Celts get Mo Williams and Nikola Pekovic
Wolves get Marcus Thornton, Brandon Bass, Kelly Olynyk and future pick
Why would Minnesota trade for Thornton and Bass. They can wait and sign them for nothing in July if they wanted. And, they likely want to keep Pekovic.
Because, unless the Celtics are willing to use the Rondo exception for Pekovic than the T-Wolves would need to take back salary and they would probably want that salary to be in the form of expiring contracts.
Right now they are using Dieng a lot at the 4 to play them together but ideally I think they would like to get out from under the Pekovic contract and leave Dieng at center.
I don't like this deal from the Boston perspective. Pekovic is not the defensive anchor the Celtics need and while he is a much better low post scorer than Zeller, the overall upgrade is not all that great, certainly not enough to pay another 36M or so left on Pek's deal. I would take him in a salary dump and give the Wolves salary relief but I don't want Ainge giving up assets for him, at least until I can try to add something through the draft or free agency. If I'm setttling for a low-post scorer, average defender, I'd much rather offer that money to Greg Monroe first and if I'm looking for a rim protector than I'm not looking at either.
I actually like this deal from Minnesota's perspective. Unless they have some bad lottery luck, they could add Okafor or Towns to the mix. A 5/4 rotation of Dieng, Okafor/Towns, Olynyk looks better than a rotation of Dieng, Okafor/Town, Pekovic because at least with Olynyk you have one of the guys in your rotation that can stretch the defense. While with Pek you are looking at all guys who are playing close to the basket. Plus, you get a pick and you have 12M to use in free agency.
At best, Pek is an average to slightly below average starter making above average money. At worst, if Okafor/Towns comes via the draft, Pek could be a very expensive 6th-8th man.