Hypothetical: Would You Trade Jaylen Brown for the 2021 1st Overall Pick?

[gouki88]

I’d consider reading Brown in the right package for an established star, not some 19 year old kid.

This.

Yeah, this is sort of where I fall too. We'd be trading Brown for a gamble, where the pick most likely will never be as good as Brown.

Also, the whole "Brown has peaked" thing is absolutely crazy to me. We're talking about a wing who has made almost unforeseen progress with his ball-handling, shooting and playmaking in general, and he's peaked because he has tendonitis?? You can't be serious, tendonitis is not some nail in the coffin

While I generally agree with the rest of your post, you’ve gotta be exaggerating right? Jaylen is a deserving allstar but he’s not some scrub who came out of nowhere and is now an allstar this year. He had a chance (albeit a small one) at becoming one last year. It took him 5 years of solid progress to get where he’s at.

JB is good but let’s pump the brakes a bit on this hype train. His progress isn’t “unforeseen” and it’s not like he’s one of the few #3 picks to play at an allstar level.

Sorry, that was really badly phrased. I meant for him I don't think many, if any saw it coming that he could be a 25/6/4 while being a deadly shooter from 3. Even people who were high on him thought he'd top out as a 18-20PPG Iguodala-like scorer at best.

[GreenlyGreeny]

I look at the team’s record more than the stats of players. If Tatum/Cunningham leads to more W’s than Tatum/Brown, I don’t care about Brown’s stats in comparison. And I’ve got a feeling the former would happen. 

[nickagneta]

This is nuts.

What is nuts is the level of homerism on this blog. Cade Cunningham is a generational talent. If you ask me, he's the best draft eligible player since Luka. He's 6'8'' with a 7' wingspan. He's an unselfish ball handler with elite BBIQ! He can create shots for himself. He can create shots for his teammates. He's a PnR maestro. He's a terrific shooter. He can shoot 3s off the dribble. He defends multiple positions. He's a very good rebounder. He can play on or off the ball. He can do it all! He literally has zero weaknesses! Can't think of another player like him. He's truly special! Cunningham and Tatum would dominate the league for the next decade!

Don't get me wrong, Brown is a great player. I don't want us to trade him. It's just that I'm very high on Cunnigham.

I bet most lotto teams would rather have Cunningham over Brown. It all depends on which team wins the lottery.

You are arguing on a blog that most posters would not even trade Brown for Harden. I am not advocating Brown for Cunningham because I Have not watched Cunningham play, but I am just saying Cs fans overvalue their players.

Lol well... good point. I mean, people here wouldn’t have traded him for Kawhi either. So yeah, I doubt they’d trade him for anyone, not even Giannis (can’t shoot) or AD (too old) or Jokic (too slow) or Embiid (too annoying)

The caveat of the reasoning of both the Leonard and Harden deals were people didn't want to trade Brown for a guy that didn't want to be in Boston and most likely would be out of Boston in a year or year and a half.

[LilRip]

This is nuts.

What is nuts is the level of homerism on this blog. Cade Cunningham is a generational talent. If you ask me, he's the best draft eligible player since Luka. He's 6'8'' with a 7' wingspan. He's an unselfish ball handler with elite BBIQ! He can create shots for himself. He can create shots for his teammates. He's a PnR maestro. He's a terrific shooter. He can shoot 3s off the dribble. He defends multiple positions. He's a very good rebounder. He can play on or off the ball. He can do it all! He literally has zero weaknesses! Can't think of another player like him. He's truly special! Cunningham and Tatum would dominate the league for the next decade!

Don't get me wrong, Brown is a great player. I don't want us to trade him. It's just that I'm very high on Cunnigham.

I bet most lotto teams would rather have Cunningham over Brown. It all depends on which team wins the lottery.

You are arguing on a blog that most posters would not even trade Brown for Harden. I am not advocating Brown for Cunningham because I Have not watched Cunningham play, but I am just saying Cs fans overvalue their players.

Lol well... good point. I mean, people here wouldn’t have traded him for Kawhi either. So yeah, I doubt they’d trade him for anyone, not even Giannis (can’t shoot) or AD (too old) or Jokic (too slow) or Embiid (too annoying)

The caveat of the reasoning of both the Leonard and Harden deals were people didn't want to trade Brown for a guy that didn't want to be in Boston and most likely would be out of Boston in a year or year and a half.

Sure there were some who said that.

