NBA insiders - "Celts hit a home run, SHOCKED by how much value they got"

[EDWARDO]

I'm sure many of you have listened to this as well, but was listening to the BS Report with Chad Lowe and the conversation was about the choice that aging contenders (like the Mavs and Celtics) are forced to make. Lowe said that the Celtics had effectively made the choice that the Mavs are now making when they signed Terry and Lee last year. They were going to try to stay relevant and stick with the veterans and see if they could catch a few breaks and get back to the ECF again. (I personally would say this was a good choice to make, whereas the Mavs have 0% chance of getting anywhere next year.) Once their best player got hurt, they were no longer in a position of thinking they could progress with that core.

Lowe has been in Vegas for the Summer League games and has been networking like crazy and talking to all the NBA insiders. The main topic of conversation around the league is the trade and "the buzz around Vegas is that the Celtics hit a home run with that trade, people were shocked with how much value they got". Lowe actually argues that the Celtics should have blown it up LAST year and that there is/was no other clear path back to relevancy.

Now that we're over a month from the trade, I'm wondering how people feel about the value we got in the trade. Setting aside the person feelings for Pierce (Simmons agreed that the value that the got was great, but seemed a bit hung up on the idea that Pierce may have deserved the choice to retire as a Celtic).

I, for one, would agree with the above: the haul we got for 3 guys on the decline was pretty incredible and could not be passed up.

What do you guys think?

[Yogi]

There is no doubt.  At the worst case for Pierce, KG and Terry we got:

Three late first round picks, and the right to swap first round picks in one year.

17 Million in expiring.

Bird Rights to Kris Humphries.

Marshon Brooks.

10M Trade Exception.

Gerald Wallace.

All while SHEDDING salary this year and maintaining good will from KG and Pierce by sending them to a contender.  It's kind of unbelievable how great of a haul this was. 

[LilRip]

agreed. From a business/team standpoint, it was a great trade. From an emotionalfan standpoint, it sucked.

[gar]

Pretty happy how things worked out. By packaging Pierce and Garnett I think it maximized the value we got in return. Excited by the picks and hoping Brooks can turn into a decent player.

[GreenEnvy]

I don't see it. They traded 3 players (granted, all past their prime), 2 of which still are difference-makers, for:

A bad contract (Wallace).
An expensive expiring role player contract (Humphries).
An expiring end of bench guy contract (Bogans).
A chucker (Brooks).
A trade exception ($10.3M).
An all but guaranteed late first-rounder (2014).
Two future probable non-lottery picks (2016, 2018).
And the right to swap picks with a team with deep pockets (2017).


Which of these seem like anything worth bragging about?

Trade exceptions usually go unused. Big expirings usually don't net anything more than some overpaid veteran that a team no longer wants. Young, inefficient chuckers usually stay inefficient chuckers. The draft is always a crapshoot, and usually you don't find all-stars in the 20's.


I just don't see how this one cleared the fence. Shallow fly ball to me.

[Yogi]

I don't see it. They traded 3 players (granted, all past their prime), 2 of which still are difference-makers, for:

A bad contract (Wallace).
An expensive expiring role player contract (Humphries).
An expiring end of bench guy contract (Bogans).
A chucker (Brooks).
A trade exception ($10.3M).
An all but guaranteed late first-rounder (2014).
Two future probable non-lottery picks (2016, 2018).
And the right to swap picks with a team with deep pockets (2017).


Which of these seem like anything worth bragging about?

Trade exceptions usually go unused. Big expirings usually don't net anything more than some overpaid veteran that a team no longer wants. Young, inefficient chuckers usually stay inefficient chuckers. The draft is always a crapshoot, and usually you don't find all-stars in the 20's.


I just don't see how this one cleared the fence. Shallow fly ball to me.

What do you expect to get for 35,36 and 37 year olds making 30 Million dollars a year who can't carry a team past the first round by themselves?  Were you expecting an all-star? or perhaps a lottery pick?

[lightspeed5]

I don't see it. They traded 3 players (granted, all past their prime), 2 of which still are difference-makers, for:

A bad contract (Wallace).
An expensive expiring role player contract (Humphries).
An expiring end of bench guy contract (Bogans).
A chucker (Brooks).
A trade exception ($10.3M).
An all but guaranteed late first-rounder (2014).
Two future probable non-lottery picks (2016, 2018).
And the right to swap picks with a team with deep pockets (2017).


Which of these seem like anything worth bragging about?

Trade exceptions usually go unused. Big expirings usually don't net anything more than some overpaid veteran that a team no longer wants. Young, inefficient chuckers usually stay inefficient chuckers. The draft is always a crapshoot, and usually you don't find all-stars in the 20's.


I just don't see how this one cleared the fence. Shallow fly ball to me.

What do you expect to get for 35,36 and 37 year olds making 30 Million dollars a year who can't carry a team past the first round by themselves?  Were you expecting an all-star? or perhaps a lottery pick?

nets offered a lotto pick last year for pierce. the pick ended up being damian lillard.

[rondoallaturca]

nets offered a lotto pick last year for pierce. the pick ended up being damian lillard.

Lillard was already drafted last year.

[Yogi]

I don't see it. They traded 3 players (granted, all past their prime), 2 of which still are difference-makers, for:

A bad contract (Wallace).
An expensive expiring role player contract (Humphries).
An expiring end of bench guy contract (Bogans).
A chucker (Brooks).
A trade exception ($10.3M).
An all but guaranteed late first-rounder (2014).
Two future probable non-lottery picks (2016, 2018).
And the right to swap picks with a team with deep pockets (2017).


