Trade idea: Memphis and Boston

[LarBrd33]

Just throwing this idea out there.

Trade Rondo (11 mil) to Memphis for Mike Conley (6.5 mil) and OJ Mayo (5.6 mil).  

Looks like they are considering offers for Mayo.  Anyone like him?  I don't know what to make of him.  He's 24 and is currently coming off their bench.  His first couple seasons he was averaging like 18 points and was considered one of the best youngsters.  Seems he can shoot.  In the short term he can back up Ray... in the long term he could replace Ray.  Then again... he's backing up Tony Allen right now... so... who knows.

I kinda like Mike Conley.  He's 24, but seems to be improving every year.  He's been looking really good lately.  Perhaps too good.  Averages something like 13 points, 7 assists and 2 steals, but I wonder what he'd do in our system.  He's also probably a better shooter than Rondo.

Lets be realistic.  Would Memphis say yes to this trade straight up?  Am I way off?  Am I in the ballpark?

Ok... now, what if we also asked Memphis to include their 1st rounder?  Conley, Mayo and a 1st for Rondo.   Does Memphis hang up the phone?

Personally, I'd do this trade if they included a 1st rounder... probably wouldn't otherwise.

Once I got that out of the way... I'd just say "the heck with it", and offer Greg Oden a contract in the offseason (he use to be best friends with Conley, right?) ...  Might as well.  Our team is going to stink regardless so we might as well take a chance on him getting it together in a new environment.  

Dwight Howard is a pipe dream.  I guess I'd just split our roughly 20 mil in cap space by giving contracts to Jeff Green and Greg Oden and head into the future with this lotto team:

PG - Mike Conley
SG - OJ Mayo
SF - Pierce
PF - Jeff Green
C - Greg Oden

+ our 1st rounder, + Clippers 1st rounder + Memphis 1st rounder

Probably would make sense to dump Pierce somewhere for cap space + young big man (or another 1st rounder if at all possible) and play Jeff Green at his natural SF position.  You know, Maybe it makes sense to trade KG's expiring for Blatche if the Wizards are looking to dump him.  I'm trying to keep this realistic.

[snively]

Not good value for Rondo.  Much better player than Conley.  Mayo has yet to show he can be a good player, much less a starting 2-guard. 

Memphis would love this trade.

[LarBrd33]

Not good value for Rondo.  Much better player than Conley.  Mayo has yet to show he can be a good player, much less a starting 2-guard.  

Memphis would love this trade.

Would they still love it if we asked for their 1st rounder?....

Cuz I'd probably do Rondo for Conley, Mayo and a 1st.

Btw, I fully expect Celtic fans to underrate Mike Conley to the same level that they'll overrate Rondo.  It goes with the territory.

Again, he's seemed to improved every season.  Couple days ago he had 20 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 4 steals.  So far tonight he's got 14 points, 10 assists, 2 steals.  The kid is a downgrade from Rondo, but does Mayo and a 1st make up for it?

[snively]

Not good value for Rondo.  Much better player than Conley.  Mayo has yet to show he can be a good player, much less a starting 2-guard. 

Memphis would love this trade.

Would they still love it if we asked for their 1st rounder?....

Cuz I'd probably do Rondo for Conley, Mayo and a 1st.

Btw, I fully expect Celtic fans to underrate Mike Conley to the same level that they'll overrate Rondo.  It goes with the territory.

Again, he's seemed to improved every season.  Couple days ago he had 20 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 4 steals.  So far tonight he's got 14 points, 10 assists, 2 steals.  The kid is a downgrade from Rondo, but does Mayo and a 1st make up for it?

A non-lottery pick is not enough to make up the disparity in value.

An all-star PG for a slightly above-average PG and below-average 2-guard... need a star or a very good young prospect in a trade for Rondo.

[KCattheStripe]

No, because OJ Mayo is bad at 5 on 5 basketball.

[LarBrd33]

it's called selling high and buying low.

I'll take your feedback as a sign that Rondo for Mayo, Conley and Memphis 2012 1st rounder is an actual reasonable and realistic trade.

[raynman]

Why not just JO for Mayo? Then Dooling + Sasha or Wilcox for Jason Thompson or DMC? Adds us youth, scoring and athleticism..

[snively]

it's called selling high and buying low.

I'll take your feedback as a sign that Rondo for Mayo, Conley and Memphis 2012 1st rounder is an actual reasonable and realistic trade.

I guess we differ in our evaluations of Conley and Mayo.

[LarBrd33]

Why not just JO for Mayo? Then Dooling + Sasha or Wilcox for Jason Thompson or DMC? Adds us youth, scoring and athleticism..

That's the kind of giggle-inducing trades we're use to seeing here on Celticsblog.  Teams do not trade talent for garbage.

Memphis already turned down two trades for Mayo from the nets... Anthony Morrow for Mayo ... JOrdan Farmar + 1st rounder for Mayo.

You can't get a young talented player for garbage.  And it would take a WHOLE LOT more than Garbage + garbage + Garbage for DMC.  

I know people frown on trade ideas that don't bring back Dwight Howard, Josh Smith or Kevin Love for a pack of cigarettes... but seems to me Mayo + Conley + a 1st rounder for Rondo would be somewhat even (might be too much for Memphis to give up, unfortunately)

[European NBA fan]

it's called selling high and buying low.

I'll take your feedback as a sign that Rondo for Mayo, Conley and Memphis 2012 1st rounder is an actual reasonable and realistic trade.

While I agree that Conley is probably underrated, I would take into consideration, that he is not that much younger than Rondo (1,5 year), so it's not likely that he will keep improving (more than Rondo).
Neither of the Memphis players are building blocks for a contender team. Conley could be starting on a contender team (Memphis was a contender last year) but not as an all star, and Mayo seems to have trouble establishing himself.

I think you are right about the pick being the tipping point for either side. But I'm not so sure I would do it anyway. If we can't get a better pg than Conley, I would prefer to build around Rondo. I like having a guy around who has actually won a championship and knows what it takes.

[ManUp]

Not enough of a return on Rondo. I doubt it takes much more than Wilcox and the clip pick to get Mayo these days. Memphis doesn't seem to value him much.

[Surferdad]

Sounds like we would be the Boston Grizzlies.  A very grizzly lineup indeed.  Rule #1:  Never trade an elite player for 2 okay players.

[LarBrd33]

Sounds like we would be the Boston Grizzlies.  A very grizzly lineup indeed.  Rule #1:  Never trade an elite player for 2 okay players.

I love Rondo, but he's a borderline allstar.

[manl_lui]

me and my friend debated this...how do you guys think

OK so we all know that Dwight narrowed his team down to Clippers, Lakers, NJ, and Dallas so assuming Boston is not in his choice

ok now what if you trade Pierce for Rudy Gay, salary works out well, we get a younger forward that can run with Rondo

2. trade Garnett for Josh Smith + filler (Garnett 21 mil vs Smith's 13 mil, need fillers)

now Josh Smith during the summer said he wants to play in Boston and of course we all know that he and Rondo are good buddies since High School

ALSO, Dwight also wanted Orlando to trade for Josh Smith since they were also buddies during HS

ok now we have Rondo, Gay and Smith, 3 young athletic players

Can acquiring a young SF in Gay and Josh Smith convince Dwight to come here? Well will Josh Smith being in Boston be enough to convince Dwight to even think about Boston...

[KCattheStripe]

Sounds like we would be the Boston Grizzlies.  A very grizzly lineup indeed.  Rule #1:  Never trade an elite player for 2 okay players.

I love Rondo, but he's a borderline allstar.

3 years in a row is not borderline, unless you mean borderline perennial.