Does this team have enough to trade for the player they need when the time comes

[greg683x]

   Oh you mean Kevin Durant. 

 If in the summer Durant claims he will be signing elsewhere after his last season on his contract, Than yeah we do.

Uhh.  It depends on where the lottery balls land sir.  If we land a pick outside the top 3 or 4, what makes you so sure?

Isnt this the same scenario that we were in with Kevin Love, and yet we didnt have enough?

 But you think in this situation with a better player on the trade market, and more suitors to compete with, the result will be different this time?

[Celtics4ever]

Our assets are top notch, the problem is that if we traded them we'd have no team.  We would need to keep a Rondo and Perkins if that makes sense on top of trading everyone.  We have those players in Sully, Smart and KO, but we'd probably have to trade them with some picks to get anybody

I almost fell out of the chair laughing reading this one.  Sully and KOs are skilled but slow and unathletic and struggle at times to play NBA defense.   Young has look good in the NBA DL and Smart can't shoot.    I remember being this optimistic when I was five or so.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Our assets are top notch, the problem is that if we traded them we'd have no team.  We would need to keep a Rondo and Perkins if that makes sense on top of trading everyone.  We have those players in Sully, Smart and KO, but we'd probably have to trade them with some picks to get anybody

I almost fell out of the chair laughing reading this one. Sully and KOs are skilled but slow and unathletic and struggle at times to play NBA defense. Young has look good in the NBA DL and Smart can't shoot. I remember being this optimistic when I was five or so.

Being slow, unathletic, and bad at defense hasn't deterred Dirk from being a great NBA player. And in truth, a player needs to be really good at only one thing to become a desirable commodity ... so if Olynyk develops into a 20ppg scorer, teams aren't going to care much if he can't play defense or isn't the quickest guy at his position.

None of our guys is currently an Al Jeff, but I think KO, Sully, and Smart are legit prospects; couple that with our huge stash of draft picks and a few decent expirings (Thornton, Bass, Wright), and I think Danny has a really good base from which to negotiate a trade.

[GzUP617]

   Oh you mean Kevin Durant. 

 If in the summer Durant claims he will be signing elsewhere after his last season on his contract, Than yeah we do.

Uhh.  It depends on where the lottery balls land sir.  If we land a pick outside the top 3 or 4, what makes you so sure?

Isnt this the same scenario that we were in with Kevin Love, and yet we didnt have enough?

 But you think in this situation with a better player on the trade market, and more suitors to compete with, the result will be different this time?

  It'll be a James Harden to the Houston Rockets trade all over again.

I mean Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and 2 first round picks got it done,  that was a good haul by Sam Presti.

 Ainge has it all figured out, I'm sure.

[greg683x]

   Oh you mean Kevin Durant. 

 If in the summer Durant claims he will be signing elsewhere after his last season on his contract, Than yeah we do.

Uhh.  It depends on where the lottery balls land sir.  If we land a pick outside the top 3 or 4, what makes you so sure?

Isnt this the same scenario that we were in with Kevin Love, and yet we didnt have enough?

 But you think in this situation with a better player on the trade market, and more suitors to compete with, the result will be different this time?

  It'll be a James Harden to the Houston Rockets trade all over again.

I mean Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and 2 first round picks got it done,  that was a good haul by Sam Presti.

 Ainge has it all figured out, I'm sure.

I think the one problem with comparing the Durant and Harden deals, is that a bunch of teams didnt want to pay Harden a max contract that he was demanding.  This wont be the case with a player like Durant.  Our deal will sound great until Philly decides they want to make an offer, or Phoenix, or Detroit, etc.

I get what youre saying though, good players can be had but right now since our package has some risk to it.  So will our return.

[Asher77]

It is true that everyone on our roster is potentially up for grabs if a franchise player becomes available in trade. Package everything we have because once you get the lead guy the other pieces come so much easier.

Problem is there are very few franchise guys out there. I think anyone who feels Cousins, or Melo, or Al Jeff, or Love are those type of players would be in for a rude surprise when they watch our team continue to lose games.

Those guys above may have an easier time putting the ball in the net than anyone on our roster but they will not be carrying a team to the promise land. The huge trade for Love was done because they had LBJ to play lead man. The Kings are a joke with Cousins running the farm and the Knicks are worse.

