Wow. It all makes sense now.

[KG Living Legend]

 If we do connect all the dots to this point and things fall our way in the Offseason.

 We are two stacked at guard without even having a stud there besides Thomas. Two many guys that are redundant with Rozier needing minutes to develop.

 So who would you draft with Dallas's pick and Boston's if It did indeed go down like this. Smart and the Nets pick gone for The big Okafor. Kevin and Al both sign here.

 Okafor
 Horford
 Durant
 Bradley
 Thomas

 Talk about a new look offense, I love Smart's defense but is there one person that would keep Smart and the pick If we could start these five guys together?

Then we could draft Valentine and Brice Johnson in hopes they could contribute quickly. That team would win a lot of games the next few years, maybe get a ring.

 

[KG Living Legend]

 Sully's most likely gone here as well as Amir. It would be great to have Turner back and Jonas.

 Bench

 Crowder, Kelly, Turner, Jonas, Rozier
 

[DrJasper]

I would prefer Noel if we trade for a philly big man, I can't stand Centers who can't play defense..
In my opinion our team culture is based on defense and hustle, Noel would fit right in.
I think if the bpa is Dunn or Murray we should make an offer to the sixers, If the pick is top three than make an offer to the kings for Boogie 

[KG Living Legend]

 Is this hypothetical team a title contender next year

[TheTruth]

DrJasper,

I'm with you on getting Noel instead of Okafor.

Maybe a straight up Smart for Noel and we draft a guy like Hield at 4 or 5 to take Smart's minutes.

Noel and Olynyk would make a nice combo upfront.

[Dino Pitino]

Our offense would probably be top 5 in the league, maybe top 3. Our defense would fall to 15th or 20th. That team might have a much better chance to make it to the ECF than this year's team. But it would only have a slightly better chance of beating the Warriors, possibly a worse chance. Not going to win a title with great offense and mediocre defense. The last team like that to win a title was...actually, this might take a while. It's possible that no mediocre defense has ever won a title.

[wdleehi]

Our offense would probably be top 5 in the league, maybe top 3. Our defense would fall to 15th or 20th. That team might have a much better chance to make it to the ECF than this year's team. But it would only have a slightly better chance of beating the Warriors, possibly a worse chance. Not going to win a title with great offense and mediocre defense. The last team like that to win a title was...actually, this might take a while. It's possible that no mediocre defense has ever won a title.

I don't see the huge drop in defense.  Horford is a better big man defender then the Celtics have.  They would still have Crowder on the bench. 

[gamehead36]

If the pick is 3, 4, or 5, I definitely go for Okafor. Personally I would fight for a straight up deal, maybe would include Smart, and would reluctantly give up the mavs pick. And I definitely do it over Noel. I think a lot of Danny's reasoning for Okafor over Noel is because of his rookie deal. Noel has one more year on his rookie deal and Okafor has 3!

It would be amazing to have an all star/borderline all star (that's what I think Okafor would turn into on our team with Brad and the culture) on this team for 4-6 million for the next three three years. That would literally enable us to still go after two max stars over the next 2-3 offseasons.

I have trust in Danny. He really knows what he's doing. Can't wait for this offseason.

Edit: If the pick is between 1-2, I would take Simmons if available. If it was Ingram, I would ask for more than Okafor from the sixers, or I would go after Boogie and maybe Butler. Maybe other stars as well.

[i believe in brad]

Our offense would probably be top 5 in the league, maybe top 3. Our defense would fall to 15th or 20th. That team might have a much better chance to make it to the ECF than this year's team. But it would only have a slightly better chance of beating the Warriors, possibly a worse chance. Not going to win a title with great offense and mediocre defense. The last team like that to win a title was...actually, this might take a while. It's possible that no mediocre defense has ever won a title.

I don't see the huge drop in defense.  Horford is a better big man defender then the Celtics have.  They would still have Crowder on the bench.

So what would the crunch-time lineup be?  I don't think Okafor cracks it:

IT4/AB/Durant/Crowder/Horford

That would be like the current Cavs who are sometimes forced to sit Love in big moments.  IMO waste of Smart + top pick for a guy who would be a big liability at the end of games.  Give me Butler all day everyday over Okafor.

