Jaylen Traded to PHI for PG, 2 First Round Picks & 2 Second Round Picks

[Larry for 3]

There has to be some explanation here that we are not aware of.
This trade is so far off what Brad has done historically when he has acquired productive talent that fit the team's needs and chemistry on very reasonable terms.

Maybe there are more moves now or down the road that will end up greatly improving the team in the long run.

A very bad possibility could be this move was forced by new ownership who are only in this for the money and did not want to deal with Brown's extension.

If the reason comes out that this was done because Jaylen had become very unhappy over being shopped, then ok, maybe. But if that was the case, Brad could surely have waited for a better offer. Also, Brown's reaction to the trade indicated he was taken by surprise and very disappointed to be leaving Boston, though his social media comments could have been only for effect and were not sincere.

As it stands now, this makes no sense.

Well, in terms of basketball (paraphrasing from another thread), if the Celtics FO believes that:

• This team is going to be better than last year's team, and the drop off from JB to PG won't be as extreme as it seems
• A team lead by JT and JB can't meaningfully compete for a championship
• Brown isn't worth the contract extension and he won't be happy if he isn't extended, which will impact his play

Then there's a strong argument that it's better to position the team for a deep playoff run in two years' time, where we will have enough space for another max contract, a fully reset repeater tax clock, and a very high pick from the Clippers in time for a very deep free agency pool - versus running it back with the Jays and not a ton of help (because the team is pretty limited in what they can build around both of them this offseason if they stay put).

And how does Tatum feel about that? You go ahead and tell him sit tight Jason we?ll make out move in 2 years. Any kind of competitor would be thinking maybe it?s time to move away from Boston. And if he doesn?t care that?s concerning too. But Why are people ok with throwing away seasons ?  I don?t get it.

[Who]

NY Times / The Athletic

Another team with widely reported interest, the Trail Blazers, similarly did not join the chase. A Blazers team source said the Blazers were never enamored with Brown, even before Boston made it known he was available on the trade market.

Two factors went into the Blazers? disinterest: Their analytics viewed him as a negative player and the Celtics? asking price was too high. ?We were never aggressively looking to trade for him,? a team source said. ?And particularly not at their price.?

If this was the case, I do not understand why they were linked so strongly to Jaylen both during the Giannis talks and after the Giannis talks ended. It looked like they had strong interest during both periods.

I believe the 2nd reason that they thought the asking price was too high. That is why they went with Morant who was cheaper. And they could maintain their core team & young talent & draft picks by picking Morant over Jaylen.

If your analytics really show Jaylen as a net negative player, why would you pursue him at all? Because you had no faith in your analytics department? So it doesn't matter one way or another whether the analytics liked him or not. They ignored the analytics department. At least that is what it looks like to me.

This (analytics explanation) feels more like an attempt to write off why they didn't get Jaylen rather than a real reason why they didn't want him.

[Who]

More from that NY Times / The Athletic article

The cool market suggested the existence of a significant gap between the general perception of Brown, who finished sixth in MVP voting this season, and the way he is seen within the NBA.

Though the idea of him being viewed as the seventh-best player on a given team was widely mocked, a recent report that one front-office member saw Brown in that way illuminated the reality that advanced analytics never shined too brightly on Brown?s game.

Even more pointedly, a current general manager, speaking anonymously to comment on internal team discussions, told The Athletic in the wake of the trade that he doesn?t view Brown as a top-50 player in the NBA.

This next quote is from a talk between Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon

You saw this trade and let's be honest the initial reaction was ?what the bleep?!?, and this other GM says ?this is a classic case of the credit goes to the guy who scores but they're not driving team success. There's guys like this all over the league.

The difference is he's not at 40 million and like a Brandon Ingram. He's at 60 million and then look, he's rounding up and and then he's going to be at 60 soon, right? And then it gets into it gets into the CBA and the cap rules and the apron.

[Kernewek]

There has to be some explanation here that we are not aware of.
This trade is so far off what Brad has done historically when he has acquired productive talent that fit the team's needs and chemistry on very reasonable terms.

Maybe there are more moves now or down the road that will end up greatly improving the team in the long run.

A very bad possibility could be this move was forced by new ownership who are only in this for the money and did not want to deal with Brown's extension.

If the reason comes out that this was done because Jaylen had become very unhappy over being shopped, then ok, maybe. But if that was the case, Brad could surely have waited for a better offer. Also, Brown's reaction to the trade indicated he was taken by surprise and very disappointed to be leaving Boston, though his social media comments could have been only for effect and were not sincere.

As it stands now, this makes no sense.

Well, in terms of basketball (paraphrasing from another thread), if the Celtics FO believes that:

• This team is going to be better than last year's team, and the drop off from JB to PG won't be as extreme as it seems
• A team lead by JT and JB can't meaningfully compete for a championship
• Brown isn't worth the contract extension and he won't be happy if he isn't extended, which will impact his play

Then there's a strong argument that it's better to position the team for a deep playoff run in two years' time, where we will have enough space for another max contract, a fully reset repeater tax clock, and a very high pick from the Clippers in time for a very deep free agency pool - versus running it back with the Jays and not a ton of help (because the team is pretty limited in what they can build around both of them this offseason if they stay put).

And how does Tatum feel about that? You go ahead and tell him sit tight Jason we?ll make out move in 2 years. Any kind of competitor would be thinking maybe it?s time to move away from Boston. And if he doesn?t care that?s concerning too. But Why are people ok with throwing away seasons ?  I don?t get it.

I get what you're saying - and I don't want to speak for the front office/have no idea of the conversations that are being had - but I presume you hammer home point one "the team is just as good, we are going to be able to get much better in the near future, let's make sure this season you really get back to 100% where you were before the injury" and so on and so on.

[Who]

ESPN

"The league is overrun with strategy," an Eastern Conference scout said. "Honestly, I'm not sure how many people who work in the league are actually watching the games." "Yes, there are more graduate degrees in front offices now, but that's only part of the picture," a Western Conference general manager said.

"The aprons force you to analyze all of your spending more and put more attention to detail on getting the most out of each salary slot. The owners put that into the rules, and the players accepted it. This is all a choice."

This Jaylen Brown stuff sure makes it feel that way.