If Ainge Knew He Would Get Irving, Would He Have Kept Bradley?

[Fafnir]

No I don't think so, he was still the logical one to move to make space for Hayward. I am curious if they will retain Smart now with Irving in the fold.

Honestly, I think this affirms DA will keep Smart unless, God forbid, some brutal injury occurs or a team like NOP wants him in a package for Davis.

I'm not so sure Danny will invest in a deal for Smart if he's already paying a star PG a max deal. With IT it made some sense to keep some youth at that position by Kyrie already does that.

I guess a ton depends on how well those two players fit in the same rotation now as we're pretty darn committed to Kyrie long term now.

[GRADYCOLNON]

Bradley's biggest value was stopping Irving ( and other amazing point guards).  We don't have to worry about guarding Irving anymore, so losing him isn't as hard.  And throw in that Brown is turning into an incredible defender with Marcus Smart, I'm fairly content with moving from Bradley. 

Bradley will always be one of those great Celtics that doesn't get the recognition by the franchise he deserves.  But all the fans will remember what he did and what he helped the team achieve.  He is this generation's Gerald Henderson.

[Phantom255x]

Bradley's biggest value was stopping Irving ( and other amazing point guards).  We don't have to worry about guarding Irving anymore, so losing him isn't as hard.  And throw in that Brown is turning into an incredible defender with Marcus Smart, I'm fairly content with moving from Bradley. 

Bradley will always be one of those great Celtics that doesn't get the recognition by the franchise he deserves.  But all the fans will remember what he did and what he helped the team achieve.  He is this generation's Gerald Henderson.

Yep, hopefully Smart and Brown take a bit of a leap this season, defense included.

I was actually impressed when Smart D'd up on John Wall during the playoffs. Even though it was primarily Bradley, when Smart was on him, he never made it easy and a few times even stripped the ball from Wall late in games leading to big buckets.

Obviously he wasn't 100% perfect but he's getting there. Still fairly young and hopefully Brown takes that step this season too.

I bring up Wall because, along with the Bucks, I think we will be in a fierce rivalry with Washington for years to come, especially if Lebron does leave Cleveland and moves out West after this year.

[biggs]

I'm gonna say no. I get the feeling that Ainge didn't want to pay IT or Bradley the big bucks, and if that's the case, I agree with him. Both Detroit and Cleveland will have to overpay these two if they choose to re-sign them

[GRADYCOLNON]

Bradley's biggest value was stopping Irving ( and other amazing point guards).  We don't have to worry about guarding Irving anymore, so losing him isn't as hard.  And throw in that Brown is turning into an incredible defender with Marcus Smart, I'm fairly content with moving from Bradley. 

Bradley will always be one of those great Celtics that doesn't get the recognition by the franchise he deserves.  But all the fans will remember what he did and what he helped the team achieve.  He is this generation's Gerald Henderson.

Yep, hopefully Smart and Brown take a bit of a leap this season, defense included.

I was actually impressed when Smart D'd up on John Wall during the playoffs. Even though it was primarily Bradley, when Smart was on him, he never made it easy and a few times even stripped the ball from Wall late in games leading to big buckets.

Obviously he wasn't 100% perfect but he's getting there. Still fairly young and hopefully Brown takes that step this season too.

I bring up Wall because, along with the Bucks, I think we will be in a fierce rivalry with Washington for years to come, especially if Lebron does leave Cleveland and moves out West after this year.

I think Wall will be a rival for this season and the next.  Afterwards, I don't think they can keep up improving their team.  Ainge brought in 11 new players and we got better.  Wizards are the same team and didn't bring any new talent into their top 8 players.

[CelticSooner]

No because as good as AB is $20+ million would be better suited on players that move the needle.

[Erik]

Bradley's biggest value was stopping Irving ( and other amazing point guards).  We don't have to worry about guarding Irving anymore, so losing him isn't as hard.  And throw in that Brown is turning into an incredible defender with Marcus Smart, I'm fairly content with moving from Bradley. 

Bradley will always be one of those great Celtics that doesn't get the recognition by the franchise he deserves.  But all the fans will remember what he did and what he helped the team achieve.  He is this generation's Gerald Henderson.

Not sure if you saw the ECF but no one stopped Kyrie... including AB. And now we have him on our team!

[timpiker]

As much as we liked Avery and IT they just are not worth the money it would've taken