Centers Possibly Available

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Brad Stevens hasn't really messed with players around Sharpe's level much.

All his acquisitions are either for really good players (Brogdon, Porzingis, White, Holiday, Horford, Gallinari) or for upside-end-of-the-bench players (Queta, Kornet, Minott, Brissett, Craig), or as a salary move (Bol, Simons, Niang etc.).

The one exception I can think of was Tillman, who was roughly the same quality of player as Sharpe when they traded for him.

It's far more likely that he's going to get a higher quality rotation player, rather than a player that would ideally be a 3rd string center on a true contender.

[ozgod]

Brad Stevens hasn't really messed with players around Sharpe's level much.

All his acquisitions are either for really good players (Brogdon, Porzingis, White, Holiday, Horford, Gallinari) or for upside-end-of-the-bench players (Queta, Kornet, Minott, Brissett, Craig), or as a salary move (Bol, Simons, Niang etc.).

The one exception I can think of was Tillman, who was roughly the same quality of player as Sharpe when they traded for him.

It's far more likely that he's going to get a higher quality rotation player, rather than a player that would ideally be a 3rd string center on a true contender.

After looking at his advanced stats, he might be a little too similar to Q for Joe to get value out of him.

[jambr380]

I half mentioned this option in another thread, but this one is more active.

For people who just want to get under the tax this year, would you do a Simons for Zach Collins trade? It'd save around $9.5M, so we'd really only need to move a minimum or two to get to there. Yes, I 100% realize Zach Collins is a worse basketball player than Simons, but cutting salary isn't free. We aren't getting a comparable player to Simons if we want to save money.

The other option I've seen floating around is Terance Mann. No, not a big, but it immediately gets us out of the tax and he fills the Simons role. If we were interested in this, I don't know why we wouldn't have pushed Simons to BKN and taken on Mann on instead in the KP/Jrue deals. Keith Smith thought it would cost us picks, but we are the ones taking on like $20M in total extra salary, so I disagree. The 3yr deal is killer, but it does get us out of the tax.

Both deals allow us to use the KP TPE and then create a new Simons-sized one. Just a couple of tangible, more realistic options

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I half mentioned this option in another thread, but this one is more active.

For people who just want to get under the tax this year, would you do a Simons for Zach Collins trade? It'd save around $9.5M, so we'd really only need to move a minimum or two to get to there. Yes, I 100% realize Zach Collins is a worse basketball player than Simons, but cutting salary isn't free. We aren't getting a comparable player to Simons if we want to save money.

The other option I've seen floating around is Terance Mann. No, not a big, but it immediately gets us out of the tax and he fills the Simons role. If we were interested in this, I don't know why we wouldn't have pushed Simons to BKN and taken on Mann on instead in the KP/Jrue deals. Keith Smith thought it would cost us picks, but we are the ones taking on like $20M in total extra salary, so I disagree. The 3yr deal is killer, but it does get us out of the tax.

Both deals allow us to use the KP TPE and then create a new Simons-sized one. Just a couple of tangible, more realistic options

I've looked at both those guys a bit too.

Collins would be a pure salary dump. I don't think he's a good NBA player. Early in his career, some thought he could be an advanced stats darling, even if his traditional box score wasn't great. But there is a fine line with players like that between helpful role player and bad basketball player.

Plus, Stevens has almost always preferred players that are already effective in the box score. If Collins was a minimum contract, i could see them signing him like to a minimum like he did Kornet.

Now if we were able to do a 2 for 2 trade with Dosunmu and Collins for Simons and Tillman, that would both get us out of the 1st apron and get us a look at a good young guard that has a bit more defensive chops than Simons.

Mann is a playoff rotation player. He can play minutes for a good basketball team and help them. I think his contract is reasonable. It can be used as salary filler in another trade down the road if Hugo and Walsh fully take those minutes.

[Who]

Now if we were able to do a 2 for 2 trade with Dosunmu and Collins for Simons and Tillman, that would both get us out of the 1st apron and get us a look at a good young guard that has a bit more defensive chops than Simons.

That might be worth giving up a 1st for. Get Donsunmu to replace Jrue in our starting lineup. Two big rangy defensive guards again. Two ball-handlers. Donsunmu has been fantastic scoring wise this year as well. Move Pritchard back to 6th man role.