Kemba over Terry Rozier. Another Ainge blunder

[perks-a-beast]

In terms of looking at them as assets right now - we’d have to attach multiple picks just to get a team to take on Kembas albatross of a contract. Meanwhile, Rozier could probably net the hornets a couple picks and probably a good young player ..and is making almost half as much as Kemba.

I’m throwing a party once Kemba is off this team and everyone here who isn’t in denial about him being the worst signing in franchise history is invited.

[jambr380]

In terms of looking at them as assets right now - we’d have to attach multiple picks just to get a team to take on Kembas albatross of a contract. Meanwhile, Rozier could probably net the hornets a couple picks and probably a good young player ..and is making almost half as much as Kemba.

I’m throwing a party once Kemba is off this team and everyone here who isn’t in denial about him being the worst signing in franchise history is invited.

And I'm going to throw a hyperbole party and anybody who doesn't understand player value is invited.

We just acquired a better behaved, more team-oriented player than Rozier for two 2nd round picks. Terry will be only have one season left on his contract this offseason and will be expiring, just like Fournier (although we got him mid-season).

And, no, we won't need to attach anything to Kemba to shed him from our roster. People keep saying this like it's true (we heard the same thing with Hayward). He isn't injured, he's still productive, he's still only 30, and he only has two years left on his contract. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there was more demand for Kemba than Rozier.

[td450]

In Boston, Rozier played 5433 minutes.  During that time, he never shot over 40% from the field in any season.  He never had an eFG% above .500. He was quite bad as a shooter, although he did have one good year from 3PT (38%, which he nullified by shooting 41% from 2PT).

To his credit, he worked his butt off to improve his outside chart. Last year his efficiency was still mediocre, but it has been excellent this year.  He’s a better player than he was for sure.

But also keep in mind, he is charlottes shooting guard.  He leads their team in shots per game, even in front of Gordon Hayward.

How would that work here? How effective is the following lineup?

Timelord
Tatum
Brown
Rozier
Smart

With that roster construction, I would rather have Kemba. Rozier never would have had the freedom to chuck up as many shots as he wanted.

That's what a lot of people miss when looking at raw stats...it's about player fit as much as it is about their raw output. Terry was never going to take a backseat role.  And that's fine, he fits better in Charlotte. Also keep in mind that until this season, with LaMelo being drafted and Graham having the season he had last year that there were rumors that Terry would have had to come off the bench to accommodate LaMelo. Instead, Graham was the one who eventually gave up the starting spot.

The problem with this point is that Kemba is obviously a terrible player fit. Concerns about fitting in and taking a backseat role on offense apply to both players. But Rozier can play physical, switchable defense. Rozier pushes the pace. Rozier is durable.

Rozier averaged 14.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.5 this year.
Kemba averaged 15.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.4 this year.

That's Rozier on a team that brought him in to be a scorer. Walker has never been a consistent shot creator, and he never displayed any on-court adjustment to his game to give the team what it needs. He is and has always been the guy you are worried that Rozier might have become, minus the good parts.

Ask yourself this. If Charlotte was given the option of swapping Rozier for Walker under Rozier's contract terms, would they do it?

Kemba brings one thing to the table. He's a professional scorer. His value is no more or less than his efficiency at bringing that one attribute to the team. This year, he is a Marcus Smart level efficiency scorer.

Out of all the decisions Ainge has made, getting and keeping Kemba Walker is the biggest single blunder.

[Goldstar88]

In Boston, Rozier played 5433 minutes.  During that time, he never shot over 40% from the field in any season.  He never had an eFG% above .500. He was quite bad as a shooter, although he did have one good year from 3PT (38%, which he nullified by shooting 41% from 2PT).

To his credit, he worked his butt off to improve his outside chart. Last year his efficiency was still mediocre, but it has been excellent this year.  He’s a better player than he was for sure.

But also keep in mind, he is charlottes shooting guard.  He leads their team in shots per game, even in front of Gordon Hayward.

How would that work here? How effective is the following lineup?

