Should Celtics trade Tristan Thompson close season

[Moranis]

never should have signed him and should have traded him instead of Theis.

[liam]

never should have signed him and should have traded him instead of Theis.

Who wanted Thompson over Theis?

[Moranis]

never should have signed him and should have traded him instead of Theis.

Who wanted Thompson over Theis?

I think they might have been able to find a team.  The Clippers maybe.  Thompson and Teague for Williams and Patterson.  They might do that, I mean they took on Rondo after all.  Maybe you hold firm with Orlando on including Thompson in the Founier trade, even if it costs a couple of 2nd rounders.  But that all leads back to my original thought as they never should have signed him.  I mean if they couldn't find someone to take an in his prime PF with championship pedigree that is on a 2 year, 19 million dollar contract, then that sort of proves the point that he was overpaid and not worth the money because the contract isn't big or long.

[Rondo9]

Eh Tristan is fine he does add depth and another dimension to the team.

[liam]

never should have signed him and should have traded him instead of Theis.

Who wanted Thompson over Theis?

I think they might have been able to find a team.  The Clippers maybe.  Thompson and Teague for Williams and Patterson.  They might do that, I mean they took on Rondo after all.  Maybe you hold firm with Orlando on including Thompson in the Founier trade, even if it costs a couple of 2nd rounders.  But that all leads back to my original thought as they never should have signed him.  I mean if they couldn't find someone to take an in his prime PF with championship pedigree that is on a 2 year, 19 million dollar contract, then that sort of proves the point that he was overpaid and not worth the money because the contract isn't big or long.

I'm fine with Thompson when he can come back. He's tough and really gets after it on the offensive glass. If you want to trade him next year he's an expiring contract. I think we will be happy to have him come the playoffs.

[SHAQATTACK]

never should have signed him and should have traded him instead of Theis.

Who wanted Thompson over Theis?

I think they might have been able to find a team.  The Clippers maybe.  Thompson and Teague for Williams and Patterson.  They might do that, I mean they took on Rondo after all.  Maybe you hold firm with Orlando on including Thompson in the Founier trade, even if it costs a couple of 2nd rounders.  But that all leads back to my original thought as they never should have signed him.  I mean if they couldn't find someone to take an in his prime PF with championship pedigree that is on a 2 year, 19 million dollar contract, then that sort of proves the point that he was overpaid and not worth the money because the contract isn't big or long.

I'm fine with Thompson when he can come back. He's tough and really gets after it on the offensive glass. If you want to trade him next year he's an expiring contract. I think we will be happy to have him come the playoffs.

TP....right on ....he knows all those old guys ganging up on two teams for the payoffs

[GreenEnvy]

All these months later, I still can’t wrap my head around dumping Kanter only to spend twice as much on a very similar (and inferior) player in Thompson. Kanter is averaging better numbers on a better team. I don’t know if it was Danny or Brad, but they dropped the ball big time with Kanter.

And that would have left the MLE to use on a real backup guard instead of Teague.

[Rikibellevie]

All these months later, I still can’t wrap my head around dumping Kanter only to spend twice as much on a very similar (and inferior) player in Thompson. Kanter is averaging better numbers on a better team. I don’t know if it was Danny or Brad, but they dropped the ball big time with Kanter.

And that would have left the MLE to use on a real backup guard instead of Teague.

CBS didn't play him in PO, so I guess the idea was that TT isn't unplayable in any matchups with his high energy style of play. They hoped also about his influence on youth, but maybe they were wrong about that.

[GreenEnvy]

All these months later, I still can’t wrap my head around dumping Kanter only to spend twice as much on a very similar (and inferior) player in Thompson. Kanter is averaging better numbers on a better team. I don’t know if it was Danny or Brad, but they dropped the ball big time with Kanter.

And that would have left the MLE to use on a real backup guard instead of Teague.

CBS didn't play him in PO, so I guess the idea was that TT isn't unplayable in any matchups with his high energy style of play. They hoped also about his influence on youth, but maybe they were wrong about that.

Thompson is trash. Cool, we went out and got ourselves another Perkins.

You can’t say we wouldn’t have been better off with Kanter, the MLE, and greater wiggle room under the hard cap to make in-season moves.

I do blame Brad for that somewhat. Kanter is getting 15-35 minutes a night, and a double-double machine on a team that’s 28-18 without their second-best player for the majority of those.

[nickagneta]

All these months later, I still can’t wrap my head around dumping Kanter only to spend twice as much on a very similar (and inferior) player in Thompson. Kanter is averaging better numbers on a better team. I don’t know if it was Danny or Brad, but they dropped the ball big time with Kanter.

And that would have left the MLE to use on a real backup guard instead of Teague.

The Trail Blazers are either the worse or second worse defense in the league. A good part of that is the minutes Kanter is playing over the last two months.

Portland might be good now, but that defense means an early playoff exit. Getting a bunch of points and rebounds doesn't change the fact that he would have not been playing in the playoffs in Boston because he is a terrible defender.

[GreenEnvy]

All these months later, I still can’t wrap my head around dumping Kanter only to spend twice as much on a very similar (and inferior) player in Thompson. Kanter is averaging better numbers on a better team. I don’t know if it was Danny or Brad, but they dropped the ball big time with Kanter.

And that would have left the MLE to use on a real backup guard instead of Teague.

The Trail Blazers are either the worse or second worse defense in the league. A good part of that is the minutes Kanter is playing over the last two months.

