This team is not in tank for high draft picks mode any longer. Will they sell high? Yes, but it will be mid season before the trade deadline moving players that have increased their value with good years in a consolidation move for an All-Star caliber talent.

The Celtics have more draft picks than they so roster spots of the next couple of seasons. Trading for yet more draft picks is just not going to happen.

I think it is time to cash in.. some players have reached their limits to me...
Bradley crowder turner zeller even thomas should be sold for picks... good players but not championship team players... you must always sell the players before they lose their value..

Thomas could get us 1 or 2 high picks.. he is a great offensive bench player but will never be a starter
Bradley would be great for a kings team not for us
Turner would help a team like utah
Crowder would be usefull to a contender like houston
Zeller is a good back up but...
Lets see some back up centers.... kaun henson gasol splitter koufos embiid len deng duncan (if aldridge west start) all of them are better than zeller.. and would star for us..
Just start getting high picks.. it is the only way..

Ok, so let me see if I understand your method of thinking here...

1) Championship teams are made up entirely of star players
2) No player who isn't a star has ever started on a championship team
3) No role player has ever contributed to a championship team winning a title
4) Teams who get lots picks have a tendency to win championships
5) Therefore anybody on a team who isn't a star should be traded for picks

Also 

6) Gasol, Duncan and Embiid are examples of bench players

Got it.

Guys like Steve Kerr, Shane Battier, Bruce Bowen, Mario Chalmers, Derek Fisher and Robert Horry might take exception to this.

As might teams like the Charlotte Bobcats, Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves.

I just don't understand why people are so quick to dismiss any player who isn't a star, based on the idea that such players aren't 'championship team players'.

I could see Avery Bradley being a piece on a championship team.  I could see Jae Crowder or Jonas Jerebko being pieces on a championship team.  I could see Isaiah Thomas being a piece on a championship team.   I could see Amir Johnson, David Lee, Tyler Zeller and Kelly Olynyk being pieces on a championship team.

For example, take a look at the Cavs.  They are an offense-first team.  I feel a role player like Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder or Jonas Jerebko could make a HUGE contribution on that team.  It would have given them somebody they could throw at Curry / Thompson to try to make things a bit harder on them - much like Iggy did for the Warriors.  I feel like a spark-plug like Isaiah Thomas could have had a HUGE impact for that team when Irving went down - his ability to score in bunches (and in the clutch) might have kept them in the finals with a fighting chance and helped take some pressure off Lebron.  A big like Olynyk could have helped to compensate for the loss of Kevin Love (and his impact of floor spacing). 

Just a small example of how role players like this can have a huge impact on championship teams.  Now do you want a team FULL of nothing but role players?  Of course not! But you need your roles players to complement your stars, so until you get a chance to grab yourself a star (and know who that star will be), how do you know which role players you want to keep, and which to get rid of?  May as well hold on to the good ones, and once you find your star you can trade out the ones who don't compliment.

Now I know what people will say - role players are easier to find than stars, so just get rid of them...and once the star comes you can sign guys who fit with the stars.

A fair argument, but then how long did we spend in the big-3 era looking for a legitimate backup PG, only to have to keep settling on undersized combo guards?  How long did we try in the big-3 era to look for a legitimate 6th man to give our bench a scoring spark, when the best we ever did was an ageing Jason Terry?  For how many years have we been desperately trying to pick up a rim protector, with Amir Johnson being the closest we could find?  Likewise how long have we been trying to find ourselves a great outside shooter, something we haven't had since we lost Ray Allen years ago?

Fact is, good role players aren't as easy to find as people think.  They have a lot of value in this league.  Those role players are a big reason why a team like Golden State was able to win a title, while a team with just as good stars (Sacramento) fails to make the playoffs.  Sacramento's combination of Cousins / Gay is just as good as Golden State's combination of Curry/Thompson - Sacramento just doesn't have the right role players around those guys.