Timelord
Tatum
Brown
Rozier
Smart

With that roster construction, I would rather have Kemba. Rozier never would have had the freedom to chuck up as many shots as he wanted.

That's what a lot of people miss when looking at raw stats...it's about player fit as much as it is about their raw output. Terry was never going to take a backseat role.  And that's fine, he fits better in Charlotte. Also keep in mind that until this season, with LaMelo being drafted and Graham having the season he had last year that there were rumors that Terry would have had to come off the bench to accommodate LaMelo. Instead, Graham was the one who eventually gave up the starting spot.

The problem with this point is that Kemba is obviously a terrible player fit. Concerns about fitting in and taking a backseat role on offense apply to both players. But Rozier can play physical, switchable defense. Rozier pushes the pace. Rozier is durable.

Rozier averaged 14.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.5 this year.
Kemba averaged 15.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.4 this year.

That's Rozier on a team that brought him in to be a scorer. Walker has never been a consistent shot creator, and he never displayed any on-court adjustment to his game to give the team what it needs. He is and has always been the guy you are worried that Rozier might have become, minus the good parts.

Ask yourself this. If Charlotte was given the option of swapping Rozier for Walker under Rozier's contract terms, would they do it?

Kemba brings one thing to the table. He's a professional scorer. His value is no more or less than his efficiency at bringing that one attribute to the team. This year, he is a Marcus Smart level efficiency scorer.

Out of all the decisions Ainge has made, getting and keeping Kemba Walker is the biggest single blunder.

The signing at the time made a lot of sense. Jaylen and Jayson were Still developing and the core pieces were supposed to be Kemba, Hayward and Horford. Walker was coming off a season where he was averaging 25ppg. 6ast, 4reb. He was shooting 36% from 3pt and 43% from the field. The signing was also right after Kyrie bolted on the C’s and they needed to fill that void.

Obviously it hasn’t worked out and the team has changed drastically since he signed. With the emergence of Brown and Tatum, Kemba is now a 3rd option who doesn’t fit anymore. He’s a point guard that doesn’t pass very well and his shooting has been below average. With his defensive limitations, he’s really not adding anything if his shots are not falling. The team at this point would be best with a starting lineup of Smart, Fournier, Brown, Tatum and Timelord. Kemba should be coming off the bench, but I know that is not going to happen.

[RPGenerate]

Man, the amount of obnoxious know-it-alls on this thread acting like using hindsight suddenly makes them a genius is quite funny to me.

[td450]

In Boston, Rozier played 5433 minutes.  During that time, he never shot over 40% from the field in any season.  He never had an eFG% above .500. He was quite bad as a shooter, although he did have one good year from 3PT (38%, which he nullified by shooting 41% from 2PT).

To his credit, he worked his butt off to improve his outside chart. Last year his efficiency was still mediocre, but it has been excellent this year.  He’s a better player than he was for sure.

But also keep in mind, he is charlottes shooting guard.  He leads their team in shots per game, even in front of Gordon Hayward.

How would that work here? How effective is the following lineup?

Timelord
Tatum
Brown
Rozier
Smart

With that roster construction, I would rather have Kemba. Rozier never would have had the freedom to chuck up as many shots as he wanted.

That's what a lot of people miss when looking at raw stats...it's about player fit as much as it is about their raw output. Terry was never going to take a backseat role.  And that's fine, he fits better in Charlotte. Also keep in mind that until this season, with LaMelo being drafted and Graham having the season he had last year that there were rumors that Terry would have had to come off the bench to accommodate LaMelo. Instead, Graham was the one who eventually gave up the starting spot.

The problem with this point is that Kemba is obviously a terrible player fit. Concerns about fitting in and taking a backseat role on offense apply to both players. But Rozier can play physical, switchable defense. Rozier pushes the pace. Rozier is durable.

Rozier averaged 14.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.5 this year.
Kemba averaged 15.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.4 this year.

That's Rozier on a team that brought him in to be a scorer. Walker has never been a consistent shot creator, and he never displayed any on-court adjustment to his game to give the team what it needs. He is and has always been the guy you are worried that Rozier might have become, minus the good parts.

