Any Trade Ideas For PF/C Involving Hauser, Simons And/Or Niang + Picks?

[Celtics4ever]

Would I rather have Simons than Hauser at the same salary? Yes for sure. Would I rather have Simons than Hauser if he?s making even $5 mil a year more? No. And I?m not even that high on Hauser

You never get him at the same value or contract, Simons plays twice the minutes, scores 12 more points per game against better defenders night in and out.  He was the Blazers best scorer last year.  Sam benefits a lot more who he played with than Simons did last year.  You get a lot better defenders being the primary scorer than the fourth or fifth best option. 

I like Sam, he is a great shooter and I think he has great value for his contract.   Could he do the one on one scoring of Simons with the best defender on him. I am guessing no.  Sam has Tatum, Brown and White to routinely take the heat off on offense.   Simmons had Sharpe to help him and Avdija.

I do not think Simons is garbage overall, but he is crappy on defense.

I would not mind Vucevic and he would be great value for us.   I just don't know if he fits our timeline.

[paintitgreen]

I agree Simons wouldn?t be at the same price level as Hauser, and I don?t mean to so thoroughly diminish Simons. His scoring ability is proven against teams defending against him as a primary or secondary option, and that?s not something most players can say. He?d be a great bench guy to have at a more reasonable salary when Tatum returns. I just don?t think what he does really contributes enough to winning given the opportunity cost of his salary. Take his salary out and I?d be much more intrigued. If Tatum was playing I?d be interested to see how he could contribute alongside our core guys but a test run with him this year doesn?t really tell us what he could be with our real core because everybody is going to be out of their slots. Our number 1 isn?t going to be playing, our number 2 will be trying to be a number 1 (something I?m afraid of as much as I like Jaylen as a person and a Celtic) and the same domino effect impacts everybody else.

I also agree Vuc is not a long term solution. He?d help the team a bit next year and then it?s a question of whether he?d stick around for another year or two at something around $15-20 mil a year (if he still plays next year the way he played last year). But I don?t even know if he?d do that. If so, then you could actually have some big man minutes to go alongside Tatum, Brown, White, Pritchard and whoever else in 26-27 / 27-28. As with Simons, you still wouldn?t know how he?d look alongside Tatum and Brown in their proper roles just from next season. But since his role is so different than what Tatum and Brown do, it wouldn?t be as difficult to predict as with Simons. Factor in the savings for this year, and I think it would be preferable. I get Stevens not wanting to include a first just to get off salary, and I would say no if that?s what Chicago demanded to make a deal now, but to me a second would be worth it.

[A Future of Stevens]

I'd rather not trade for a 35 year old (is 34 now but will be 35 when the year starts) center who has never been known as a good defender.

[Moranis]

Simons, Tillman, Walsh

for

Gafford, Martin, Hardy

[Who]

Simons, Tillman, Walsh

for

Gafford, Martin, Hardy

So the team would be:

G: Pritchard, (free agent)
G: D White, Scheierman
F: Jaylen, Hauser
F: Caleb Martin, Niang
C: D Gafford, Queta

Is that any better than what we have now?

Or with Tatum back

G: D White, Pritchard
G: Hauser, Scheierman
F: Jaylen, Caleb Martin
F: Tatum, Niang / Minott
C: Gafford, Queta

That is a pretty good team. Pritchard goes back to 6th man role. Let Hauser start as a floor spacer. Caleb Martin could start also. Martin provides more defense. Hauser more offense. Gafford the MLE level big man to give the roster some balance. That is a strong team.

Or we could keep A Simons and sign an MLE level center in FA next summer. Or acquire one in a trade with the trade exception. Would that team be better?

G: A Simons, Pritchard
G: D White, Scheierman
F: Jaylen, Hauser
F: Tatum, Niang / Minott
C: (MLE level center), Queta

Keeping A Simons creates more offensive firepower. Trading Simons creates better defensive balance. Not sure there is much difference in either team overall.

[Vermont Green]

Simons, Tillman, Walsh

for

Gafford, Martin, Hardy

Is that any better than what we have now?

That was my thought, and it doesn't matter if we are better for 2025-26 or not.  The trade has to work for the 2026-27 team.  I see the incoming guys as bench players.  I hope we can do better than starting Gafford in 2026. 

