I think you're shifting the field goals there to make your point. I am not arguing that 'a championship run was derailed by losing Perkins/Nate'. I'm arguing that the team played worse without Perkins than they would have, got very little in retrospect for a piece that clearly has and had value, and likely would have been better served by simply letting him expire.
We could've landed David West if Perkins had been let to expire, then S&T'd to another team with our only asset gained being a trade exception. How is that not better?
As I said: "And if we're not talking about a championship, there's precious little else to judge to move by, because Ainge is not paying Perk what OKC did, and there's no telling that he'd be able to get an equivalent to better offer in a S&T."
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, as they say. Expiring contracts are worth something, but we couldn't get anything out of Sheed's, and trade exceptions are worth something, but we didn't get anything out of MD's. Ainge had a deal on the table, it was a good one, and he rightly took it.
You say it's likely that they get better value, but I don't see how you've made that point even in retrospect. Who takes Perk except OKC?
Well, now I also you're the one who is making a bit of a leap of faith.
A) A 20th overall pick in an allegedly 'stacked' draft means absolutely squat unless the pick/trade pans out. Its a wait and see situation, but it is without question that the value of the asset has dropped significantly since the Clippers acquired Chris Paul.
B) 'regardless of his problems'? Regardless of his problems (and by that, I mean before his heart condition was revealed), Jeff Green was a very unknown quantity going forward, at least for the Celtics. If they weren't going to pay Perkins long-term, why in the world were they going to pay Green beyond the qualifying offer, at least with what he has shown in the NBA up until this point?
Then, factor in the heart condition, and factor in the Celtics' priorities (cap room, cap room, cap room), and factor in Green's demands (long-term money, for sure. this was supposed to be his payday). Whether or not the Celtics are ever going to see Green play another game in green is far from a settled issue.
This is no leap of faith. It doesn't matter that the value of the pick has dropped, since it's not hard for a 1st round pick to be better than a handful of thin air, which is what you risk by letting Perk walk.
Green is no lock, for sure, but we do have a shot at him. This association has its claws in him now, he's free of OKC (and not going back), and other teams are just as aware of his production and heart condition as we are. Maybe someone will give him a huge payday, maybe he's considered damaged goods and we can overpay him on a short contract to give him a chance to prove himself. The point here is that without The Trade, we don't even have this chance.
And these two things, as I said, are better than "keeping the band together", something that holds very little value in my opinion.