Ask yourself this. If Charlotte was given the option of swapping Rozier for Walker under Rozier's contract terms, would they do it?

Kemba brings one thing to the table. He's a professional scorer. His value is no more or less than his efficiency at bringing that one attribute to the team. This year, he is a Marcus Smart level efficiency scorer.

Out of all the decisions Ainge has made, getting and keeping Kemba Walker is the biggest single blunder.

The signing at the time made a lot of sense. Jaylen and Jayson were Still developing and the core pieces were supposed to be Kemba, Hayward and Horford. Walker was coming off a season where he was averaging 25ppg. 6ast, 4reb. He was shooting 36% from 3pt and 43% from the field. The signing was also right after Kyrie bolted on the C’s and they needed to fill that void.

Obviously it hasn’t worked out and the team has changed drastically since he signed. With the emergence of Brown and Tatum, Kemba is now a 3rd option who doesn’t fit anymore. He’s a point guard that doesn’t pass very well and his shooting has been below average. With his defensive limitations, he’s really not adding anything if his shots are not falling. The team at this point would be best with a starting lineup of Smart, Fournier, Brown, Tatum and Timelord. Kemba should be coming off the bench, but I know that is not going to happen.

That only makes sense if you insist that the Celtics were required to maintain a "smaller primary scoring point guard, no defense required" position indefinitely.

Or, you could see that 3 big athletic two way wings were the obvious future core of the team, with Horford and Smart as nice compliments. All those assets and we only needed to get a really solid two way big guard. We would have been able to keep Hayward, and if we were lucky enough to land someone like SGA or Halliburton or Brogdon, we'd be be a top tier NBA team for years.

[Moranis]

In Boston, Rozier played 5433 minutes.  During that time, he never shot over 40% from the field in any season.  He never had an eFG% above .500. He was quite bad as a shooter, although he did have one good year from 3PT (38%, which he nullified by shooting 41% from 2PT).

To his credit, he worked his butt off to improve his outside chart. Last year his efficiency was still mediocre, but it has been excellent this year.  He’s a better player than he was for sure.

But also keep in mind, he is charlottes shooting guard.  He leads their team in shots per game, even in front of Gordon Hayward.

How would that work here? How effective is the following lineup?

Timelord
Tatum
Brown
Rozier
Smart

With that roster construction, I would rather have Kemba. Rozier never would have had the freedom to chuck up as many shots as he wanted.

That's what a lot of people miss when looking at raw stats...it's about player fit as much as it is about their raw output. Terry was never going to take a backseat role.  And that's fine, he fits better in Charlotte. Also keep in mind that until this season, with LaMelo being drafted and Graham having the season he had last year that there were rumors that Terry would have had to come off the bench to accommodate LaMelo. Instead, Graham was the one who eventually gave up the starting spot.

The problem with this point is that Kemba is obviously a terrible player fit. Concerns about fitting in and taking a backseat role on offense apply to both players. But Rozier can play physical, switchable defense. Rozier pushes the pace. Rozier is durable.

Rozier averaged 14.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.5 this year.
Kemba averaged 15.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.4 this year.

That's Rozier on a team that brought him in to be a scorer. Walker has never been a consistent shot creator, and he never displayed any on-court adjustment to his game to give the team what it needs. He is and has always been the guy you are worried that Rozier might have become, minus the good parts.

Ask yourself this. If Charlotte was given the option of swapping Rozier for Walker under Rozier's contract terms, would they do it?

Kemba brings one thing to the table. He's a professional scorer. His value is no more or less than his efficiency at bringing that one attribute to the team. This year, he is a Marcus Smart level efficiency scorer.

Out of all the decisions Ainge has made, getting and keeping Kemba Walker is the biggest single blunder.

The signing at the time made a lot of sense. Jaylen and Jayson were Still developing and the core pieces were supposed to be Kemba, Hayward and Horford. Walker was coming off a season where he was averaging 25ppg. 6ast, 4reb. He was shooting 36% from 3pt and 43% from the field. The signing was also right after Kyrie bolted on the C’s and they needed to fill that void.