[jambr380]

Simons, Tillman, Walsh

for

Gafford, Martin, Hardy

That would be a dream deal honestly. I can't imagine we are going to get 3 rotation players for 1 rotation player, though. Tillman is completely washed and Walsh may or may not be on an NBA roster a year from now. I agree Simons is the best of the bunch, but we need a good Center and Martin/Hardy provide legitimate depth

[Who]

Simons, Tillman, Walsh

for

Gafford, Martin, Hardy

That would be a dream deal honestly. I can't imagine we are going to get 3 rotation players for 1 rotation player, though. Tillman is completely washed and Walsh may or may not be on an NBA roster a year from now. I agree Simons is the best of the bunch, but we need a good Center and Martin/Hardy provide legitimate depth

How much better is Caleb Martin than Hugo Gonzalez? I am not sure he is much better. Caleb career numbers 8ppg 4rpg 1.5apg in 24mpg. Shoots 44.7% FG 35.7% 3PT 54.8% TS. Plays good D but a below par offensive player. I expect Hugo will give us something close to that. Similar defense & rebounding. Better ball-handling and passing. Worse 3PT% but probably not far off in overall TS% or scoring production.

Jaden Hardy is not that good of a rotation player. He is in that borderline rotation player zone. High end 3rd stringer to below average backup SG. He scores well but doesn't defend, rebound or pass. And as a scorer he only has a 54.3% TS. That is the one thing he does well (score). He is an erratic performer who is a joy to watch when he shoots well but is a zero on nights where he doesn't and those nights happen often.

[Moranis]

Simons, Tillman, Walsh

for

Gafford, Martin, Hardy

Is that any better than what we have now?

That was my thought, and it doesn't matter if we are better for 2025-26 or not.  The trade has to work for the 2026-27 team.  I see the incoming guys as bench players.  I hope we can do better than starting Gafford in 2026.

how would that trade stop Boston from making the same moves with a free agent Simons leaving the team?

[Vermont Green]

Simons, Tillman, Walsh

for

Gafford, Martin, Hardy

Is that any better than what we have now?

That was my thought, and it doesn't matter if we are better for 2025-26 or not.  The trade has to work for the 2026-27 team.  I see the incoming guys as bench players.  I hope we can do better than starting Gafford in 2026.

how would that trade stop Boston from making the same moves with a free agent Simons leaving the team?

Not sure I understand your question.  My point is that even though Gafford would make the 2025-26 team better, improve on the Bigs for that season, I am not sure he is what we would be looking for for the 2026-27 team.  As I keep saying, I don't care if a trade makes the 2025-26 team better, the objective needs to be what is needed for 2026 and beyond.  My hope is we could do better than Gafford.

BOS may not end up doing much better than this for Simons, I don't know, but I don't see a reason to do this trade now.

[paintitgreen]

Simons, Tillman, Walsh

for

Gafford, Martin, Hardy

If you could get the trade I like the idea for depth. Doesn?t save much money though. Dallas is hard-capped at the second apron and I don?t think can take this much salary back. Maybe if you take Walsh out Dallas could do it. I agree Tillman and Walsh are not relevant to the team but Walsh is only $200k guaranteed so they could just cut him before the season. But with this trade, you have to be ready for your team next year to be largely set in stone because all those guys have multiple years remaining. Though maybe those guys could be flipped for a better big? I don?t know.

I also don?t dream of a future with Vuc. I like the idea of having an NBA center on the roster though and the Celtics currently don?t. I don?t actually foresee resigning either Vuc or Simons. I just want to get the Celtics salary as low as possible. And Vuc is $6 mil cheaper than Simons while also expiring next year. TPE (which itself would create some hard cap restrictions I believe so maybe irrelevant anyway) would also be higher than the current one from KP.

Honestly I kind of think this year is gonna be a major disappointment by recent standards anyway. Might as well make it as inexpensive a down year as possible. If it were me, I?d swap Simons for Vuc, look to trade Hauser for either no players or just a minimum player, and look to make one more move down the line with either Vucevic or Niang to try to get below the tax level. This team isn?t likely to compete seriously next year. I don?t want to tank but given the backward steps already taken, I?d look to cut the costs.

Thinking back to the question of the long term big, I really think the only ways we?re getting one are the draft or a trade of Brown or White. Or maybe a couple of picks for Kessler who may be more available now with Filipowski showing out big time at summer league.

[paintitgreen]

Just a little info on hard caps:

https://www.salaryswish.com/hard-cap-tracker/2026

Dallas, Denver, and NY are hard capped at the second apron, and more than a dozen teams are hard capped at the first.