King's ransom for a sale made under duress. The world doesn't work like that.

Thats what I said, or at least what I meant to say.  I don’t think either is that guy, so I wouldn’t expect that package in return.

this sounds so very familiar…

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=105489.0

Let’s face it: We’ve got one superstar in JT and one nice young role player, possible lunch pail kind of starter in the future, in Grant Williams. Timelord is hurt too much and fool’s gold. Smart is decent but going to become more expensive (probably overpaid) in the near-future. Romeo is a bust, and so is Nesmith in all likelihood. Pritchard is not gonna make it as a consistent role player. Richardson is ok, but not a guy to build around. Horford is in the twilight of his career. Playing Enes is a political liability, like it or not (personally cannot stand the CCP but we can’t have our team being targeted by CCP). Everyone else other than JB is crap. And JB is just Glen Rice Part II…nice player as a number three guy, but we’re not winning a championship with him as our number two.

There’s no shame in rebuilding again. It allows a clean break from the Ainge era and, as others have pointed it out, it’s now or delay the inevitable until 2023 or 2024. I’d rather start the process now, clear room for Beal in case he wants to join Tatum in 2022 or 2023, and hope we have the assets (or space or draft someone incredible) to add a big 3 to Tatum/Beal. With those two secure, the team becomes extremely profitable in the St. Louis market and our two superstars are happy to see what Brad can build the next 3-5 years (it would be like if PP was standing alone in 2005 with Tony Allen being our Grant Williams back in the day, we then brought in PP’s BFF shortly after, and then we had worked on eventually adding KG and depth…except Tatum is much younger than PP was in 2005, and Beal would make Tatum/Beal so profitable in St. Louis, probably the biggest or second biggest market without an NBA team). Heck, they could even make it fun by moving most everyone for picks and fielding a bunch of reclamation projects and over-the-hill types on cheap contracts until we get our Big 3. If Ime falters after Stevens is done rebuilding, we can bring Stevens back on the bench for his wizardry like Pat Riley did in Miami in the mid 2000s en route to a title.

The above seems like our best bet by far…we really are too constrained to find any other way to a title…

Think adding muscles hurt Tatum game..plus he and Pritchard are only 2 players I wouldn’t trade right now..everyone else is on the block

So theoretically, we have options 1 (or 1a) and worst case option 3. Both are good defenders, and both are under 26. Also both play the position which is the most difficult to find in the nba (well maybe a Mobley type center.)

I agree that this current core isn't working. Isn't there a middle ground between ramming our head against the wall and blowing it all up? We are in the era of player movement. We have a path to clearing cap space moving forward. If we whiff on a few mid tier stars a few years in a row, then sure nobody wants to play with the Jays and its probably over. Brown and Tatum seem popular with other players, so maybe we explore that avenue.

Quote from: Birdman on December 28, 2021, 04:11:16 AM

Think adding muscles hurt Tatum game..plus he and Pritchard are only 2 players I wouldn’t trade right now..everyone else is on the block

I’d keep Romeo. And I’ve definitely not been on the Langford hype train (I even called Nesmith over him prior to the season) but he’s made a believer out of me. Good hustle, good defensive instincts, moves the ball quickly, decent stand still shooter, decent slasher, good off-ball movement. That’s a solid role player on a contender imo

Romeo now down to 5ppg in 20mpg which is a very low scoring rate. His shooting numbers are falling after a hot start. His TS% is now down to 49.3% which is way way below average.

He is still the horrible offensive player that he was in the past.

Quote from: A Future of Stevens on December 28, 2021, 08:36:54 AM

So theoretically, we have options 1 (or 1a) and worst case option 3. Both are good defenders, and both are under 26. Also both play the position which is the most difficult to find in the nba (well maybe a Mobley type center.)

I agree that this current core isn't working. Isn't there a middle ground between ramming our head against the wall and blowing it all up? We are in the era of player movement. We have a path to clearing cap space moving forward. If we whiff on a few mid tier stars a few years in a row, then sure nobody wants to play with the Jays and its probably over. Brown and Tatum seem popular with other players, so maybe we explore that avenue.

Do we?

I thought that cap flexibility gained by trading Kemba for Horford was all gone after CBS gave contract extensions to Smart, Rob Williams and Josh Richardson.

I mean define flexibility. Can we sign someone outright? No. But if we have a top 20 player willing to come here, we could move them all relatively easily (sure it will take draft assets.) I feel like the NBA has proven over the last few years that moving money isn't that hard. None of these contracts are the albatrosses that are unmoveable (think Wall, Westbrook, etc.)