I guess my point here is that there is really no point in trading out any of our productive players unless:

1) We can get a star in return
2) We can get a guy with star potential in return
3) It's a hugely lopsided deal in which we gain a lot more than we give out

i don't believe that trading any of those guys would be 'selling high' at this point.  I don't think anybody looks out our players as guys who are going to take huge strides.  If you sell now you'd only be selling those players for their market value, which is honestly pretty meh.  So may as well just keep them until something comes along.  I don't see any team offering potential top-8 picks for guys like Isaiah Thomas, and any picks beyond the top 8 are unlikely to result in stars.  If we trade now we'll probably end up with picks in the 9-14 range at best, which is not worth the hassle.     

This team is not in tank for high draft picks mode any longer. Will they sell high? Yes, but it will be mid season before the trade deadline moving players that have increased their value with good years in a consolidation move for an All-Star caliber talent.

The Celtics have more draft picks than they so roster spots of the next couple of seasons. Trading for yet more draft picks is just not going to happen.

though another method to ainge's madness might be selling of some assets and some draft picks for other draft picks further out. this would be similar to the grizzly pick in 2019 owned by the celtics. who knows what that will be worth? impossible to guess, but it may be an asset that can be used in the future to help fill out areas of concern on the team, or, maneuver in the draft.

i would not mind the celtics have multiple picks everyother year or so far into the future. (of course, there is a 5 year limit, so maybe not REALLY FAR into the future.  )

The problem with "sell high" is that you don't know if you are at a "high" until after the fact.

First you get your star-s and then the others... That's NBA... And I did not say that Duncan is a bench player... But they have the depth now to start him as one..we have zeller who is much worse than Aldridge and Duncan and Noone else... Do not tell me you would' t like to have one of cousins stein koufos or noel embiid okafor....  one..And something else... I think we need stars..am i a tanker because I believe that we can get them only through draft..

The Spurs got Aldridge via free agency.

The Kings got Kufos via free agency.

The Kings got Cousins via the draft and haven't made the playoffs since.

The Timberwolves were able to get themselves two huge prospects (Kevin Love and Andew Wiggins) but still haven't made a playoff game.

The 76ers got prospects with ROY potential four years in a row (MCW, Noel, Embiid and Okafor) and from what I've seen so far not one of those guys looks like they will ever be a star.  The only one with a real chance is Embiid, and right now it's not even certain if he'll ever play a game.  At this point the 76ers look like a science experiment gone horribly wrong. 

Trades of garnett and beardman are rare... Draft your Pierce first and then have dreams

We drafted our Pierce and our Antoine Walker - you need to be incredibly lucky to draft TWO All-Stars so close together, and yet despite that this team was still completely irrelevant for some 10 years, until we were able to pull of the Ray / KG trades in 2008.

Now, everybody says that the KG trade and was pure luck, and that's probably true.  But the fact is that we were able to make the Ray Allen trade before hand, and even if the KG trade never happened the Ray Allen trade would have been enough on it's own to make the team relevant again and to draw in other big name free agents.

Anybody who believes that the draft is the only way to build (or even the best way to build) is living in a dream world.  There is no 'one way' to build, and there is no 'best way' to build.  No matter how you build, it's 50% preparation and 50% luck. 

For example, you can finish with a bottom 5 record every year for 3 seasons straight, and you still have to rely on things like how the lottery goes, whether the player's game translates to the NBA, whether the player can stay healthy, etc. 

You can free up enough cap space to sign 3 max salary free agents, but you still need to hope and pray that a big name free agent will be interested enough to actually make you their #1 destination.

You can collect tons of draft picks, prospects and trade exceptions, but you still need to hope and pray that you can find a team who has a disgruntled start they want to move, and that said team is more interested in your assets than anybody else's.

See, no matter how you build, hoping and praying is a big part of it.  You can put yourself in a position to get lots of draft picks, to have all the cap space in the world AND to have lots of trade assets - this puts you in the best possible position.  Danny has done exactly that. 