But there were also a bunch that said they wouldn’t do the trade, regardless of what the future held. Some common arguments, to refresh our memories:

Harden
1) can’t play defense
2) is such a ball hog and can’t play within the team concept
3) is already on the decline
4) brown is just better overall on both ends! Did you not see him go for 40???
5) people would stop being Celtics fans because of how boring Harden plays

Kawhi
1) always injured
2) brown is younger while Kawhi is on the decline
3) locker room cancer
4) brown is already pretty much 90% of Kawhi but with better leadership and room to grow

I’m sure I’m forgetting some

[gouki88]

I look at the team’s record more than the stats of players. If Tatum/Cunningham leads to more W’s than Tatum/Brown, I don’t care about Brown’s stats in comparison. And I’ve got a feeling the former would happen.

Based on what? Jaylen Brown being the second best player on multiple ECF runs vs Cade Cunningham's top 6 seed Oklahoma State?

[LilRip]

Just watched Cade Cunningham highlights (so obviously my assessment will still be shallow). He looks like he’ll be an NBA player but don’t we already have a player who plays exactly the same way in Tatum? —> uses his length, goes at his own pace, doesn’t blow you away athletically, can score from everywhere on the floor, opts for jumpers instead of getting contact...

Even if he pans out, JB seems to fit this team better because 1) he’s a tough defender, and 2) he brings a change of pace to the offense.

Am I missing something?

[ozgod]

Trading JB, with his five years of experience with multiple playoff runs, for the No1 overall pick, who we assume will be Cade Cunningham, on the basis of some questionable assumptions (i.e. he and Tatum don't like each other, JB wants to be a No1, etc) and based on what the No1 pick "might" become (i.e. the next coming of Magic Johnson) seems to me to be change for the sake of change. So no I wouldn't.

[Jvalin]

Just watched Cade Cunningham highlights (so obviously my assessment will still be shallow). He looks like he’ll be an NBA player but don’t we already have a player who plays exactly the same way in Tatum? —> uses his length, goes at his own pace, doesn’t blow you away athletically, can score from everywhere on the floor, opts for jumpers instead of getting contact...

Even if he pans out, JB seems to fit this team better because 1) he’s a tough defender, and 2) he brings a change of pace to the offense.

Am I missing something?

Tatum is the epitome of a modern swing. You can't have too many (s)wings. Cunningham can literally do everything Tatum does, plus he's a better ball handler and passer. He's a ball handler with the size of a modern swing! He'd be a matchup nightmare for opposing teams! Imo, he's on his way to become a superstar.

Both Tatum and Cunningham can play on or off the ball. I reckon they'd be a terrific fit next to each other! All we'd have to do is surround them with a PnR big and two 3+D (s)wings. Cunningham is a PnR magician! He can create shots for himself out of the PnR. Most importantly, he can create shots for his teammates as well. He makes everyone around him better!

[KG Living Legend]

 I would only trade Jalen for Cunningham on one condition.  He change his first name to Randall.

[Somebody]

I’d consider reading Brown in the right package for an established star, not some 19 year old kid.

This.

Yeah, this is sort of where I fall too. We'd be trading Brown for a gamble, where the pick most likely will never be as good as Brown.

Also, the whole "Brown has peaked" thing is absolutely crazy to me. We're talking about a wing who has made almost unforeseen progress with his ball-handling, shooting and playmaking in general, and he's peaked because he has tendonitis?? You can't be serious, tendonitis is not some nail in the coffin

While I generally agree with the rest of your post, you’ve gotta be exaggerating right? Jaylen is a deserving allstar but he’s not some scrub who came out of nowhere and is now an allstar this year. He had a chance (albeit a small one) at becoming one last year. It took him 5 years of solid progress to get where he’s at.

JB is good but let’s pump the brakes a bit on this hype train. His progress isn’t “unforeseen” and it’s not like he’s one of the few #3 picks to play at an allstar level.

Sorry, that was really badly phrased. I meant for him I don't think many, if any saw it coming that he could be a 25/6/4 while being a deadly shooter from 3. Even people who were high on him thought he'd top out as a 18-20PPG Iguodala-like scorer at best.

I, for one scoffed at the Iguodala comparisons even back then

[Somebody]

I’m not averse to trading Jaylen Brown. I think he’s closer to Westbrook-impact (great individual player, but won’t lift teams) but he’s such a hot commodity now that we can sell-high on him. That said, I’m not convinced this is the right package. Granted, I don’t know much about Cunningham so take my opinion with a grain of salt. Trading a proven all-star for a rookie sounds like you’re going backwards/rebuilding than moving forward.