Portland might be good now, but that defense means an early playoff exit. Getting a bunch of points and rebounds doesn't change the fact that he would have not been playing in the playoffs in Boston because he is a terrible defender.

Portland’s DRtg is pretty bad (117.6), yet Kanter’s DRtg is 114, suggesting they are even worse without him on the floor. Celtics defense is bottom 10 anyway, and Thompson has a DRtg very similar to Kanter’s at 113 (which is also the Celtics overall DRtg).

Obviously individual defensive metrics are fuzzy, but the bottom line is Kanter has a +20 Net Rating, which means he’s very productive when he’s on the court. Thompson is a +6, which isn’t bad, but it’s pretty clear that he’s not worth twice what Kanter is (AND at the expense of an impact guard with the MLE).

[nickagneta]

All these months later, I still can’t wrap my head around dumping Kanter only to spend twice as much on a very similar (and inferior) player in Thompson. Kanter is averaging better numbers on a better team. I don’t know if it was Danny or Brad, but they dropped the ball big time with Kanter.

And that would have left the MLE to use on a real backup guard instead of Teague.

The Trail Blazers are either the worse or second worse defense in the league. A good part of that is the minutes Kanter is playing over the last two months.

Portland might be good now, but that defense means an early playoff exit. Getting a bunch of points and rebounds doesn't change the fact that he would have not been playing in the playoffs in Boston because he is a terrible defender.

Portland’s DRtg is pretty bad (117.6), yet Kanter’s DRtg is 114, suggesting they are even worse without him on the floor. Celtics defense is bottom 10 anyway, and Thompson has a DRtg very similar to Kanter’s at 113 (which is also the Celtics overall DRtg).

Obviously individual defensive metrics are fuzzy, but the bottom line is Kanter has a +20 Net Rating, which means he’s very productive when he’s on the court. Thompson is a +6, which isn’t bad, but it’s pretty clear that he’s not worth twice what Kanter is (AND at the expense of an impact guard with the MLE).

Notice I said last two months. His DRat is 116.9 in those months, which is awful.

I never argued monetary worth. I agree Kanter at $5 mil is better than Thompson at $9 mil.

But the point about playoff playability stands. Kanter is unplayable in the Celtics defense during the playoffs where Thompson isn't. Does that make up some of the extra money being paid to Tristan? I guess we will have to wait and see.

[GreenEnvy]

All these months later, I still can’t wrap my head around dumping Kanter only to spend twice as much on a very similar (and inferior) player in Thompson. Kanter is averaging better numbers on a better team. I don’t know if it was Danny or Brad, but they dropped the ball big time with Kanter.

And that would have left the MLE to use on a real backup guard instead of Teague.

The Trail Blazers are either the worse or second worse defense in the league. A good part of that is the minutes Kanter is playing over the last two months.

Portland might be good now, but that defense means an early playoff exit. Getting a bunch of points and rebounds doesn't change the fact that he would have not been playing in the playoffs in Boston because he is a terrible defender.

Portland’s DRtg is pretty bad (117.6), yet Kanter’s DRtg is 114, suggesting they are even worse without him on the floor. Celtics defense is bottom 10 anyway, and Thompson has a DRtg very similar to Kanter’s at 113 (which is also the Celtics overall DRtg).

Obviously individual defensive metrics are fuzzy, but the bottom line is Kanter has a +20 Net Rating, which means he’s very productive when he’s on the court. Thompson is a +6, which isn’t bad, but it’s pretty clear that he’s not worth twice what Kanter is (AND at the expense of an impact guard with the MLE).

Notice I said last two months. His DRat is 116.9 in those months, which is awful.

I never argued monetary worth. I agree Kanter at $5 mil is better than Thompson at $9 mil.

But the point about playoff playability stands. Kanter is unplayable in the Celtics defense during the playoffs where Thompson isn't. Does that make up some of the extra money being paid to Tristan? I guess we will have to wait and see.

What’s Portland’s overall defense during that stretch? Every metric I can find shows they are every bit as bad without him, and often worse. Yes, Kanter is not a great defender. But saying Portland’s porous defense should be attributed to a single player is erroneous, imo. They are woefully bad without him as well.

Brad has managed to hide poor defensive players in pst (namely IT4 and Kyrie), so I don’t fully understand why he couldn’t figure something out for Kanter. We know he can’t defend on the perimeter, but he’s not totally embarrassing in the post and obviously is an elite rebounder.

The Celtics defense is terrible anyway this season, I think they would have been better off with a better offensive center who creates more possessions.

[jambr380]

Do we know for sure that Kanter would have opted into his contract if we told him we were keeping him? He was such a great guy while he was here, but maybe he saw the writing on the wall with TL, and he was obviously behind Theis already. He seemed pretty psyched to get back to POR. Couldn't they have just used their taxpayer-MLE on him if we didn't choose to comply with a trade?

[Muzzy66]

Yes. He has sucked. Good riddance

What is your basis for this evaluation? 

He's averaging 8 points and 8 rebounds in only 22 minutes which is very respectable.  He's shooting 53% from the field, so he's been pretty efficient.  He's got a free throw rate of 36% which is one of the best on the team - meaning he's one of the few guys on the roster actually putting some pressure on opposing interior defences. 

I get that he's not a star, but that's not what Danny signed him to be.  He signed him to come in and do what he does - which is play hard, rebound, and get garbage points around the basket.  He's done that well.  He's one of the few guys on this team who seems to truly know and play within his role, and I respect that.