Obviously it hasn’t worked out and the team has changed drastically since he signed. With the emergence of Brown and Tatum, Kemba is now a 3rd option who doesn’t fit anymore. He’s a point guard that doesn’t pass very well and his shooting has been below average. With his defensive limitations, he’s really not adding anything if his shots are not falling. The team at this point would be best with a starting lineup of Smart, Fournier, Brown, Tatum and Timelord. Kemba should be coming off the bench, but I know that is not going to happen.

That isn't true.  If Horford didn't leave, Walker wouldn't have been here.  Boston used the cap space created by Horford leaving to sign Walker.  Had Horford stayed, Boston wouldn't have been able to acquire Walker even via sign and trade because you can't pay the tax with a sign and trade and Walker + Horford would have put Boston well into the tax. 

So Walker was signed to play with Tatum, Brown, and Hayward.  Now I suppose the thought was he was going to be the #1 option, but Tatum was clearly ready for a larger role and Walker isn't a great fit with Tatum and never was.  Brown and Tatum were both 18 ppg scorers per 36 that last year with Irving, it should have been readily apparent they were both trending upward towards at least 20 ppg if given the minutes (and opportunity).  The team shouldn't have been focused on replacing Irving as the #1, but should have been focused on finding a 2nd or 3rd option to pair with the young duo.  They needed a better play maker, preferably a solid shooter and defender from the position.  Walker just wasn't the right guy and never was.  I have no issue with his contract in a vacuum, the problem is it wasn't the right fit for Boston.

[Vermont Green]

Kemba was doing great until his knee flared up towards the end of last season.  20 pts, 5 assists, really helped a young team.  Due to his knee, he was ineffective in the playoffs.  And so far this season, he has been OK, but not as good as last season.

The thing that gets lost is that signing Kemba when we did allowed us to lock in some cap space that we would have otherwise lost with Horford leaving.  People seem to be one extreme or the other on this issue but really, two somewhat opposing things can both be true at the same time.  (1) Kemba is not playing like he did last season and not up to a max contract; this is true, but also (2) Kemba is not the main problem with the team and Rozier would not be the fix for it in any case; can also be true.

I suspect that we will find a way to trade Kemba in the off season, unless something happens with his knee.  He is a bad contract to some extent but not the worst in the league or anything like that.  Gordon Hayward found $30M.  There is a good home for Kemba out there.

[kraidstar]

Kemba was doing great until his knee flared up towards the end of last season.  20 pts, 5 assists, really helped a young team.  Due to his knee, he was ineffective in the playoffs.  And so far this season, he has been OK, but not as good as last season.

The thing that gets lost is that signing Kemba when we did allowed us to lock in some cap space that we would have otherwise lost with Horford leaving.  People seem to be one extreme or the other on this issue but really, two somewhat opposing things can both be true at the same time.  (1) Kemba is not playing like he did last season and not up to a max contract; this is true, but also (2) Kemba is not the main problem with the team and Rozier would not be the fix for it in any case; can also be true.

I suspect that we will find a way to trade Kemba in the off season, unless something happens with his knee.  He is a bad contract to some extent but not the worst in the league or anything like that.  Gordon Hayward found $30M.  There is a good home for Kemba out there.

TP, great post.

And we have seen the answers the last couple games: our guys are finally moving the ball around, getting better shots, and having fun.

[td450]

Kemba was doing great until his knee flared up towards the end of last season.  20 pts, 5 assists, really helped a young team.  Due to his knee, he was ineffective in the playoffs.  And so far this season, he has been OK, but not as good as last season.

The thing that gets lost is that signing Kemba when we did allowed us to lock in some cap space that we would have otherwise lost with Horford leaving.  People seem to be one extreme or the other on this issue but really, two somewhat opposing things can both be true at the same time.  (1) Kemba is not playing like he did last season and not up to a max contract; this is true, but also (2) Kemba is not the main problem with the team and Rozier would not be the fix for it in any case; can also be true.

