What I would have done this offseason

[PhoSita]

Criticizing a path that somebody else takes is easy.  Taking action yourself, actually deciding on a plan forward, is harder, and opens you up to criticism from others.

I have expressed disappointment with how the off-season has gone, and the path the team appears to be taking.  That's easy for me to do.

Armchair GMing isn't exactly hard, of course.  But I figure, I ought to be able to say what I would have done instead, if I'm going to criticize.  I can only suggest what I would have done based on the alternatives that seem to have been available.  As a mere fan, I don't know all of the possibilities going on behind the scenes.  Therefore, I won't suggest anything outrageous -- no draft day trades, no major free agent signings, no July 1st blockbuster three team deals.

Just a glimpse at the sort of plan I'd have preferred to see play out over the last couple of months.



Draft day:

Failing a trade up into the top 10 to take an exciting prospect, I'd have drafted players with a realistic shot at earning playing time due to the needs of the team, while still focusing on getting some of the best talent available.

#16 - Sam Dekker
#28 - Montrezl Harrell
#45 - Dakari Johnson

All three players address a team need and have the talent to outperform their draft position.  Check.


Free Agency:

In free agency, I would target younger bench players with experience in a winning culture who might break out given a larger role.

I can't say for certain who would or would not have signed in Boston, but I think the following names would have been in play if we could offer them a chance to earn a starting spot. 

Kosta Koufos - 4 years / $33 million
Cory Joseph - 4 years / $30 million

Koufos could earn a starting spot in Boston instead of playing behind DMC in the chaos of Sacramento.  He's an upgrade defensively and on the boards.

Joseph has a similar skillset to Ainge draftee Terry Rozier, but he's proven at the NBA level with San Antonio.  Earning playing time for Pop is a big deal.  Like Rozier, CJ could be a better fit next to Smart than Avery Bradley.  But what gives?  The Celts have lots of guards.

Well, that would be the case until I made the following move:

Trade: Bradley + Turner to Dallas for Justin Anderson + 2020 1st


I'd explore other options, too, like seeing if Sacramento would trade McLemore for Bradley in their win-now fervor, or if Utah would be interested in sending Alec Burks, Elijah Millsap and a future pick our way for Bradley and ET. 

In the end, I think taking advantage of Dallas's desperation to find decent players would be the easiest solution.  Yes, they committed big time to Wes Matthews, but who knows when he'll be fully healthy?  Bradley gives them much needed depth and insurance in case Wes takes longer to recover.  ET gives them some bench scoring and ball-handling on the wing, another need.

Dallas has always been willing to part with draft picks, so squeezing them for Justin Anderson, who has some 3-and-D potential similar to former Mav Jae Crowder, along with a 1st rounder that vests well in the future, seems like a plausible scenario.



The resulting team

Joseph / IT / Pressey
Smart / Young / Anderson
Crowder / Dekker / GW
Sullinger / Olynyk / Harrell
Koufos / Zeller / Dakari


Average age of the starting lineup: 23.4


The team ends up committing more long term money to Koufos and Joseph, and the only big contract to use in a trade is GW.  Still, I don't think preserving cap space is terribly important given the cap environment over the next couple of years (i.e. everybody has way too much), and a 10 million dollar expiring is still a substantial chip.

For my money, seeing if guys like Joseph, Sullinger, Crowder, or Koufos can be consistently productive as starters is more likely to yield valuable trade chips than acquiring established commodities like David Lee and Amir Johnson, anyway.


I wouldn't be over the moon about that team, but the focus remains on building up younger assets while planning to try to find a major talent in the draft first and worrying about making a big splash later in the process.

What do you think?  What would you have done differently?

[Evantime34]

Interesting thread. I think I might rather have the current team than yours. Not a Dekker fan, I think he will fade out of games in the same way that Jeff Green did. Herrell, is good but I would rather have bigs that can shoot for Steven's system. I like Corey Joseph and Koufos so if we brought them in I would have been happy. I like Bradley so I'd be reluctant to trade him (which leaves me in minority here) but I especially wouldn't want to trade him to a team that he could negatively effect that value of our first round pick on.

I actually liked what we ended up doing given the information about player preferences and what players got paid. That being said I would have done something different.
Draft
16- Justin Anderson
28- RJ Hunter
33- Mickey
45- traded for a future 2nd

Free Agency
Sign DeMarre Carroll to the same deal Toronto gave him.

Furthe moves would happen but my idea is that we would put a starting unit that could shoot, defend (most of them) and drive closeouts.

Something like
Smart
Bradley
Crowder
Carroll
Olynyk

[PhoSita]

James Anderson would have been an OK pick in the middle of the first, too.   I have my reservations about Dekker as well.

From what I've seen of Harrell, he might have something of a jumpshot.  His jumper looks more NBA-ready to me than Mickey's, at least.  Trez was nailing fadeaways and stepbacks from mid-range in summer league.

Selecting Marcus Thornton instead of Dakari Johnson at 45 just makes no sense to me.  Pass on Upshaw because of the off-court stuff, fine, but Dakari seems like a very low risk to take on a guy with a ton of physical talent at a position of great need.

[slamtheking]

fair question.  of course, not knowing all of what Danny tried to do but was rejected behind closed doors is the key missing info here.

