Was the Durant hopes misguided?

[Alleyoopster]

My question is, was it worth the gamble to pursue Durant when it seemed extremely unlikely he would sign here? Obviously, Kevin would have made the chances of an NBA Championship much greater. On the other hand, the realistic possibility of that happening were minuscule.

So, what are some of the consequences for this hope? 
1. We lost the chance to sign Evan Tuner, someone who played a key role in the Celtic's success last year and would have been a welcomed addition to the current team.
2. Now, according to the rumor mill, we may be on the cusp of trading for an 'All Star' caliber player. On the surface this seems like a great idea. In reality, is it?

First we'd have to trade away a lot of talent, e.g., Rozier, Crowder, Bradley, Amir, future first rounders and who knows what else. Thus, it would be addition through subtraction. Possibly leaving the team woefully weak in key areas with little hope for attracting star talent through the draft. Plus, there is no guarantee the player we do bring in will stay more than a year.

Given this scenario, could this speculative move been misplayed? 

[gift]

We wouldn't have kept Turner for the money he got anyway.

[Shoot the J]

I think it was well worth it.
While it always seemed like a long shot, the fact that Boston was in the final 2 or 3 is almost a win in itself. For a long time, the narrative has been that stars do not want to come here, and if a guy like Kevin Durant was intrigued by what the Celtics have put together, then players must be noticing.

I don't think Evan Turner was ever coming back here. Nice player, but for the money he signed for, no thanks. I think the Durant thing had little to do with their stance on Turner.

[Csfan1984]

It was not misguided. You go after the top free agents when ever you can. Warriors won 73 games and are letting go of 40% of that team to get KD. So C's lost Turner. Given what Turner got paid even if KD wasn't available there is no way C's should pay that for Turner. And when has DA ever stopped kick the tires on trades for that to be a KD issue? DA loves doing his job which is to acquire and manage talent. That job wouldn't have stop even if they signed KD. He will always have C's in trade rumors.

[heyvik]

My question is, was it worth the gamble to pursue Durant when it seemed extremely unlikely he would sign here? Obviously, Kevin would have made the chances of an NBA Championship much greater. On the other hand, the realistic possibility of that happening were minuscule.

So, what are some of the consequences for this hope? 
1. We lost the chance to sign Evan Tuner, someone who played a key role in the Celtic's success last year and would have been a welcomed addition to the current team.
2. Now, according to the rumor mill, we may be on the cusp of trading for an 'All Star' caliber player. On the surface this seems like a great idea. In reality, is it?

First we'd have to trade away a lot of talent, e.g., Rozier, Crowder, Bradley, Amir, future first rounders and who knows what else. Thus, it would be addition through subtraction. Possibly leaving the team woefully weak in key areas with little hope for attracting star talent through the draft. Plus, there is no guarantee the player we do bring in will stay more than a year.

Given this scenario, could this speculative move been misplayed?

good thought, We went all in for Durant as a FA and if he signed it would have been a 'home grown' team, instead of a FA frenzy like the 2010 cHeat. Now that we missed out on him as FA Danny now has to give up assets that he could have used to bolster the team IF they would have gotten Durant as a FA

[fairweatherfan]

We weren't going to keep Turner regardless; a $70 million deal just changed it from a near-certainty to an absolute one.

I have no idea how trying to trade for an elite player is a consequence of pursuing Durant.  It's not like we wouldn't be interested in getting a star if we hadn't chased Durant, and if we had gotten him we'd be pushing even harder for one to put alongside him.

On the flip side, the possibility of getting Durant may have made us a bit more appealing to Horford, and our role in his free agency may have made us a little more prominent of a destination in future FA's minds.  We didn't gain much if anything by chasing him but I have a hard time seeing what we've lost.

[PaulP34]

In my opinion, I would not want to give up either core player Crowder, Bradley, Smart for Blake alone. If we gain an injured Blake for three young healthy core players, we are moving backwards. I feel that Danny took a huge risk going after Al Horford at his age and now Danny feels that he's got no choice but to get older via trade to win now for Al. The Celtics should of went after younger players and used the picks to build the future. Using future assets to win now shortens our window by 4-5 years. I like the Al Horford signing but only if it brought in KD but it didn't so now we are stuck throwing the future away to try n win now which is not a good thing considering Cleveland and Golden State are not easy teams to beat. No matter what move we make for the now is not gonna be enough to win it all. No clue what Danny is up to but if he thinks its a good idea to send off Brooklyn 018 along with Crowder, Bradley n Smart, he needs to rethink things n slow down.

[BitterJim]

My question is, was it worth the gamble to pursue Durant when it seemed extremely unlikely he would sign here? Obviously, Kevin would have made the chances of an NBA Championship much greater. On the other hand, the realistic possibility of that happening were minuscule.

Yes. Durant is a legit superstar, and we could have gotten him for nothing.  That's a no brainer.  Not to mention that being so close could ensure that future FAs have us on their list

So, what are some of the consequences for this hope? 
1. We lost the chance to sign Evan Tuner, someone who played a key role in the Celtic's success last year and would have been a welcomed addition to the current team.

