I think Grant is a great addition to The Celtics but if he didn't want to be a 3rd or 4th option in Denver what would he want to be that on the Celtics?
Because he wanted the $60 million for three years that Detroit was giving him, rather than the far less amount Denver would offer? He’s making almost as much this season as he’s made in his first six years combined ($19 million vs. $22 million).
I’m not a huge fan of Grant — he’s virtually the same player he’s always been. His scoring just looks a lot better when his usage doubles and his minutes increase by almost 50%. He’s a talented player, good enough to be the best player in a bad team, but also not one who was miscast as a 4th option/6th man in prior seasons. He’s probably worth his contract, or close to it, but he’s not worth a bevy of picks in addition. Good for Detroit if they can flip him for some draft picks and young players. If we could get him by sending Thompson, a couple of prospects were tiring of, and a single 1st, such that were able to preserve our TPE, I might be interested, but the 2+ 1sts and the minimum amount of salary to necessary to stay under the tax that I see here would be locking ourselves into still being one move away from title contention.
Grant is 6'8 with a 7'3 wingspan. He's a plus defender who can cover 3 positions pretty well. Getting a season of reps as a lead scorer makes you a better scorer.
He's perfect in that he's big enough to play PF and he's quick enough to play SF and spell Tatum/Brown. He just turned 27 today, and he's on a good contract. He can take the lead for a shift if we need him to.
The team needs to start becoming a cohesive unit, and it just doesn't matter so much if we overpay. It matters whether the team works. Having someone like Grant, who can create his own offense, instead of Semi or GWill is a pretty massive improvement.
I guess it depends what he costs, but 2-3 picks? Who cares? It would be a fully additive deal. You could have a core of Tatum, Brown, Grant and Smart for 5 years or more, and that's a tough group to score on.
I always thought the Tatum/Brown/Hayward thing was genius, that no one could compete with that kind of 2 way wing play. Grant is even better because he's so long, and he's younger than Hayward. He's not as talented offensively, but that's OK given what Tatum and Brown are capable of.
If Rob Williams came along and some of the younger players developed too, you'd have the league's best defense.