Yeah guys... IT is the "odd man out" right??

[PhoSita]

Let's put it this way, Boston is not going to re-sign Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Smart. 

I agree with that, but out of those guys, IT is by far the hardest to replace.

[Moranis]

Let's put it this way, Boston is not going to re-sign Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Smart. 

I agree with that, but out of those guys, IT is by far the hardest to replace.

He also is the oldest, going to command the largest contract, and mostly likely would give you the best value in return.  Unless Boston lands a major free agent or trades for a major player, I expect Thomas to be traded before next years trade deadline.

[alldaboston]

Let's put it this way, Boston is not going to re-sign Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Smart. 

I agree with that, but out of those guys, IT is by far the hardest to replace.

He also is the oldest, going to command the largest contract, and mostly likely would give you the best value in return.  Unless Boston lands a major free agent or trades for a major player, I expect Thomas to be traded before next years trade deadline.

What do you think we would be able to get for him? in a trade?

[crimson_stallion]

Olynyk, Johnson, Smart, and Rozier all had a better +- than Thomas.  There are two sides to the court.

Just for the fun of it:

2015/16 NBA Real Plus Minus
Kelly Olynyk: +2.82
Amir Johnson: +2.95
Isaiah Thomas: +1.24
Marcus Smart: -0.01

2014/15 NBA Real Plus Minus
Kelly Olynyk: +3.50
Amir Johnson: +1.83 (TOR)
Marcus Smart: +2.22
Isaiah Thomas: +1.45 (BOS/PHO)

Olynyk and Amir are annual RPM beasts (I don't believe it's a fluke that we started winning since KO came back), but I'd say Thomas seems to be the better Plus-Minus guy then Smart so far, since he's been a consistent 'plus' over the years wheareas Smart has been up and down.   

[Phantom255x]

Let's put it this way, Boston is not going to re-sign Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Smart. 

I agree with that, but out of those guys, IT is by far the hardest to replace.

He also is the oldest, going to command the largest contract, and mostly likely would give you the best value in return.  Unless Boston lands a major free agent or trades for a major player, I expect Thomas to be traded before next years trade deadline.

What do you think we would be able to get for him? in a trade?

Lol if you people actually expect IT will get you a guy like Lillard or Westbrook in return, then forget it.

At absolute best, you can probably get two future first round picks (2017 and 2019 I guess), a solid bench player and fringe starter. Frankly I don't see teams giving up their stock for IT.

Now while you people put IT on the "trade block", he can "quietly" put up 25-30 points a game for us and help us win games. That works too.

[alldaboston]

Let's put it this way, Boston is not going to re-sign Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Smart. 

I agree with that, but out of those guys, IT is by far the hardest to replace.

He also is the oldest, going to command the largest contract, and mostly likely would give you the best value in return.  Unless Boston lands a major free agent or trades for a major player, I expect Thomas to be traded before next years trade deadline.

What do you think we would be able to get for him? in a trade?

Lol if you people actually expect IT will get you a guy like Lillard or Westbrook in return, then forget it.

At absolute best, you can probably get two future first round picks (2017 and 2019 I guess), a solid bench player and fringe starter. Frankly I don't see teams giving up their stock for IT.

Now while you people put IT on the "trade block", he can "quietly" put up 25-30 points a game for us and help us win games. That works too.

Well, I never expected a return like that. So, not sure where that came from.

But this response is exactly what I wanted to hear. If teams aren't gonna give up much to get him in a trade now, why in the world would they bend to his desires of getting paid a max contract? If they aren't "going to give up their stock" for him, then surely that logic has to apply to free agency too! In fact, I'd say it affects free agency even more than his trade value, because the team signing him to a contract has to be held liable to the amount of money they sign him to for a long time.

This all circles back to my opinion regarding the whole issue: teams aren't gonna give up much to trade for Isaiah. Hence, it's reasonable to assume that they will also not go out of their way to give him the big money that he wants.