Jaylen's way of impacting the game is nothing like Westbrook's?

One of them is a great floor raiser with almost zero ability to raise the ceiling of good teams while the other is a decent floor raiser who's built to raise the ceiling of quality squads looking to get to the next level.

I guess what I meant was: he’s going to be an allstar but he can’t be your best player. Whether his team wins or not, I think he’s got the ability to consistently make a strong case for an allstar bid and get his numbers.

Does that contribute to winning? Sometimes
Does that contribute to losing? I don’t necessarily think so either

He’s in that tier of stars you don’t build around. But he’s still a star. I mean, if he wasn’t, then there’s no chance we could even hypothetically get the #1 pick for him.

Tatum can't be your best player when you're looking for a player to build around by your logic then

Lol sure if that’s your assessment of him. But imo, Tatum is absolutely someone you build around. He already makes guys better by being on the floor, and he’s getting better at it as the season goes on.

I think you can absolutely build around Tatum - your team will just be a second round exit every year unless he has incredible help

FWIW I think of Brown the same way, the only difference is that he's a much better #2, #3 or even #4 (if your team is 2017 GSW level) on high level teams.

[Somebody]

I’d consider reading Brown in the right package for an established star, not some 19 year old kid.

This.

Yeah, this is sort of where I fall too. We'd be trading Brown for a gamble, where the pick most likely will never be as good as Brown.

Also, the whole "Brown has peaked" thing is absolutely crazy to me. We're talking about a wing who has made almost unforeseen progress with his ball-handling, shooting and playmaking in general, and he's peaked because he has tendonitis?? You can't be serious, tendonitis is not some nail in the coffin

While I generally agree with the rest of your post, you’ve gotta be exaggerating right? Jaylen is a deserving allstar but he’s not some scrub who came out of nowhere and is now an allstar this year. He had a chance (albeit a small one) at becoming one last year. It took him 5 years of solid progress to get where he’s at.

JB is good but let’s pump the brakes a bit on this hype train. His progress isn’t “unforeseen” and it’s not like he’s one of the few #3 picks to play at an allstar level.

When you consider where he was 5 years ago(he was a wing with no handle, no shot and poor decision making/awareness) I do think that his improvement is up there among unlikely leaps for a 19-20 year old prospect in 4-5 years.

I don’t know. I mean, in his draft class alone, you have guys like Murray and Ingram (younger than him), Sabonis (same age) and Siakam (older) who have all turned out well after 5 years of being in the league. And that’s just his draft class alone

I’m not knocking JB’s progress but to call his rise to stardom as “almost unforeseen” is Celtic fan hyperbole.

You know what’s almost unforeseen? IT4, standing 5’9” and drafted 60th, becoming a franchise player and putting up historic numbers during his time with us.

I mean with the exception of Siakam, none of those players were as raw as Brown in their respective skillsets. If Brown's improvement is close to what you'd see of a 'rags to riches' story from raw forwards picked in the late first round then that's really not something that most people can foresee.

[W8ting2McHale]

I don’t follow prospects that much, because where they go from where they first get hyped, to where they end up in the draft, to how the perform in the NBA, only goes to show how speculative it is and how rare it is for a Lebron type player to come along that was hyped and actually ends up as a generational player.

Wasn’t Zaire (sp?) Williams supposed to be the prize of this draft 2-3 years ago? The next Tracy McGrady at least? Then his teammate BJ Boston? Aren’t they now both late lottery picks?

Wasn’t Avery Bradley the number 2 high school player in his class? Fell in the draft? Has had a decent if unspectacular career?

Romeo Langford was a top 5 high school prospect. Fell to late lottery due to injury concerns and now can’t stay on the court thanks to injury.

Cade just injured his ankle and is missing games. What if when he’s playing a long season against men, instead of the glorified exhibition games he’s played so far, and  he’s made of glass?

Ben Simmons was supposed to be this player until everyone realized he couldn’t hit a jump shot. He’s still an all star, so maybe Cade be the next Luka. He could also be a taller version of Markell Fultz.

I would rather have Jaylen, for what he has become and the level he can still reach.

[Erik]

It's like trading your winning lottery ticket for a new one.

[CaNdyMaN1369]

I'm a big fan of Oklahoma State, so yes i'm a big fan of Cade Cunningham, he's a really really good player. I just don't think I would trade Jaylen Brown for him...