But even if you have all of that, you still need to hope and pray that the basketball gods send some luck your way.  They did that for us in the 2008 trade market, they did it for the Spurs in this year's free agent market, and they did it for the Cavs in the  2003 draft.  This year, the basketball gods ignored our cries for help.  We just have to hope that somehow, they hear us next year.

The ship has sailed on us tanking for a high pick. for the next few years look for us to try to get a little better each year and keep working on our trade package so when a star comes along we can get him and win.

Quote from: konkmv on September 14, 2015, 12:37:52 AM

First you get your star-s and then the others... That's NBA... And I did not say that Duncan is a bench player... But they have the depth now to start him as one..we have zeller who is much worse than Aldridge and Duncan and Noone else... Do not tell me you would' t like to have one of cousins stein koufos or noel embiid okafor....  one..And something else... I think we need stars..am i a tanker because I believe that we can get them only through draft..

The Spurs got Aldridge via free agency.

The Kings got Kufos via free agency.

The Kings got Cousins via the draft and haven't made the playoffs since.

The Timberwolves were able to get themselves two huge prospects (Kevin Love and Andew Wiggins) but still haven't made a playoff game.

The 76ers got prospects with ROY potential four years in a row (MCW, Noel, Embiid and Okafor) and from what I've seen so far not one of those guys looks like they will ever be a star.  The only one with a real chance is Embiid, and right now it's not even certain if he'll ever play a game.  At this point the 76ers look like a science experiment gone horribly wrong. 

Quote from: konkmv on September 14, 2015, 12:37:52 AM

Trades of garnett and beardman are rare... Draft your Pierce first and then have dreams

We drafted our Pierce and our Antoine Walker - you need to be incredibly lucky to draft TWO All-Stars so close together, and yet despite that this team was still completely irrelevant for some 10 years, until we were able to pull of the Ray / KG trades in 2008.

Now, everybody says that the KG trade and was pure luck, and that's probably true.  But the fact is that we were able to make the Ray Allen trade before hand, and even if the KG trade never happened the Ray Allen trade would have been enough on it's own to make the team relevant again and to draw in other big name free agents.

Anybody who believes that the draft is the only way to build (or even the best way to build) is living in a dream world.  There is no 'one way' to build, and there is no 'best way' to build.  No matter how you build, it's 50% preparation and 50% luck. 

For example, you can finish with a bottom 5 record every year for 3 seasons straight, and you still have to rely on things like how the lottery goes, whether the player's game translates to the NBA, whether the player can stay healthy, etc. 

You can free up enough cap space to sign 3 max salary free agents, but you still need to hope and pray that a big name free agent will be interested enough to actually make you their #1 destination.

You can collect tons of draft picks, prospects and trade exceptions, but you still need to hope and pray that you can find a team who has a disgruntled start they want to move, and that said team is more interested in your assets than anybody else's.

See, no matter how you build, hoping and praying is a big part of it.  You can put yourself in a position to get lots of draft picks, to have all the cap space in the world AND to have lots of trade assets - this puts you in the best possible position.  Danny has done exactly that. 

But even if you have all of that, you still need to hope and pray that the basketball gods send some luck your way.  They did that for us in the 2008 trade market, they did it for the Spurs in this year's free agent market, and they did it for the Cavs in the  2003 draft.  This year, the basketball gods ignored our cries for help.  We just have to hope that somehow, they hear us next year.

You should not liken our front office to many in the league. Maybe before Danny but not now. We have a perfect coach and great front office.
We are also in a completely dif boat than the wolves, Utah , bucks because although we are all rebuilding those teams have cores that will dramatically get better every year. Basically they can sit back and watch the show.....and still get lucky in the lotto and through trades etc.


For instances if Indy offered a first round pick in 2017 and Myles Turner and filler for IT......I'd do that in a second. We have a rising pg that we need to make space for at just the point. We could end up having 3 top ten picks and two top 5 picks. Plus if Turner or another one of our young guys shows out we will have a potential core . I like Brandon Ingram for our sf.