2017- The Year Superstars got traded and the plan changed

[IDreamCeltics]

With Paul George and Butler both being traded for very reasonable sums it seems the plan has changed.

Since the trade of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett all parties involved: Ainge, Grousbeck, the fans, the Media, other teams had agreed that the point of hording assets was to wait for those rare occasions when a superstar becomes available. 

After this offseason, that conclusion has to be seen as a fallacy. Superstars became available and - even though it seems most likely that the Celtics had the assets to acquire both Butler and George - they chose to pass on both.   

Gordon Hayward reportedly remains a free-agent target, but is not a top 10 NBA player in any statistical category.  If he is signed, the Celtics will have two non-superstars signed to max deals and be at their cap limit.

I do not know if the Celtics squandered their window of assets and cap space or not, but I do know that 2017 will go down as the year we realized that the plan had undeniably changed.

[RJ87]

Don't forget Demarcus Cousins.

3 stars traded in half a season.

[green_bballers13]

With Paul George and Butler both being traded for very reasonable sums it seems the plan has changed.

Since the trade of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett all parties involved: Ainge, Grousbeck, the fans, the Media, other teams had agreed that the point of hording assets was to wait for those rare occasions when a superstar becomes available. 

After this offseason, that conclusion has to be seen as a fallacy. Superstars became available and - even though it seems most likely that the Celtics had the assets to acquire both Butler and George - they chose to pass on both.   

Gordon Hayward reportedly remains a free-agent target, but is not a top 10 NBA player in any statistical category.  If he is signed, the Celtics will have two non-superstars signed to max deals and be at their cap limit.

I do not know if the Celtics squandered their window of assets and cap space or not, but I do know that 2017 will go down as the year we realized that the plan had undeniably changed.

How is it undeniable that Danny wanted to overpay Blake Griffin or trade assets for a PG13 rental? I never saw that as the long term plan.

[flybono]

The George deal for 1 year was not worth the time and effort..

The ? To Ainge is, why not a strong push for a Butler trade who had a friendly contract and fit a need?

Now with IT's injury, does he need surgery or not? That in itself would be a huge question mark for potential free agents signing here..

[td450]

Paul George did not make an all-NBA team
Jimmy Butler made 3rd team all-NBA
DeMarcus Cousins did not make an all-NBA team

They are stars, not superstars

[Yoki_IsTheName]

The George deal for 1 year was not worth the time and effort..

The ? To Ainge is, why not a strong push for a Butler trade who had a friendly contract and fit a need?

Now with IT's injury, does he need surgery or not? That in itself would be a huge question mark for potential free agents signing here..

I agree, we placed a good offer and they ain't having it.

What makes this sucks is this might push us out of the Gordon Hayward race. When that happens, these are the questions we ask now.

1. Should we have trade the pick that turned into Jaylen Brown for Jimmy Butler?

2. Should we have went for Boogie, or other players, instead of not doing a deal "to save cap room" that we weren't able to use?

[saltlover]

I don't see how anyone could go from Ainge's statement at the beginning of the rebuild of "You build through the draft" to where we are today and feel the plan has remotely changed.

[BringToughnessBack]

Seems to me that Danny's plan is still on target. Not mortgaging the future for players who will not be here long term or will not be a detriment to the team they are building. The plan looks good to me so far.

Butler would not bring us closer to beating the Warriors or Cavs. George is going to LA next year. Cousins still has not seen a single playoff game in his career. We are not talking about the Celtics missing out on KG here.

The biggest loss we had in the past 2 years is having Durant not choose us over the Warriors..that would have been the game changer for our team but instead we have a longer road to get back to the promised land. We will get there in time.

[Sketch5]

I wonder if NO is watching this now worried that they can't build around AD how much they are going to get back in his last year.

Come on NO be desperate and dumb and trade AD for the Nets/LA/Memph/Clips/Smart and Yabu.

While unrealistic, WAY more than anyone else got for their players. 

[RJ87]

Paul George did not make an all-NBA team
Jimmy Butler made 3rd team all-NBA
DeMarcus Cousins did not make an all-NBA team

They are stars, not superstars

Stop that.

Demarcus Cousins is a 3x All-Star and widely considered the best big man in the league.

Jimmy Butler is a 3x All-Star, 3x All-Defense, All-NBA player.

Paul George is a 4x All-Star, 4x All-Defense, 3x All-NBA player.

All of them are 27 or under. If these aren't the guys you're trying to acquire with assets, then what are you trying to do? 

And let's just get this out of the way: ANTHONY DAVIS HAS 4 YEARS LEFT ON HIS DEAL, HE IS NOT COMING. New Orleans traded for Cousins and just gave Holiday a big deal. They're gonna try to build with that team. He is not Ainge's unicorn.

[green_bballers13]

Paul George did not make an all-NBA team
Jimmy Butler made 3rd team all-NBA
DeMarcus Cousins did not make an all-NBA team

They are stars, not superstars

Stop that.

Demarcus Cousins is a 3x All-Star and widely considered the best big man in the league.

Jimmy Butler is a 3x All-Star, 3x All-Defense, All-NBA player.

