Forget Rubio. James Harden anyone?

[lon3lytoaster]

I would opt for forgetting any rookie when you have a core of aging superstars with a 2-3 year window to win it all. 

Keep the core together and worry about rebuilding after this team stops being a contender. 

I HATE this thinking. This and bad draft picks, and also not retaining the good ones are the reason we had to wait 20+ years to add another banner. If you can get Harden for Ray Allen, you do it. Or even Rondo if you're getting back other pieces in the trade.

Harden is GOING to be a stud, And with him and still hopefully Rondo still here, and experienced we won't have a significant drop off when Pierce and KG age. We'll still have Perkins, most likely who's one of the best defensive centers in the league at 24 and then you're a decent SF and PF away from contending again.

I've seen Harden. Multiple times. He might be a stud. He might not.

And I am not in the slightest bit interested in breaking up this starting 5 to get a "might."

Durant was a "Might" and no one thought Brandon Roy would be as good as he would be, either. If you can get Harden and something else for Ray, like I said. DO IT! It would ONLY be Ray, and with the exception of later in the Chicago series, he's making a habit of slumping in early playoff games. Is he important? Yes. Is he replaceable, though? Yes, he probably is. He's going to be what, 34, 35 this upcoming season? You can't hold onto the past forever.

I mean, really... I don't understand why people get so emotionally attatched to players like Ray. Paul is one thing, but Ray is another story entirely. We still have people who want Antoine back, for crying out loud. I love Antoine. I appreciate everything he did but I don't want him back. I love Ray, but would I cry if he was traded for a player like Harden, as well as something else? No.

[ManUp]

I highly doubt we trade Rondo, but Ray's on a whole different boat. If we can get two solid prospects who are ready to contribute along with veterans in exchange for Ray I think he's gone. 

Danny seems to stay away from Euros so I doubt it's Rubio (plus we have Rondo). Although he sounds like a typical Danny guy, I doubt anyone believes he'd try to acquire the 2nd pick just to nab Treke Evans who's projected to go 5-10 by just about everyone. At number two if Danny isn't picking Rubio, or Treke Evans it's got to be Harden. Harden is projected to be NBA ready, with a nice all-around game, all-star potential and  is probably the next best college player after Griffin.

If we're going to trade Ray for a player in this draft the most logical choice is Harden, IMHO.The only knock on Harden is that he's an average athlete, but he tested pretty well in the combines.

-James Harden tested out far better than anyone could have expected, which will likely cause teams to pay keener attention to his athleticism in competitive workouts. Harden’s 37” max vert tied him with a player than many consider one of the best athletes at the wing position in this draft in Terrence Williams, and had his 31.5” no step vert bettered him by a full inch. This is a clear case of a player testing well above the level teams project him at. The best example of that is in Harden’s 11.10 lane agility time, which is only .01 seconds behind the time posted by arguably the quickest point guard in the NBA, Chris Paul. Harden also showed good strength on the bench, throwing up 17 reps, but also recording the highest body fat percentage amongst wings with 10.1%.

Evans not so much.

-Tyreke Evans didn't stand out in many areas athleticially, posting one of the worst lane agility times amonst guards at 11.81 seconds, and didn't compensate with a great vertical, only leaping 34" in the max vert test. Considering what we've seen from Evans all season, it seems entirely likely that he was too aggressive in the agility drill and couldn't recover well enough to reflect his true quickness.

Just to add fuel to the fire...

We know the Wizards would be willing to trade the number 4 for an all-star 2 guard.
http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/59740/20090611/wizards_make_offer_for_ginobili/

They also worked out both Evans, and Harden the other day.
http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/59784/20090613/wizards_work_out_harden_evans/

Maybe Ainge has a deal in place if the player he wants is available at 4. They could give us two decent prospects, and some vets to add depth. Maybe Ford was on to something with that deal he slapped together.

...This is just me thinking out loud on what makes sense.

[lon3lytoaster]

Evans vertical topped out at 34 inches?  Not going to lie, even I can top that.

[jdpapa3]

Evans vertical topped out at 34 inches?  Not going to lie, even I can top that.

I bet your standing reach isn't 8'8" though. Lol. That's only one inch shorter than Blake Griffin's reach.

[beantownboy171]

Can I just say, that if danny gets offered, Mike James, Darius Songolia, and Etan Thomas along with the number 5 pick for ray allen, and he turns it down, he is an absolute mad-man.

To me this is the most absolute perfect trade, to help benefit the celtics current playoff hopes, while keeping our future in mind.

Not only do we got a guaranteed choice of tyreke evens and james harden (for allen's replacement assuming it goes griffin, rubio and thabeet as thought). But we would be essentially be trading rays talent, while maintaining the rights to trade rays contract.

We would have expiring contracts of james, thomas, scalibrine and TA which add up to be almost identical to rays. To me this trade is a no brainer. Teams that had interest in dumping salary for rays contract aren't going to be discouraged by different name on the contract, and all these trade ray allen threads would still have life.

And thats not to say that it wouldn't be a good trade as well for the wizards.

Let me just incorporate a few of the trades that have been shown in the past.

Celtics trade TA and Scal for Diop

Celtics trade etan thomas for Barbosa

Resign BBD

Draft Harden

Sign Quinton Ross to min contract

Sign powe to 2 mil a year

Cut giddens

Rondo James Pruitt
Barbosa House Walker
Pierce  Harden Ross
Garnett BBD Powe
Perkins Diop Moore

That looks nice enough to me. It would be one heck of an expensive team. But that is really the only drawback i see.

[beantownboy171]

One more thing, I also think it would help danny make trades, breaking up the 18 million dollar expiring contract into smaller seperate contracts. Not every trade partner has 18 million of bad contract to deal while still maintaining a fair trade for both sides.