At 16 I'd have taken Portis.
At 28, I think I'd still take Hunter
at 33, probably take Mickey (just don't tell Triboy that )
at 45, probably take a shot at Dakari.  no way do I take Thornton.

free agency, I like Amir Johnson and probably sign him. Monroe would have been preferable but he seemed to want to go somewhere with better prospects
Trades: I don't mind the Lee deal but with Portis and Mickey, kind of overkill.   Would look to Utah to try to get Favors for a combo of AB, Turner and Sully/KO/Young.  Really like Favors.

[KG Living Legend]

I would have signed Lebron and Aldridge and Jordan.

[Beat LA]

Before we get into Jordan Mackey territory here , this is James Anderson, lol -

[PhoSita]

Before we get into Jordan Mackey territory here , this is James Anderson, lol -

Good call.  Justin Anderson.   

[Evantime34]

Before we get into Jordan Mackey territory here , this is James Anderson, lol -

Good call.  Justin Anderson.   

Oh then I do agree with your trade for Bradley.

[SHAQATTACK]

Carry out the trash can.




















With ET in it.

[blink]

fair question.  of course, not knowing all of what Danny tried to do but was rejected behind closed doors is the key missing info here.

At 16 I'd have taken Portis.
At 28, I think I'd still take Hunter
at 33, probably take Mickey (just don't tell Triboy that )
at 45, probably take a shot at Dakari.  no way do I take Thornton.

free agency, I like Amir Johnson and probably sign him. Monroe would have been preferable but he seemed to want to go somewhere with better prospects
Trades: I don't mind the Lee deal but with Portis and Mickey, kind of overkill.   Would look to Utah to try to get Favors for a combo of AB, Turner and Sully/KO/Young.  Really like Favors.

TP to the OP for laying himself out there with an interesting post.  I think I would have probably taken Portis as well based on what I saw of him in college. 

[GreenCoffeeBean]

What-I-Would-Have-Done-If-I-Had-Completely-Gotten-My-Way-In-A-Totally-Unrealistic-World-Where-My-Mommy-Never-Says-No-To-Me-Did-I-Mentiion-I-Am-God's-Gift-To-Basketball-Roster-Management?

[D.o.s.]

What-I-Would-Have-Done-If-I-Had-Completely-Gotten-My-Way-In-A-Totally-Unrealistic-World-Where-My-Mommy-Never-Says-No-To-Me-Did-I-Mentiion-I-Am-God's-Gift-To-Basketball-Roster-Management?

This is the TL;DR of almost all CB posts relating to anything roster related. I love it.

But what would you have done, GBC, in a perfect world? You failed to include that in your quip.

Personally, in a perfect world I would have passed on Lee, exiled Evan Turner, and put all the marbles towards a 'development year', rather than building a squad that seems primed for a first round out. Not tanking, exactly, rather avoiding adding wheel-spinning veterans for the sake of adding them.

And no Evan Turner.

[aingeforthree]

What-I-Would-Have-Done-If-I-Had-Completely-Gotten-My-Way-In-A-Totally-Unrealistic-World-Where-My-Mommy-Never-Says-No-To-Me-Did-I-Mentiion-I-Am-God's-Gift-To-Basketball-Roster-Management?

This is the TL;DR of almost all CB posts relating to anything roster related. I love it.

But what would you have done, GBC, in a perfect world? You failed to include that in your quip.

Personally, in a perfect world I would have passed on Lee, exiled Evan Turner, and put all the marbles towards a 'development year', rather than building a squad that seems primed for a first round out. Not tanking, exactly, rather avoiding adding wheel-spinning veterans for the sake of adding them.

And no Evan Turner.

Anything for Turner ?  Or just a flat release ?  I thought he played his way into at least some decent value last year.  Who knows though.

Do you sit on Wallace again ?

[D.o.s.]

Sit Wallace. Love Crash but he's got no future on this team that isn't an assistant coaching gig.

Would take whatever I could for Turner because the way he plays basketball makes me physical ill. I'll take a top 55 protected second rounder for him. I'll even send one out, plus cash. Totally just a personal bias there.

The goal, at least heading into 2015 is to spend a season gauging what Smart, Sully, Olynyk et. al can do without the benefit of playing with Lee, Johnson, etc. Either our rookies are worth playing or they aren't, but I don't think becoming marginally better is worth losing out on the value  that our own first rounder can bring us, either in trade or in practice. If we lose a lot of games but realize that Smart is worth building around that's more valuable than making it to 40 wins on the back of David Lee only to watch him degrade next season.

[aingeforthree]

Sit Wallace. Love Crash but he's got no future on this team that isn't an assistant coaching gig.

Would take whatever I could for Turner because the way he plays basketball makes me physical ill. I'll take a top 55 protected second rounder for him. I'll even send one out, plus cash. Totally just a personal bias there.

The goal, at least heading into 2015 is to spend a season gauging what Smart, Sully, Olynyk et. al can do without the benefit of playing with Lee, Johnson, etc. Either our rookies are worth playing or they aren't, but I don't think becoming marginally better is worth losing out on the value  that our own first rounder can bring us, either in trade or in practice. If we lose a lot of games but realize that Smart is worth building around that's more valuable than making it to 40 wins on the back of David Lee only to watch him degrade next season.

Gotcha.  Obviously you're a fan of the tanking I assume.

Regardless, what about the draft ?  Don't you want to go in hoping that guys like Lee, Johnson, and your draft picks take the team to the next level ?  You never know what those picks can do.  Some picks can immediately turn it around.  Who knows.