Poll: Thomas for Kemba and #11

[KG Living Legend]

 An interesting idea. Charlotte would be down.

[Ilikesports17]

Why tho?

[byennie]

Charlotte hangs up the phone. And I love IT.

You're talking about a guy in Walker who is almost as good offensively, much better defensively, a year younger, is signed on a friendly deal for 2 more years, and IT has an expiring deal and an injury. Then Charlotte throws in the #11 pick on top of it?

[jambr380]

Charlotte hangs up the phone. And I love IT.

You're talking about a guy in Walker who is almost as good offensively, much better defensively, a year younger, is signed on a friendly deal for 2 more years, and IT has an expiring deal and an injury. Then Charlotte throws in the #11 pick on top of it?

And, yet, Charlotte sucks, despite not suffering any major injuries (and even getting a full season out of MKG).

I think Kemba is a fine player, but Charlotte should take this deal and run. IT is a markedly better player.

[Ilikesports17]

Charlotte hangs up the phone. And I love IT.

You're talking about a guy in Walker who is almost as good offensively, much better defensively, a year younger, is signed on a friendly deal for 2 more years, and IT has an expiring deal and an injury. Then Charlotte throws in the #11 pick on top of it?

"almost as good offensively"

nope.

Thomas's 2017 season was a combination of efficiency and volume only matched by 2016 Steph and 2014 KD.

Kemba is a really good scorer, but Thomas is way better on offense.

People on this blog seem to fail to grasp the difference between a good scorer and IT.

They seem to look at guys who can put up quasi-efficent 20-24 ppg and just equate their offense to Isaiah Thomas. No. Isaiah Thomas is a truly dominant scorer.

People really havent grasped how good and how efficient he was. Hes a top 5 scorer in this league.

[Darío SpanishFan]

I don't think we can get the 11th pick alone for IT. So I would definitely do it, but Charlotte...

[CelticsElite]

An all star for garbage and a dice roll. Lol

[Jvalin]

- The trade doesn't work in the trade machine.

- I bet they wouldn't even give us #11 on its own for IT, never mind #11+Kemba.

- If (for whatever reason) the Hornets do it, how do we create enough cap space to go after Hayward?

[saltlover]

Charlotte hangs up the phone. And I love IT.

You're talking about a guy in Walker who is almost as good offensively, much better defensively, a year younger, is signed on a friendly deal for 2 more years, and IT has an expiring deal and an injury. Then Charlotte throws in the #11 pick on top of it?

This is either a significant underrating of IT or overrating of Walker.  You say you love IT, so I'll assume you overrate Walker.

Kemba had the best offensive season of his career last year, notching highs in eFG%, TS%, PER, and Offensive BPM, as well as the more traditional PPG.  IT trounced him in all those categories.  Looking more closely, we see that Walker's career best TS% would beat only IT's worst in his career.  That IT has exceeded Walker's career average eFG% in every single season of his career.  That Walker's high mark of a 5.3 OBPM is approximately equal to IT's 5.2 career average, and his 21.3 PER of last year is again right with IT's average of 21.0.  Walker's career year is pretty much an average season on offense for IT, and doesn't hold a candle to IT's career year on offense (which is best described by noting that IT scored 42.4 points per 100 possessions, compared with Kemba's 33.5, AND he averaged more assists.)

There's a reason IT was second-team All-NBA and Walker couldn't even garner a single vote.

[celticsclay]

A few thoughts and then 2 questions
1) People really do not understand how good offensively IT was last year
2) The 11th pick is a dice roll that projects to get you a rotation player on average
3) IT is currently rehabbing an injury and is extremely unlikely to be traded
4) IT, along with Horford, is the least likely Celtic player to be traded this offseason
5) The celtics are already at a roster crunch

Given all this why are we constantly seeing trade proposals that
1) suggest ways of trading an injured player that is extremely unlikely to be traded right now
2) where are the roster spots coming from in all of these 2 for 1 and 3 for 1 proposals?

[Dannys Chipotle Guy]

A few thoughts and then 2 questions
1) People really do not understand how good offensively IT was last year
2) The 11th pick is a dice roll that projects to get you a rotation player on average
3) IT is currently rehabbing an injury and is extremely unlikely to be traded
4) IT, along with Horford, is the least likely Celtic player to be traded this offseason
5) The celtics are already at a roster crunch

Given all this why are we constantly seeing trade proposals that
1) suggest ways of trading an injured player that is extremely unlikely to be traded right now
2) where are the roster spots coming from in all of these 2 for 1 and 3 for 1 proposals?

TP man. I just dont get it.

[ETNCeltics]

We will have at least 2 and maybe up to 4 rookies on the roster. Unless we could get an elite prospect (which we won't at 11), why would we put yet another rookie on CBS? We don't have 20 roster spots.

Trade makes no sense.

[mqtcelticsfan]

I don't see how either team makes this deal.

[byennie]

Charlotte hangs up the phone. And I love IT.

You're talking about a guy in Walker who is almost as good offensively, much better defensively, a year younger, is signed on a friendly deal for 2 more years, and IT has an expiring deal and an injury. Then Charlotte throws in the #11 pick on top of it?

"almost as good offensively"

nope.

Thomas's 2017 season was a combination of efficiency and volume only matched by 2016 Steph and 2014 KD.

Kemba is a really good scorer, but Thomas is way better on offense.

People on this blog seem to fail to grasp the difference between a good scorer and IT.

They seem to look at guys who can put up quasi-efficent 20-24 ppg and just equate their offense to Isaiah Thomas. No. Isaiah Thomas is a truly dominant scorer.

People really havent grasped how good and how efficient he was. Hes a top 5 scorer in this league.

We're nitpicking over adjectives. The point is that while IT is the better offensive player, Walker arguably makes up for it by being an above average defender. Whatever you may think about the odds of the #11 pick, it's not a throw-in. This trade supposes IT has serious value over the top of Walker, even though Walker is younger and on a better contract and a much better defender.

Whether the offensive advantage is 'small' or 'moderate' or whatever, it doesn't make up for an equally large defensive difference, the contract, and the pick.

They both had career years offensively, so that's a wash unless you have a crystal ball regarding Walker getting worse and IT staying the same.

PLAYER 1:
23/5.5/3.9 on 44/40/85/ 57% TS, 2.1 turnovers, offensive +/- of 3.4
1.1 steals, 0.3 blocks, defensive +/- of (-0.4)

PLAYER 2:
29/5.9/2.7 on 46/38/91/ 63% TS, 2.8 turnovers, offensive +/- of 4.5
0.9 steals, 0.2 blocks, defensive +/- of  (-2.9)

Nobody (at least not me) is arguing for Walker as the better player. I'm just saying the trade makes no sense for Charlotte. Lottery picks, defense and contracts matter, and while IT is a helluva player and a top-5 scorer, he's NOT a top-5 player, and Walker is pretty darn good himself.

[CelticSince83]

Charlotte hangs up the phone. And I love IT.

You're talking about a guy in Walker who is almost as good offensively, much better defensively, a year younger, is signed on a friendly deal for 2 more years, and IT has an expiring deal and an injury. Then Charlotte throws in the #11 pick on top of it?

Many posters here have penciled in IT's next half decade at his 2017 clip.