Mannix: "rival execs believe Boston makes run for Davis if NO season ends bad"

[JBcat]

If anyone has the assets to land Davis, it is the Boston Celtics.

But the Pelicans will ask for the moon.

Tatum + Brown + Morris + Crowder works in the trade machine. And they probably ask for the Brooklyn pick and the Lakers pick as well, though I doubt Ainge would surrender both.

How much would we be willing to part with? Is a Davis/Horford/IT/Hayward core good enough to win a championship? IMO it depends on whether Davis is as good as we think he could be. Hard to tell on that garbage squad in New Orleans.

The other potential trade route would involve dumping Horford to match salaries.

So Horford + Tatum/Brown + a pick for Davis + a toxic contract (either Solomon Hill or Omer Asik). Maybe we get a third team involved to give up some goods for Horford to send to NO.

In either scenario we would be losing major assets. But Davis is probably the best big man in the league. In the right situation he could lead a dynasty. He could feasibly end up being one of the top players of all time.

Hard to say "no" when a player of his caliber becomes available, those are literally once in a lifetime opportunities - assuming he is the player we think he is.

You could also add in Smart and take out one of Tatum or Brown. 

I personally like your second option involving Horford which we would have to include a 3rd team, and also taking back a toxic contract. You are trading less assets overall.  I know it's bad business to trade a recent big time FA like Horford, but for AD I think he'll understand. Ha

Edit: I think the second option is much more feasible in 2 years when Horford is in the last year of his contract, and Davis has 2 years remaining. 

You don't see often stars traded with 3 years left in his contract.  Most of the time it's within 2 years.

[BitterJim]

How does this work with the salaries?

By including Brown and/or Tatum along with Crowder, Morris, and filler I'd needed (Rozier/rookies)

[Darío SpanishFan]

Remember, it's not NOW. It's in 2018 at the earliest, when Smart is a FA (except he is extended in October) and the rookie-scaled salaries are higher than this year, so easier to match Davis'.

I don't think it deserves to be discussed as of today. Pipe dream at least a year more.

[greg683x]

If anyone has the assets to land Davis, it is the Boston Celtics

You could say the same about Jimmy Butler, Paul George, and Demarcus Cousins

[SHAQATTACK]

would be cool for sure

[saltlover]

Remember, it's not NOW. It's in 2018 at the earliest, when Smart is a FA (except he is extended in October) and the rookie-scaled salaries are higher than this year, so easier to match Davis'.

I don't think it deserves to be discussed as of today. Pipe dream at least a year more.

It's at the trade deadline at the earliest.  If New Orleans is in 10th place at the trade deadline with DeMarcus Cousins unhappy yet again and about to hit free agency, that will be a fine time to hit the reset button if Ainge puts forward the offer that he wasn't ready to for George.

[Androslav]

Rival executives = Christopher Columbus

We have been planning for that since 2014.

[Darío SpanishFan]

Remember, it's not NOW. It's in 2018 at the earliest, when Smart is a FA (except he is extended in October) and the rookie-scaled salaries are higher than this year, so easier to match Davis'.

I don't think it deserves to be discussed as of today. Pipe dream at least a year more.

It's at the trade deadline at the earliest.  If New Orleans is in 10th place at the trade deadline with DeMarcus Cousins unhappy yet again and about to hit free agency, that will be a fine time to hit the reset button if Ainge puts forward the offer that he wasn't ready to for George.

I had thought about it, but I don't think NO would pull the trigger before the end of the season. In this situation, they would try to get into the playoffs with the two bigs before Cousins possibly leaving. I can't see them hitting the reset button so heavily (to the extent of trading Davis) in the middle of a season when he is signed long term. Maybe they'd try to sell Cousins as high as possible, but...

Also, we have seen how difficult has been to clear room to sign Hayward (renouncing all our FAs, even our RFA and even waiving some guaranteed contract in Jackson). Would it be a good trade in midseason losing four rotation players for one? Chemistry and quality of the bench matter.

[Roy H.]

I'm sure the Celtics have already "taken a run" at Davis. It went like this:

[tonydelk]

What team wouldn't make a run for this guy??  He's a top 5 player in the NBA.  The ONLY way he ever gets moved is if it gets so bad he assures them he is leaving.  AD seems to like it where he is but you never know.  I expect him to stay.  I just can't see him traded unless the C's get two top 5 picks in the 2018 draft with potential franchise players being available.  And quite frankly I don't think AD on this team gets them over the hump so I'd rather the C's pick those franchise players and build a super team for the next 10 years.

[Surferdad]

Why wouldn't AD get this team over the hump?  I just don't understand what some people want sometimes.

[Eja117]

Quite unneccessary topic at this time, predicting something to happen at the end of next season. Most likely there will be thousands of other stories and scenarios at that time. Let us Ainge make plans, all the rest (such talks) are waste of time.

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but this entire forum is a waste of time.  I mean it's entertaining, but us talking about things is fun and won't actually result in the team making decisions

I don't believe the team makes all its decisions in a vacuum.

Yes, it's about time we recognized the awesome power of expressed opinions here on CB.  The only mystery is why Wyc bothers to pay Danny a big salary when he can always obtain superior advice for free by simply scanning our discussions!

There multiple people on this blog I'd choose way before some of the actual NBA GMs. Not Ainge

[hpantazo]

If anyone has the assets to land Davis, it is the Boston Celtics

You could say the same about Jimmy Butler, Paul George, and Demarcus Cousins

In all fairness, the Celtics had more than enough assets to land those players. They just decided to pass on them.

[jambr380]

Why wouldn't AD get this team over the hump?  I just don't understand what some people want sometimes.

It's not inconceivable that some people would rather keep Brown, Tatum, BKN '18, and the LAL/Sac pick if they think that GS is still unbeatable. Yes, I get that adding Davis to our current core would make us a very scary team; but, unless we are pretty much guaranteed a championship (like GS is now), then waiting a couple of years isn't a terrible idea.

Now, if Davis could be had for only two of the above players/picks, then it would make a whole lot more sense to try to add him to our team and compete now and in the future.

Unfortunately, GS pretty much ruined the NBA for a few years. Oh well.

[Fireworks_Boom!]

http://basketball.realgm.com/tradechecker/saved_trade/6911926

A trade package that would work would include brown, smart, Marcus Morris and J Crowder.  I'm sure the Brooklyn pick would be in play and potentially the Lakers/kings pic would also be in play.

 I'm not suggesting all of these parts but these would be the parts which New Orleans would angle for.