WOJNAROWSKI: 'AINGE WANTS TO DEAL,' BUT CELTS OVERVALUE THEIR OWN PLAYERS

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/nba-trade-rumors-adrian-wojnarowski-links-boston-celtics-to-gordon-hayward-in-free-agency-says-nerlens-noel-stock-falling




WOJNAROWSKI: 'AINGE WANTS TO DEAL,' BUT CELTS OVERVALUE THEIR OWN PLAYERS



By CSN Staff


December 14, 2016 12:43 PM




Adrian Wojnarowski touched on both the Celtics and some of the team’s potential targets on The Vertical Podcast this week, leading off his Celtics discussion with Bobby Marks by stating what he admitted is the obvious.

“Boston’s sort of back where they always are,” Wojnarowski said. “Danny Ainge wants to do a deal.”


But what kind of deal? Wojnarowski said that Philadelphia’s Nerlens Noel is seeing his stock drop across the league. The more teams see of him, Wojnarowski said, the less teams like him.  

“The research teams have done on him is not good,” Wojnarowski said. “They don’t get good reports back, their intel on how he’s carried himself there, of his habits. It’s not a great return, so there are teams willing to do a deal for him and bring him in, but they don’t want to give up much, so at some point there Philly’s gotta make a decision, ‘What’s the best we can get for him?’ I think at some point he probably moves, too.”

Wojnarowski said Boston’s next big splash might not come until free agency, with small forward Gordon Hayward a prime target given his connection to Brad Stevens from their Butler days.

“Danny’s wanted to strike and, like everybody else, get that big star, get that big player," Wojnarowski said. "[Al] Horford was a big play and a great get in free agency. They can still keep their eye on Gordon Hayward from Utah who’s an unrestricted free agent this summer who played for Brad Stevens at Butler. It think there’s still strong hope in Utah that he’ll want to stay there.”

Wojnarowski added that Hayward liked Utah and would have ample reason to stay, so the Celtics should keep a close eye on the player when deciding whether they’ll give up major assets for someone else who might fill a similar role at the trade deadline.  

“But Boston’s got to keep their eye on [Hayward’s situation] and sort of monitor it and see [if] can they make a run at him,” Wojnarowski said. “Is he definitely going to re-sign there or might he take a look around in free agency this summer? I think Boston’s got to weigh all that with what kind of a deal they maybe try to get themselves involved with between now and the trade deadline.”

Just as interesting as the discussion about whom Ainge might target was a point made by Wojnarowski about how Ainge deals with the rest of the league. Wojnarowski seemed to have the sense that teams feel the Celtics overvalue their own players, including Marcus Smart.

“Boston’s interesting in that [they have] some good young players, they have draft picks they can put in deals and they have some veterans that hold some interest in places,” Wojnarowski said. “I do wonder sometimes if Boston might overvalue some of the players they have compared to what the rest of the league sees in them. I think Marcus Smart might be starting to fall into that category. His name’s been in some talks previously, and they’ve been pretty careful about who they’d give him up for.”



bob



.

AINGE UNDERVALUES PLAYERS. HE COULD HAVE SIGNED WHITESIDE WHO JUST HAD HIS 4TH 20/20 GAME.


CELTICS HAVE BEEN POOR IN THEIR EVALUATION OF BIG MEN FOR A LONG TIME.

112288

I think Ainge is like a lot of people on this board when it comes to overvaluing Smart. We do, because we still think he has something 'special' and 'it quality' that can make him an all-star if he puts it all together. 

Other teams can't view him as what he may now only have a 15-20% chance of becoming, they have to use metrics and 'most likely' scenarios and view him as what he has a 50-60% chance of becoming, a very goof backup SG who can't shoot very well, but defends at an all-league level and can facilitate the offense from time to time and tends to be clutch in big games. 

Ainge probably views him as the headliner of a trade offer, with non-Net's picks and guys like Young and Mickey as decent upside add-on's. The rest of the league probably doesn't give Young or Mickey a 2nd look, no thank you unless needed for salary cap purposes. They see the Net's pick as the headliner and Smart or Brown as the decent upside add-on player to sweeten the deal. And that is way much for Danny to give up unless it is for Cousins or someone we think is off the market like Butler or George.  

Rozier has nearly reached his peak, and that is a very good backup PG with some length and combo-guard ability to slide over to the wing. I think his presence allows the Celtics to trade Smart or Bradley in a whopper of a deal. But I think his ceiling is not much better than Smart's floor, which is why he's the player I prefer them to trade away, even if he might be more reliable and less frustrating for at least the next 1.5 seasons. At which point Smart better have broken out like Chauncey did 4-5 years into the league.

I have also heard that Noel is a pretty immature guy off the court. Trashes the places he lives, cigg butts, roaches and burn marks all over. Made a fake RIP tombstone with his landlord's name that they left in the yard when they moved out. Stuff like that. 

However, I know a lot of people who were very successful in the business world or just a steadily employed and well-off stand point who were super immature at 18/19-22/23 years of age. You'd think Noel would arrive to play for his hometown team a bit humbled from these revelations from how he behaved 1-2 years ago and not likely to repeat them in a contract year in Boston or even ever again beyond that as he'll be in a much more stable organization with winners and veterans around him and his family close by. He'll probably have a chip on his shoulder to for how things didn't work out in Philly and want to prove people wrong about him. 

If his stock has fallen low enough to do the below type trade for him I would pounce all over that:

From Philly - Nerlens Noel and Sergio Rodriguez
To Philly - Rozier, Young, Zeller, Mickey, 2nd rd pick in '17, our 1st rd pick in 2018