It’s pretty clear that Kemba is going to get moved by OKC at some point. I think the return OKC gets could tell us something about Brad’s ability as a GM at this stage.
No it won’t. You cannot compare trades like that. There are all types of intangibles, prior relationships, and future promises, that could fetch OKC a deal for Kemba that looks better than what the Celtics got.
I’m sorry, are those intangibles not part of the equation when evaluating a GM?
Maybe, maybe not. Regardless, those factors are impossible to quantify making comparisons insubstantial.
Eh, it's totally fair to compare GMs, and their performance, across the league. What I will say is that people are going to need to keep in mind that OKC is free to take on however much salary they need to in order to get additional picks, while Boston's primary goal was cutting salary to retain Fournier and maybe sign another veteran or two.
It does feel like Kemba's going to be flipped with a young swingman or two for a similarly big contract that has an additional year on it plus a pick or two. Certain people are going to cherry-pick the "Brad gave up a pick to unload Kemba and Presti
got a pick for Kemba! Awful!" argument when all it really tells you is that a halfway decent first, or two future firsts, is the going rate to get off of $20-30+ million in salary.