Reaction by a Brown-trade advocater
This is going to be a long post. And as one of the fans who has been advocating a Jaylen Brown trade for a long time I want to give my perspective which differs a lot from the general consensus. So here we go.
My first impression after reading a lot of shocked reactions was that this was a hard reality check for Celtics' fans and also a bit disappointing that not one team believed Brown could be their first option and leading star for whom you give up significant assets to make a big leap forward. But after a night's sleep I have to acknowledge that I'm completely fine with this trade, willing to defend it and that I have full faith in the course of Brad Stevens and the staff.
Why trading Jaylen Brown was necessary
First thing to discuss is the necessity for trading Brown. I have seen a lot of posters on this blog say that we should just salvage the relationship with Jaylen, keep him here and not force ourselves into a non-optimal deal. I disagree wholeheartedly. No other than Brad knows better how fractured egos can dismantle a team and take a talented roster down the drain (think 2018/19 season).
He acted accordingly when fan favourite and so-called soul of the team, Marcus Smart, got in his head too much and thought he had to be a team leader by taking clutch shots. There are more examples where Brad took care of business (Brogdon f.e.). And he has been very careful in obtaining high character guys and not go for the talented immature.
To think that a couple of talks with Jaylen could have brought him back into the Celtics' plans is highly unrealistic. He has been here ten years and knows the roster, staff, management and franchise very well. It's clear he has grown into a player and person through a decade which you have to accept. He's not a rookie who has to be explained his role or reasons for staff or management decisions. Brown understands all this, has a long relationship with his peers, Mazzula and Stevens, and still felt he had to go out and say and do the things he did the last couple of months.
In this regard it's speculation what took this issue over the edge, but I believe it can be simplified by just reaching the conclusion that Jaylen Brown was not willing to play second fiddle anymore, felt disrespected by many and values himself as a leading star on a contender. Given the public shopping and end result I find that the rest of the NBA disagrees.
Evaluation of the deal
Now we go into the actual deal which the vast majority absolutely finds repulsive. We heard media report that the Celtics were looking for a massive haul of even four first round picks for Brown in certain situations. I believe most of us didn't read that carefully. Because it suggests that if the necessary salary taken back would be viewed as negative only then this demand was in place. So in my opinion we can't take the supposedly initial start of Brown was worth four first round picks and taking on George's contract is worth at least one first rounder, so we caved in massively.
No the picks collected are not bad. Often when trading a better and younger player to a contender gives you first round picks back which will be on the low end. With the possible pick swap in '28 for the Clippers pick, that has the chance to be more valuable than a casual late first rounder. And while in general I don't care for second round picks, the two obtained could very well both be in the 31-40 range and that's not worse than picking once in the 25-30 range. Thus we compromised a bit, but nothing crazy.
Of course I had hoped for something better. A team that's desperate for contention or a team with superfluous assets who'd view Brown as the last missing piece. Unfortunately that didn't happen and I'm sure Stevens did his diligence and called every GM in the league to give their starting offer for Brown. Me and others proposed Murphy for instance, but to a team as New Orleans I can see why holding on to a seven years younger wing, on All Star trajectory, for half the salary on a timeline more suited to the rest of the roster is more beneficial.
I guess what bothers me the most is that we sent Brown to arguably our biggest rival, given the fans' rivalry. And his thriving in transition offense alongside Maxey and Edgecombe will be a scary encounter the next time we face the Sixers. But that's also some emotional baggage, which shouldn't alter decisions. And we'll have to see how the Sixers deal with so many mouths to feel.
Moving forward with Paul George
I have seen a couple of posters say that this deal can't be the end of it all and that Stevens' has more moves on his sleeve to make this more sense. Honestly I have seen zero indications this is the case and I think this is just a coping mechanism for heavily disappointed fans. I don't expect any more significant moves. This will be the roster with which we will go into this season. And I feel good about it.
