Stuck between a rock and a hard place

[slightly biased bias fan]

I reallllly do not envy Ainge at this important junction of his rebuild.

He has some really hard decisions coming up, does he look to contend now and cash in the Brooklyn picks but what's available? Cousins? Butler? If we got Cousins, Scal has a great point that most of our cap will be locked in to our front court and with most of the league playing small ball we may have to sit one of Cousins or Horford in crunch time, so would you be happy sitting 35% of our cap on the bench? Butler? Would Butler move the needle enough given how much Chicago will want in return? Chicago obviously does not think Jimmy is a franchise player if they are shopping him so what would be different for us?

Does Danny wait out Cleveland or GSW and build through the draft? If so, Bradley, Thomas and Crowder will all want max deals and it will take away our cap flexibility long term and are these guys all worth max deals? Given we signed Horford to a long term deal, how will he feel if we go young and not look to contend immediately?

I would really be interested in hearing what you would personally do because I personally have no idea what is the best way to go.

[Ilikesports17]

I'd say we are stuck between a good place and another good place

[jpotter33]

I think Scal is wrong there. Look what happened to GS when OKC and Cleveland stayed big against them - they killed them on the boards and down low and ultimately showed a critical weakness for them. I think we'd just stay big when they go small, especially with Cousins, because do you think 6'7" Green can really guard Cousins at the 5?

Further, both GS and CLE have about as good of small-ball lineups as you can get:

Curry, Klay, Iggy, KD, and Green for GS;

Irving, Smith, Shump, Lebron, and Love for CLE;

You're not going to "out-small-ball" them, so you might as well hit them where it hurts - down low with size, rebounding, and interior presence.

I still think some combination of Cousins or Butler/George and Noel is a worthwhile and winning formula for us, especially Cousins, who solves about every single issue that we have.

EDIT: I mean, Memphis has beat the Warriors twice now, and it's because they're set up ideally to beat them. They have bigs down low that can rebound and punish their smaller bigs, all while still having good perimeter D to make it difficult for them around the three point line. And we're set up to be just like that. Hell, add Cousins to the group and you have an even better mismatch against them.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

"The success of small ball" is an illusion. Even if a team's stars are PGs, SGs, and/or SFs á la LeBron, Leonard, or Curry, you're still not winning a title without a Tim Duncan, a Tristan Thompson, a Tyson Chandler, or an Andrew Bogut.

It's the NBA, where size has almost always ruled and always will. And the need for size is highlighted in the playoffs, where most defenses are pretty darn good and offenses are usually forced into halfcourt sets—and in the halfcourt game, teams with size usually have the advantage.

[mctyson]

I reallllly do not envy Ainge at this important junction of his rebuild.

I would really be interested in hearing what you would personally do because I personally have no idea what is the best way to go.

I think it breaks down two ways.

1) This is a 50+ win team as currently constructed.  All the major contributors are signed for at least one more year following this one.  The contracts are all reasonable.  They have cap space for another max contract.  The Brooklyn picks, especially this years, are likely to net incredibly valuable young prospects.  Even if they ultimately can't beat Cleveland (or Toronto) this year there is a good case to be made that they could be the favorite in the East next year with one major free agent addition and development from their young guys.  If you are Ainge, this is the easiest and in my mind the smartest path to take.

2) Some team is going to get desperate.  It won't be the teams we are thinking such as Sacramento or Chicago.  People like to complain about how the Celtics aren't true contenders.  Well, what about the other 25+ teams in the league?  They are in way worse shape than our team is.  While I don't expect this to happen, it is possible.  If a big fish is in that pond Danny will have to best chance to catch it.

[tenn_smoothie]

Cousins and Butler are bad news. Both head cases with attitude problems that will poison our chemistry. Stay patient - we could have the #1 pick in June.

However, I do agree that we keep looking for frontcourt help. Forget this small ball stuff - that is the thinking that Danny killed the Garnett team with. Go big and hammer teams into dust inside and with our strong perimeter defense.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Cousins and Butler are bad news. Both head cases with attitude problems that will poison our chemistry. Stay patient - we could have the #1 pick in June.

Keep looking for inside help as well. Forget this small ball stuff -that is the thinking that Danny killed the Garnett team with. Go big and hammer teams into dust inside.

TP. Can't rec or stress this enough.