously becoming injury prone but has shown he can bounce back well enough and still be a force. Kemba is also starting to show wear which is a lot more concerning when you are 5'10"

[Jvalin]

Imo, Kemba is a luxury, not a necessity. We already got a perfect replacement for him in Smart.

Smart has thrived in a starting role during the playoffs. He can do a million things on the court. Unfortunately, he ain't a scorer (although he has improved considerably as a shooter). It seems to me that he needs talented scorers around him in order to maximize his potential. To put it another way, he should be a regular starter.

If Smart is better suited as a starter, then Kemba is expendable. Personally speaking, I'd be open to trading Kemba. That being said, I don't expect us to trade him.

I have to disagree with you about Smart. Don't get me wrong, I love his hustle and am fine with him starting. As long as he understands he's there for defense and should shot when he has a GOOD shot.

While he started hot in game one, he also killed them in the middle of the first. The Celtics were playing great, moving the ball, playing with great intensity, then 4 times in a row Smart took it upon himself the try to force plays. Bad 3's and turnovers that changes the whole course of the game.
Too many times he just attacks the lane with no rhyme or reason and ends up taking an awful shot. Then after he hit a 3, the next play down was a 3 on none. 2 Celtics were wide open under the basket, and he takes another 3. Misses badly and Heat get ball back.

Again, I love a lot of what he brings to the team, but I would never want him to be running it. Unfortunately, for a guy named Smart, he doesn't play why too often.

Here's my point though: If he's taking bad shots while playing next to Tatum, Brown and Kemba, imagine how many bad shots he'd be taking when playing next to Ojeleye, Grant and Romeo.

At the end of the day, Smart is a polarizing player. His shot selection is an ongoing issue, but he's our best defender, plus he's a very good passer. Imo, he has outplayed Kemba in the playoffs.

The problem is he takes the exact same type and number of bad shots, regardless of who he's sharing the court with. He sometimes struggles to defer to the numerous talented scorers we have

His teammates would be deferring to him a lot more though, hence he'd be taking more shots.

You think he's better suited for a 6th man role? Cause he has thrived as a starter during the playoffs. Imo, he's a terrific glue guy in our starting lineup, sort of like DJ was our glue guy in the 80s. Obviously, DJ was a better scorer.

[gouki88]

Imo, Kemba is a luxury, not a necessity. We already got a perfect replacement for him in Smart.

Smart has thrived in a starting role during the playoffs. He can do a million things on the court. Unfortunately, he ain't a scorer (although he has improved considerably as a shooter). It seems to me that he needs talented scorers around him in order to maximize his potential. To put it another way, he should be a regular starter.

If Smart is better suited as a starter, then Kemba is expendable. Personally speaking, I'd be open to trading Kemba. That being said, I don't expect us to trade him.

I have to disagree with you about Smart. Don't get me wrong, I love his hustle and am fine with him starting. As long as he understands he's there for defense and should shot when he has a GOOD shot.

While he started hot in game one, he also killed them in the middle of the first. The Celtics were playing great, moving the ball, playing with great intensity, then 4 times in a row Smart took it upon himself the try to force plays. Bad 3's and turnovers that changes the whole course of the game.
Too many times he just attacks the lane with no rhyme or reason and ends up taking an awful shot. Then after he hit a 3, the next play down was a 3 on none. 2 Celtics were wide open under the basket, and he takes another 3. Misses badly and Heat get ball back.

Again, I love a lot of what he brings to the team, but I would never want him to be running it. Unfortunately, for a guy named Smart, he doesn't play why too often.

Here's my point though: If he's taking bad shots while playing next to Tatum, Brown and Kemba, imagine how many bad shots he'd be taking when playing next to Ojeleye, Grant and Romeo.

At the end of the day, Smart is a polarizing player. His shot selection is an ongoing issue, but he's our best defender, plus he's a very good passer. Imo, he has outplayed Kemba in the playoffs.

The problem is he takes the exact same type and number of bad shots, regardless of who he's sharing the court with. He sometimes struggles to defer to the numerous talented scorers we have

His teammates would be deferring to him a lot more though, hence he'd be taking more shots.

You think he's better suited for a 6th man role? Cause he has thrived as a starter during the playoffs. Imo, he's a terrific glue guy in our starting lineup, sort of like DJ was our glue guy in the 80s. Obviously, DJ was a better scorer.

It doesn’t really matter what I think, Smart himself prefers to come off the bench, or at least has said so recently

[Muzzy66]

Wouldn't it be pretty obvious that Kemba has far higher trade value then Hayward?

