Has anyone even suggested why Ainge would trade Jaylen for Noel now when he wasn't willing to trade the third pick?
Mike
That's exactly like asking why the Cavs were willing to trade Wiggins in late August when they weren't willing to trade the #1 pick in June. There's several reasons. Circumstances changed. All options were weighed. Above all, they knew there was no rush to trade away the pick on draft night.
It's a similar situation here. Everyone unanimously agrees Ainge tried like hell to move the draft pick leading up to and on draft night. He was swinging for the fences. We "reached" for Brown, but I think it was a solid pick. Brown gave us the most flexibility heading forward. He's 19 years old, has potential, and plays a position we aren't already overloaded at. That means, if we keep him, he's probably not contributing to an already problematic depth chart at the guard position. Selecting Brown was as much about retaining leverage as anything. Had we taken another point guard like Dunn, that wouldn't have put us in the greatest negotiation position. Desperately trying to clear up a guard log jam is no different than Philly desperately trying to clear up a big man log jam. The Brown pick made sense for a number of reasons.
That said, that pick was obviously available and Brown did absolutely nothing in Summer League that would make him untouchable. Long-term, he might be great. Short-term he might struggle to make any impact at all. You have to assume he's available for the right player or package. Whether that's someone like Blake Griffin, Jimmy Butler, etc I don't know. But there's no way that chip was taken off the table over the last two months. There's also some cap logic to it. Taking on Noel + Covington + two more 1st rounders would have made freeing up cap space for Horford + Durant pretty impossible. We'd have Noel and Covington on the books and we'd be trying to convince four different 1st rounders to play overseas this year. What might have made no sense for this team in late June might be Ainge's best option in late August. Like everyone else, I hope Noel is just goofing off or perhaps there's a lot more to the trade than he's letting on. Ainge has admitted we "aren't done" and it seems to me the team would still very much like to free up a handful of roster spots. So maybe if it's some kind of bigger deal where it's Brown + Rozier + Young + Hunter for Noel and the Lakers pick, it would be mutually beneficial and allow the team to sign a couple additional players like Ray Allen, Larry Sanders, etc. Who knows.
There was far more uncertainty on draft night. We now know the landscape of the NBA better. We see that Golden State is in control. We've added Al Horford and probably want solidify our team with him on board and add complimentary pieces. Evan Turner is now officially gone. Terry Rozier is showed signs that suggest he might need minutes. We've added Gerald Green who should hopefully be a big offensive punch off the bench at SF. Westbrook has extended. Blake Griffin seems off the table. Jimmy Butler is probably off the table. We have more intel right now. I'm not at all saying this means Noel is the option we're settling on, but it could mean we might shift all our focus to Cousins, or Rudy Gay, or Jabari Parker, or whoever. A lot has changed in the past two months. Our options with the pick (Brown) are more clear.
Until the Celtics say the roster is locked in, I guess we have to stay on our toes. And until Philly resolves their big man log jam, we have to keep our ears to the ground... especially considering how clear it is that Boston has has interest in grabbing one of them. Nobody really knows what's going on with Noel's twitter. Maybe he was hacked. Maybe the rumors are true and he's just very immature and is having a laugh. But there's definitely something going on and it all has to do with Boston. Everyone should be on high alert right now. I'm literally shaking.
Topic: Nerlens Noel Tweet- Overreaction Time (Read 57185 times)