Going after Durant didn't stop us from resigning Turner, the price tag did.  There's no way Danny would have paid him that much, and, if Danny HAD wanted to pay him that much, he may have been able to get Turner to wait a couple of days to sign

2. Now, according to the rumor mill, we may be on the cusp of trading for an 'All Star' caliber player. On the surface this seems like a great idea. In reality, is it?

I don't really see how this is related.  We've been looking for a superstar for years, the Durant chase didn't effect it

First we'd have to trade away a lot of talent, e.g., Rozier, Crowder, Bradley, Amir, future first rounders and who knows what else. Thus, it would be addition through subtraction. Possibly leaving the team woefully weak in key areas with little hope for attracting star talent through the draft. Plus, there is no guarantee the player we do bring in will stay more than a year.

Given this scenario, could this speculative move been misplayed?

Whether or not we should trade for  superstar is a totally different matter than whether or not we should have gone after Durant, but I'm still in favor of it.  You have to give something to get something, and as long as we don't give too much (especially if it could be a rental), then I have no problem with it.

I think the biggest impact from getting Horford and nearly getting Durant is how other FAs will look at us.  While we may not trade for a one year rental of a Westbrook- or Griffin-type player, we should at least be on their lists.  And, yes, we may lose an Amir- or Jerebko-type player while we stay flexible and chase a superstar, but I'm okay with that.  Because if we land them, we'll finally have that piece we've needed

[TheTruth34]

It was definitely worth the gamble.  Durant is a player that moves the needle, and there's simply not a lot of those out there, and they rarely ever hit the market.  I believe KD's free agency was something that Ainge was preparing for over the last several years, as we transitioned past the KG-Pierce era. 

It's unfortunate that we couldn't land him, but despite the outcome, I'm fully on board with the thought process.  One silver lining -> the stigma of the Celtics not being a FA destination has been dispelled, and our team's brand/reputation across the league is strong as ever.

Given Durant is pretty much off the radar (highly unlikely he revisits FA IMO) - i  think the best path forward now is to continue to build the young nucleus with the BKN picks.  Maintain flexibility for a trade if another elite player becomes available but look to build through the draft.

[Denis998]

The KD gamble allows us to have cap space next season.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

My question is, was it worth the gamble to pursue Durant when it seemed extremely unlikely he would sign here? Obviously, Kevin would have made the chances of an NBA Championship much greater. On the other hand, the realistic possibility of that happening were minuscule.

So, what are some of the consequences for this hope? 
1. We lost the chance to sign Evan Tuner, someone who played a key role in the Celtic's success last year and would have been a welcomed addition to the current team.
2. Now, according to the rumor mill, we may be on the cusp of trading for an 'All Star' caliber player. On the surface this seems like a great idea. In reality, is it?

First we'd have to trade away a lot of talent, e.g., Rozier, Crowder, Bradley, Amir, future first rounders and who knows what else. Thus, it would be addition through subtraction. Possibly leaving the team woefully weak in key areas with little hope for attracting star talent through the draft. Plus, there is no guarantee the player we do bring in will stay more than a year.

Given this scenario, could this speculative move been misplayed?

I'm reminded of the saying "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Durant's a known quantity (and a very good one, at that), while most of our young players are mostly unknown quantities as of right now.

I agree that in the long term, the ideal situation is to draft a few players who become very good to great, as that would give Boston a longer title window, but we all know how unpredictable the draft is.

And I don't want to undervalue Turner's contributions, but let's also remember how frustrating he could quite often be—people don't call him "Evan Turnover" for nothing. 

I think that if you have a shot at a guy like Durant, you have to go for it, even if it means giving up a guy like Turner. Turners are a lot easier to replace than Durants.

[CoachBo]

The hopes WERE not misguided.

There are two fundamental flaws in the OPs argument:

1. As pointed out above, Turner would not have been resigned at the money he received from Portland. To connect his departure to the Durant sweepstakes simply isn't true.

2. Losing "a lot of talent:" In actuality, the OP doesn't list that much. What has Rozier done?  Aced Summer League? So what. Crowder is a nice role player. So is Bradley. Amir? We can easily replace him. And it's pretty clear from trade talks that other GMs aren't falling all over themselves to deal for that "lot of talent." Simply not true.

[kozlodoev]

Resign Evan Turner for 18 million? I like him, but no thanks.

[Alleyoopster]

The hopes WERE not misguided.

There are two fundamental flaws in the OPs argument:

1. As pointed out above, Turner would not have been resigned at the money he received from Portland. To connect his departure to the Durant sweepstakes simply isn't true.

2. Losing "a lot of talent:" In actuality, the OP doesn't list that much. What has Rozier done?  Aced Summer League? So what. Crowder is a nice role player. So is Bradley. Amir? We can easily replace him. And it's pretty clear from trade talks that other GMs aren't falling all over themselves to deal for that "lot of talent." Simply not true.

A year ago I may have agreed with parts of your assessments. Now, with the new CBA these types of players are commanding big money. A promising player like Rozier on the cheap is a GM's dream. Crowder at $8 million is an outstanding value, Bradley, he may command close to Turner's numbers when you consider someone like Rivers making $35 million for 3 years. What constitutes value is beyond normal reasoning. 

[LarBrd33]

Sounds like his final two choices were golden state and Boston.  Okc was out of the picture.   It was definitely worth the pursuit.