That said, we don't know what will happen at the end of the year. Most likely George will pick up his player option. But then that expiring contract can be used as massive salary filler to make a strong offer (we have a lot of picks and young players) for a disgruntled star (Jokic is a dream of course) or a team, like us, that will struggle with the new CBA and feels the need to trade away a big contract (I can imagine Fox on the Spurs). So although that contract of George looks sickening it can turn into a useful asset quickly under shifting circumstances.
It's no secret that Paul George at 36 years old isn't exactly the same player as in his Indiana or Oklahoma days. He won't be an All NBA player anymore. But he is not as washed as some may think. He's still a valuable, experienced and complete player who has shown he can co-exist with bigger stars. I see zero issues with inserting George into the starting line-up. In fact it might even strengthen our defense. Of course injury proneness is a serious factor, so I expect us to manage his minutes, which can be done since we have a lot more wing depth than the Sixers had last year.
Outlook for the team and contention
A lot of folks find the published analytics on Brown untrue, incomplete, nonsense or whatever. That's worthy of a big discussion which has been done before on this blog. However one stat stands out to me and that is that Jaylen Brown had the highest usage of any playoff player and the second highest usage during the regular season (only behind Doncic). With all due respect to the good player that Brown is, but he's not exactly prime James Harden, LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo that warrants this and it can never be a recipe for success.
While our first round elimination against the Sixers was not something to brag about I view this past season as a formidable coaching job. I'm not in the slightest easy to please, but I have seen the development of the team and overall ability to buy into the Celtics' culture. And that under guidance of Tatum and by now veteran leaders White and Pritchard. This trio (with George) as a core is a lot more cohesive and trustworthy than most other teams. So we don't have to worry the ship is sinking. We're still in the mix.
Add to that the fact that Stevens fixed our biggest weakness by obtaining Robinson and solve our center problem and we're ready to go. Not to mention that our young guys have hopefully made another step. We're so used to having a team filled with stars (our Championship rotation was utterly ridiculous: White/Holiday/Pritchard/Brown/Tatum/Hauser/Horford/Porzingis) that we have forgotten the grinding process that's often needed to become a contender.
Development of our youngsters
Most teams have to hope for ultimate lottery luck to get their franchise hope and develop raw draft prospects to create a core that maybe someday will lead to a meaningful playoff run. We still have Tatum (top ten player). So lets focus in on our young guys. In a respective re-draft Queta, Scheierman and Gonz?lez all would go as mid first round picks (11-20). Even Garza and Walsh would be late first rounders. And I can imagine Harper to follow up as a guy who was overlooked in the draft. We drafted quite well or lured in some interesting free options.
For building teams there's a lot at stake and pressure to develop such youngsters. The Celtics however do it quietly. And it's yielding results. Last summer with the departure of Holiday and Porzingis and the terrible injury of Tatum, expectations were very low. Nonetheless the Celtics won 56 games. That's nothing to sneeze at. Queta most prominently became a reliable starting center. While Scheirman filled in seemingly effortless any role required.
But the biggest asset may be Hugo Gonz?lez. It's most uncommon for Stevens as a GM to rave about individual players during press conference without being specifically asked. The way he talks about the physical, athletic, mental and intellectual talent of the now 20-year old Spaniard is intriguing. The numbers aren't there yet, but there are enough examples of rookies with that obvious X-factor who became stars later on: Jimmy Butler, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey or Deni Avdija.
Conclusion
So in my opinion there's no need for despair. The future is still bright. We have a franchise player who came back well from a devastating injury. We have exemplary co-stars with great professional awareness. A deep team with humble young players eager to become better. A strong coaching staff and general management who seem to be in line and supportive with each other. A good financial outlook that leaves room for necessary extentions. And assets to make a big move if the opportunity arises. This is still a contender and I believe people will not look at this trade as a big disaster in years to come.
Topic: Let's put ourselves in Brad's shoes for a second, why would he have done this? (Read 1160 times)