NBA Rumors: Celtics’ Core Players ‘Absolutely Not Available’ In Trades

https://nesn.com/2019/11/nba-rumors-celtics-core-players-absolutely-not-available-in-trades/



NBA Rumors: Celtics’ Core Players ‘Absolutely Not Available’ In Trades



by Ricky Doyle

on Wed, Nov 20, 2019 at 1:56PM




The Celtics own the best record in the Eastern Conference through roughly one month of the 2019-20 NBA season, so it should come as no surprise that Boston president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is in no rush to break up the band.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported Wednesday, while exploring whether the Celtics could trade for a center at some point, that Boston has no plans to deal any of its core players, including Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart.

Here’s what Windhorst wrote:

The reality is, the Celtics don’t have easy options even if they were determined to upgrade in the middle. While one could have some fun with the Trade Machine, Boston has made it clear to anyone who has asked that their core players are absolutely not available. That includes, sources said, both Hayward and Smart, players who have been floated as possible trade chips in the past.

Presumably, the “core” includes Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in addition to Hayward and Smart, in which case finding a trade partner could prove difficult for Boston. As Windhorst mentions, only two other players — Enes Kanter ($4.8 million) and Daniel Theis ($5 million) — are scheduled to earn more than $4 million this season. It’ll be hard to match salaries. Plus, Kanter and Theis are centers, so it wouldn’t make much sense to trade either, anyway.

This doesn’t mean the Celtics won’t make a trade before the Feb. 6 deadline. They still have several intriguing young players and a collection of draft picks, including the Memphis Grizzlies’ first-rounder that is top-six protected in 2020 and unprotected in 2021. Swinging a deal would require some serious creativity from Trader Danny, however, and the Celtics thus far have shown an ability to win games despite lacking size up front.



bob
MY NOTE: This may be true as long as Giannis doesn't become available. Heheh.



.

But the Celtics giving up assets to acquire Giannis, hypothetically, would be akin to lighting an exploding cigar.



KJ

Something tells me DA would part with Smart, Gordon and or Walker (only 1) plus another player and/or pick for a stud player.

Giannis is going to LA Lakers, LeBron, Davis, Giannis, do not need anyone else. Davis will get his wish, he won’t play Center, Giannis will take over there. LeBron is going to be the whole backcourt, forget having to give the ball up to anyone else. Three on five.......watch, it will happen

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Giannis is going to LA Lakers, LeBron, Davis, Giannis, do not need anyone else. Davis will get his wish, he won’t play Center, Giannis will take over there. LeBron is going to be the whole backcourt, forget having to give the ball up to anyone else. Three on five.......watch, it will happen

If it happens, I may stop watching the NBA.

Giannis will be getting a max contract. LAL may not be able to fit him into their roster. Plus it remains a possibility that Giannis stays with the Bucks.

I think the contract situation goes right along with the desire to keep the young core together. Boston is pretty much capped at this point. To bring in a significant player, with their own high-dollar deal, you have to swap at least one if not two of our promising young ones.

Who do you deal for, and who do you part with? Pretty universal that you need a center, PF, or both? OK. So who do you part with? And remember, if it's late in the season, teams willing to deal and dump a big contract aren't likely to want to be tied to another big long-term agreement unless it's a very promising young player. So let's rule Kanter out of any deal (no offense to Kanter).

So who goes?

Brown? No; reasonably big contract he just signed, so he's out. Unless the other team is trading an aging high-priced vet to be used as a band-aid by his new team. Plus doing so in order to take on a prized young player. Who makes that deal? Not the Celtics, who are young and thinking long-term. So not Brown for a band-aid. Dealing Brown, then? No.

Smart? Also a relatively pricey and fairly new deal. Emerging as the heart and soul of the Celtics, and as one of the pre-eminent defenders in the league. As woeful as last season was, things only picked up at all due to his return. Sound like a trading chip? No.

Walker? So who is the new point guard? Smart? OK, he fits. Who's behind him? Wanamaker? Nice player, but as critical as the position is, are Smart and Wanamaker a championship pair at point? No.

Hayward? Deal's about done, so a team needing a rental shooter to put them over the top, and having a deep stable of bigs might bite. But wait, trading a young big with a bright future for a rental? And considering that he looked like he was returning to form before the hand injury, do you want to deal him? And if you're the other team, and Gordon has had two consecutive freak injuries involving bone fractures, do you take a chance? Gordon going? No.

Tatum? I can leave the rest of this line blank, right?

So is the core group "absolutely not available?" Not only do they stay due to potential, but they stay because between money and risk for the other team, Boston is not a good trading partner.

After the season, and involving the Memphis pick, maybe. And my own guess is not even then. No trades of significance on the horizon at this time.

For now, I believe the core group stays. Absolutely.

If anyone were to be traded, my guess is GH. Let me say right out front, I don't advocate moving him. Love his game and the way he fits with this year's team. However, if anyone of our core were to be traded, Gordon makes the most sense. If he comes back and continues playing at this obvious allstar level, then he would almost certainly opt out of the last year of his deal. Free agent market will be weak next year, and assuming GH continues to excel, he could cash in for a new deal and provide his family with more security. I don't even know if the Celtics could match a big offer, and I am not sure they would since they are so invested in their young wings JT and JB. Thus if he walks, no return. If he regresses, then the Celtics would be motivated to get out of the last year of his big salary. Again, I really want to keep the gang together for a run, but if anyone goes, I think it would be Gordon.

