No Afflalo, no Asik. What's happening

[35Lewis]

Sometimes it's better to stand on the sideline.  Asik would've been a nice piece if we had a guy like Love but these two guys are the equivalent of T. Allen and Perkins without KG, Pierce and R. Allen.  I'd rather throw some money at AB and hope he outplays his contract.

[heitingas]

Nothing happened.

Ainge always used to say don't pay your role players until you get your star players, or something similar w/e.

They are role players, nothing more, nothing less.

[danglertx]

To be fair, Asik could have been a deadline trade chip and he was only signed for this season, so he came at no long term risk other than the fact he might help win some games and hurt draft ping pong balls.

[Future Celtics Owner]

Neither of those players may fit in our plans....thats it.

[the_Bird]

Sometimes it's better to stand on the sideline.  Asik would've been a nice piece if we had a guy like Love but these two guys are the equivalent of T. Allen and Perkins without KG, Pierce and R. Allen.  I'd rather throw some money at AB and hope he outplays his contract.

Well, that's the thing.  Watching Asik get traded for relatively little tells me that the C's are pretty unlikely to make a big move tonight.  If you're going to make a trade for Love, you need a guy like Asik to play alongside him and protect the interior.  If you aren't making a move for Love, or making other moves to become relevant again next season, you don't bother.

And that's what worries me - I worry that Danny didn't push hard for Asik because there are no fireworks coming.

[Fafnir]

Sometimes it's better to stand on the sideline.  Asik would've been a nice piece if we had a guy like Love but these two guys are the equivalent of T. Allen and Perkins without KG, Pierce and R. Allen.  I'd rather throw some money at AB and hope he outplays his contract.

Well, that's the thing.  Watching Asik get traded for relatively little tells me that the C's are pretty unlikely to make a big move tonight.  If you're going to make a trade for Love, you need a guy like Asik to play alongside him and protect the interior.  If you aren't making a move for Love, or making other moves to become relevant again next season, you don't bother.

And that's what worries me - I worry that Danny didn't push hard for Asik because there are no fireworks coming.

You think a pick 4-19 is relatively little?

That's the 10th pick this year for the NOH, and could be even higher next year depending on how their season goes.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Sometimes it's better to stand on the sideline.  Asik would've been a nice piece if we had a guy like Love but these two guys are the equivalent of T. Allen and Perkins without KG, Pierce and R. Allen.  I'd rather throw some money at AB and hope he outplays his contract.

Well, that's the thing.  Watching Asik get traded for relatively little tells me that the C's are pretty unlikely to make a big move tonight.  If you're going to make a trade for Love, you need a guy like Asik to play alongside him and protect the interior.  If you aren't making a move for Love, or making other moves to become relevant again next season, you don't bother.

And that's what worries me - I worry that Danny didn't push hard for Asik because there are no fireworks coming.

Or he didn't want to restrict the flexibility that the TPE gives him on the chance of landing a even bigger deal or he knows he can get someone off free-agency, like Gortat, without having to give up much of anything, etc., etc.

I don't think it's worth looking for symbolism at this point because Ainge passed on a one year rental.

[RJ87]

Sometimes it's better to stand on the sideline.  Asik would've been a nice piece if we had a guy like Love but these two guys are the equivalent of T. Allen and Perkins without KG, Pierce and R. Allen.  I'd rather throw some money at AB and hope he outplays his contract.

Well, that's the thing.  Watching Asik get traded for relatively little tells me that the C's are pretty unlikely to make a big move tonight.  If you're going to make a trade for Love, you need a guy like Asik to play alongside him and protect the interior.  If you aren't making a move for Love, or making other moves to become relevant again next season, you don't bother.

And that's what worries me - I worry that Danny didn't push hard for Asik because there are no fireworks coming.

I don't think one has much to do with the other - whether or not we trade for Love, we still need a defensive center so the Sully & KO can play their more natural PF position. Center is a necessity with or with Love. What the Asik move tells me is that he was out of Ainge's price range. With the pressure on Houston to clear cap for Melo/LBJ, I could see Ainge refusing to give up a 1st rounder. Houston was able to get one from New Orleans, so both sides moved on.

As far as Afflalo, has there been any indication from any sources that the C's were ever seriously interested? Seems like the Afflalo Fever was limited to Celticsblog.

[D Dub]

Or, to put out the glass half full version out there; maybe it means MN told teams like Hou and Den who were holding out hope for Love to move on to their plan b?

Something tells me Morey was never dealing Asik here.   He and Danny are in fierce competition for the same thing (home run trades) and why would he give Danny an edge?

[LarBrd33]

Glass half full -  Boston is going full youth movement.. trading Rondo

Glass half full -  Boston never wanted Asik... they will trade the Pierce exception for a sign-and-trade Gortat.   Afflalo is redundant when you're getting Kevin Martin along with Kevin Love. 

Glass half empty - Boston is on the outside looking in.  They'll take whoever is available #6 and #17 and hope for the best.

[timpiker]

I think Danny can't get Love so the youth movement is on and Rondo is gone

[the_Bird]

I think Danny can't get Love so the youth movement is on and Rondo is gone

Yup.

Still a chance that we end up with Love before the end of the night...  but a bigger chance (in my estimation) that Rondo's on his way out of town, probably to Sacrarmende. 

Gonna be a crappy couple years of Celtics basketball. 

[bballdog384]

Asik and Afflalo were just the two players that everyone knew would be traded.

We didn't get them, but so what - there's plenty more players out there. I don't think this affects anything around what direction the team will go in.

Also, Bradley is just as valuable as Afflalo and will probably come at a cheaper price. His shooting is getting better and defensively there is no comparison.

[cltc5]

disappointed we lost out on both as well, but as other had suggested, may be part of a long term plan, hopefully.    We'll see what happens.

[Rakulp]

Asik - somewhat of a surprise...hoping the pick falls out of the top 20 and Houston gets nothing for their troubles

Afflalo - hadn't seen a lot of talk of him possibly joining the Celtics, so no worries there either.

Rak