Therefore --> it's unreasonable to think that we HAVE to pay him max money, or else he's gonna leave for somewhere else. Because if we follow my logic above (which might have flaws, please call me out if you disagree), then it's unlikely that any team will try that hard to sign him and get him that big money contract. As such, there's no rush to trade him, and since I find it unlikely that his free agency value will be anywhere near a max contract, I think he ends up returning to Boston, at a reasonable price-and maybe even a "hometown" discount (though Boston isn't his hometown, he's been treated incredibly here and loves it here), so that he can continue winning with this group.

[PhoSita]

He also is the oldest, going to command the largest contract, and mostly likely would give you the best value in return.  Unless Boston lands a major free agent or trades for a major player, I expect Thomas to be traded before next years trade deadline.

Assuming I agree with the premise, the Celts are going to take a major step back when they trade IT unless the return is excellent (which is unlikely given the same reasons for trading him in the first place).

I'm just having a hard time seeing how the Celts remain relevant in the short term if they trade IT, because it seems so unlikely to me that they'll be able to immediately replace him with a player who can fill the crucial role he plays.

So, if the Celts do trade IT, I'd say they might as well trade other guys and just go full-on youth movement.  Smart, Rozier, Olynyk, Brown, and whoever they get via trade / Nets' picks.  That's your team of the future.  Maybe keep Bradley around for consistency.

[jambr380]

Let's put it this way, Boston is not going to re-sign Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Smart. 

I agree with that, but out of those guys, IT is by far the hardest to replace.

We won't need to re-sign Crowder which is why I only see him getting moved in a trade for a star - no way we dump him if we trade IT/Horford. He is on an incredible contract for years to come.

As for IT, I generally agree. It is a difficult pill to swallow in backing up the Brinks truck (seriously, that quote could be his demise in the eyes of fans), but he is an extremely talented offensive player and is the current face of our franchise.

[Big333223]

IT isn't good enough to pay what he'll be worth in 2 years but he's going to get us a good return in a trade? If he's not worth the money, why would other teams want to trade for him?

It feels like others on the board think other teams are ignorant of what IT's limitation are. I think the opposite. I think other teams are going to look at a league flooded with PG's and see IT's height disadvantage, and the Celtics will be able to resign IT, underrated, at below market value.

[PhoSita]

Let's put it this way, Boston is not going to re-sign Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Smart. 

I agree with that, but out of those guys, IT is by far the hardest to replace.

We won't need to re-sign Crowder which is why I only see him getting moved in a trade for a star - no way we dump him if we trade IT/Horford. He is on an incredible contract for years to come.

As for IT, I generally agree. It is a difficult pill to swallow in backing up the Brinks truck (seriously, that quote could be his demise in the eyes of fans), but he is an extremely talented offensive player and is the current face of our franchise.

I don't blame IT one bit for that quote.

He has 34 Win Shares for his career over 6+ seasons and he's only made $16 million.

[alldaboston]

IT isn't good enough to pay what he'll be worth in 2 years but he's going to get us a good return in a trade? If he's not worth the money, why would other teams want to trade for him?

It feels like others on the board think other teams are ignorant of what IT's limitation are. I think the opposite. I think other teams are going to look at a league flooded with PG's and see IT's height disadvantage, and the Celtics will be able to resign IT, underrated, at below market value.

TP. That's exactly how i feel.

[LarBrd33]

Thomas is unreal.  He's a fun character to watch.

[Denis998]

Let's put it this way, Boston is not going to re-sign Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Smart. 

I agree with that, but out of those guys, IT is by far the hardest to replace.

We won't need to re-sign Crowder which is why I only see him getting moved in a trade for a star - no way we dump him if we trade IT/Horford. He is on an incredible contract for years to come.

As for IT, I generally agree. It is a difficult pill to swallow in backing up the Brinks truck (seriously, that quote could be his demise in the eyes of fans), but he is an extremely talented offensive player and is the current face of our franchise.