Paul George is a 4x All-Star, 4x All-Defense, 3x All-NBA player.

All of them are 27 or under. If these aren't the guys you're trying to acquire with assets, then what are you trying to do? 

And let's just this out of the way: ANTHONY DAVIS HAS 4 YEARS LEFT ON HIS DEAL, HE IS NOT COMING. New Orleans traded for Cousins and just gave Holiday a big deal. They're gonna try to build with that team. He is not Ainge's unicorn.

I'm with TD450. What does superstar mean if we're handing that name out to all the top 20 players? This is a game of semantics, but I think superstar should be reserved for top 5 or top 3 players.

In my opinion, PG13 and Cousins are barely top 10, and Butler is top 20.

[RJ87]

Paul George did not make an all-NBA team
Jimmy Butler made 3rd team all-NBA
DeMarcus Cousins did not make an all-NBA team

They are stars, not superstars

Stop that.

Demarcus Cousins is a 3x All-Star and widely considered the best big man in the league.

Jimmy Butler is a 3x All-Star, 3x All-Defense, All-NBA player.

Paul George is a 4x All-Star, 4x All-Defense, 3x All-NBA player.

All of them are 27 or under. If these aren't the guys you're trying to acquire with assets, then what are you trying to do? 

And let's just this out of the way: ANTHONY DAVIS HAS 4 YEARS LEFT ON HIS DEAL, HE IS NOT COMING. New Orleans traded for Cousins and just gave Holiday a big deal. They're gonna try to build with that team. He is not Ainge's unicorn.

I'm with TD450. What does superstar mean if we're handing that name out to all the top 20 players? This is a game of semantics, but I think superstar should be reserved for top 5 or top 3 players.

In my opinion, PG13 and Cousins are barely top 10, and Butler is top 20.

I'll sip the green kool-aid for a sec.

If we go by that logic, that only the top 5 are superstars.  That means LeBron, Durant, Curry, Kawhi, Westbrook. We have no shot at any of them. I feel pretty comfortable saying I don't see any real way any of those guys are traded anytime soon. So why are we holding out for players we have shot at? That's circular logic at best.

Name another under 30 star that we may be able to obtain via trade realistically. Again, I emphasize realistically so that doesn't mean Anthony Davis.

[TheSundanceKid]

I don't see how any of this affects the Gordon Hayward sweepstakes. We were apparently the favourites before all this nonsense began. Neither Miami nor Utah have made improvements so tinkering nothing has changed.

As for the general plan I don't think the plan has changed. But the longer time went on the more likely we were to follow our 'plan b' of growing the youth in a winning environment.

Butler or George only worked in a world where we already have Hayward. Unless we were willing to give up Brown or Tatum to get them then it had to happen after signing Hayward.
Butler was traded on draft night so it would have meant not being in the Hayward sweepstakes and no Crowder or Bradley. George was moved before the start of free agency so the Pacers clearly wanted to move him before then as well. There's nothing we can do about that.

What will be interesting is if there's another target out there locked in long term for us to target. Still feel confident we can get Hayward if that's the path we choose to travel.

[RJ87]

Butler or George only worked in a world where we already have Hayward. Unless we were willing to give up Brown or Tatum to get them then it had to happen after signing Hayward.

Okc and Indy won't complete the trade until July 7th, the day after free agents can sign. We could've come to a similar arrangement.

[td450]

Paul George did not make an all-NBA team
Jimmy Butler made 3rd team all-NBA
DeMarcus Cousins did not make an all-NBA team

They are stars, not superstars

Stop that.

Demarcus Cousins is a 3x All-Star and widely considered the best big man in the league.

Jimmy Butler is a 3x All-Star, 3x All-Defense, All-NBA player.

Paul George is a 4x All-Star, 4x All-Defense, 3x All-NBA player.

All of them are 27 or under. If these aren't the guys you're trying to acquire with assets, then what are you trying to do? 

And let's just get this out of the way: ANTHONY DAVIS HAS 4 YEARS LEFT ON HIS DEAL, HE IS NOT COMING. New Orleans traded for Cousins and just gave Holiday a big deal. They're gonna try to build with that team. He is not Ainge's unicorn.

There are about a dozen guys in the league with the kind of credentials you are citing. They are great players but we've gotten to the top of the league's second tier without them, and in a couple of years, we will have drafted 5 top 6 draft picks, none of whom start for us yet.

These players could help us compete against Cleveland and GS, but only if the deal is a net positive. They don't match up favorably against LeBron, Kawhi Leonard or Durant. They would need superior support guys to win. Clearing out AB and Crowder to get them isn't enough of an improvement.

The Celtics passed on Cousins for character issues. Let's see how valuable he is. If he really is what you think he is, the Pelicans should be a playoff team. I doubt they will be.

It's pretty clear Boston offered much more for Paul George than OKC did, but they didn't want to wait. As someone who was rooting against that deal, I'm relieved. It was a problematic deal.

Time will tell if passing on Butler was a good idea. Ainge clearly prefers getting Hayward as a free agent. Trading for Butler would have screwed that up.

If we don't get Hayward, I think its fair to say Ainge screwed up. But if we get him, that's a better plan than any of these guys coming via trade.