[makaveli]

i just don't get hype on noel. it is more likely for okafor to star playing some average D than for Noel to develop a decent O game...

[Dino Pitino]

Our offense would probably be top 5 in the league, maybe top 3. Our defense would fall to 15th or 20th. That team might have a much better chance to make it to the ECF than this year's team. But it would only have a slightly better chance of beating the Warriors, possibly a worse chance. Not going to win a title with great offense and mediocre defense. The last team like that to win a title was...actually, this might take a while. It's possible that no mediocre defense has ever won a title.

I don't see the huge drop in defense.  Horford is a better big man defender then the Celtics have.  They would still have Crowder on the bench.

Sullinger is 12th in the NBA in DRPM. Amir is 37th. They'd both be gone. Crowder is 58th. He'd be benched. Smart is 99th. He'd be traded. Horford is 77th. Durant is 133rd. Bradley is 358th. Okafor is 371st. Isaiah is 395th. Consider how our defense dropped a level when Isaiah became a full-time starter. Replacing Sully, Amir, Smart, and most of Crowder with Horford, Durant, and Okafor would drop our defense into the middle class of the league or worse. We would no longer have a top 10 defense, nevermind top 5. The only NBA champions that didn't have top 10 defense in the last 40 years were the '95 Rockets who were 12th in Defensive Rating (but 2nd the previous title-winning year) and the '01 Lakers who were 21st that year but 1st the year before. So, basically, no team ever wins a championship without a top 10 defense. The team speculated above would not be the first. To make things worse, given the ages of Horford and Durant, the defense would only deteriorate with time, no chance to improve.

[byennie]

Ditto on Noel, if you're bringing in a scorer like Durant.

I'd also be intrigued by Favors. He's underrated being out in Utah and not a flashy guy.

Good contract: 2 years / $23M
Good offense: 17ppg on 51%
Good rebounding: 8.3 rpg
Good defense: 1.5 blocks, 1.2 steals, +2.0 defensive plus minus
Good age: 24 years old
Good experience: 7 years

No off court problems.

IMO he's slightly better all-around than Crowder or Thomas, and a center. MUCH better acquisition that Horford for $25M and 8 years older

Utah may let him go for a fair price as they'll be rebuilding for the rest of his contract around Exum & Gobert.

Heck, if Durant's not coming here, then the all-balanced team would be at least interesting:

Thomas / Rozier
Bradley / Smart
Crowder / Turner
Horford / Mickey
Favors / KO

We'd have 5 starters capable of 15-20ppg while improving our interior defense significantly.

[PhoSita]

I don't see the point in spending much time entertaining this fantasy, but I just want to point out that RPM in general, but DRPM especially, is not a static, end-all be-all stat that tells the defensive value of a player independent of context.  The defensive stats are just too noisy to rely on them that much.

I'd have some concerns matching Horford and Okafor in the frontcourt, and Durant is, perhaps, not as impactful defensively as Crowder.  The IT and Bradley pairing will always present some issues due to size.

Still, I think the fact that Crowder, Sullinger, and Amir are rated so highly in DRPM this year suggests the role that they play on this particular Celtics team.  Crowder is a pretty good individual defender.  Sullinger and Amir are just decent on an individual basis, at best.

I trust Stevens to make the most defensively of whatever piece's he's given, so long as there aren't absolutely glaring weaknesses.

[byennie]

i just don't get hype on noel. it is more likely for okafor to star playing some average D than for Noel to develop a decent O game...

Based on what? I'd rather have Tyson Chandler for example, than Al Jefferson in their prime years. Much more impact on winning.

Also, Noel is already one of the best defenders in the league. Okafor is not one of the top scorers.

Brook Lopez, Al Jefferson, Enes Kanter... not a great track record for this type of player and winning games. DPOY candidate centers on the other hand...

[celticsclay]

Could we maybe put a moratorium on the Okafor threads? This is literally the third one this week and no trades can possibly happen till after the season ends (not to mention he is currently out with injury so it is not like there is new game tape to discuss).

Mods maybe we could merge the threads?

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=83634.0
http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=83661.0