I suspect that we will find a way to trade Kemba in the off season, unless something happens with his knee.  He is a bad contract to some extent but not the worst in the league or anything like that.  Gordon Hayward found $30M.  There is a good home for Kemba out there.

He's been OK?

Walker has played 31 games this year after two long rehab stints. He's not working his way back any more.

He's shooting just under 40% from the field and under 35% from 3, and gives you less than 5 assists per game as a starting point guard.

Take Marcus Smart, have him take 5 extra shots per game(sounds crazy right?), and then make him the worst defender on the team. That's what Kemba Walker is right now. That's the math.

[Goldstar88]

In Boston, Rozier played 5433 minutes.  During that time, he never shot over 40% from the field in any season.  He never had an eFG% above .500. He was quite bad as a shooter, although he did have one good year from 3PT (38%, which he nullified by shooting 41% from 2PT).

To his credit, he worked his butt off to improve his outside chart. Last year his efficiency was still mediocre, but it has been excellent this year.  He’s a better player than he was for sure.

But also keep in mind, he is charlottes shooting guard.  He leads their team in shots per game, even in front of Gordon Hayward.

How would that work here? How effective is the following lineup?

Timelord
Tatum
Brown
Rozier
Smart

With that roster construction, I would rather have Kemba. Rozier never would have had the freedom to chuck up as many shots as he wanted.

That's what a lot of people miss when looking at raw stats...it's about player fit as much as it is about their raw output. Terry was never going to take a backseat role.  And that's fine, he fits better in Charlotte. Also keep in mind that until this season, with LaMelo being drafted and Graham having the season he had last year that there were rumors that Terry would have had to come off the bench to accommodate LaMelo. Instead, Graham was the one who eventually gave up the starting spot.

The problem with this point is that Kemba is obviously a terrible player fit. Concerns about fitting in and taking a backseat role on offense apply to both players. But Rozier can play physical, switchable defense. Rozier pushes the pace. Rozier is durable.

Rozier averaged 14.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.5 this year.
Kemba averaged 15.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.4 this year.

That's Rozier on a team that brought him in to be a scorer. Walker has never been a consistent shot creator, and he never displayed any on-court adjustment to his game to give the team what it needs. He is and has always been the guy you are worried that Rozier might have become, minus the good parts.

Ask yourself this. If Charlotte was given the option of swapping Rozier for Walker under Rozier's contract terms, would they do it?

Kemba brings one thing to the table. He's a professional scorer. His value is no more or less than his efficiency at bringing that one attribute to the team. This year, he is a Marcus Smart level efficiency scorer.

Out of all the decisions Ainge has made, getting and keeping Kemba Walker is the biggest single blunder.

The signing at the time made a lot of sense. Jaylen and Jayson were Still developing and the core pieces were supposed to be Kemba, Hayward and Horford. Walker was coming off a season where he was averaging 25ppg. 6ast, 4reb. He was shooting 36% from 3pt and 43% from the field. The signing was also right after Kyrie bolted on the C’s and they needed to fill that void.

Obviously it hasn’t worked out and the team has changed drastically since he signed. With the emergence of Brown and Tatum, Kemba is now a 3rd option who doesn’t fit anymore. He’s a point guard that doesn’t pass very well and his shooting has been below average. With his defensive limitations, he’s really not adding anything if his shots are not falling. The team at this point would be best with a starting lineup of Smart, Fournier, Brown, Tatum and Timelord. Kemba should be coming off the bench, but I know that is not going to happen.

That isn't true.  If Horford didn't leave, Walker wouldn't have been here.  Boston used the cap space created by Horford leaving to sign Walker.  Had Horford stayed, Boston wouldn't have been able to acquire Walker even via sign and trade because you can't pay the tax with a sign and trade and Walker + Horford would have put Boston well into the tax. 

So Walker was signed to play with Tatum, Brown, and Hayward.  Now I suppose the thought was he was going to be the #1 option, but Tatum was clearly ready for a larger role and Walker isn't a great fit with Tatum and never was.  Brown and Tatum were both 18 ppg scorers per 36 that last year with Irving, it should have been readily apparent they were both trending upward towards at least 20 ppg if given the minutes (and opportunity).  The team shouldn't have been focused on replacing Irving as the #1, but should have been focused on finding a 2nd or 3rd option to pair with the young duo.  They needed a better play maker, preferably a solid shooter and defender from the position.  Walker just wasn't the right guy and never was.  I have no issue with his contract in a vacuum, the problem is it wasn't the right fit for Boston.