Which of these seem like anything worth bragging about?

Trade exceptions usually go unused. Big expirings usually don't net anything more than some overpaid veteran that a team no longer wants. Young, inefficient chuckers usually stay inefficient chuckers. The draft is always a crapshoot, and usually you don't find all-stars in the 20's.


I just don't see how this one cleared the fence. Shallow fly ball to me.

What do you expect to get for 35,36 and 37 year olds making 30 Million dollars a year who can't carry a team past the first round by themselves?  Were you expecting an all-star? or perhaps a lottery pick?

nets offered a lotto pick last year for pierce. the pick ended up being damian lillard.

1.  I guess you mean two years ago.  2.  That is not verified, it was a claim made by Bill Simmons.  3.  We got the guy they traded that pick for in Gerald Wallace and more.  4.  It might have been worse than the 6th overall if they had Pierce instead of Wallace.

[footey]

It was a steal.  So was the trade of Doc for a first round pick.  Thank you, Danny...

[lightspeed5]

nets offered a lotto pick last year for pierce. the pick ended up being damian lillard.

Lillard was already drafted last year.

we were offered the nets lotto pick at the deadline  but the nets chose wallace isntead.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/7690823/new-jersey-nets-acquire-forward-gerald-wallace-portland-trail-blazers

[gpap]

Looking back, two months later, I wish the Clippers deal worked out instead with Doc and KG going to LA for Deandre Jordan, Caron Butler and a future 1st (or was it two future 1sts? Can't remember.)

ONLY because I think having a center in Deandre Jordan would've filled more of a need.

Plus, we still would've gotten an expiring in Caron Butler and at least one future 1st.

And we also would've avoided a logjam at the 2 and 4 which we got in the Brooklyn deal with Bogans, Brooks and Humph.

But that's the fault of the NBA for not allowing a coach and player to be included in a trade together.

As for the Brooklyn deal, it was probably the next best deal we were going to get for Pierce and KG. Plus they took Terry's contract off our hands.

[GreenEnvy]

I don't see it. They traded 3 players (granted, all past their prime), 2 of which still are difference-makers, for:

A bad contract (Wallace).
An expensive expiring role player contract (Humphries).
An expiring end of bench guy contract (Bogans).
A chucker (Brooks).
A trade exception ($10.3M).
An all but guaranteed late first-rounder (2014).
Two future probable non-lottery picks (2016, 2018).
And the right to swap picks with a team with deep pockets (2017).


Which of these seem like anything worth bragging about?

Trade exceptions usually go unused. Big expirings usually don't net anything more than some overpaid veteran that a team no longer wants. Young, inefficient chuckers usually stay inefficient chuckers. The draft is always a crapshoot, and usually you don't find all-stars in the 20's.


I just don't see how this one cleared the fence. Shallow fly ball to me.

What do you expect to get for 35,36 and 37 year olds making 30 Million dollars a year who can't carry a team past the first round by themselves?  Were you expecting an all-star? or perhaps a lottery pick?

Something isn't always better than nothing.

I would expect more than crap. We got a lot in the trade, a lot of crap. Nothing worthy of calling it value or a home run.

Any way you slice it, they definitely gave up the two best players, regardless of age. Factoring what two of them meant to the franchise makes it even worse.

[esel1000]

I don't see it. They traded 3 players (granted, all past their prime), 2 of which still are difference-makers, for:

A bad contract (Wallace).
An expensive expiring role player contract (Humphries).
An expiring end of bench guy contract (Bogans).
A chucker (Brooks).
A trade exception ($10.3M).
An all but guaranteed late first-rounder (2014).
Two future probable non-lottery picks (2016, 2018).
And the right to swap picks with a team with deep pockets (2017).


Which of these seem like anything worth bragging about?

Trade exceptions usually go unused. Big expirings usually don't net anything more than some overpaid veteran that a team no longer wants. Young, inefficient chuckers usually stay inefficient chuckers. The draft is always a crapshoot, and usually you don't find all-stars in the 20's.


I just don't see how this one cleared the fence. Shallow fly ball to me.

What do you expect to get for 35,36 and 37 year olds making 30 Million dollars a year who can't carry a team past the first round by themselves?  Were you expecting an all-star? or perhaps a lottery pick?

nets offered a lotto pick last year for pierce. the pick ended up being damian lillard.

1.  I guess you mean two years ago.  2.  That is not verified, it was a claim made by Bill Simmons.  3.  We got the guy they traded that pick for in Gerald Wallace and more.  4.  It might have been worse than the 6th overall if they had Pierce instead of Wallace.

Agreed, these are the type of circumstances that make these types of situations impossible to predict. Not to mention with Rondo I doubt we would have taken Lillard at pick 6, while he's turned out to be great people thought it was risky even for the Blazers at the time. We probably would have Barnes, which for Pierce wouldn't have been bad but we do have Green and I'm a fan of the benefits, such as the exception, we received from this trade

[fairweatherfan]

Lowe's right, we probably would've blown it up in the 2012 offseason if D-Rose hadn't blown out his knee.  Heck, I think if the Bulls got past Philly without Rose they probably still would've beaten us. 

But we matched up very well with Miami and had the experience and mindset to take it to them relentlessly, and mostly played great, so we all believed again and management had to roll the dice and run it back. 

It was a nice swan song but it was clear we'd need more and more luck to have any shot at a deep playoff run, so we blew it up.  And we were very lucky to get the package we did, even with the crappy Wallace deal.