Atlanta, Portland, Houston feel like the 3 teams who can covet him.
Yeah, honestly, I've almost talked myself into a Trae trade. While having some weaknesses, he would greatly help the end-game issues we've had for a long time by providing another competent ball-handler.
I'd shoot for something like JB and one of Smart/White/Brogdon for Trae and Collins.
If not, I'd try to do something around Portland and Toronto with us getting an (extend and traded) Siakam, Brown to Portland, and #3 to Toronto.
But I don't think making JB the highest paid player works with how incomplete of a player he is.
In the past I would have not liked this idea at all, but I was really impressed by the passion and fight Trae showed in the playoffs this year. I would be happy with this move.
Don't move a player after 1 bad series, I think he got hurt and maz did not adjust, too busy watching the town
It's not just a response to one bad series - although it really was a very bad series and seeing him at with something like 14 FGA and multiple turnovers after the first quarter did leave me absolutely fuming.
The issue for me is the overall fit with Tatum and Brown together as your #1 and #2. Tatum and Brown are both highly streaky volume-scoring wings. They both chuck up a lot of difficult, low-percentage jumpers and when they are feeling hot and the shots are falling the team looks unbeatable, but in those games where those guys are cold and the shots aren't falling, this team can look lottery-team bad. To make matters worse they both can be turnover prone when they are feeling pressure, and given how often they both hold the ball the sheer number of turnovers can absolutely kill the team. I recall one game where Brown and Tatum had 10+ turnovers between them in the one game - no team is winning that way.
I think Tatum and Brown are both special young talents and I think they are both good enough to be the #1 guy on a team. BUT they are both high risk/high reward players who can give you 50 one night and then give you 8 points on 2-17 the next night. You can find ways to overcome that and win when you play weak teams in the regular season and in early playoff rounds, but if you want to win a Championship you need to be able to play consistently strong baskeball over sustained over a 7-game series, and I just don't think the Celtics can do that as long as these two guys are their two best players.
I think if you really want to compete for a title one of them needs to go - and if you're going to choose one of them, the obvious choice is to keep Tatum. Not only is he the better all-round player, and the younger, and the higher upside of the two...but a year from now he'll probably be on a more affordable contact as well.