I just spent like 15 minutes trying to figure out how much money can fit into a brinks truck. I couldn't find anything saying how much the interior volume is, but i did find an exterior value. A cash pile ($100 bills) that is as big as a Brinks truck is around 3 billion dollars. Assuming that the interior volume of the truck is roughly half that of its exterior it can be safe to assume that the max volume of a brinks truck is roughly 1.5 billion dollars. It is then safe to assume that Isaiah wants his next contract to be in between 35 million and 1.5 billion dollars. But we all here know that there is a max salary in the NBA so the 1.5 billion figure is not a feasible option for Isaiah. We can now assume that he is going to get somewhere in the range of 5-max million dollars in his next contract. Assuming what he wants is 1.5 billion dollars, getting him for a mere ~$150 dollars is a steal if you ask me.

[jambr380]

Let's put it this way, Boston is not going to re-sign Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Smart. 

I agree with that, but out of those guys, IT is by far the hardest to replace.

We won't need to re-sign Crowder which is why I only see him getting moved in a trade for a star - no way we dump him if we trade IT/Horford. He is on an incredible contract for years to come.

As for IT, I generally agree. It is a difficult pill to swallow in backing up the Brinks truck (seriously, that quote could be his demise in the eyes of fans), but he is an extremely talented offensive player and is the current face of our franchise.

I just spent like 15 minutes trying to figure out how much money can fit into a brinks truck. I couldn't find anything saying how much the interior volume is, but i did find an exterior value. A cash pile ($100 bills) that is as big as a Brinks truck is around 3 billion dollars. Assuming that the interior volume of the truck is roughly half that of its exterior it can be safe to assume that the max volume of a brinks truck is roughly 1.5 billion dollars. It is then safe to assume that Isaiah wants his next contract to be in between 35 million and 1.5 billion dollars. But we all here know that there is a max salary in the NBA so the 1.5 billion figure is not a feasible option for Isaiah. We can now assume that he is going to get somewhere in the range of 5-max million dollars in his next contract. Assuming what he wants is 1.5 billion dollars, getting him for a mere ~$150 dollars is a steal if you ask me.

If you use $1 bills instead of $100 bills, you come out to approximately $15M. This seems more than reasonable...even on a yearly basis. Maybe IT did the same research you did.

[Denis998]

Let's put it this way, Boston is not going to re-sign Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, and Smart. 

I agree with that, but out of those guys, IT is by far the hardest to replace.

We won't need to re-sign Crowder which is why I only see him getting moved in a trade for a star - no way we dump him if we trade IT/Horford. He is on an incredible contract for years to come.

As for IT, I generally agree. It is a difficult pill to swallow in backing up the Brinks truck (seriously, that quote could be his demise in the eyes of fans), but he is an extremely talented offensive player and is the current face of our franchise.

I just spent like 15 minutes trying to figure out how much money can fit into a brinks truck. I couldn't find anything saying how much the interior volume is, but i did find an exterior value. A cash pile ($100 bills) that is as big as a Brinks truck is around 3 billion dollars. Assuming that the interior volume of the truck is roughly half that of its exterior it can be safe to assume that the max volume of a brinks truck is roughly 1.5 billion dollars. It is then safe to assume that Isaiah wants his next contract to be in between 35 million and 1.5 billion dollars. But we all here know that there is a max salary in the NBA so the 1.5 billion figure is not a feasible option for Isaiah. We can now assume that he is going to get somewhere in the range of 5-max million dollars in his next contract. Assuming what he wants is 1.5 billion dollars, getting him for a mere ~$150 dollars is a steal if you ask me.

If you use $1 bills instead of $100 bills, you come out to approximately $15M. This seems more than reasonable...even on a yearly basis. Maybe IT did the same research you did.

Maybe someone should ask him to clarify which form of currency he wants contained in the brinks truck. Maybe we can pay him in trident layers.