You don't give up your assets just because a guy statistically ranks higher than any on your team. Fill in those guys through FA and get a franchise guy through the draft or FA first and a trade as a last resort.

The bad GM's ( more likely the bad owner ) out there will overspend for a Howard type player but this is done out of desperation. There are only a handful of true franchise guys like Duncan and GM's have to spend to sell to the fan base some hope.

I hope Danny stays patient and I think he will.

[tomrod]

I think we build the team from within first. Probably gonna be a rebuild like the one the Pacers or Warriors did. The succes depends on how good this late lottery picks are for us. Smart could end up being a 2nd guy on a championship team. And the 2015 draft could bring us our number one guy, or another number 2. Then we would just need our Bogut or David West trade or free agent to make us into a multi year contender. I think that's the plan for now at least.

[greg683x]

It is true that everyone on our roster is potentially up for grabs if a franchise player becomes available in trade. Package everything we have because once you get the lead guy the other pieces come so much easier.

Problem is there are very few franchise guys out there. I think anyone who feels Cousins, or Melo, or Al Jeff, or Love are those type of players would be in for a rude surprise when they watch our team continue to lose games.

Those guys above may have an easier time putting the ball in the net than anyone on our roster but they will not be carrying a team to the promise land. The huge trade for Love was done because they had LBJ to play lead man. The Kings are a joke with Cousins running the farm and the Knicks are worse.

You don't give up your assets just because a guy statistically ranks higher than any on your team. Fill in those guys through FA and get a franchise guy through the draft or FA first and a trade as a last resort.

The bad GM's ( more likely the bad owner ) out there will overspend for a Howard type player but this is done out of desperation. There are only a handful of true franchise guys like Duncan and GM's have to spend to sell to the fan base some hope.

I hope Danny stays patient and I think he will.

whether you believe cousins, melo, or love is a franchise player or not, they are stars in this league.  Right now, Stars want to play with other stars to be able to compete with the other loaded teams in this league.  We're in no mans land right now.  Theres NOBODY on this roster that we can sell playing with to free agents, or to a player looking for a successful place to land via trade.  That needs to change before we can move forward doing ANYTHING, doesnt matter if we do it via trade, the draft, or free agency, we need to fill that hole

Danny cant afford to just sit around and wait for a #1 pick to fall in his lap, we can afford to wait, but his job security cant.

[Rosco917]

answer to the original question, I think we need this years draft to have enough to offer for a top tier player. And be left with enough talent to entice them to want to come and play here.

[byennie]

We have enough, but we need the stars to align (no pun intended).

For example:

We move Wallace and Green without taking back salary for next year.
Love opts out.
We get the #1 pick (let's say Okafor as our center of the future)
Butler agrees to a S&T with the Bulls.

We have the *assets* to end up with Love, Butler and Okafor at the cost of maybe Sully and a few 1st rounders (and lots of $$$). But all of those players have to play ball.

Smart / Pressey
Young / Bradley
Butler / Turner / Crowder
Love / Olynyk
Okafor / Zeller

The trick is getting it all to happen at once. Heck, with that squad you could theoretically woo Durant the next summer. Theoretically.

[Asher77]

rebuilding is all about no mans land.

Danny made comments the other day about adding stars to this team so that we can be winners. He said that these guys might not be the flashy types we would expect but instead the rugged do it all types who just know how to win. ( all my own words as I am to lazy to look up the quote ).

If you make a concerted effort to find good top level all around players who play the game right you will be a playoff team. From there we will be a so called attractive place as players around the league will respect us.

The more assets we have the higher odds to get lucky for a franchise guy but the real key is filling in a roster of role players while you wait who are a notch above replacement.

If Durant is interested in us as a FA option then that is when you trade chips for a Cousins type player to pair with him. Just like we added Ray.

You don't waste your time before hand.

Pretend your playing the lottery and you hit on 4 straight numbers with 2 to still be drawn. Marcus Smart is the 4 number ticket and you know you have $50 bucks and fighting chance. You get offered $1000 for that ticket which is worth 5 numbers ( Cousins ). Do you take it or hold the ticket to see all the balls drawn??

Cousins is worth $1000 but he will never be worth 1 Million. Marcus is a ticket without all the numbers yet to be drawn. He may be worth $50 or 1 Million but you have a chance still.

You can get Cousins and compete or gamble for future championships.

Danny is a gambler.