So prior to negotiating to bring Kemba in, you think Danny already knew that Horford was gone to Philly for that ridiculous contract? That’s interesting because he seemed pretty surprised when the report came out that Al was leaving.

Also, the year before Kemba came to Boston Jaylen was averaging 13ppg and Jayson was at 15ppg. The following year, when Kemba was now on the team is when Jaylen and Jayson jumped to 20ppg.

[Moranis]

Kemba was doing great until his knee flared up towards the end of last season.  20 pts, 5 assists, really helped a young team.  Due to his knee, he was ineffective in the playoffs.  And so far this season, he has been OK, but not as good as last season.

The thing that gets lost is that signing Kemba when we did allowed us to lock in some cap space that we would have otherwise lost with Horford leaving.  People seem to be one extreme or the other on this issue but really, two somewhat opposing things can both be true at the same time.  (1) Kemba is not playing like he did last season and not up to a max contract; this is true, but also (2) Kemba is not the main problem with the team and Rozier would not be the fix for it in any case; can also be true.

I suspect that we will find a way to trade Kemba in the off season, unless something happens with his knee.  He is a bad contract to some extent but not the worst in the league or anything like that.  Gordon Hayward found $30M.  There is a good home for Kemba out there.

He's been OK?

Walker has played 31 games this year after two long rehab stints. He's not working his way back any more.

He's shooting just under 40% from the field and under 35% from 3, and gives you less than 5 assists per game as a starting point guard.

Take Marcus Smart, have him take 5 extra shots per game(sounds crazy right?), and then make him the worst defender on the team. That's what Kemba Walker is right now. That's the math.

He has been a lot better after his first few weeks though.  18.7 ppg, 5.0 apg, 3.5 rpg and at 36.2% from 3.  Still not all the way back into form, but those are his numbers if you take out his first 7 games back (so starting with the Clipper game on 2/5).  And if you go from Valentine's Day his totals are even better.  Not great by any stretch, but also much closer to what he was last year, which you know makes sense.  Players generally don't miss months with a knee injury and immediately round back into form.  It takes time and any argument that includes at least the first few weeks loses a great deal.  You quite simply can't really include those in this sort of argument as it harms your position a great deal to do so.

[Moranis]

In Boston, Rozier played 5433 minutes.  During that time, he never shot over 40% from the field in any season.  He never had an eFG% above .500. He was quite bad as a shooter, although he did have one good year from 3PT (38%, which he nullified by shooting 41% from 2PT).

To his credit, he worked his butt off to improve his outside chart. Last year his efficiency was still mediocre, but it has been excellent this year.  He’s a better player than he was for sure.

But also keep in mind, he is charlottes shooting guard.  He leads their team in shots per game, even in front of Gordon Hayward.

How would that work here? How effective is the following lineup?

Timelord
Tatum
Brown
Rozier
Smart

With that roster construction, I would rather have Kemba. Rozier never would have had the freedom to chuck up as many shots as he wanted.

That's what a lot of people miss when looking at raw stats...it's about player fit as much as it is about their raw output. Terry was never going to take a backseat role.  And that's fine, he fits better in Charlotte. Also keep in mind that until this season, with LaMelo being drafted and Graham having the season he had last year that there were rumors that Terry would have had to come off the bench to accommodate LaMelo. Instead, Graham was the one who eventually gave up the starting spot.

The problem with this point is that Kemba is obviously a terrible player fit. Concerns about fitting in and taking a backseat role on offense apply to both players. But Rozier can play physical, switchable defense. Rozier pushes the pace. Rozier is durable.

Rozier averaged 14.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.5 this year.
Kemba averaged 15.9 shots per game last year, and is at 15.4 this year.