[PosImpos]

Celtics trade etan thomas for Barbosa

this is only a minor part of your proposed scenario, but how exactly does this work?  is etan an expiring or something? 

[KungPoweChicken]

Can I just say, that if danny gets offered, Mike James, Darius Songolia, and Etan Thomas along with the number 5 pick for ray allen, and he turns it down, he is an absolute mad-man.

To me this is the most absolute perfect trade, to help benefit the celtics current playoff hopes, while keeping our future in mind.

Not only do we got a guaranteed choice of tyreke evens and james harden (for allen's replacement assuming it goes griffin, rubio and thabeet as thought). But we would be essentially be trading rays talent, while maintaining the rights to trade rays contract.

We would have expiring contracts of james, thomas, scalibrine and TA which add up to be almost identical to rays. To me this trade is a no brainer. Teams that had interest in dumping salary for rays contract aren't going to be discouraged by different name on the contract, and all these trade ray allen threads would still have life.

And thats not to say that it wouldn't be a good trade as well for the wizards.

Let me just incorporate a few of the trades that have been shown in the past.

Celtics trade TA and Scal for Diop

Celtics trade etan thomas for Barbosa

Resign BBD

Draft Harden

Sign Quinton Ross to min contract

Sign powe to 2 mil a year

Cut giddens

Rondo James Pruitt
Barbosa House Walker
Pierce  Harden Ross
Garnett BBD Powe
Perkins Diop Moore

That looks nice enough to me. It would be one heck of an expensive team. But that is really the only drawback i see.

I think Harden is going at the three spot as the Thunder seem pretty high on him. So it is an unlikely dream that you would see him available at five. Now about the two players: I, myself, think there is a big drop off in talent between Harden and Evans, with Evans being the one who clearly has less talent. Therefore, You're putting a lot of faith in a marginal talent, who could very well be a bust. That seems risky to me. What makes you think a guy like Evans is going to come in and pick up right where Ray left off?

[beantownboy171]

Can I just say, that if danny gets offered, Mike James, Darius Songolia, and Etan Thomas along with the number 5 pick for ray allen, and he turns it down, he is an absolute mad-man.

To me this is the most absolute perfect trade, to help benefit the celtics current playoff hopes, while keeping our future in mind.

Not only do we got a guaranteed choice of tyreke evens and james harden (for allen's replacement assuming it goes griffin, rubio and thabeet as thought). But we would be essentially be trading rays talent, while maintaining the rights to trade rays contract.

We would have expiring contracts of james, thomas, scalibrine and TA which add up to be almost identical to rays. To me this trade is a no brainer. Teams that had interest in dumping salary for rays contract aren't going to be discouraged by different name on the contract, and all these trade ray allen threads would still have life.

And thats not to say that it wouldn't be a good trade as well for the wizards.

Let me just incorporate a few of the trades that have been shown in the past.

Celtics trade TA and Scal for Diop

Celtics trade etan thomas for Barbosa

Resign BBD

Draft Harden

Sign Quinton Ross to min contract

Sign powe to 2 mil a year

Cut giddens

Rondo James Pruitt
Barbosa House Walker
Pierce  Harden Ross
Garnett BBD Powe
Perkins Diop Moore

That looks nice enough to me. It would be one heck of an expensive team. But that is really the only drawback i see.

I think Harden is going at the three spot as the Thunder seem pretty high on him. So it is an unlikely dream that you would see him available at five. Now about the two players: I, myself, think there is a big drop off in talent between Harden and Evans, with Evans being the one who clearly has less talent. Therefore, You're putting a lot of faith in a marginal talent, who could very well be a bust. That seems risky to me. What makes you think a guy like Evans is going to come in and pick up right where Ray left off?

Yah I'm pretty sure Harden won't be there as well. I just threw his name in there because we were in a thread about him.

But the beauty of the draft is we can wait to the number 5 pick to see who is avaliable. And really we don't know who is on danny's radar. He could have his eyes on thabeet for all we know.

The point of my post though was to say if that trade was completed with the wizards, we would have tons of options to replace allen and continue to fill in the bench, with 18 million in expiring contracts as well as the full MLE and LLE (both of which are not used in my scenario.)

Also unlike me. Ainge will have allen's replacement in mind, and in all likely hood have a deal in place, whether its a trade or a signing, to get allen's replacement. Sort of like the allen trade not making sense until the garnett trade.

[ManUp]

If Danny is going to trade Ray he better get more value than Thabeet and some bench players that won't stick.

[PosImpos]

If Danny is going to trade Ray he better get more value than Thabeet and some bench players that won't stick.

I'm sure we'd get more than that.  Thabeet can't be a guy Danny is really interested in, anyway, because a young center prospect is not what we really need.

[beantownboy171]

If Danny is going to trade Ray he better get more value than Thabeet and some bench players that won't stick.

I'm sure we'd get more than that.  Thabeet can't be a guy Danny is really interested in, anyway, because a young center prospect is not what we really need.

Yes exactly, all im saying is there is a circumstance in which a trade like this could work. We would have the luxury of waiting all the way up to the desired pick, if harden, or the guy danny wants is still on the board, he can do the trade.

Not to mention he wouldn't do this trade unless he had another deal in the waiting. So you can't leave that factor out of the deal. If we turn those two expiring deals we get in the trade for a guy like barbosa, or a guy along those lines, that would be part of the ray allen trade.

All the sudden you'd be getting a nice young rookie and established veteran for an aging shooter with an expiring contract. (although thats understating ray allen.)

[bopna]

Harden does look like a can't miss prospect and count me as one of those who do not oppose to trading Ray Allen for him....he is being compared with our very own Paul Pierce so who better to teach Harden than PP himself.