Our wings along with Smart and Kenba are so good that you do not need a high profile center. Mainly we need defense and rebounding at the 5. The Raptors, GSW and the Cavs did not win because of a top guy at center.

I think we need to let our center rotation continue to develop.

I am not trading any of our top core players especially Hayward.

Agreed dboss. Hayward is one of those guys you just really like to watch now that he is back to original form. But you have to watch him put up his 25 points the whole game. Then when you get to the end of the game, you think, "Oh Crap! Kemba dropped 32! How did that happen?!! And then you have either of the J-sqaured put up a 20 & 10 and MS hits 4-5 3's and you have a great non-traditional NBA victory night in and night out.

We saw vs. Clips what our only problem is with the 3-ball part of the above scenario. And it's the same thing it has been every year since the introduction of the new NBA style. If the stars all line up and everyone is off from deep, there will be problems. But the script says to keep firing from deep. And it is right in that we were still in that game to the end of OT regardless of the low 3 percentages.

We keep seeing the old schooler's articles pipe back up with "Well the Celtics don't have a big. How are they going to win the championship without the traditional big? Just like you said GSW did. Run the bigs off the floor.

db

dbrown4 wrote:Agreed dboss.  Hayward is one of those guys you just really like to watch now that he is back to original form.  But you have to watch him put up his 25 points the whole game.  Then when you get to the end of the game, you think, "Oh Crap!  Kemba dropped 32!  How did that happen?!!  And then you have either of the J-sqaured put up a 20 & 10 and MS hits 4-5 3's and you have a great non-traditional NBA victory night in and night out.  

We saw vs. Clips what our only problem is with the 3-ball part of the above scenario.  And it's the same thing it has been every year since the introduction of the new NBA style.  If the stars all line up and everyone is off from deep, there will be problems.  But the script says to keep firing from deep.  And it is right in that we were still in that game to the end of OT  regardless of the low 3 percentages.

We keep seeing the old schooler's articles pipe back up with "Well the Celtics don't have a big.  How are they going to win the championship without the traditional big?  Just like you said GSW did.  Run the bigs off the floor.  

db  

DB

The pundits are still living in a 2D universe.  But Boston is taking the 3 and D universe to places where no man has gone before.

The GSW template is alive and residing in Boston.  This team was built by Danny Ainge to be a player in today's NBA.  This team is being coached to exploit their strengths.  Speed and quickness, agility and interchangeability reflected at the skill positions.

dboss wrote:Our wings along with Smart and Kenba are so good that you do not need a high profile center.  Mainly we need defense and rebounding at the 5.  The Raptors, GSW and the Cavs did not win because of a top guy at center.

I think we need to let our center rotation continue to develop.  

I am not trading any of our top core players especially Hayward.  

Ditto exactly

Hopefully tonight we can run the Joker off the floor. It takes a whole lot of effort to run 285 lbs up and down the floor for 4 quarters chasing the likes of Kemba Walker. I don't want this 5-game road trip to go down as a moral victory learning experience as a 2-3 record would bring. The balls didn't bounce our way at the end in two of the games. Otherwise, we'd be looking at 4-0 right now. 3-2 would be very satisfying and well earned.

db

dboss wrote:

dbrown4 wrote:Agreed dboss.  Hayward is one of those guys you just really like to watch now that he is back to original form.  But you have to watch him put up his 25 points the whole game.  Then when you get to the end of the game, you think, "Oh Crap!  Kemba dropped 32!  How did that happen?!!  And then you have either of the J-sqaured put up a 20 & 10 and MS hits 4-5 3's and you have a great non-traditional NBA victory night in and night out.  

We saw vs. Clips what our only problem is with the 3-ball part of the above scenario.  And it's the same thing it has been every year since the introduction of the new NBA style.  If the stars all line up and everyone is off from deep, there will be problems.  But the script says to keep firing from deep.  And it is right in that we were still in that game to the end of OT  regardless of the low 3 percentages.

We keep seeing the old schooler's articles pipe back up with "Well the Celtics don't have a big.  How are they going to win the championship without the traditional big?  Just like you said GSW did.  Run the bigs off the floor.  

db  

DB

The pundits are still living in a 2D universe.  But Boston is taking the 3 and D universe to places where no man has gone before.

The GSW template is alive and residing in Boston.  This team was built by Danny Ainge to be a player in today's NBA.  This team is being coached to exploit their strengths.  Speed and quickness, agility and interchangeability reflected at the skill positions.

Up to now our defense has exceeded my expectations, the 3 elite wing line up works.

dbrown4 wrote:Hopefully tonight we can run the Joker off the floor.  It takes a whole lot of effort to run 285 lbs up and down the floor for 4 quarters chasing the likes of Kemba Walker.  I don't want this 5-game road trip to go down as a moral victory learning experience as a 2-3 record would bring.  The balls didn't bounce our way at the end in two of the games.  Otherwise, we'd be looking at 4-0 right now.  3-2 would be very satisfying and well earned.    

db  

The Celtics dropped two games on this trip by a total of 4 points.

1 point if you go by regulation....but who's counting?!!

db