That's Rozier on a team that brought him in to be a scorer. Walker has never been a consistent shot creator, and he never displayed any on-court adjustment to his game to give the team what it needs. He is and has always been the guy you are worried that Rozier might have become, minus the good parts.

Ask yourself this. If Charlotte was given the option of swapping Rozier for Walker under Rozier's contract terms, would they do it?

Kemba brings one thing to the table. He's a professional scorer. His value is no more or less than his efficiency at bringing that one attribute to the team. This year, he is a Marcus Smart level efficiency scorer.

Out of all the decisions Ainge has made, getting and keeping Kemba Walker is the biggest single blunder.

The signing at the time made a lot of sense. Jaylen and Jayson were Still developing and the core pieces were supposed to be Kemba, Hayward and Horford. Walker was coming off a season where he was averaging 25ppg. 6ast, 4reb. He was shooting 36% from 3pt and 43% from the field. The signing was also right after Kyrie bolted on the C’s and they needed to fill that void.

Obviously it hasn’t worked out and the team has changed drastically since he signed. With the emergence of Brown and Tatum, Kemba is now a 3rd option who doesn’t fit anymore. He’s a point guard that doesn’t pass very well and his shooting has been below average. With his defensive limitations, he’s really not adding anything if his shots are not falling. The team at this point would be best with a starting lineup of Smart, Fournier, Brown, Tatum and Timelord. Kemba should be coming off the bench, but I know that is not going to happen.

That isn't true.  If Horford didn't leave, Walker wouldn't have been here.  Boston used the cap space created by Horford leaving to sign Walker.  Had Horford stayed, Boston wouldn't have been able to acquire Walker even via sign and trade because you can't pay the tax with a sign and trade and Walker + Horford would have put Boston well into the tax. 

So Walker was signed to play with Tatum, Brown, and Hayward.  Now I suppose the thought was he was going to be the #1 option, but Tatum was clearly ready for a larger role and Walker isn't a great fit with Tatum and never was.  Brown and Tatum were both 18 ppg scorers per 36 that last year with Irving, it should have been readily apparent they were both trending upward towards at least 20 ppg if given the minutes (and opportunity).  The team shouldn't have been focused on replacing Irving as the #1, but should have been focused on finding a 2nd or 3rd option to pair with the young duo.  They needed a better play maker, preferably a solid shooter and defender from the position.  Walker just wasn't the right guy and never was.  I have no issue with his contract in a vacuum, the problem is it wasn't the right fit for Boston.

So prior to negotiating to bring Kemba in, you think Danny already knew that Horford was gone to Philly for that ridiculous contract? That’s interesting because he seemed pretty surprised when the report came out that Al was leaving.

Also, the year before Kemba came to Boston Jaylen was averaging 13ppg and Jayson was at 15ppg. The following year, when Kemba was now on the team is when Jaylen and Jayson jumped to 20ppg.

Yes.  Ainge knew Horford was leaving which is when he pivoted to Walker because he couldn't have signed Walker without Horford leaving.  The financials just don't work otherwise.

And I said per 36 they were both over 18.  I'm well aware of what their totals were, but they were depressed by lesser minutes and opportunities.  Especially with Brown.  Brown was only playing 26 mpg in Irving's last year.  His per 36 numbers for his career have taken a natural progression starting at 13.8 (rookie), 17 (2nd year, Irving/Tatum 1st), 18.1 (Irving's last year), 21.6 (last year), and 25.9 (this year).  That is what you would expect a player to look like.  Tatum's per 36 also took a similar path starting at 16.4 (rookie), 18.2 (Irving's last year), 24.6 (last year), 25.6 (this year).  Again pretty typical progression for a player, especially as opportunities and playing time increase. 

[PhoSita]

literally nobody thought terry was a better bet at that price at the time the contracts were signed. nobody.

[wiley]

I think Ainge's philosophy is as follows: 

Playoff games tend to be close. And at the end of close playoff games it's important to have multiple guys who can create their own offense and score.  Kemba has been that in his career and remains that.  I prefer Rozier overall, but let's see what happens in the playoffs.