Hayward was once an All-Star.  But then he signed a max contract deal during which he:

1. Missed the entire first season to injury
2. Had a thoroughly mediocre second season after returning from injury (not his fault, but trade value isn't sentimental)
3. Came back well his third season, but still could only manage to be the 4th best player on a team that many would argue is only a fringe contender
4. Got injured again during the playoffs, which may further impact his value depending on if he returns against the heat (and if so, then how well)
5. May have had his value further impacted by the rise of Smart during these playoffs, which may now push Hayward back to being the FIFTH best player on a fringe contender

All of this will, combined with the fact that he's being paid well beyond his statistical production, will likely hurt his trade value quite a bit.  HOWEVER....Hayward when healthy is still a very good player who has a lot going for him:
 
a) He's a good sized wing who can handle the ball, make plays, and can play multiple positions on both ends of the court
b) He's talented scorer who can give you 20 points on any night, yet really doesn't care for the spotlight or demand X amount of touches
c) He's a great locker room guy who minimal ego who will do anything to hurt team chemistry
d) He's still relatively young, so if a team can get him to commit then they should be able to get a good 4 or 5 productive years out of him

I think Hayward has a fairly specific market, as most teams by now see that he's no more then a #3 option at this point.  This means he probably makes the most sense for a team that already has it's franchise star just needs to give them some quality veteran support - teams like the Bucks, Pacers, Lakers, Sixers, Suns and Kings could probably all take a big step forward by adding  guy like Hayward.     

Kemba I think has a much larger market.  He's a perennial All-Star who hasn't averaged under 20 PPG since the 2014/15 season.  He's well known for being probably one of the top 2 or 3 ball handlers in the league.  He's a tough guy who has been very healthy for most of his career (this is only the second season in which hes played less than 73 games) and isn't afraid to play through niggling injuries.  He's the rare star player who is great in the locker room and who isn't afraid to sacrifice his numbers to help make other guys around him better.  These are the kind of traits almost any team in the NBA would love to have. 

And despite the emergence of Tatum and Brown (and the scoring load they took on) Kemba still managed to average 20 / 5 / 4 - which proves he's still perfectly capable of being a #2 option on a good team (or even a #1 option on a mediocre team).  He's shown he is effectively the Kyrie Irving without the headaches - and there was no shortage of teams out there willing to offer Kyrie a max deal this past offseason despite his issues.   Likewise I can guarantee if Kemba hit the FA market tomorrow, there is no question he'd get a max contract from somebody.

Unlike Hayward, Kemba's trade market would be...pretty much any team out there who needs a good PG.  He'd fit on young upcoming teams, he'd fit on fringe playoff teams wanting to take the extra step, he'd fit on good playoff teams who want to make the push for a title - he'd fit pretty much anywhere. 

Could you imagine...
- How deadly the Lakers would be with Kemba / Lebron / AD? 
- How much better Philly would be if they dumped Simmons + Horford and moved forward with a core of Kemba / Harris / Embiid?
- How good the Bucks could be if they had Kemba drawing defensive pressure off Giannis?
- How much upside the Pelicans could have with a core of Kemba / Reddick / Zion / Ingram / Favors?
- How good the Mavs could be with a core of Kemba / Doncic / Porzingis?

I think the potential market for Kemba would be pretty big - way bigger then it would be for Hayward.  And that's BEFORE you take in to account the fact that Kemba is locked in for 4 years (versus Hayward's ability to walk in a year). 

IMHO trade value between the two is not even close - Kemba's would be way higher. 

But...I think for Boston, trading Kemba would likely be a mistake.  Kemba might well be the most prolific free agent signing the Celtics have had in a decade.  He loves Boston, he gets along great with the other players, he's done nothing but good things for the team and the locker room.  He really does bleed green.  Trading him one year after signing him would be a pretty dirty move for a franchise that already probably made some player's blacklists when Danny dumped Isaiah Thomas a couple of years back.  You don't want to be that team who builds a reputation for having zero loyalty - nobody will want to sign with you.

Secondly, I think Kemba's presence in Boston this year was absolutely instrumental to the emergence of Brown and Tatum - both of whom took significant backward steps last year playing alongside Kyrie.  Kemba's trust in those guys, willingness to share the ball with those guys, and ability to draw attention away from those guys are all crucial factors IMHO that allowed them to thrive and take that next step. 

Futhermore, the fact that Boston had that three headed monster (Kemba, Tatum, Brown) all averaging >20 PPG is IMO the biggest reason why that have been so difficult to beat and gameplan against - the fact that you can shut down any one of those guys and the other two can still kill you.  I am super impressed with how strong a trio of Smart / Tatum / Brown has been...but I'm even more impressed when that becomes a quartet of Kemba / Smart / Brown / Tatum.  Smart's defense complements Kemba's scoring and the ability for Kemba/Tatum/Brown to draw defensive attention has helped Smart get and make those open looks.  I'm not sure getting rid of Kemba helps this team more then it hurts it.